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Planetside 2 |OT| 12 Man Squads, 2000 Players, So Free You'll Want to Pay!

MrBig

Member
Primary GAF servers: Connery (US West), Mattherson (US East), Miller (EU)


PS2 Beta OT

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New players fill out this form: Planetside 2 GAF Players

This is for the soldier that you'll use to play with other GAF players; you may submit any other alternate soldiers you want people to be able to find you as on other servers. You can also opt to be sent an invite to the GAF outfits via the form.

The NeoGAF player list can list can be accessed here. Sort the list by your faction of choice and send out friend invites after you submit your own character to the list. Send a friend request and a /tell to outfit leaders or officers to get invited to the GAF outfits in-game, or have the outfit box checked when signing up on the form and they'll contact you. Note that currently you have to be online to be invited to an outfit.

Graph data can be viewed here.

This list was purged from the launch rush on 3/15/13. The original list can be viewed here.

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02/20/14 - Amerish Revamp relased
11/12/13 - Optimization Update #1 released
7/24/13 - GU13: Esamir redesign and lattice introduction
5/22/13 - GU9: Indar redesign and lattice introduction
5/2/13 - GU8: Max class update and NS Harasser buggy
4/12/13 - PS2 Players app released
4/8/13 - Test Server launched
3/15/13 - 3/17/13 - competitive PS2 details at MLG Dallas
3/13/13 - GU4 (Game Updates are now on a two week cadence, only major updates will continue to be listed here)
2/28/13 - Server Merges
2/21/13 - GU3
2/2/13 - GU2
1/26/13 - Metagame Design Meeting streaming discussion (archive)
1/25/13 - 6 month roadmap discussion begins
1/25/13 - Ultimate Empire Showdown: 4-7pm PST
12/21/12 - Triple Station Cash
12/12/12 - GU1
11/20/12 - Planetside 2 goes public
11/16/12 - Closed beta ends at midnight PST
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PS2 SOE website (EU Site)
Planetside 2 - Download
Planetside 2 - Steam
Game Update Archive - full changelog of every update milestone.
Planetside 2 Test Client (EU) - For testing new content and features before they are deployed to the live game
6 month roadmap discussion
PlanetSide 2 Mobile Uplink App - Android, iOS - log on to your character to check your stats and communicate with your outfit via voip
Planetside 2 Stats Site
PS2 stats api
Character Builder - For planning cert paths and their required cost
Active Live Streams
Planetside 2 Wiki
Planetside 2 Stats Site
PS2 twitch streaming channel - Friday Night Ops featuring outfit highlights and dev discussions every Friday 5-7pm PST
SOE support email - happytohelp[at]soe.sony.com
Patch notes and announcements
Getting Started Guides
Interactive continent maps
PS2 Forums
Bug reporting and tracking
PS2 SC daily/weekly deal announcements
Detailed weapon stats

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Planetside 2 is a Free to Play FPS featuring persistant, massive scale inter-continental warfare, with up to 2000 concurrent players per continent. At launch PS2 features 3 continents: Amerish, Esamir, and Indar, with much more planned to be released over many years of support for the game.

The game is faction based, with 3 opposing factions - The Terran Republic, Vanu Sovereignty, and New Conglomerate, each with their own arsenal, playstyle, and lore - whose goal is to capture and control territory or entire continents. You have multiple characters per account so you can try different factions.
Territory gives you resources, which are used to spawn vehicles - tanks, troop transports, ATVs, fighters, etc, and control over major facilities, as well as continents, gives bonuses to the controlling faction, such as reducing cost of supplies or vehicles, reducing the overheat time on turrets, the ability to spawn a certain class of vehicle, etc. Resources are awarded on a tick basis for the continent you are currently occupying.


  • Terran Republic – Like a militaristic government, the Terran Republic uses its Imperial authoritarian might to impel humanity to peaceful coexistence through any means necessary. Strength in numbers, focusing on quickly delivering soldiers and bullets into their enemies with more traditional weaponry.
  • New Conglomerate– A loosely connected group of rebel factions and idealistic freedom fighters, the New Conglomerate fight against the hegemony of the Terran Republic and the fanatical alien influence of the Vanu Sovereignty. Heavy hitting weaponry, highly armored vehicles; less accurate and maneuverable.
  • Vanu Sovereignty – A technocratic Empire that believes humanity can only evolve by rediscovering and tapping into the lost technology of an ancient alien race. Extremely accurate, featuring laser weaponry with the absence of bullet drop, and highly maneuverable vehicles.

You can read up on the game's lore on the wiki: http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/Lore

Player experience is based on any action you take - killing enemies, participating in territory capture/defense, repairing vehicles, etc, any active participation. Actions award you experience that contributes to your Battle Rank and Certification points. Battle Ranks are "levels" that define what certification branches are available to you and various other awards; Cert points are awarded per every 500xp and allow you to unlock new side-grade weapons, attachments, and utilities for your classes/vehicles from the certification trees that are available to you.

All of the primary weapons that are available are designed to be side-grades to support particular playstyles, so do not feel pressured to obtain any of the available side-grades as the starting arsenal you have access to immediately are the best all-around balanced weapons available. You may try out any weapon that is available and if you find it to your liking you may purchase it with money (Station Cash) or by spending certification points that you earn by playing the game normally. Non-primary weapons that are available for purchase with real money and Cert points are for specialized rolls, shotguns for CQC, G2A launchers, etc that aren't as versatile as the basic weapons.
Cosmetic camouflages, armor, decals, and other ornaments are available for purchase only by Station Cash.

If you're new watch some videos. The gameplay is deep and the battlefields are huge, it's easy to lose yourself without any sense of direction. The most important thing, though, is to never play alone, as a single soldier in a war is hardly as effect as an outfit or squad. Squad up with some friends or join one of the GAF outfits.

"No matter how skilled you become, Planetside is still a game of teamwork. If you're used to dominating at games, you may become frustrated at your inability to do so here - even if you're actually a very good player. If you fail to accomplish a particular goal, step back and evaluate your strategy. Consider bringing more allies on board. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking you should win because you're better than your opponents. You may be, but you still need good teammates - sometimes, lots of them - to win the toughest battles."

SOE Tutorial Videos
Interactive Continent Maps
TotalBiscuit - The Absolute Basics

I have also collected an abundance of guide videos in the second post of the OP, so be sure to check those out for more info.

You can view any stream that is using the in-game twitch streaming tool here.

Trailers
Death is No Excuse - CGI Trailer
PS2 Launch
Your Joy is Vanu's Low - Fan Trailer

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Continents are currently in the process of being optimized and revamped, part of the process of introducing a lattice system for directing the flow of battle to allow a better and more strategic overall experience. Soon, the continents themselves will be linked by a lattice system, in addition to the on-continent facility lattice connections.
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Click to enlarge images. Map icons link to an interactive map with hex labels.

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Indar: Desert/savanna biomes

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Videos:
Indar Flythrough
Indar Gameplay

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Esamir: Snowy tundra, sparsely mountainous

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Videos:
Esamir Reveal
Esamir Gameplay

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Amerish: Forested highlands

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Screenshot Gallery

Videos:
Amerish Reveal
Amerish Flythrough
Amerish Gameplay

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Hossin: Dense temperate jungle swamps

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Available: ~September 2013; now on Test Server

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Battle Islands are smaller islands that cater towards smaller scale competitive play

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Available: TBA 2013

Nexus: Two faction; arctic mountains

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Searhus: Volcanic island

Available: TBA

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Oshur: Desert plains

Available: TBA

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Minimum:
  • OS:Windows XP
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 or higher / AMD Phenom II X2 or higher
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8600 series or higher / AMD or ATI 4850 series or higher
  • DirectX®: 9.0
  • Hard Drive: 15 GB HD space
  • Sound: DirectX compatible Sound Card

Recommended:
  • OS: Windows 7
  • Processor: Intel i5 processor or higher / AMD Phenom II X6 or higher
  • Memory: 6 GB RAM
  • Graphics: nVidia GeForce 540 or higher / AMD HD 6870 or higher
  • DirectX®: 9.0
  • Hard Drive: 15 GB HD space
  • Sound: DirectX compatible Sound Card

PCs that do not meet the min reqs or have outdated drivers will see the error "G25"

Because of the high player count and thus the amount of things that will always be happening around you, the game is largely CPU limited. If your CPU isn't on par with the Recomended Specs part, unfortunately, lowering graphics settings will likely not benefit performance to a large degree. Remember that PS2 is F2P, so if you're worried about performance on your system just give it a download and see for yourself. One of SOE's programmers made a nice post about graphics options and their performance implications here. Nvidia's tweak guide also shows what each option does and their performance impacts at different resolutions.

If you have a SSD, install this game to it, as it is heavily reliant on streaming in assets, and eliminates any hitching/stuttering.

Use of any third party programs that modify the client in any way (including FXAA/SMAA injectors) and any sort of modification to the game's files is bannable.

Analogue input is not yet fully supported. There are common issues with the game crashing when certain joysticks/controllers, including 360 controllers are plugged in. Crashes are either instantly on initial load or after hitting play.

PhysX particle effects are enabled by checking "GPU Physics" in the graphics options menu. Nvidia driver 314.21 or newer required.

Example useroptions.ini config for Ultra settings; copy the [rendering] sections over the one in your original ini file. The ini is located in the games main dir. Many options do not do much at the moment, but always set texture quality=0 for the best resolution textures available to the client.

The only AA that works is post AA and SSAA. You can supersample easily by setting RenderQuality in useroptions.ini to a value above 1 at the square root of the multiple you want (eg 1.41 for 2x or 1.73 for 3x). Doing it that way will retain the UI at native size.

Here are some comparison shots for different renderquality settings at a native resolution of 2560x1440 - 0.5: .5x; 1.0: 1x; 1.11: 1.25x; 1.22: 1.5x; 1.41: 2x; 1.73: 3x

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MrBig

Member
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Planetside 2 is about a persistent war, enabled by impressively massive, organized teamplay, and to that end the first thing that happens for a new player is to be dropped right into the action with a random squad after creating a character. This will prove difficult because it will take a bit to get your bearings, but work with the squad it automatically puts you in and join in on the fight.

SOE put out an excellent video tutorial series by RivaLxFactor, explaining the basics of what you need to know.

Before you open the game it would be a good idea to watch this, which explains the factions and some basics about the game. Once you've created your character be sure to add yourself to the GAF list and then add people from your server/faction to your friends list in-game, and join one of the GAF outfits (clans) if you wish. Large scale organized combat is the core of the game so you'll want to join up with some group if not with one of the established GAF outfits.

For an overview of the map systems watch this, which explains how to operate the map and explains what everything on it means, and this to explain the basics of the combat systems.

The player upgrade system is driven by certifications and certification points, which you earn per every 250xp from doing nearly any action in the game, from reviving and healing to capturing enemy held territory. Certs are spent to obtain weapons and weapon attachments, as well as upgrade your armor, abilities, and other functions that are explained in the video. Lots of the first levels of cert paths are only 1 point, so grab those up quickly and equip them for some fairly significant gains. This vid points out a lot of essential certs to get you started.

A text tutorial will never be as effective as actually seeing what you need to do, so watch Total Biscuit's intro video, or any of the of others easily found on youtube. If you are interested in a text/image tutorial on the game's various systems you can refer to r/planetside's introduction.

One of the most important things you need to know about is the warpgate system, as well as the waypoint system as well.

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The giant blue blue hemisphere is a warpgate. These are safe havens, owned by a faction and un-enterable by your opposition, no damage can be taken or dealt inside. This is your home position on each continent, where you'll always be able to spawn and where you'll always be able to spawn any type of vehicle, regardless of whether you own the requisite facilities to spawn them elsewhere. This is also where you will find a terminal to switch between continents, in the spawn room. (though be aware that at some point in the future continent travel we be done via the structure in the center of the warpgate and will allow for vehicles to warp between continents)

The shaft of light and arrow with a distance meter is a personal waypoint. Right click on the map (m key) to place one. Your squad or platoon leader may place additional, color coded waypoints for you to follow.

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Infantry
Spawning System
Infiltrator (Infiltration)
Infiltrator (Sniping)
Light Assault
Engineer
Combat Medic
Heavy Assault

Facility Assaults
Effectively breaking through facility shield defenses
Tech Plants
Bio Labs

Vehicles
General Intro and Controls
Lightning
Main Battle Tanks
Flash

Flying
General Intro
Aggressive Landing
Dogfighting

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Text chat slash commands:
  • /l [text] Local chat. This text will be sent to all players within range of you. Can be seen by enemy players. This is the default mode if no slash command is given in the text box.
  • /y [text] Yell chat. This text will be sent to all players within range of you (longer range than /l). Can be seen by enemy players
  • /re [text] Region chat. This text will be sent to all friendly players within the same hex territory. Enemies cannot see the text.
  • /sq [text] Squad chat. This text will be sent to all members of your squad, regardless of location.
  • /s [text] Squad chat. This text will be sent to all members of your squad, regardless of location.
  • /os [text] Outfit chat. This text will be sent to all members of your outfit, regardless of location.
  • /t [playername] [text] Tell (Private Message). This text will be sent to the player specified.
  • /r [text] Reply (Private Message). This text will be sent to the last player sending you a private message
  • /squad invite (name of player) Invite player to your squad
  • /platoon invite (name of player) An invite to join your platoon will be sent to that player's squad leader
  • /profanity Disables the chat profanity filter.

Weapon trials:
You may trial a weapons in combat for 30 minutes. To activate a trial click the unlock option and under the payment options will be the option to trial.
You must wait 8 hours to trial another weapon, individual weapons have a 30 day cooldown before you can trial them again.

Virtual Reality Training Room:
The VR room can be accessed via the warp terminals at the warpgate. There you can test any aspect of the game without restriction or repercussion; all certs, weapons, and abilities are unlocked for you to equip and test out against the many dummy targets littered around the area. You may also use this area to train with outfits or learn to pilot vehicles.

Account Wide Unlocks:
Weapons purchased with Station Cash will be available to all the appropriate characters on your account. NS weapons will be available to characters of all factions (at this time some weapons labeled as NS, such as the Kobalt K12 for the MBTs are actually different for each faction and will not be shared, this may be addressed at a later time). Faction specific weapons will only be available to characters of the same faction on your account. Anything purchased with certs does not get transferred to other characters.

Reporting a player:
Type "/report <playername>" and a dialogue box will come up letting you describe the report. You can report players by freeing the cursor (alt) and clicking on their name in the text chat box, which is where you will find the names of people the have killed you or you have killed. You may also open a support ticket on the SOE site for more detailed info and to converse with SOE directly.

Reporting a bug:
Click support in the bottom left of the pause menu and then the report bug option. File it under the most relevant category and give a text description steps for reproduction if necessary. Your position data and the direction you're facing is automatically collected with the report.
Devs have also commented that using the in-game youtube video recorder, with the video set to unlisted, to capture bugs and sending it in via a support ticket is helpful as they can see the problem without having to guess at how to reproduce an issue.

Holding Q on a player brings up a dynamic quick action menu:
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General:
  • There are different color settings for HUD icons, if you are having trouble identifying enemies/allies try changing them in the General Settings menu.
  • "/who" displays a count of the friendly players in your immediate vicinity; "/who <playername>" will give information about a specific player
  • If it is ever necessary you may type "/suicide" to get unstuck, or hit "Redeploy" on the bottom right of the map.
  • Grenades and other infantry equipment need to be purchased with Infantry Resources, so be sure to stock up on them when you find you're reached the resource limit
  • Your faction must own an adjacent hex to the one you're trying to capture to begin the conversion process
  • When you cert in to a new attachment remember to equip it for whatever loadouts you want to use it for. When putting addition certs into a cert tree after the initial purchase it will be automatically applied
  • You can maneuver drop pods using the movement keys
  • Rebind interaction (E) in vehicles to "~" or another key to avoid accidental ejections while flying
  • Infiltrators can hack enemy terminals (by holding the use key on them), so don't always go out of your way to destroy them
  • No damage is taken when you eject from a Galaxy, gravity elevators, or drop pods.
  • Do not stand on vehicle spawn points, you will be killed when someone spawns a vehicle
  • Use "m" as opposed to "esc" to bring up the menu so that you always start at that common, situationally informative map screen.
  • As a medic, be sure to fully heal team mates that you revive
  • Engineers must heal MAXs, not medics, but they can still be revived by a medic
  • Sunderers have a cert that can be equipped to break through enemy shield walls, which is especially useful at Tech Plants
  • Overload or stabilize a generator/SCU by holding the use key on them, shooting them has no effect

Function keys:
  • "ctrl" + "F10" toggles the HUD
  • "ctrl" + "F11" toggles first person models
  • "F" activates your ability; most classes have a special ability such as an overshield or AoE healing field
  • "=" toggles cruise control in vehicles and auto run for infantry
  • "B" deploys vehicles and switches firing modes for infantry weapons
  • "H" expands the minimap
  • "alt" frees the cursor, so you can interact with parts of the UI and multitask with other programs when the game is in fullscreen windowed mode
  • "F1"-"F12" swaps seats in vehicles
  • "alt"+"f" displays your fps in the bottom left of the screen and tells you whether your framerate is being limited by your GPU or CPU under the current load
  • "L" toggles lights on vehicles and weapon attachments. Remember to turn them off when you don't need them as you become a big glowing target for bombers above you
  • "tab" shows you your stats for your current session, a dynamic leaderboard for the players in your hex, and the time untill next resource re-supply.
  • "page down" brings up the vehicle options menu, where you can lock a vehicle or deconstruct it
  • "T" toggles the third person view mode for vehicles
 

epmode

Member
Even though I didn't play the beta as much as I should have, I picked up that starter pack all the same. I feel like I should support such an ambitious game.
 

MrBig

Member
Even though I didn't play the beta as much as I should have, I picked up that starter pack all the same. I feel like I should support such an ambitious game.

I was the same way, didn't want to get burnt out on the constant changes and glitchiness of the beta, just dropped in occasionally. This is my dream game :)

So is the game still broken on AMD CPUs?

It's purely performance based, AMD's latest CPUs are not in the same class as the last few generation Intel CPUs.
 

Man

Member
Good OP! Finally, after ten years... Planetside returns in style and for free! Seems to pretty much be everything we hoped for.
Maybe this will be the first game to make my 2008 stationary PC (quad 3.4ghz, 4GB ram, 480GTX) feel a bit outdated.
 

epmode

Member
In a just world, this game would be as popular as Battlefield's multiplayer mode. The scope is incredible, especially for people that are only familiar with console shooters.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Gotta reinstall this on my new reformat I just did.


Got into the beta but it crashed after like 60 seconds in game running around.
 

MrBig

Member
Is the monetization model in the game fair?

It is currently, who knows what they'll do in the future, but they have been vehemently against making it p2w and have been actively working with beta testers to make the monetization aspect fair. All of the base content like Continents and such will be free.

The starting weapons are the best in the game, everything else is side-grades, which can be purchased by playing the game or with money if you don't want to invest the time.

Gotta reinstall this on my new reformat I just did.


Got into the beta but it crashed after like 60 seconds in game running around.

Everyone in the beta will have to delete the beta and re-download the game, btw

SOE's live stream just started
 

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
Loved what I played of the beta, and bought the alpha squad thingy. I haven't played in weeks because I was burning myself out, and there seems to be tons of changes to look forward to.
 

epmode

Member
Like almost every free-to-play game these days. I much prefer Steam's autopatching to the launcher setup but whatever.
 

demolitio

Member
This game is addicting now after taking a break from it for a while. I came back to a completely different game that has a lot more depth to it thanks to the certs and it's been running flawlessly for a while now. This game is just unreal thanks to the scale of it all. Epic battles are going on all the time and being a part of an assault on a base is one of the coolest gaming experiences you can have.

For any MAG fans out there, this definitely is the game for you.
 

MrBig

Member
Wow the twitch stream thing is unstable

2 crashes in 10 minutes

This game is addicting now after taking a break from it for a while. I came back to a completely different game that has a lot more depth to it thanks to the certs and it's been running flawlessly for a while now. This game is just unreal thanks to the scale of it all. Epic battles are going on all the time and being a part of an assault on a base is one of the coolest gaming experiences you can have.

For any MAG fans out there, this definitely is the game for you.

glad to see you back :)
 

Arksy

Member
Been in the beta for ages. PS2 is perhaps the most incredible game released this year in terms of sheer scale.
 

markot

Banned
Cant wait! Bought the alpha squad thingy.

Game runs really well on my computer too, and with so much shit going on.
 

AcridMeat

Banned
This game is addicting now after taking a break from it for a while. I came back to a completely different game that has a lot more depth to it thanks to the certs and it's been running flawlessly for a while now. This game is just unreal thanks to the scale of it all. Epic battles are going on all the time and being a part of an assault on a base is one of the coolest gaming experiences you can have.

For any MAG fans out there, this definitely is the game for you.
This is too true. Was playing with a fellow gaffer last night and we finished the session by initiating a take over of a base and then through ~30 minutes of a huge fight going on our faction finally took it over. Making me want to hop on now.
 

mr_nothin

Banned
Already posted the OT & I didnt even send you my screens yet! Thought you were going to post it when the game went public.
Anyways, I'm over 700 hours in and I'm not even close to being bored! I just now came to terms with flying so doing strafing runs in my Mosquito has opened up the game even MORE. I cant wait until Tuesday...Idk what I'm going to do for the next 3 days :/
I'll actually be able to work now lol
 

MrBig

Member
The macro and micro details in this game are fantastic. Astoundingly beautiful seeing massive battles in motion

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It certainly looks much much better than when the beta began, and it's running so much smoother under all conditions at Ultra settings
 

Forkball

Member
Whaaaaat I didn't know this was F2P. I thought it was going to have a subscription. I got in the beta but never downloaded it because I thought I'd never play it again.

So it's uh, fun right?
 

MrBig

Member
Whaaaaat I didn't know this was F2P. I thought it was going to have a subscription. I got in the beta but never downloaded it because I thought I'd never play it again.

So it's uh, fun right?

It's the most fun you can ever have in a game, imo, as long as you're playing with friends.

I'm pretty sure that there's going to be a subscription option but no details have been released. Or did I imagine that?

There's a $15/mo sub that gives some resource and cert point bonuses and early access to cosmetics in the store. Not in any way required.
 

vazel

Banned
I loved what I played of the beta. The sense of scale is amazing. Assaulting and capping a base then riding in a convoy to go take down the next base is an amazing experience.

Props to SOE for putting out a sequel to Planetside in 2012 and not turning it into CoD. And judging by the PS2 subreddit where SOE representatives post it looks like they're paying attention to the community. SOE has learned from all its past mistakes it seems. I'll make sure to support the game when I have the money for it.
 

MrBig

Member
wow, Esamir looks great now without the shitty fog occluding everything

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Server names have been posted

US West:

Connery
Genudine

US East:

Mattherson
Waterson

EU:

Woodman
Miller

Australia:

Briggs

I'd assume we'll want to do a West server again, so which of those names sounds better?

Here are the stats from those who put up their info on the GAF player list for the beta, btw. West server worked fine and more stuff usually happens on them. We can go East if we don't want to bother with potential problems with prime time queues on launch

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SparkTR

Member
I stopped playing this before they added in the new continents, going to waste a few hours on this now once it stops updating.
 
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