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Why is Planetside 2 doing better than it's predecessor?

TotecTotec Registered User new member
in Debate and/or Discourse
Hey all,

The title pretty much sums it up, but I was wondering what has changed in the past 10 years to make Planetside 2 such a hit. It seems like the core concept of the game wasn't much different than PS1, but we've already seen twice the number of servers and a huge community develop around a game that's only been out for about a month. Just wanted to get your guys opinion on why this game is doing so well.

Cheers

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    EshEsh Tending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles. Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    Because 10 years ago online MMOFPS's were still in their infancy and nowadays there's a much bigger player base for them?

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    HacksawHacksaw J. Duggan Esq. Wrestler at LawRegistered User regular
    The short answer is, better technology.

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    SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    Also, planetside 2 is free to play.

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    CorehealerCorehealer The Apothecary The softer edge of the universe.Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    PS1 was ahead of it's time.

    Time has now caught up. In a Lightning.

    With an HE Cannon.

    Corehealer on
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    a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    SniperGuy wrote: »
    Also, planetside 2 is free to play.

    Yeah. It's better and free. Pretty good recipe for success.

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    SammyFSammyF Registered User regular
    Hacksaw wrote: »
    The short answer is, better technology.

    Planetside 1 was a Sopwith Camel to Planetside 2's P-51D Mustang.

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    DiannaoChongDiannaoChong Registered User regular
    The really short answer is the game wasn't that great

    The longer answer is all I remember is if you hadn't gotten to a continent with action, you had to sit around for 20-30 minutes in a hub world watching the same 30 second army commercial playing.

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    zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    It's new and free to play. That's probably the biggest thing.

    Widespread broadband is another. I remember playing Planetside over a 56k, and it wasn't too great.

    It's also better, and it's 'niche' has gotten a lot broader appeal.

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    fugacityfugacity Registered User regular
    Hmmm, I played the Open Beta (just before release) and it didn't seem that much better than PS1. Maybe because I had to turn down all the graphics to reduce lag (though other games run just fine with higher quality detail). I also thought the HUD/UI was lacking. Course it also took me half the playtest to figure out what the engineer's gun emplacement did.

    Also cert qualification looked like it would take forever, but that's probably by design to sell items through the in game store.

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    MagicPrimeMagicPrime FiresideWizard Registered User regular
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNLNfN-WCZg

    BNet • magicprime#1430 | PSN/Steam • MagicPrime | Origin • FireSideWizard
    Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
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    casper_27dcasper_27d The Friendly Ghost EverywhereRegistered User regular
    free to play and micro transactions using a purchased in game currency = win. It is easier to spend 1500SC vs seeing an actual dollar amount. It helps disassociate any real financial loss when you make the purchases.

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    November FifthNovember Fifth Registered User regular
    As much as I loved PS1, the actually gameplay was a mediocre experience in everything except for scale. Particularly for players coming from other games of the period like Counterstrike, which offered precision control and aiming.

    PS2 has done a much better job of bringing the "feel" of the game inline with contemporary shooters like CoD and Battlefield while still offering large scale action.

    Granted, the new player experience could be much better and they really need to revisit the certification and weapon purchasing systems.

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    davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    Re: new player experience...Yeah, that needs improved. I tried to play for the first time this morning after this thread came to my attention, and it was frightening having gunships blasting me to oblivion and people yelling on the voice chat for everyone to go here and go there, and I have no defenses or weaponry or clue as to where I am at. Looks cool and interesting, love the mmofps concept, but how do I get started if all I am doing is dying and running in random directions?

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    fugacityfugacity Registered User regular
    That reminds me, I think the worst part of the UI/HUD was the map. For some reason the map interface just drove me up the wall. It was almost impossible to get a sense of "you are here" most of the time.

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