Originally Posted by Kipper
After giving it some thought - they don't need to have it open and playable at E3. They can get through it with carefully choreographed set-piece videos which they might even be making right now.
Massive isn't easily demonstrated by "OMG theres 300 people on the screen" because that isn't how it will be, all the time - the maps are 8km Squared, so there will be major battles and some relatively small skirmishes even on a server with 2000 people. When you log in, it won't be you with 1999 others, it'll be you with anywhere between 50-500 others, while the rest of the population fights elsewhere.
The best way to differenciate between PS2 and other shooters, imo, is by showing you what they can't - a major mixed battle with everything going on, maybe one thats exclusively air units, or en exclusive tank battle - because there are no limits on vehicle pulling at the same time.
Even 30v30 would be impressive to me, if they were all in mosquito/reaver/scythes in the same area.
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Exactly, they can't fit 300 on the same screen. That would be a nightware both for the player and the hardware itself. I don't think anyone is asking SOE to attempt achieving this, that would be just silly.
However, what they can do, and should do(IMO) is give the players a taste, or hint if you will, of the scale of PS2. There might only be smaller battles, such as the ones you're describing, but they shouldn't just happen in one very small area/location of the map. Players should be able to lift up for the first time in a mosq, gain altitude and see that there is battles going on basically in each direction they're looking at. They pop up the map, seeing that it's indeed changing all the time. Hexes and being lost, conquered and fought over constantly.