News: MMORPG Interview

[Shogun]

dedicated gunner means, all guns of the tanks are transfered to the gunner. in return it means there is no gun left for the driver, which makes him dedicated driver, so yes, i am sure ded. gunner=ded. driver.

would make no sense otherwise, because the gunner as it is now, is already dedicated, but only to the secondary gunsystem.

[Hmr85]

Originally Posted by Eyeklops

LOL...great news! Dedicated driver/gunner is a major possiblity, and data enhanced 3D cockpits.

Yep, this is fantastic. I am really glad to see them considering this. It was major gripe of mine when I heard about drivers having the main gun. If they do that my worries will be put to rest. Also 3D cockpits!! How awesome is that.

[Stardouser]

If dedicated drivers is a cert, that means people can choose to be both driver and gunner. I take this joy to mean that you guys aren't looking for dedicated gunners for balance purposes(so that drivers CANNOT gun) but simply as a teamwork enhancement? I would have thought that balance was the driving force.

[Mechzz]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

If dedicated drivers is a cert, that means people can choose to be both driver and gunner. I take this joy to mean that you guys aren't looking for dedicated gunners for balance purposes(so that drivers CANNOT gun) but simply as a teamwork enhancement? I would have thought that balance was the driving force.

It's teamwork enhancement. I can only imagine that the other "happy happy" comments in the thread are from people who, like me, know how much fun it is to be driving a tank in response to your gunner's shouts in your headset to "attack there....", "back off, fast....". There's just something exciting about that, maybe not to all folks, but definitely to some

Not having to worry about the gun adds to the intensity of the experience.

And of course, in a decent outfit, when your tank eventually dies, it's your gunner who drives next time round.

It was just too easy to spend/waste a whole evening in PS1 charging round in a magrider squadron, best fun ever in any video game! Happy days indeed.

[Shogun]

for a lot of people the main problem was, that they wanted to drive without having to aim and shoot as well, because tanks cannot efficiently work this way. you always bump into rocks and trees when trying to fire backwards.

the balancing concerns are still there, but those are easy to tweak during beta.

[Oryon22]

3D cockpits. I am so happy.

[Lorgarn]

Originally Posted by SniperSteve

Just finished watching *flips headset back to normal orientation*.

Some great info.

A) Platoons look like they will have a place.
B) Dedicated Driver/Gunner option.
C) They are working on getting more people into the game in preparation for beta.

I assume that means they are moving a ton of QA people over to PS2 to make sure beta will not be a disaster, and also means beta could be really soon(TM)!

EDIT: GIVE US BETA ALREADY!

Yes, THIS! ^^

Man I'm telling ya, this game has me in its grip so tight. There are games coming out in the near future that I used to be very excited about. Right now PS2 is totally wiping the floor with all of them in terms of my anticipation for them.

Gah, this game! Sometimes (a lot of times) it feels just too good to be true.

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by Mechzz

It's teamwork enhancement. I can only imagine that the other "happy happy" comments in the thread are from people who, like me, know how much fun it is to be driving a tank in response to your gunner's shouts in your headset to "attack there....", "back off, fast....". There's just something exciting about that, maybe not to all folks, but definitely to some

Not having to worry about the gun adds to the intensity of the experience.

And of course, in a decent outfit, when your tank eventually dies, it's your gunner who drives next time round.

It was just too easy to spend/waste a whole evening in PS1 charging round in a magrider squadron, best fun ever in any video game! Happy days indeed.

Ah. Well, one thing that I like about multi-crew vehicles is that it allows you to get more players in, but since only one of them is shooting at you, it doesn't increase the chaos.

I've often wondered if having more than 3 empires could accomplish the same thing. With any empire, there's always going to be a certain minimum number of playing performing support roles that don't involve shooting at the enemy; more empires could increase the number of players on a server but temper it by causing more players to be dedicated to support actions.

[Raka Maru]

Awesome interview! Awesome news!

Our tank discussions did not fall on deaf ears. This was the solution that I was hoping for. Thank you Devs!

[Xyntech]

This is pretty much the solution I was hoping for. Hopefully the dedicated gunners will have somewhat more powerful main guns so that this is a balance tweak as well as a teamwork booster. Maybe 2 skilled solo MBT's will still outflank a skilled dedicated driver/gunner pair, but as long as 4 people in 2 dedicated gunner MBT's can take on 4 people in solo MBT's, I'll be happy.

3D cockpits should be fun. Kind of a luxury feature in a way though, but I like it. It also makes me hopeful that they may eventually add vehicle entry animations, although I'm not going to hold my breath.

Oh and yay platoons! I hope PS2 is able to blow PS1's community and organizational features out of the water. A lot was done with PS1, I can only imagine what will happen if commanders are given more and better tools and if it becomes easier for zerglings to be harnessed as a valuable and directable resource.

[Tapman]

SO happy not only to hear that gunning will now be a certification tree but that in the current build, doing so will give them "access to a different sent of possible weapons."

Also glad to see that Platoons are going to be in!

[Raka Maru]

Originally Posted by Xyntech

This is pretty much the solution I was hoping for. Hopefully the dedicated gunners will have somewhat more powerful main guns so that this is a balance tweak as well as a teamwork booster. Maybe 2 skilled solo MBT's will still outflank a skilled dedicated driver/gunner pair, but as long as 4 people in 2 dedicated gunner MBT's can take on 4 people in solo MBT's, I'll be happy.

3D cockpits should be fun. Kind of a luxury feature in a way though, but I like it. It also makes me hopeful that they may eventually add vehicle entry animations, although I'm not going to hold my breath.

Oh and yay platoons! I hope PS2 is able to blow PS1's community and organizational features out of the water. A lot was done with PS1, I can only imagine what will happen if commanders are given more and better tools and if it becomes easier for zerglings to be harnessed as a valuable and directable resource.

Zerg can be harnessed by the mission system now. No more leaving great battles, cuz the CR5's want to go to another continent because we are slightly outnumbered. That was one of my pet peeves in the last few years. Leaving a continent with a great battle, then not seeing another one like that for weeks...

[Destroyeron]

Originally Posted by CViolet

PS: My ears are bleeding from the sound quality of this video and the stereo field is flipped.

And Maxs costing resources. Son of a bitch.

[Tatwi]

Originally Posted by Truemedic

I confess, when I heard him say that they have 3D cockpits officially in, I giggled like a little girl and then again when he said they were really considering the option to have a separate driver and gunner.

I was REALLY hoping for the cockpits as well! Woot!!

I have to say that at least having the option to have a secondary gunner makes sense for a team based game. A good 2 person team would likely be better than a good single person in the same vehicle. The Y-Wing in SWG had two variants, one with two forward fixed pilot operated gus and another with a gun for the pilot and another for a gunner. The one with the gunner could shoot in 360 degree half sphere over the ship. Not sure how useful that was in swg's "one shot, one kill" space pvp, due to the 2 man y-wing being a low mass chassis, but the principle could work in ps2, as it's a trade off.

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by Destroyeron

And Maxs costing resources. Son of a bitch.

I doubt they will cost that much compared to MBT's or aircav. It may also help balance MAXes (along with having slower turning that can't be bypassed by exploits), allowing them to be that much more devastating against infantry and especially vehicles.

Everyone being able to be certed in everything made it seem like MAX crashes would be a lot more common, but maybe with them costing resources it will keep the numbers down. I just hope it means MAX crashes are that much more awesome and devastating when they do happen.