Voice your opinion! What do you think SOE did well?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Tar, Apr 9, 2014.

  1. Tar

    Altough I'm usually in the complaining crowd, I think there needs to be something positive from time to time on these trollinfested forums, for some karmic balance.

    So what did they do well? let me start:
    They created a game that
    - is visually breath-taking
    - is running smoothly (at least on its good days) even with hundreds of players cramped on one spot
    - has a cashflow model that is not pay2win while still offering enough motivation to pay, in various ways (both sub+microtransactions)
    - receives frequent updates (almost) without power creep
    - is lately converging to a bearable map design
    - kept a lot of core positive aspects of Planetside (even though by far not all of them)


    Add your own points please.
    • Up x 3
  2. MasterCheef

    they made a fun game.
    • Up x 2
  3. DevDevBooday

    I must admit for a free to play it is really balanced between paying members and non members, not pay to win at all.
    • Up x 9
  4. smokemaker

    A lot of people ( potential victims ) on one map.

    Other then that, nothing that has not already been done elsewhere better.
    • Up x 2
  5. Latrodectus

    They made Higby get a haircut.
    • Up x 10
  6. Eyeklops

    /Thread
    • Up x 3
  7. doombro

    They managed to create a large scale open world shooter without putting the way the combat handles at stake. That's quite an achievement.

    They did a great job of making the game enjoyable for free players. Only the air game is remotely pay to win, and you don't have to spend a single penny to get the full experience. The grind they have to put up with isn't a very long one either.

    That's about it. They've let me down for the most part.
  8. z1967

    Aside from balance issues (don't fret, it is already really well balanced), this is probably the best FPS game I have ever played. Beats Hat simulator and CS on many accounts. And of course that-one-game-that-is-named-after-a-fish and Battlefield cannot compare to this game. People complain but regardless there are so few games on this scale of warfare. Its brilliant honestly.
    • Up x 4
  9. JustARandomNobody

    The game engine does well for the most part, for a FPS game with hundreds of people in an area. The infantry combat is relatively good. The ability for players to create items was a good move. The F2P/cash shop mechanics were well made. That is about it.
    • Up x 1
  10. Bruno Puntz Jones

    People gripe a lot about SOE "not listening."

    Just for fun, I went and read all of the original posts in the 19 threads that BCP started on this forum before the he left, just to see what it was he had to say about the game. Turns out it was kind of a lot of stuff, and much of it was (in contrast to a lot of his in game raging) reasonably well thought out and fairly presented.

    What I found more interesting though was that of all the things he said ought to be changed, about 2/3 or 4/5 of them actually were done at some point between when he posted about them and today.

    Whatever you think about the guy, he did spend a **** ton of hours playing the game, and he did voice a lot of ideas based on his experience as a player. Some of them were good, and most of them apparently happened at some point.

    Maybe he was just asking for things that SOE already had in mind, or echoing things that many other players already had suggested before. Either way, some of them were fairly major changes, and a lot of them came to pass.

    On a day to day basis, it may seem like SOE moves at a glacial pace and that far more good things get suggested than ever may be added or changed. And they sure can screw things up in a hurry sometimes, while taking a whole lot longer to clean up their mess.

    But on the long view, compared to the reactions I've seen from other developers to the same sorts of suggestions by players, they also seem to be surprisingly responsive to good ideas that are reasonably possible within the constraints of the game's basic design and their resources.

    They deserve every bit of the blame that they get for breaking the game and making big mistakes. They also deserve some credit for getting it right surprisingly often.
    • Up x 1
  11. Wecomeinpeace

    It looks pretty and has lots of explosions that sound good.
  12. ExarRazor

    so far the only thing in game that actually seems to be done well is the service ribbon system
  13. Frostiken

    The game is *so* not 'pay-to-win' that it's boring. There's no feeling of progression whatsoever. All the guns feel identical. There's no character or anything of interest.

    Even Battlefield manages to keep you feeling powerful while still being somewhat balanced. I'm excited when I unlock a new gun or a new feature on my tank.

    What do I get for playing PS2? I get to spend 400 certs on an unlock for a tank that reduces my reload speed by 0.000013 seconds.

    Wow.
  14. MasterCheef

    Theyve done a good job at ignoring forumside overreactions to simple things.
    • Up x 2
  15. Bl4ckVoid

    Truly not pay-to-win, a lvl 1 can easily kill a lvl 100.
    Huge, playable combined arms battles.
    Good FPS combat mechanics and controls for infantry.
    Persistent world - no other FPS has this.
    Nice graphics and good maps.
    Many different weapons that are actually different (except for the models).
    Free to play.
  16. Nitrobudyn

    They are still trying new things. They work with the community quite often - Higby actually asked what do we want ES Sniper rifles to be like. Besides, the game is enormous - it must've been hard to optimize it to work so fast.

    It's a pity that they recently seem focused rather on quantity over quality of content. They had good goals and good attitude, but lost something on the way.
  17. Pikachu

    Great design on the alien environments. :D Giant corals on Indar and an atmosphere that absorbs less red light than the other colors giving a red tint to everything on the ground. Giant purple rock spires on Esamir with fluorescent tips and a sunset that is pink instead of orange. Amerish with it's sharp mountains and lots of trees and green fields between them and an almost cyan colored sky that turns yellow and spring green at sunrise. Lots of fog on some places crating nice sun rays.
  18. bPostal

    The FPS mechanics are vastly improved over Planetside.
  19. MagMourner

    I used to play a lot of games but went through a period over the last few years of just getting bored with them.

    Then I came across PS2 - in many ways it blew my mind; free, great to look at, enormous, varied, impressive audio. I died - a lot (still do) - but persevered. It crashed - a lot - but persevered (actually much more stable recently).

    I play regularly and although often frustrating, I keep coming back for more. It really is quite an achievement.

    So why don't we have millions of players ? I'd say that the major issue is accessibility - a noob is not likely to get much fun or reward for a while and the feeling of being cannon-fodder is not so enjoyable. Maybe there should be a 'starter world' where people can learn the basics against other similarly-unskilled players and last more than a second in a fight...just a thought and not on topic but this really is an amazing accomplishment and needs to 'hook' players early, before they leave and play something easier. The current learning-module is just basting the turkey.

    But back on topic - I think an awful lot is right and overall, well done SOE

    (There - I managed to post a topic without mentioning the Liberator even once - oh...)
  20. Syrathin

    One of the reasons I like SOE is that they push innovation. In an industry where games are often cloned with a few gimmicks thrown in for variation SOE more so than most companies tries to offer a more unique experience.

    Also I know many will likely vehemently disagree with me, I like John Smedley. People make jokes about smedbucks and he has made the occasional comment that (Rightly so) rubbed people the wrong way but I've read a fair bit of stuff he's written and stuff about him in general. Honestly he seems like a cool guy and that he gives a damn about the games that they make, Not just for monetary reasons but because he's a gamer and he wants to be proud of the games attached to his name.

    Here lately we've seen a lot of substandard games being pushed out for a quick cash grab with no thought to quality and you only have to look at mobile games or steam to see that. So that's why I like SOE and Smedley, Their games might occasionally be flawed or buggy but they're always interesting and I get the sense that they give a damn about making them better.

    So there isn't one specific thing I would point out that they've done well, Rather I'd say they in general do well.

    Besides in an industry that includes Bobby Kotick, How could you reasonably spare any venom for anyone else? :D