Tribes 2 was epic, but I hope they do this right...
And what I really hope they will do, is to ditch the damn skill / level progression.
I'm fine with that in an RPG, but its just bothersome in an FPS and it creates divisions between people that really shouldn't be there.
Some gear progression is acceptable for me, but I'd rather have it limited to a minimum.
People won't continue to pay a subcription in an MMO if there is no progression.
There is more progression than just skills and levels, gear is one type, simple territory and victory progression is another, you could even feature fluff progression (armor suits and so on) as GA does now.
People still play simple FPS's years after launch and I'm not sure at all whether this game will feature a subscription in the first place.
I just find that the devs have to make up their minds on whether they are making an RPG with big cliffs between people (which is fine in that type of game) or an FPS where everyone can jump in and gameplay depends on your aim and twitch.
Not make a half-baked hybrid between the two. Global Agenda really annoyed me with their rather pointless levels and badges etc.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
I find this post very encouraging, but not for the reasons most would.
Although the description of what they intend is nice, that is not what I find encouraging. Every failed project has bajillions of nifty sounding things.
What is encouraging is that they figured out what would give them trouble and they did it in a way that did not drive them out of business.
I have played GA and still play sometimes. Its a fun game with an admirable amount of balance between the classes. The interface and controls are pretty good and fluid.
The Desert zone is interesting but when I played I suspected translating it into a Warsone would be troublesome. Partially due to Unreal engine issues and partially due to the fact that GA itself is simply not setup to be Planetside 2, even if it has half the stuff you might need.
What this says to me is Hi-Rez has is a good development house that knows how to follow through and prioritize things such that they work and work well. This was the downfall of APB. They had some good ideas but went off on all sorts of tangents and the core of the game suffered.
They don't let the vast number of things you could do interfere with actually making a good product while continuously pushing themselves to make their product better. Or when push comes to shove pulling the trigger and doing it right when somethig else would simply be half-assed.
Most MMOs over the past 5 years have had a process that was clearly a case of the developers/designers biting off way too much or simply not thinking things through entirely and then creating something half-assed that could never fully capture the very high level goals because the more detailed design was flawed or they had technical issues or both. And these devs never went through an iterative process that would expose this.
In this case Hi-Rez released a game that while it did not meet hardcore MMOs people desires was still a good game at what it did. They are clearly in good enough shape to aquire a franchise that is well known. They used this game to realize what they can and cannot do in order to appropriately use that license.
Other games, such as WAR, they release some half assed design, realize they have design flaws or technical issues. Half the game works great and the other half is doomed. The customers get pissed and the company gets gutted and replaced or goes out of business.
They have no iterative process, they bet the farm and then almost always fail.
Comments
There is more progression than just skills and levels, gear is one type, simple territory and victory progression is another, you could even feature fluff progression (armor suits and so on) as GA does now.
People still play simple FPS's years after launch and I'm not sure at all whether this game will feature a subscription in the first place.
I just find that the devs have to make up their minds on whether they are making an RPG with big cliffs between people (which is fine in that type of game) or an FPS where everyone can jump in and gameplay depends on your aim and twitch.
Not make a half-baked hybrid between the two. Global Agenda really annoyed me with their rather pointless levels and badges etc.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
I find this post very encouraging, but not for the reasons most would.
Although the description of what they intend is nice, that is not what I find encouraging. Every failed project has bajillions of nifty sounding things.
What is encouraging is that they figured out what would give them trouble and they did it in a way that did not drive them out of business.
I have played GA and still play sometimes. Its a fun game with an admirable amount of balance between the classes. The interface and controls are pretty good and fluid.
The Desert zone is interesting but when I played I suspected translating it into a Warsone would be troublesome. Partially due to Unreal engine issues and partially due to the fact that GA itself is simply not setup to be Planetside 2, even if it has half the stuff you might need.
What this says to me is Hi-Rez has is a good development house that knows how to follow through and prioritize things such that they work and work well. This was the downfall of APB. They had some good ideas but went off on all sorts of tangents and the core of the game suffered.
They don't let the vast number of things you could do interfere with actually making a good product while continuously pushing themselves to make their product better. Or when push comes to shove pulling the trigger and doing it right when somethig else would simply be half-assed.
Most MMOs over the past 5 years have had a process that was clearly a case of the developers/designers biting off way too much or simply not thinking things through entirely and then creating something half-assed that could never fully capture the very high level goals because the more detailed design was flawed or they had technical issues or both. And these devs never went through an iterative process that would expose this.
In this case Hi-Rez released a game that while it did not meet hardcore MMOs people desires was still a good game at what it did. They are clearly in good enough shape to aquire a franchise that is well known. They used this game to realize what they can and cannot do in order to appropriately use that license.
Other games, such as WAR, they release some half assed design, realize they have design flaws or technical issues. Half the game works great and the other half is doomed. The customers get pissed and the company gets gutted and replaced or goes out of business.
They have no iterative process, they bet the farm and then almost always fail.