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PlanetSide 2 List of Changes for Next Update

Happy New Year, I hope you all had a great 2012 and are having an amazing start to 2013. On the Planetside 2 we had a pretty **** fantastic 2012, but we’re looking forward to even bigger and better things in 2013! I’ve said before that while 2012 was the year that Planetside 2 launched, 2013 is the year when we’re opening up the afterburners and aiming for the stars. After a well earned rest the team is energized and ready to get back to  fixing bugs.ps2tankmain1

  • General performance increases, particularly for lower end GPUs

  • Experience (XP) system enhancements:Server transfer token available in Depot

    • Dynamic XP system for player kills, players who have more kills on their current life are worth more XP. Freshly spawned players will be worth a fraction of the current kill reward.
    • Partial damage XP for dealing damage to vehicles that you don’t end up killing
    • Population XP / Resource bonus moved over to continent population instead of global
    • Better display of XP sources for things like defensive bonuses & population bonuses
    • Rebalancing of XP rewards to help support tasks
  • UI changes to emphasize score per minute as a primary metric of player comparison

  • Sortable columns on outfit management & addition of “last online” column

  • New weapon type for all empires: SMG

  • Short period of invulnerability will be added to freshly spawned / revived players – breaks upon game actions such as entering a vehicle or using a weapon.

  • Dynamic / player configurable colors for minimap & overhead indicators for enemies, friendlies, and squads within a platoon

  • New Hot Spot system that displays where active fights are occurring on the map

  • New spawn buildings with more exits, protected balconies and easy roof access to make them less campable.

  • Tunnel systems for amp and tech facilities to give access from spawn rooms to interior of bases and base walls without having to go above ground.

  • Making MAXes render more reliably at long distances for players in vehicles

  • AA improvements, notably flak changes for turrets and skyguards, giving them some better ability to aim, although not drastically impacting their DPS.

  • Fixes to missiles so that they more reliably detonate and actually blow stuff up

  • Air vehicle weapon tweaks

  • Increases to reload speed for certain HE ground vehicle weapons

  • And of course… lots of bug fixes

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The Elder Scrolls Online Avoiding a Wall

1749DaedrothFreedom in an MMO: once, I thought this was a given aspect of all MMORPGs. But recent releases have changed this facet of the genre. Many titles now place the player on rails through a batch of content, and then hope to God there will be enough waiting at the end to keep that person paying and offering up their precious time (and money). This is fundamentally flawed. Content is so costly to develop that studios can never make enough to keep players satiated. Inevitably, a vocal portion of player base winds up out of things to do and creates a feeling of restlessness among the community. I don’t want this column to become an essay on the virtues of “sandbox” over “themepark” design mentality, but simply put: player freedom and robust systems will amount to longevity in a well-designed and rendered MMORPG. Elder Scrolls Online must not only give fans of their vaunted series a compelling narrative and world to explore, but they must give them the freedom to explore that world in any way they wish. And they must also avoid the pratfalls of the “gear grind” as a means to keep players hooked.

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Wizard101 : A Childs Game? No it is not

Now, before anyone gets their knickers in a knot wondering if I’m going to harangue on the sore losers (and you must admit there were some) in the announcement thread for whining about Pirate101 winning the Game of the Year, rest easy. I’m not going to do that. There has been plenty said on the subject in that particular thread and in Victor’s excellent take on the reaction. So, realistically and proverbially, “Nuff said.”

 

What I do want to talk about is a more general attitude of many gamers to dismiss games like those made by KingsIsle as “simplistic” and as “just kids’ games” and other such generalized statements. You see, it’s not just Pirate101 that is accused of being such but so is its stable mate, Wizard101. In fact, being the older of the siblings, W101 has had these charges leveled at it for four years now.

Many players seem eager and unwilling to even look at a game if it is tagged as family- or child-friendly. In fact, I will go one step further and say that any game sporting either of those tags is summarily dismissed by a lot of folks as even being worthy of inclusion on a site like ours.

Article By: Suzie Ford

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Earthrise : Development taken by SilentFuture

331_81It seems that the nex-gen German VGA gaming developers known as Silent Future ( SF / SlientFuture ) has revived Earthrise, the futuristic MMO that was canceled last February. We are posting the press release in its entirety as it was sent to us.

 

Alpha Statement: The new Earthrise

The closed alpha stage ONE of Earthrise officially has started. SilentFuture revamped many of the systems used in Earthrise and focused on fundamental factors such as network and server performance. A new network layer was implemented and the Flash based GUI was replaced with a HTML5 one, that enables the players to customize their HUD and implement own functionality.

The sandbox gets an overhaul that the player gets a bigger impact. SilentFuture focusing the RPG factor with third person fast-paced action combat. The gameplay gets more cooperative and shooter like.

Earthrise will be completely free to play. For the funding of further development of Earthrise SilentFuture will offer micro transactions, that allows the player to personalize and individualize their character without affecting the gameplay. Further there will be service offers like additional character slots. SilentFuture is completely against a “pay2win” concept.

The estimated launch date isn’t fixed, as SilentFuture CEO Daniel Schemann explains:

“We work hard to bring you a stable release, and we won’t rush and throw it out. Development takes time and when we getting near a possible release we will inform the community. Until this we have the alpha/beta running mostly 24×7.”

The Account registration is online and you are able to register to become eligible for selection as closed alpha/beta tester at http://www.play-earthrise.com/account/register

NOTE: Registration does not guarantee entry into the Earthrise closed alpha/beta.

About SilentFuture UG

SilentFuture UG is specialized in the development of Multiplayer Games with a strong focus on MMORPG design and conception. Founded in 2012 by Daniel Schemann and Katharina Weiß, the firm offers the complete palette of online game development and lifecycle services – from market research through project planning and design to customer support.