News: Matt Higby doing a Q&A at reddit!

[coLMinigun]

Thought u guys might be interested in this.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/c..._the_creative/

[Dreamcast]

Link?

[Bags]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/c..._the_creative/

Q: How will squad spawning be balanced?

Matt: Oh, wow. I'm a big fan, dude. I'm super geeked you replied to this. heh. Squad spawning is really tricky to balance, no doubt. What we haven't talked about are things like the requirements to do it (needs a relatively advanced spec'd squad leader in your squad to use) and it will be on some kind of cooldown based on the squad leader. It's definitely not designed to be your primary respawn method.


Q: Why was veh hacking removed?

Matt: No problem, man!

Couple reasons, the one you mention is one, another is because we really want to push the empires to be very different in PS2, and getting ahold of enemy weapons and vehicles makes it a lot more of a balance nightmare.

Keep in mind that from a technical perspective, having to make VS and TR specific texture variants for an NC vanguard is as expensive to our texture budget as having two unique vehicles too (assuming we'd want to do it right, with a full skin not just a decal swap, which we would). Our texture budget is already stretched with all the unique armor, vehicles, weapons etc. I can't think of any other AAA fps game that would have anything close to our texture requirements.

You'll have fun as an Infiltrator in PS2, I promise.

Q: How will the command system work? Going from the fact commanders will be able to create custom missions for squads and such, will there be a more merit-based system for commander-ascension? Or the same command-experience system in Planetside 1 which ends up with more commanders than actual soldiers?

Matt: it's not based on CR like in Planetside. There are a couple paths to being a commander. One is through the cert tree, there will be several leadership related skill trees that you can progress through - progressing these means sacrificing progressing in other, more direct combat orientated roles, so those players who want to be commanders will have to be dedicated.

You'll also be able to access some of this stuff through the outfits system, more details on that portion in the future.


Q: Sup matt. Big fan of planetside(since i got into beta) and still currently subbed. Got a question or two for ya.
First off, that vehicle(assuming mag rider type) firing in the trailer, Is that's just some alpha type effects and will be redone? ^^
The class system, if you choose to start certing into max(or wuteva) will I have the capability to do anything else or will it be very specialized(only a max user for your outfit). Basically how much variety can you have in your certs/classes?
Will the reaver/mosq still have the same roles as ps1 & how different is the flight system?
nyways <3 for making the game ive been wanting for ever.
TR 4 LIFE

Matt: We're definitely still in the meat of the development cycle, which means that more passes are being done on art, systems, balance, particles, etc.

the cert system is really, really free-form. You can be as specialized or generalized as you want to be. If you want to put all your advancement time into Reavers you can do that, and you'll have a more maneuverable, durable and powerful vehicle with plenty of options for secondary weapons and fun gadgets. If you want to spread your certification across lots of different things and be more of a jack of all trades, go for it.

The flight mechanics are a lot more realistic than the flying camera PS1 vehicles. We're using PhysX for all our vehicles.

Q: Several of my friends who played the original extensively are wondering if veteran Planetside players are going to see any benefits carrying over into the sequel. I know they're the first pick for beta, but is there anything else in the works? Other sequels (specifically EQ2 and GW2) have offered veteran players the opportunity to reserve character and guild names in the sequel, as well as other benefits.

MAtt: We'll be taking good care of Planetside players who join us in Planetside 2.

Q: What kind of "sandbox" aspects will be included? I heard about the outfit bases, but will there be the ability to make whole "towns"? Will there be aquatic bound vehicles this time?

I will be asking a lot of questions, I must know everything as the first Planetside is the sole reason I started studying game design.

Matt: Much of the sandbox gameplay is stuff we're talking about for post-launch, I feel like it'd be a bit premature for me to talk too much about it right now. I do like boats, probably won't see them at launch, though.

Q: If (post == legitimate) { echo "So when's the beta / release?"; }

Matt: As soon as we're ready.

Copout answer, but honestly, I want to get the game out there and getting played more than anyone, and we're busting our asses to make that happen - but no one wants a rush job, right?

Q: 1) BFRs? Dear God say no. 2) When can I expect a release date/beta? 3) Any rough idea on what the hardware requirements might be 4) any chance of a ps3 release (cross-platform with pc!!) 5) Seriously....why NC? VS for life. 6)Any thoughts on boats/ships/sea combat? 7) which reminds me, can you elaborate at all about the differences between classes...that's all...for now.

Matt: 1. no bfrs
2. can't say much about dates right now, sorry!
3 we're gunning for 4-5 year old machines as our low end. More on exact system specs soon as we lock it down
4.I'm already busy enough trying to get ps2 ready for launch and all these people are already asking me about ps3? Jeez people.
5. suck it, barney
6. I think it's awesome, boats rule
7 The classes are designed to give a specific combat role to soldiers on the battlefield. This helps a few things: 1) makes enemies immediately recognizable, you see someone and you'll know what sort of bad things they'll be able to do to you 2) helps players understand their purpose a bit better. We'll have familiar classes like Medics, Engineers, Heavy Assault, Infiltrators, and MAXs. Each of these will have significant room to specialize and tailor to your playstyle


Q: Can you swim?

Matt: Yes, although I cannot surf. I'm looking off my balcony at some surfers right now and it's making me jealous.


Q: Why the move away from the mechanic of certifications in the first Planetside, which was one of the best things about the game?

I loved Planetside, played for several years, and I'm happy that Planetside 2 is in development, but the news I've read makes it seem like a vain attempt to cash in by transplanting ideas taken from the biggest MMOs on the market today, and not an advancement of what made Planetside great.

Some aspects of certifications in the original Planetside were great. The freedom to grab whatever cert you wanted, instead of being restricted by some arbitrary experience tree or bar for a particular piece of equipment, was extremely gratifying. I really hated imprinting, Command Rank, and medal-restricted certifications because they took the opposite path.

There are some people who like to continuously "earn" things in an endless steady progression, and MMOs usually cater to these people. But FPS games are by and large competitive in nature, and being prevented from executing some strategy because requisite equipment hasn't been "earned" is extremely irritating, almost punishing. I enjoy the feeling of getting more skilled at playing the game, and I'd rather the game reward me for that, instead of punishing me less as time goes on.

Matt: I have for years used the Planetside cert system as an example of an absolutely ingenious and well-executed system, so I'm right with you on it's brilliance. It works incredibly well to let players grow in meaningful but horizontal ways. Our system does a lot of the same things, but we've got a lot more stuff to unlock and the depth lets us have some power growth (~20% total potential power growth from a 5 minute player to a 5 year player is our goal) and long term reach goals for players.



Q: Will there be meaningful Day/Night Cycles?

Will Hitboxes become important in PS2?

Matt: the engine supports day/night cycle really, really well. We definitely want to take advantage of that.

yes

Q: I have to ask, quick knife or equip knife? (One stab one kill?)

Matt: We're still deliberating. Some of the discussions about this have almost ended with people getting stabbed. Passionate debate.

Q: As an outfit leader, will I need to spec in leadership just to create/control my outfit?

Matt: Nope, we moved away from this because it sucked if you're in a huge outfit and the leader with all the outfit leadership skills quits.

Outfits DO have a skill tree though, it's progressed similar to the player progression (outfit leaders and designated officers can decide where the time based skill unlocks go), and it unlocks things like max outfit size, outfit customization (visual and gameplay related). We really want outfits to feel like army divisions, i.e. when you see someone who is in the 101st airbourne you know that's a badass paratrooper. We're going to allow you to specialize your outfit in, for instance, Heavy Armor so when you come rolling over the hills in your decked out, customized Prowlers with outfit level bonuses and the "Jownzorz's Javelins" logo on the side all the troops on the ground know that the serious tank drivers have arrived. That's the goal.

edit to add: the other cool thing about this is it creates the aspiration for anyone on your empire who is interested in driving tanks to want to join your badass outfit too.

Suggestion: Suggestion for when you make new planets. Don't just make new terrain. Make the planets different. Different gravity, atmospheres, etc, that also has vehicles and armors unique to it. A gas giant planet with floating cruisers, all air, and jetpack infantry. A moon with low gravity and no atmosphere where you can jump 100 yards. A venusian hell hole with such bad weather flying machines are completely out of the question and even infantry armors are like MAX units. A water world with little land mass, that is devoted almost entirely to sea battles.

Matt: cool ideas =)

Q: Why add power growth?

Matt: well, we (game developers) put this stuff in because people, in general, like feeling like they're getting more powerful. meaningful character progression is integral to keeping many people interested and motivated in games. Planetside 2 will always be about player skill first and foremost.

Q: Will that span on to environmental effects? Like in Planetside, but because the option to turn them off existed, being able to see the awesome sandstorms was a disadvantage to the people who didn't have to see it. ..Basically, will stuff like sandstorms and other weather effects exist (and be permanently turned on for all player)?

Matt: We've got a really cool weather system design, I'm hoping we can squeeze it in for launch. Gameplay affecting things like volumetric fog/clouds shouldn't be able to be toggled.

Q: n regard to number 7

I understand the points you make, but I feel you are underestimating the player base with that decision. What made the original Planetside great was that your character could be one of those classes specifically or a little bit of each. It was something the old game did well, and what you're planning on implementing, I fell works better for a game of a smaller scale, such as TF2, COD, or Battlefield. This is because in those games, combat remains relatively stagnant; while in PS, the conditions are constantly changing. For instance, the fight can change between short and long distances, vehicle based to indoors, high ground to low ground. In the original PS, you could vary what you did across classes, in order to better fit the situation. Let's once again use the sniper as an example. For a far range battle, you could set up your inventory with a lot of ammo, and no support equipment, since you would have a relative distance between you and your allies. Then, when the battle moves closer, you can switch it out with more support items, and less ammo, maybe ditch a sidearm or something, either way, you could trade off something, in this case ammo, in order to obtain something else, support. The way it seems your taking the game is that, you are what class you are, so be it.

Now, in regards to the "helps players understand their purpose a bit better." In the first game, you made your purpose; there was no reason to fence you into a specific thing, and their shouldn't be now unless you feel the player base is incapable of deciding their best play style, or that the game would become too unbalanced as a result of someone being able to snipe you and heal their teammate. Anyway, I'm not saying that implementing a COD/Halo/Battlefield system will not work, but just pointing out, the old game had a really good open system.

Matt: What you're describing is basically what we're doing. You can switch classes, loadouts, etc situationally. Either when you respawn or at equipment terminals.

I agree the ps1 had a great system, we're definitely keeping the spirit of that system in ps2. What you won't have is a dude that looks like a medic rolling around with a rocket launcher, or a light assault dude with a jump jet who also can use a chaingun. We're offering a lot of cool, divergent gameplay styles that in a completely freeform style system would be way, way too easy to stack and exploit.


Q: Can you confirm that there will not be face blood splatters ala Call of Duty?

Matt: you guys don't like the strawberry jam???

Q: If I have heavy assault(example) will I be able to heal myself at all, or am I 100% dependent on a medic / engineer??

Matt: you'll probably have at least some capacity to heal yourself, but this is something we're actively designing and iterating at the moment.

[Talek Krell]

1

[Graywolves]

1.How will "classes" effect driving/piloting? Will there be an "operator class" or will lighter armored classes be the ones who can pull out the vehicles?
1 - light armored infantry classes can use vehicles - there isn't a "pilot" class, each vehicle have cert trees that are commensurate to the infantry trees.
2.Vehicle animations are gone, budget or otherwise, will there be a time delay in entering/exiting a vehicle or will it be a simple warp-in/warp-out deal?
2 - it's instant right now, this is subject to change though
3.In concept art I noticed the massive ship in the sky. Can you tell us anything about that or linked to it?
3 - secret
4.Sanctuaries are gone and footholds are in. How will this effect outfit/alliance staging grounds, training(skill/cert/tactical), organisation/gathering, continent capturing, and camping?
4 - you'll have a safe staging point, training will be handled through a separate method.
5.Will VR training return?
5 - something like it, but not exactly what was in ps1
6.I remember outfit battles being attempted at one point. Will similar small scale versus events appear in the future?
6 - esports is something im super passionate about, so we have plans for tournament modes that would be along the lines of "outfit battles", we're focused on the primary gameplay mode i.e. open world massive warfare right now, though.
7.Trophies. I loved collecting enemy weapons and just hoarding them in my locker. With the inventory system will this be possible or will there be a replacement that allows us to gloat our victories?
7 - we'll definitely have ways for you to gloat your victories
8.Alliances between outfits. Not that it is needed but is there in-game support planned to allow ease of communication between outfit leaders/commanders.
8 - yes
9.Tower landing gear. Does this have to do with the giant ship? What exactly does this hint at if anything?
9 - i'm not sure whistles
10.Can I still heal, repair, drive, and lead all while kicking ass with my cycler?
10 - healing and repairing are both exclusive to two different classes, so no. Well, you can heal yourself with a medkit!
11.What can you tell us about the new continents?
11 - they rule
12.I got the 1 empire per server. How many characters?
12 - I'm not sure how many characters per server we allow right now, i can't think of any reason to limit it, but, i can't think of any reason besides wanting to be incognito to want to create more than one. Theres no restriction on you creating a character on every server in the game as of right now. this is subject to change based on the whims of our dbas though.
13.Will characters still sink to the bottom of water?
13 - We're still working out what the water / swimming mechanics are going to be at launch, currently you float, but i hope we'll be able to add more here
14.It appears that the NC nearly blend in according to the trailer. Will this effect gameplay or will everyone stick out as before?
14 - the NC have found a cache of newer and more stylish armor
15.As a Terran I will stomp your rebellion. (if we could be 2 empires I'd have an NC alt though). Also....Can I plant flags?
15 - don't try to oppress me, man!
16.Will headshots or damage location be implemented in any way? I personally was fine with the mechanics overall in Planetside, just curious.
16 - yes, we have damage locations including headshots
17.Pajamas. From what it sounds we will spawn in our loadout? I'm really going to miss the pajama parties and fighting my way around with a pistol.
17 - hmm, maybe we'll let you make a loadout for pajamas =)
18.How customizeable will a pistol be? I always loved the idea of a commander running around using a pistol like a pro.
18 - extremely customizable, you'll be able to make a pretty kickass pistol if you dedicate some time to it
19.How much will our character change from BR1-Br20? I always loved the top end TR uniforms.
19 - BR is going to determine a lot about what you're able to unlock skills wise, that will in turn influence how you look
20.How will Leader given missions(quests) work? And will waypoints return in a similar way before or have they been altered?
20 - yes, they're a lot deeper, I think i've gone into detail about the mission system elsewhere so i don't want to repeat myself
Thanks for the questions, sorry it took so long to get back to you!

[Redshift]

6.I remember outfit battles being attempted at one point. Will similar small scale versus events appear in the future?
6 - esports is something im super passionate about, so we have plans for tournament modes that would be along the lines of "outfit battles", we're focused on the primary gameplay mode i.e. open world massive warfare right now, though.

i enjoyed outfit wars, but it's not something i'd like to see too often as it's too small of a scale, maybe they'll do it once a year, like the superbowl

[Graywolves]

I'm sure the amount of times the competitive matches occur will be related to how many people are interested.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Redshift

i enjoyed outfit wars, but it's not something i'd like to see too often as it's too small of a scale, maybe they'll do it once a year, like the superbowl

Why? If people want to play outfit wars they should be able to. If you don't like it, don't participate.

[Bags]

I AM NOW UPDATING VIA GOOGLE DOCS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1.../edit?hl=en_US

Q: 1. Thresher?
2. You say that the offline skill training system is there to help friends keep up with each other. But, from what I understand, you still need battleranks, which dictate how many certs you can have trained, and (I think) how high your cert tree is unlocked. How does the offline skill training assist when you still need to be playing to unlock cert points/cert trees? Are battleranks relatively fast to level compared to training the certs?
3.Can we talk with enemies? I've made some very good friends with people I've fought.
4.Working off of #3, why no multiple empires per server so I can play with those friends? Empire hoppers can be balanced with restrictions on moving to a high population empire(plus it can be used to entice people to move to a low populated empire). The answer you or someone else gave is spying, but this is planetside.. Go play eve, where spies can cost you months or years of work. People can learn opsec same as in EVE.
5.How 'locked in' are the loadouts for classes? Can a medic use any infantry weapon? Can any class carry a heal tool, but they just don't get bonuses like a medic would? Many people enjoyed weird things. I've seen cloakers with advanced medic rez a gen hold before.
6.Is there a customizable inventory so you can vary how much stuff you bring? Carrying extra medkits, extra ammo, an extra gun, stacking ammo into a MAX for a gen hold?
7. Will there be a proper Infantry AA solution? Specialized AA weapons, alternate fires on AV weapons, etc?
8.MAX customization? One of my fondest wishes for maxes was a utility slot that let you pick which special you got. Jump Jets, overdrive, and shields each had pros and cons, and different situations they would be useful. A more varied MAX weapon selection also wouldn't have been amiss..
9.Thresher?
10. Will we be able to recert? I know, you want to hook people with RPG elements to get their money, but I really loved how you could mess with your certs whenever you felt like on the first week of a new alt. Could that be tied into the resource economy? Pay for redistribution of cert points? Then indecisive people like me could jump around to different things, by choosing to spend our money there, instead of on weapon upgrades.
11. Will there be a subscription? One of the things that keeps me out of PS right now is I just don't play enough to justify the $15 a month. Can you do like prepaid phones do, and buy, say, 30 hours for $15 or something(which don't expire)? Then I could hop in a few hours a month and play around when I felt like if I wasn't bigtime into the game anymore.
12. When you talked of outfit certs, you mentioned they could specialize. Would a reaver certed pilot in a reaver outfit have better reavers than a reaver pilot in a tank outfit? Or would the reaver outfit pilot just not have to cert them things for himself? Are the bonuses in addition to personal certs? Or do they replace them? Also, I'd recommend having an internal hierarchy for this. Few outfits will want to be all max/infiltrator/etc. They'd have an internal squad for this.
13. I can understand no 3rd person for infantry, but why no 3rd for vehicles? It really helped maneuvering around invincible obstacles and avoiding squishies who were apparently never taught to look both ways before crossing the courtyard. If definitely no 3rd person vehicles, can we get trackir support for the driver view?


Matt: wow.

1 - I'm not really ready to talk about exactly which vehicles will be in the game. I can say that we're carrying over many from the original. Since we're still balancing, tuning, and adding to and removing from the game, saying what will be there at launch is a good way for me to potentially disappoint folks. Threshers are pretty awesome, though.
2 - Battlerank is character based, unless you never actually participate in combat you'll be BR 20 (our current max, not necessarily our final max) long, long before you max out a skill tree. Once you're BR 20 the entire skill tree will be open to you.
3 - We're not restricting cross-empire communication currently.
4 - The current plan is to lock you to one empire per server. This isn't something that we're going to be dogmatic about, if we find compelling reasons to open it up we will.
5 - You'll see many weapons cross classes, you just won't see heavy weapons on light classes, or max weapons on heavy classes, etc. Some weapons will be more locked down than others.
6 - I answered this somewhere else, there will be the ability to customize loadouts, but it won't be an open freeform inventory.
7 - Yes, our goal is to have fully balanced Air-to-Ground, Ground-to-Air and Air-to-Air gameplay, that includes viable infantry anti-air.
8 - MAXes will be as customizable as everything else, you'll be able to select abilities, utilities, weapons, etc.
10 - I think you'll find that the base game is pretty open in what it lets you explore, the time you put in will be to specialize down those paths. Right now there's no plan to allow for recert.
11 - Can't get into business model quite yet, sorry
12 - The spirit of the design is to let you unlock some really cool, unique bonuses through outfit specialization. Here's a completely fabricated, not-actually-in-the-game-so-please-don't-expect-it-to-be-or-call-me-a-liar-when-it's-not example: Your heavy armor focused outfit can unlock the ability to use seige mode on your vanguards, now you can setup outside a base, deploy your tanks and while suffering a firing rate penalty you can attack over a greater distance with aoe bombardments. This is ability would be completely unique to NC outfits that have specialized in heavy armor.
13 - If we do allow 3rd person for vehicles it would be for maneuvering only, you wouldn't have a targeting reticle in 3rd person.

Q: One of my main concerns so far concerns the class system/inventory management. In the original PS, once you purchased the cert for something, you could use it with any other thing you wanted; i.e. you could have both have a sniper rife and a healing tool. So basically, is that sort of inventory management still going to be left up to the player, or are you going to to limit the influence on what any character can be at any given time and preset a player's load out because he wants to be "sniper" or a "medic."

Matt: Players will be more fixed into their roles in PS2. This allows us to do some really fun role-specific mechanics that if allowed to be combined would make for really broken gameplay. In a more restricted system we can let you use and see lots of really cool, unique abilities and weapons in the game.

Q: Is there still inventory/backpacks? What is the shooting mechanics like? planetside 1 had COF/cone of fire.
Is there still going to be animations for getting in and out of vehicles?

Matt: Inventory won't exist in the same way as it did in PS1. There will still be loadouts, but you won't have to manage inventory space to trade-off ammo for medkits, etc.
bullets are simulated objects, they have physics, drop over distances, travel time, etc. There is cone of fire, recoil, all that snazzy stuff.
There aren't animations for getting into or out of vehicles.

[Der Baron]

Originally Posted by Bags

Q: How will the command system work? Going from the fact commanders will be able to create custom missions for squads and such, will there be a more merit-based system for commander-ascension? Or the same command-experience system in Planetside 1 which ends up with more commanders than actual soldiers?

Matt: it's not based on CR like in Planetside. There are a couple paths to being a commander. One is through the cert tree, there will be several leadership related skill trees that you can progress through - progressing these means sacrificing progressing in other, more direct combat orientated roles, so those players who want to be commanders will have to be dedicated.

You'll also be able to access some of this stuff through the outfits system, more details on that portion in the future.

================================================== =====================

Awesome. Especially the part I quoted. This is really pretty much the best way to balance CR - having to sacrifice direct combat-oriented skills.
Maybe these guys actually know what they're doing

[basti]

GJ getting this to us Bags. much <3

[PsychoXR-20]

He didn't actually say you couldn't loot weapons, just that it's a balance issue. I cant think of a single FPS, (SP or MP) that doesn't allow you to pick up your enemies weapons and use them. Unlike vehicles, weapons don't need empire specific skins (I suppose technically vehicles don't either, and it could actually be used to your advantage if they ddn't magically change colors). Enemy weapons are usually some of the most effective weapons since they are the weapons your enemy will have the least amount of experience fighting against.

[basti]

I just noticed, hes trolling people a bit (can you swin? ^^)

[Volw]

Originally Posted by PsychoXR-20

He didn't actually say you couldn't loot weapons, just that it's a balance issue. I cant think of a single FPS, (SP or MP) that doesn't allow you to pick up your enemies weapons and use them. Unlike vehicles, weapons don't need empire specific skins (I suppose technically vehicles don't either, and it could actually be used to your advantage if they ddn't magically change colors). Enemy weapons are usually some of the most effective weapons since they are the weapons your enemy will have the least amount of experience fighting against.

Actually, in this case it might be different.

Seems like PS2 'unlocks' will focus mostly on mods and upgrades, they probably don't want people without specific unlocks to operate 'better' weapons.

I'm not a big fan of it but it does make some sense. I remember having some VS 'friends' drop a stockpile of Lashers (oh the Lasher 2.0 days)

[Gogita]

"7. The classes are designed to give a specific combat role to soldiers on the battlefield. This helps a few things: 1) makes enemies immediately recognizable, you see someone and you'll know what sort of bad things they'll be able to do to you 2) helps players understand their purpose a bit better. We'll have familiar classes like Medics, Engineers, Heavy Assault, Infiltrators, and MAXs. Each of these will have significant room to specialize and tailor to your playstyle"

I have been thinking of what is exactly meant with classes. Maybe what is meant with it is that when you pick a certain class, you are still free to take whatever loadout you want, but only the skills of your class will be activated or some kind of bonus to your class will be given. For example medic, if you choose this class when spawning, the points that you have invested in medic skills will be activated or that you will have some kind of bonus when healing/rezzing. It will probably also change your appearance slightly as Matt said "makes enemies immediately recognizable" (probably some big red cross with white background).