Game WQ : PlanetSide 2

PlanetSide 2 is a sci-fi MMOFPS, that is set approximately 300 years after the discovery of Auraxis. The actual chronology, however, starts a few years before. After the Earth has nearly come to ruin after being torn apart, the world's governments came to a consensus and united under one banner of the world-wide Terran Republic (TR). Some time later a wormhole, one which scientists fail to explain, appears and later disappears without a trace. Ex-President of the Terran Republic, Tom Connery, believes that the wormhole is a sign of existing extraterrestrial life and launches several space expeditions, led by him. The first expedition to Moon Belt gives a lead, a figurine of alien nature, giving Connery a reason to start a second expedition further into space. Several Terran Republic ships travel through the wormhole and are stranded for a very long period of time; their situation grows dire. Due to the crew's mental exhaustion and provision limit, strict curfews are applied. Later, a vote is held about the necessity of the measures. The positive vote wins, but only barely. There are nearly as many negative votes. A second vote is called. However, a terrorist bomb destroys the ship on which the vote is to occur, killing everyone aboard, including Connery. Curfews pass. Later, the expedition discovers the planet Auraxis, and exactly 175 years later, the war between the Terran Republic and the New Conglomerate breaks out. Following this, a group of people calling themselves the Vanu Sovereignty join the conflict.
Although the story is very similar to the original, Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced that award-winning author Marv Wolfman has joined the SOE team to write the ongoing historic fiction for the game. This is the first time the PlanetSide franchise narrative has been detailed.

An authoritarian government that leverages military might to maintain strict control over the colonial citizens. The Terran Republic is obsessed with the preservation of law and order and are thus seen by some to be an oppressive and dictatorial force, but many view the TR as the only hope for lasting security on Auraxis.

The New Conglomerate operates as a loosely organized band of dissidents, vehemently opposed to the stranglehold that the Terran Republic has on Auraxis. Led by an unusual quorum of outcasts, industry titans, pirates and former military leaders, the New Conglomerate is unwavering and prepared to achieve their goals by any means necessary.

Vanu has taught that only through technology can humanity evolve its next state of existence. The Vanu Sovereignty is extremely advanced, employing powerful alien technology on the battlefield. Their singular purpose is to uncover the secrets hidden away in ancient artifacts scattered over the surface of Auraxis and they will annihilate anyone who interferes.

PlanetSide 2 will be a re-imagining of PlanetSide, featuring the same world, factions and taking place at roughly the same time period. As in the previous game, it will feature territory control in an open-world, large battles featuring up to 2000 players on foot or in land/air vehicles. The territory system is more complex than in the original PlanetSide, and will play a bigger part in shaping the battlefield. SOE has been taking into account balance issues from the first game. Matthew Higby, the creative director, has stated "We're definitely going to be rewarding combatants on lower population empires through mechanics such as proportionally increased advancement rates and resources and we'll be attempting to balance the overall empire saturation on each server as much as we can without force-restricting folks from being able to play with their friends."
The pacing is going to be faster than the original PlanetSide. It will feature potentially thousands of players. It will also feature familiar first person shooter elements such as sprinting, iron sights, and regenerating shields. An important aspect will be that player skill is the major determiner when it comes to being able to kill other players. Unlockable Skills are planned to only make between 15-20% difference and any player. The model of obtaining the said skills will be similar to the model of EvE Online, with skill taking time to be learned, however the skill progression will not require a player to be online for its duration. The game will also feature a unique Day/Night cycle, meaning that battles will happen in different times of day, affecting the general methods for warfare.

Another thing the game is taking from the genre is the pre-set classes, with multiple progression trees. The versatility of the original inventory system was replaced with the new class system to provide more team play experience and give player the ability of visual distinction. The game presents 6 classes, each of them possess 2 specializations, and all except MAX have handguns and combat knives:

• Light Assault - a jetpack trooper, can deploy his own ammo and is armed with a carbine
• Heavy Assault - heavy anti-infantry unit and anti-vehicle unit, can equip their faction's machine gun or anti vehicle weapon
• Medic - a class responsible for replenishing players' health and reviving them on the field, armed with a rifle
• Engineer - a class responsible for vehicle repairs as well as fortification, and is a handy anti-infantry class with its rifle or shotgun
• Infiltrator - a saboteur or a sniper, capable of cloaking, armed with a Sniper Rifle
• Mechanized Assault Exo-Suit (MAX) - an operator of the powerful armored robotic suit, capable of sustaining and dealing heavy damage, the only class that will require Engineer's attention along with Medic's

The classes will not be tied to a character, one can switch a class at any given time, by using an equipment terminal on a base or at a mobile spawn point. Skill progression will not be tied to the active class either.
The two assault classes, the medic, and the engineer have access to Assault Rifles and Carbines as standard (presumably SMGs and Shotguns as well), but some weapons are specific to a class, such as the MAX suit weapons, and machine gun and the sniper rifle. All weapons can be outfitted with alternate skins, sights, and functional attachments, as well as themselves be modified to have different traits. These new traits aren't an upgrade, but rather a "sidegrade", where in a straight fight both weapons come out equal. For example, a carbine with high damage and low rate of fire will have the same time-to-kill as a high rate of fire, low damage version and the original.

Over ten vehicles to be utilized, The NS (Nanite Systems) vehicles which are 'common pool' vehicles that any faction can obtain. The NS vehicles consist of the Flash ATV, Galaxy Air Transport, Liberator Bomber, Sunderer APC and the Lightning Light tank/IFV. The remaining vehicles are ES (Empire Specific) meaning only your empire can obtain your faction's airborne or armored vehicles. The Scythe (Vanu Sovereignty), the Reaver (New Conglomerate) and the Mosquito (Terran Republic) are the three Empire Specific fighter jets. The three Empire Specific Armored tanks are the Magrider (Vanu Sovereignty), the Vanguard (New Conglomerate) and the Prowler (Terran Republic). This makes a total of eleven vehicles thus far and more may be added before launch.

The game will use SOE's Forge Light Engine which in turn uses nVidia's PhysX API for its physics engine. This enables more realistic vehicle handling compared to the previous PlanetSide, especially when it comes to flying aircraft. Weather and day/night cycles are also possible as well as volumetric fog and clouds which players can hide in. Bullets are also simulated by the physics engine so players will need to compensate for gravity while aiming.
Another improvement over PlanetSide is the introduction of locational damage (hitboxes) for soldiers and vehicles. This is customisable by the developers so that a sniper rifle shot to the head can have a huge bonus while high rate of fire weapons, such as the Mini Chaingun, and vehicles have small to no bonus.

Initially, combat will take part on the continents of Auraxis which are broken up into many territories. Territories are then split into sectors which can be captured by the various empires; later SOE may introduce multiple worlds to fight on. Some sectors are captured by soldiers, while others can be captured by vehicles. Influence from captured sectors can also spread to adjacent sectors. Each sector has resources, such as Auraxium, although details of how these can be used have not been released. It will also feature a player and, possibly, outfit (PlanetSide name for guild/clan) economy.

The mission system is partly automated and partly controlled by commanders and outfits. It provides focal points for players to attack and defend and to help players get into the fight a lot quicker.

As a player participates in the game they will increase in Battle Rank. This is where the similarity with PlanetSide's system ends. A player trains skills (called certs) to improve their character by granting bonuses and allowing access to more equipment and vehicles. Certs train over time whether the player is online or not (although skill training is quicker when the player is in game). By progressing in Battle Rank a player unlocks the ability to train higher level certs. Some certs require the player to have prerequisite certs, for example to train for a Mechanized Exo-Suit you may first have to train a heavy weapons cert.
There will be class based game play which centre around well known roles such as medic, engineer, etc. You can switch in and out of roles at will but your effectiveness in that role will depend on your certs. It is therefore down to the player whether they become highly specialised in one role, or branch out to be effective in a variety of roles, however at maximum level, you will be able to unlock everything.
Command Rank does not exist in PlanetSide 2, instead there will be command skills which provide bonuses to team members such as allowing the leader to be a mobile spawn point and unlock orbital strikes. Outfits will also have a skill tree which provide bonuses to their members.