Introduce a new, independant, threat?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by VonEisenwaffel, Aug 20, 2020.

  1. VonEisenwaffel

    Dear Planetside Community,

    After having played for a combined time of little over 24h I am amazed that many of you are continuing to take over, defend and/or reconquer the same territories for what, by now, must be many months if not years.

    Could it possible to introduce a new, independant threat and on that is a threat to all three factions?
    Like an invading, alien menace, that pop ups(like the "Bugs" of Starshiptrooper fame),
    To shake things up, and that can threaten the balance of the continent(maybe all), in its favor, if it is not dealt with, during this time, with combined effort(the enemy of my enemy is my friend) and that forces a real "fight for our life" atmosphere into what, already, seems quite stale.
    You guys make it real, what is out there already in terms of "game", make it worthwhile, but still, I think it would be a great (and actually real) "Alert".

    If I was not very sure that the imagination of the members of the community was not "out there", I would not propose something like this. But it would be soooo cooooool to be right in the middle of something, something you guys all know and love and love to do and then...(cue ominous droning/humm terror sound) something even bigger comes along and everybody is going to have to deal with it...or else. It could be a very basic AI.

    does anyone get where I am coming from???? I mean, Planetside...its not like chewing bubblegum right?
    After all, some of you guys have collected hundred of thousands of experience points. Is such a concept not appreciated???
    Responses much appreciated.

    All the best to you.
    • Up x 2
  2. Johannes Kaiser

    AI would completely break the game. The maps are just too huge, pathfinding alone would - as far as I am informed - take way too much power to make and run.
    • Up x 1
  3. The Shady Engineer

    PVE on the active continents I don't support. Content like that would go the path of construction with some players loving it and others ignoring it entirely and continue playing their territory capture game.

    HOWEVER, having a PVE event like that in Sanctuary or Koltyr could be amazing. Maybe even have all planetmen regardless of faction be on the same side to complete the event. Sort of like a boss raid in other MMOs.
    • Up x 1
  4. VonEisenwaffel

    Thank you for the reponse.

    Yes the pathfinding, having streams of...creatures runing single file wouldnt do much good...but it should be possible, it doesnt have to be perfect. More difficult things in AI have been made possible. It would have to be a really seldom but awesome thing. Not to break anyones game.

    I had this idea after watching Starship Troopers(one has to every now and then) during a intense PS2 tug-of-war yesterday evening with all manner of ****e flying over, left and right of my head and things blowing up when I felt how cool it would be if suddenly the whole situation changed (its kind of like with this close vincinity ION Beam thing, which some people probobly hate but everybody has to deal with when it happens, somehow I felt that was pretty cool) and a personal war would become a fight for survival against something else entirely.Something to reshuffle the cards...
    you know when enemies begrudingly become friends(but become enemies later on again).



    Or as a secondary bounty hunt on Koltyr...terrorize the terrbile terrors of the galaxy before the terrible terrors of the galaxy terrorize....

    I mean, everything that is introduced now, in the game, like the bastion, after such a long time, is basically "practice"(I guess) to see what would make the cut in PS3 and can be improved upon. Right?
    For that time(or now) I though I would throw in my 50 cents.

    Regards.
  5. Demigan

    The game Firefall was build from the ground up to be an MMOFPSRPG focussing on PVE content. The "continents" it had sported limited player numbers and were smaller than PS2's continents. (Funnily enough Firefall had an arachnid enemy group that was basically a copy-paste of some Starship Troopers insects with enough changes to call them unique and avoid copyright, even though half the changes were early-concepts for the original Starship Troopers).

    The AI of that game was driven by an entirely seperate server so that it could be handled. And it could handle quite a lot of enemies, able to show off and guide several hundred seperate AI units across the entire continent.
    As long as the AI stayed in their local area.
    A single AI unit that tried to path from one end of the continent to the other would bring the servers to their knees, because pathing is an exponential computation that has to justify every step of the way on a pre-fabricated grid. 2 steps can be 4 computations. 4 steps can be 16 computations, thousands of steps across a continent, with added values and height differences and obstacles and other moving units and all that fun stuff? That brings down servers.

    And that was for a game that was build from the ground up to support AI.
    PS2 wasnt build for PVE. Even Spitfires are just the simplest AI possible: a non-moving AI that uses simple bullets without the need or ability to judge bullet drop or leading the opponent. And even this AI unit already shows problems, it can sometimes react late or the Spitfire might look to be facing away but in reality is looking and shooting at you. Adding a simple AI that can path and attack would require taking PS2 apart, rebuilding lots of it from the ground up and even then it would probably not look good, its easier to build PS3, and if you want PS3 to be successful you do NOT waste time creating AI. just the time-sink for creating a proper full-fledged pathing-grid on PS2/3's continents would be half the time of building the damn continent.

    Then there's the problem with what you are trying to achieve. Lets say everything else did work, why wouldnt the PVE content get stale and boring too? What would be the point of the "normal" game if you could lose the things you worked for or the fun battle you were having because some alien insects decide its time for another attempt? What goals besides "murder copious amounts of bugs while screaming cheesy one-liners" would the players have? Kill a Queen? Gal-drop on it and kill it. Destroy egg-nests? Some ESF and Harassers will take care of that. Even if they cant take care of that so easily, how are you going to make this interesting and enjoyable for the player? How are you going to provide that pressure on all factions regardless of amount of players online or their skill? There's a huge difference in average skill across many servers.

    Look, it would be cool if we got interconnected continents with full-fledged ocean combat, but the question isnt "What would be cool" but "how do we get the idea in the game and keep it an engaging, fun experience players would want to pursue and repeat"?

    Speaking of stale and boring content, did you even try everything the game has to offer? Did you try the classes, the vehicles, the different bases, the defenses, attacks, the construction system etc? It sounds like you are actively identifying the gameplay loop and say "ah I see its a loop and therefore its boring". Every game has a gameplayloop at its core, and you either enjoy that or you dont.
    • Up x 2
  6. VonEisenwaffel

    Well said. Especially the part about the loop. At the end, its always a loop. Some are more neatly packaged. Its not like real life...and even that is a loop(maybe....you walk into the light and RESPAWN)

    Yeah I kind of get what is possible with the game already.
    It rises and falls with the quality of the team play and the feeling you get with playing, covering, assisting and saving some *** and having your *** saved. Its nice to be someones gunner. For example. If you are up to the job. Its two lives you are defending. And the goal.
    At some point, I just dont see how I could put too much more time into it. I will, but as I am already a little older, I really need to feel that I am doing something that goes a little above and beyond "the grind". Which I think, really appeals more to younger players or those who dont object to the whole crisscrossing between game mechanics and concepts of cellphone and pc or console gaming. With the whole loreless lore and the way things the menus look outside of the main game itself, it feels much like a beta that has just been going on forever.
    The "togetherness" of the whole thing is much more fun even if, most times, I believe, people are actually just chasing kills(which is ok. Its a game). Maybe something will "spice things up" for me. For those perfectly happy. May you continue to be so.


    I get that part about the Ai. It makes perfect sense. You would need like a almost concious level Ai to have to be able to "spread" and take control over such a huge area. With the uneven terrain and all. But then again, I argue, with a kind of "goldfish" memory, I presume those computing tasks could be kept to a much lower level. But then again, this could lead to all kinds of strange conflicts. Still I believe a system can be found to make it possible. If ever necessary.
    Someone will up the ante. Sometime. Just like Planetside did.
  7. NotziMad



    That's because what you're suggesting is PVE, and you're probably a PVE player (I don't intend that to be insulting).

    The core of any pvp activity isn't the map or the content.

    Recognise this game?

    [IMG]

    It consists of players hitting a ball back and forth over a net. That's it, a rectangle, a net, and a ball going back and forth.

    It's been played since the late 19th century, is an Olympic sport, and is watched by million of people all over the world.

    PVE players need content, need mobs and levels and BOSSes to beat.

    PvP players need competition.

    I'm not saying PvP players dont need content, simply that it isn't the focus.
    • Up x 2
  8. VonEisenwaffel

    Oh yeah. There are so many types of gaming.
    Look honestly. I am not very much of a "player". Really.
    I dont do it for self-esteem or to get the girl that I want or to be payed for it.
    I am sure this is all possible but its not my reason.
    For me this is not a sport. I do sports for sports. Because sports make you strong and help your imunesystem(maybe not my spelling though....) immune system. Anyways. I get the point. PvP is a sport. And sport is only fun in competition. At least with yourself.

    I just do it for the "moments" and to this point I refer to Demigan said, because he is right, a loops a loop and there is always going to be a loop.

    IT WAS JUST AN IDEA!!!....sniff.....
  9. VonEisenwaffel

    ONE DAY YOU WILL SEE!!!!!!!! YOU WILL ALL SEEEEEEE!
  10. NotziMad



    Well that's how I see it, but competition doesn't mean lack of fun.

    Imagine you go out with your friends for a friendly game of football in the park.

    No one cares if one team wins or the other, there aren't any stakes, there's no official competition, it's just a friendly game with friends.

    Well, you're still going to try to win aren't you?

    Even if you play only to stay strong and healthy, even if it isn't an "official" competition, you're still going to try and score goals, you're still going to try and prevent the opponent from scoring. THATs what I mean by competition, it dosen't have to be "pro".

    I don't think you're idea is bad at all, I think ti's a good idea, but I just think it may be better suited in a MMORPG where players if you know what I mean. This game, appart from maybe construction bases, but even then, it's pure PvP, it's 100% PvP (thats why I love it) :p
  11. Liewec123

    I've long suggested that we need wildlife,
    I mean, we're fighting over this planet that appears to be devoid of all life, a wasteland!
    Some creatures wouldn't hurt to help make it seem less like a dead barren graveyard!

    Like packs of doglike creatures protecting their dens on amerish,
    man-eating plants on hossin, the yeti monster on esamir, sand worms on indar etc
  12. Twin Suns

    Maybe next game killer, PS2 is old tech.
  13. Johannes Kaiser

    I remember vaguely that in the backstory it was explicitly sais somewhere that Auraxis has a habitable atmosphere and plants, but a conspicuous lack of absolutely ALL kinds of fauna. No animals period.
    • Up x 3
  14. Twin Suns

    The lore suggests the ancient inhabitants were a Militant Vegan society. :)
    • Up x 2
  15. Liewec123

    thanks, now i wanna watch Scott Pilgrim again XD
    [IMG]
    • Up x 1
  16. VonEisenwaffel

    Right right right. That would be awesome. It could be this one thing...and if you best it you get to hang on of its fangs around your neck.
  17. Novgdea

    Indar sand worms ???

    GRABOIDS.
    • Up x 1
  18. Blam320

    If I remember right, according to a PS1 vet friend of mine in the original lore the Terran Republic, in their own words, "Yee-Hawed" all of the Auraxian wildlife.
    • Up x 2
  19. Twin Suns

    Ahhhh...."The Great Elmer Fuddin" extinction event. ;)