MMOFPS Planetside "Free Play" launching around Febuary 14th

Destman · January 2006

Enrico Pallazzo, Planetside's Developer wrote:

Hello all,

For the next few weeks we are continuing to work on the "Subscription Free" service. For those of you that have not seen the explanation of this service, I'll list it out for you here.

Subscription Free
New Players will be able to create a new account and and play for free for a period of 12 months. The new account will have limitations on the BattleRank (+ or - BR8 ) and the CommandRank (+ or - CR2). Essentially, new players will be able to have access to any part of the game but they will be limited on the diversity of their arsenal. Time Frame We are shooting for February 14th for Launch.

Read his full post here.

MMOCU · January 2006

Edit: Oops, wrong thread. Now, this is cool news. I will be trying this out.

Destman · January 2006

Not much to lose when an MMOFPS is free. ::::31::

modjoe86 · January 2006

I've been wanting to try this out for a while, that's good news.

Razorback · January 2006

Planetside is a fantastic game. It was (in my opinion) actually ahead of its time when it was released. Despit the usual initial teething problems it was a very fun and challenging game to play. I will definately be revisiting it when the F2P opens up and I can strongly recommend it to anyone.

For the confessed "carebears" in the other threads. Give PS a go, its a really great way to get excited about PvP, because there are essentially no negative consequences for dying and generally because so many people are killing and being killed, there is no corpse dacing stupidity to worry about.

Planetside is a great game!

baff · January 2006

As a confessed carebear, this was my first MMO. Great fun. This isn't an RPG it's a sci-fi shooter.

It's on it's last legs now, but well worth seeing if you haven't already tried it. Server populations and game balance went south years ago, and the GFX that at the time looked very sexy now seem a bit dated. The downside of playing games when they are at their hottest on release, is that you really notice when their golden age ends.

Free is good. What can you lose?

It's quite a nice addition to any LAN, if you've played any of the Battlefield games you probably have some idea of what a combined arms game plays like, it's pretty easy to pick up and there are a whole host of different combinations of load outs and playstyles to keep you busy. If you have an older computer or better a few older computers this is a very valuable gift.

Destman · January 2006

The developers have never stop sending patches, and the populations are the same as they where two years ago. There is currently two population locks on Emerald as I type. 7000 Players logged in yesterday and 28,000 this month. It is still the biggest FPS game out there with up to 400 players fighting on each planet (server).

With the "Free Play" the community wishes to bring in more players to join in on the 400 man fights. There are plenty of Planets to wage war on so there is room for everyone.

EDIT: Here is the link to one of our stats sites which keeps that information logged.
http://www.planetsidestats.info/modules.php?name=Planetside_Stats&action=active

SnaKey · January 2006

SOE

Enough said.

Don't care if it's free.

Destman · January 2006

The funny part is I read your rant in your signiture, and you describe Planetside in alot of ways.

You can keep that stance, I understand SOE has done alot of things bad to their games (even once to Planetside, but it has been balanced out now) that players didn't like.

However just try the game, I won't tell ::::35::

-------------------------------------------------------------------
You wrote:

* Get XP, items, money, etc. for killing other players. (YAY! I KILLED HIM! He was good. What did I get?!?!?!?! ... nothing. I see. Great. No rewards for killing that great player.)
* RP Wars between Guilds/Corporations/Alliances/etc. I'm no RPer, but I'm not one to run from a battle. It also gives the game a reason to have good leaders and not just a generic leader of a guild who has no power outside the guild. Combined with the first reason, this is a very powerful thing.
* Get points twords a certain faction (like rank in WoW) or a ranking system (who has killed the most players in a month, week, day, etc.)
* Loss of XP, items, money, etc. etc. etc. endless options... PENALTIES! But not penalties that are EXTREMELY hard to recover from, but enough to cause an annoyance not to die! Why don't they do this already? Why can't I make a real pirate? Bandit? or someone who lives outside the law? Or why can't I kill those who break the law? WHY WHY WHY! I am not the only one who feels like this. There is a huge player base of players spread out through all games that feel like this, young and old alike. And this is pretty much the only way. You need penalties. If you do it right, players who don't like it will get used to it and player who like it will love it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You get some experience from every player you kill (depending on how much difficulty to kill and how long they have been alive without dieing), there is no NPCs. Large battles are always happening in Planetside. There are some large organized outfits in the game, although most don't roleplay. Every player you kill, you work towards your Battle Rank. Every base you take while leading a squad/platoon gives you Command Rank. Using almost any vehicle or device in the game works towards merits which you can show on your shoulder for other players to see, and some unlock new variants of the vehicle or weapon for you to use.

There is no way to lose any experience in the game. The penelity for dieing is a few second respawn timer (cloning technology ftw), depending on frequency of deaths and where you are trying to respawn. There is no good or bad guys in this game, as all factions are fighting for what they feel is right.

Planetside is NOT like other sony MMOs. There is no grind, and a skilled BR 1 charactor can beat a 2.5 year old BR 25 charactor without trouble. Having a high BR rank just means you can have more equiptment, not better.

Here is another one of my rants I posted somewhere else that will give you alittle more information on the game SnaKey.

-----------------------------
Yes, the number of players is lower when compared to MMORPGs, and normal FPS games that have no subscription fee, however this game is neither. This game is in a genre of it's own.

What other FPS can hold 400 players per map (server)? What other MMORPG is 100% player versus player combat with no NPCs? What other FPS game has had 30 major content patches released over the past two and a half years? How about more then 70 minor patches? In what other MMORPG can a skilled level 1 player kill a top level character that has played for 2 and a half years? What other FPS game has maps so LARGE, that they are planets? In what other MMORPG do players gain experience solely from fragging other players?

This game is inhead of it's time, and not alot of FPS players are ready to pay for a team dedicated to enhancing the gameplay every week monday-friday, stable servers up 24/7, quality service who makes sure no bugs get released onto live servers, and Customer Service hired to keep the servers user friendly and hack free. Weekly updates, monthly developer chats, and daily forum posts by the team make it so that the player base knows exactly what to look for next month, and the many months beyond. Not to mention many of the suggestions submitted by the community are implemented ingame.

Planetside is one of a kind, don't compare it with anything else. You will be able to try it for yourself if you don't believe me.
--------------------------------

Dinion · January 2006

1. Get rid of Mechs
2. Reduce subscription cost

and this may very well save Planetside.

Destman · January 2006

Dinion, you will be glad to know that the BFRs are balanced now, and that they wouldn't open up this "Free Play" with an imbalance like that still in the game. They have been nerfed quite a bit and are nowhere near as bad as they where before. As for the reduced subscription cost, the "free play" gives you a year free play time. I don't think they intend to reduce the subscription cost anytime soon but when you make an account for the "Free Play" you should be able to post in the offical forums and ask if they would reduce the monthly cost.

Destman · January 2006

Enrico_Pallazzo the producer of Planetside has released more details on the free version that will be open for a year.

A small snippit of what he wrote:
Enrico_Pallazzo wrote:

New players will be able to download thePlanetSide Cannon Fodder demo and will be able to playfor free through Battle Rank 6. Once they complete BR 6, they will beable to continue to play the game, but will not progress to Battle Rank7, On exit from the game, they will be taken to a website that willallow them to upgrade to a monthly subscription, which includes thebase game, the expansion pack (Core Combat) and the Battle FrameRobotics (BFRs), the giant robot units. Depending on skill, it can takea player up to 30 days to complete BR 6, which will give them plenty oftime to see many of the cool aspects of the game. Additionally, playerscan continue on in the game at Battle Rank 6 for the entire 12 monthpromotion period.

The rest of his post can be found here.

BuZZKilgore · January 2006

I'm gonna check it out for sure.

baff · January 2006

Destman having checked your post history I have you down as an advertising agent for SOE. I will take your appraisals with a good humoured pinch of salt.

I haven't seen 1 poplock let alone two anytime since 2004. (When Sony removed the population counter from the server connection page). Last time I played this game Joint Operations was offering bigger battles. (But no Galaxies). In fact last time I played there was only ever 1 hotspot at a time. I will try not to mention this to you any further, your excellent posts included an idea of player populations which was very insightful, as you can see I'm not really going to be convinceable in this regard.

Full servers are the key to enjoying this game for longer than a weekend otherwise it's just the same old fight with the same old people at the same old base on the same old continent.

Now you might be right, because I haven't played for a year and not ever on the Chinese servers. (I have been following the forums periodically), but I have to remain skeptical. Comments like yours about BFR's now being balanced have been made every week/day/hour by someone or other since the day they arrived. NB most of the people who thought BFR's were vastly unbalanced stopped playing. By a process of evolution only those who like them (or at least accept them) remain.

BFR's will only be balanced when they have the equivalent power of any other solo unit, a Reaver, a Maxx or a Lightning for example. That day will never be. It's too late to remove BFR's now since all the remaining customers like them. Hopefully they will make Planetside 2 someday and leave them out.

It's still a game worth trying, (if only to see what elements make for an exciting mmofps), and the free trial is attracting attention on other forums I spam also. Although I still feel that this games golden age is long since past, if you haven't tried it already it's never going to have more players than at the start of this trial.

darkedone02 · January 2006

until this company starting to get very old, they should make it completly free, but since Planetside is always living, it might be 4 years for it to be completly free. since they have started to do this, this game might be good, but i still hate the tower camping shit that been going on and the bugged newbie helping quests.

BuZZKilgore · January 2006

Originally posted by BuZZKilgore
I'm gonna check it out for sure.

I changed my mind, I forgot that this was an SOE game. SOE can bite me.

Ra've · January 2006

Ill definately be checking this game out. Thanks for the info.

Teala · January 2006

Originally posted by baff

I haven't seen 1 poplock let alone two anytime since 2004. (When Sony removed the population counter from the server connection page). Last time I played this game Joint Operations was offering bigger battles. (But no Galaxies). In fact last time I played there was only ever 1 hotspot at a time. I will try not to mention this to you any further, your excellent posts included an idea of player populations which was very insightful, as you can see I'm not really going to be convinceable in this regard.
Full servers are the key to enjoying this game for longer than a weekend otherwise it's just the same old fight with the same old people at the same old base on the same old continent.
Now you might be right, because I haven't played for a year and not ever on the Chinese servers. (I have been following the forums periodically), but I have to remain skeptical. Comments like yours about BFR's now being balanced have been made every week/day/hour by someone or other since the day they arrived. NB most of the people who thought BFR's were vastly unbalanced stopped playing. By a process of evolution only those who like them (or at least accept them) remain.
BFR's will only be balanced when they have the equivalent power of any other solo unit, a Reaver, a Maxx or a Lightning for example. That day will never be. It's too late to remove BFR's now since all the remaining customers like them. Hopefully they will make Planetside 2 someday and leave them out.
It's still a game worth trying, (if only to see what elements make for an exciting mmofps), and the free trial is attracting attention on other forums I spam also. Although I still feel that this games golden age is long since past, if you haven't tried it already it's never going to have more players than at the start of this trial.

Actually I will back what Destman said, BFR's were drastically nerfed...and I have seen less than a dozen in the 15+ hours I have played since returning. Also, Baff...::rolls her eyes::...I can't believe you think the game is anything remotely like it was when you played...and what is this crap that you have never seen a poplock or anything remotely like it since 2004! Please...if you must BS, at least do it believably. Just this last weekend there were multiple poplocks across all servers. First it was Forseral, then Cyssor, then Hossin...then back to Cyssor. OMG...we had poplocks. Poplocks are nothing rare. What is rare is more than two planets being poplocked. That unfortuantely is true - it didn't use to be...but sadly it is now. Now we're down to one major poplock - at least on Markov, I understand Emerald has a larger over all population on their server and can have two poplocks and some smaller battles on various other planets(continents).

Oh and don't accuse me of being a spokes person for SOE...I truly despise them. I'm only playing PS right now to take advantage of the free play time for 30 days. I will never ever though say that PS is a horrible game and will go out of my way to incourage others to give it a shot. Planetside is by far one of the best MMO's on the market today and is a must game to experience. Yes it is an FPS game...nevertheless it is a great FPS game to get started in - just awesome and I recommend this game be tried by all. It is serious fun.

Look...Planetside rocks...plain and simple. BF2 is the closest game I can think of that even remotely resembles that kind of intensity you'll encounter and even that still doesn't match the massive battles you'll experience in PS.

I do not like SOE, but OMG...I love Planetside.

Destman · January 2006

Originally posted by baff
Destman having checked your post history I have you down as an advertising agent for SOE. I will take your appraisals with a good humoured pinch of salt.

I have to say that is one good conspirisy theory, however if you did more looking, you would have seen I have been a member of Planetside for the 3 years (<3 beta). You can see my forum profile here. Although I havn't been with the MMORPG community for long, and don't post on the MMORPG forums much at all, I have infact visited this site to see some of the new MMOs on the market (can't wait to try Huxley, even if it isn't shown on this website). The picture on the top of my post was taken from Macro Polo's site, the one who led the gurilla marketing nearly a year ago.

My goal as a fan of the MMOFPS genre as a whole (I intend to buy Huxley whenever it is released) as a whole is to bring more players into it. What other FPS game lets you play with 400 people per server.

As for the others who are saying the game is doing bad, the stats show otherwise. Was playing today on my TR Emerald charactor and we had two population locks (800 players on two maps). All we want is some fresh blood to the game, as it has not had any advertising by SOE for over a year. This is their responce to the community for more advertising. How can you go wrong with being able to try the game for a full year FREE?

Unlike MMORPGs, there are no NPCs. The more players, the more fights there are across the galaxy of Planetside. Every server cluster can support 400 players per planet x 17 planets = 6800 players. Compared to the 800 members online during our prime time, there is alot of room to expand.

Hopefully MMORPG.com will post some news about this year free for their members that don't read the forums (like myself, I rarly read or post on them).

dargonight · January 2006

Does the "free play" thing mean that the game is going to bbe free or is it just a free trial.

Destman · January 2006

If you had read Enrico's post, he said the account will be free for a year after you make it.

adamk22 · January 2006

Originally posted by Dinion
1. Get rid of Mechs
2. Reduce subscription costand this may very well save Planetside.

let me add some few other things;

3. Buff infantryside
4. Make some urban areas for infantryside and where vehicles are used for support (cover for ex)
5. Buff fieldfights instead of basefights
6. More New content and quit making vehicle/weapon variants.
7. Advertise the friggin game!!

druarc · January 2006

While the pop has gone done since the day's of multiple pop locks, pop locks still happen. And the BFR's have been fixed to be less of a killing machine, in fact you don't see huge numbers of them anymore.

If you do pick it up, get yourself into an outfit. Most have TS servers, which makes fighting a lot more fun. And makes find people to squad with a lot easier.

I definitly recommend it to anyone who likes skill based PvP.

And here's a post on what the dev's are planning to add to PS in the comming months.

[url=http://psforums.station.sony.com/ps/board/message?board.id=psdevdiscussion&message.id=95623&view=by_date_ascending&page=1]new PS stuff[/url]

Destman · January 2006

Had to post this great movie made by Planetside community member Radiant.

Planetside: Unparalleled (Left Click)
'Planetside: Unparalleled' is an video for Planetside's new promotional offer 'Fodderside' which allows potential players to play for free. This ad was created by Radant, with the help of Industrial Light and Magic technician, Secant. Our hopes are that it can be used to bring more players into this already unparallaled game.

Terran Republic SS
New Conglomerate SS
Vanu Sovereignty SS

Planetside: Unparalleled is my offering as an promotional tool to Sony Online Entertainment,
for Planetside's new Free-Play system, commonly known as 'Fodderside'.

I created this in ten days for the Gaming Uploads contest, yet I decided during it's creation
that it could be used for so much more than entertainment.

It would be my utmost pleasure if this film could be used to draw in new, potential customers
to the world of Planetside, and I fully embrace it's use as such.

I hope that the entire community enjoys the film, which myself and Secant created.
The later, I am proud to announce, works at Industrial Light and Magic special effects
company.

Please leave your thoughts and comments on the film, as always, I appreciate everything
you have to say.

Happy viewing,
-Radant

Also Thanks to Tigersmith of gaminguploads.com for hosting the movie

woofay11 · January 2006

I'm getting a notion, propably by the mention of the word "Demo", that this free account thing is only going to let the free players play on their own special servers with all the other cheapskates. Are we going to have acess to everything except that rank restriction thing? And, having never played the game before, how harsh is this restriction. Will it be a major handicap to be capped at that rank or will we still stand a chance against the higher rankers

darkman · January 2006

Pretty sure we will be playing on the same server as everyone else. In anycase, I think the concept is great. I always wanted to try PS, but with no trial (except the recruit a friend deal), that wasn't really possible. Glad to see I can try it out for a year with restrictions. I'll definitely give it a try and see how it is. IMO this move was the best for PS.

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MMOFPS Planetside "Free Play" launching around Febuary 14th

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