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| August 2005 House of Commons Log |
Brekkee - Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of
Planetside! Tonight’s topic is general discussion so all questions are welcome.
Brekkee - Please send your questions to [QT]Gowel or [QT]Sprite - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up.
Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on
http://planetside.stratics.com shortly after the chat.
Brekkee - We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.
EnricoPallazzo - Hello Everyone! I am Thom Terrazas, interim producer of PlanetSide while Sam is out on leave. I have been with Sony
Online for approximately 7 years and hope I can keep up the pace that Sam has established. Thank you for coming!
Zatozia - Greetings Everyone! I'm Zatozia, the Community Relations Manager for PlanetSide.
Brekkee - *Akapella-w* Do you see planetside being big as it was over a year ago, in the future? planetside is the only MMOFPS out atm,
im sure that has its advantages, but still i see nothing being done about it.
EnricoPallazzo - Hello Akapella! To answer your question to the point, Yes! SOE is currently looking at new ways to get the word out on
how awesome a game PlanetSide is compared to the other FPS's out there.
EnricoPallazzo - We're looking to put it up on Steam to get it directly in view of the market that is interested in playing games of
this genre
Brekkee - *Mo_Steel* Where is Sam?
EnricoPallazzo - Hello Mo Steel, Well, I guess my answer isn't good enough. To the best of my knowledge Sam is out on vacation. I'm
just here to carry the pieces until he returns
EnricoPallazzo - er.. good enough on the forums that is.
EnricoPallazzo - I've tried to tell everyone all that I know and unfortunately that is all I know. .... I do expect to see him back.
Brekkee - *Gothic99* How do you plan to implement the ads? (Where in the game, and the such.)
EnricoPallazzo - Hello Gothic, The Ads going in this week is a new business model for us. The billboard style ads will be placed in
various locations
EnricoPallazzo - ... hmmm... you are asking How do we do it? ...
EnricoPallazzo - Well, I have some great people that work here that have already implemented the work needed and it is looking pretty
cool. I know some people do not like them, therefore we are being really careful to not impede gameplay at all.
Brekkee - *ShadowThunder* On the topic of the ads: Is there going to be an ad-free (paying players) and an ad-filled (free Fodder Side)
PS? Or will all players be seeing the ads?
EnricoPallazzo - hello Shadowhunter, the current plan is to have all players see the ads. We're in a wait and see what happens
currently. If we find that it is more suitable for a "Free" player base rather than a paying base, we will re-evaluate... However,
Ads are for everyone.
EnricoPallazzo - Oh, I want to make sure that everyone knows that we plan on using the Ads for our own use as well to promote our
community and supporting fan sites.
Brekkee - *TheArbitrator* Can you give us an idea on when the new commander options to command an empire better will be available?
EnricoPallazzo - Hello TheArbitrator, We are currently in design progress on the new commander options. I can't say they will make it
in the next publish after tomorrow but it is inline for 3.10. 3.9, we are looking at implementing a revamped LFS System.
EnricoPallazzo - A LFS system that works for someone looking for a group as well as someone creating a group with specific missions or
tasks in mind...
Brekkee - *ShadowThunder* Being that buggies have been considered (and are) underpowered, what (if any) ideas have there been to
improve them?
EnricoPallazzo - Buggies.... To be honest, it has been talked about briefly, but we do not have any specific changes in mind at this
time. I'll look into it this week and get back to the public forums when I have more information
Brekkee - *TheArbitrator* I am also wondering if you could raise the Special Assault merit requirements to say 5000 kills for Platinum,
the average out the other levels to accomidate the higher level.
EnricoPallazzo - Zatozia is going to respond to this question
Zatozia - We are evaluating the merits that don't already go up pass the gold level. However, its more envolved to raise them. So I
wouldn't expect to see that any time soon. Resources are focused more on adding new things.
Brekkee - *DeathsKiss* Are there any definite plans that we can be told about for spending the revenue earned from in-game ads.. and
also how long SOE expects to wait before seeing any revenue from the ads?
EnricoPallazzo - Hello Deathkiss, Really based on another question earlier about the ads, we're going to be in a holding pattern to see
how successful this campaign is going to be. If it works well, obviously that means we have created revenue in another area that is
new to us. I would love to say that I am going to go hire new artists and programmers but I really can't promise that at this time.
Let's see how well it does and then move on from the
EnricoPallazzo - Looks like it got cut off... the last sentences are as follows:
EnricoPallazzo - Let's see how well it does and then move on from there. I can make a stronger case for adding programmers based on the
success of the program.
Brekkee - *Destman* If the ads are successful and a large increase in profits are aquired, will the fodder program to allow new players
limited access into planetside for $10 and no monthly fee happen? Planetside, not having NPCs like all other SOE games must have a
large enough playerbase to keep the battles for auraxis raging.
EnricoPallazzo - Hello Destman, I believe we are going to still look at an access that allows you to play for free but gives you
limited access to certs and implants.
EnricoPallazzo - The ideas are still being kicked around for this but envision creating a new account when you buy a new retail game
and play until you are able to get your first implant. This will probably be for a limited amount of time though which we may allow
you to pay more money to continue that model or go out and buy another game.
Brekkee - *TerminatorUK* Question: When is Direct X 9 / Performance patches due and to what extent will it fix FPS problems in large
battles?
Zatozia - The plans for DX9 are still being evaluated. However, in regards to performance, its not relying on that update.
Zatozia - In fact, we have already made some changes that are going into 3.8 that have increased the frame rates and performance.
Zatozia - The main things we are evaluating for DX9 are from ourside but we are still looking into client side issues as well.
Zatozia - Once we have evaluated it more and are ready to push changes to one of the version, we'll give you more update on it.
Brekkee - *ShadowThunder* Is there a chance that a counter could be added to the ACE so that we know how many
mines/boomers/turrets/motion sensors we have deployed at the time? I know there’s one when you place an ACE, but I would like to see
an up-to-date counter.
Zatozia - That's a pretty good idea. We will check to see how feasible that would be to put into game. We'll discuss it further and if
its something that can be done, we'll add it to our lists.
Brekkee - *Mo_Steel* What kind of out of game ads can we expect from SOE to promote PlanetSide?
Zatozia - While we don't have specific information at hand to give you on out of game marketing, I can let you know that we do have a
few promotions in the works. Some that we may have already mentioned, and others we may not have.
Zatozia - We'll try to get more information out to our website and forums once finalization on those have been made.
Brekkee - *[I-C]Fatalist* What is in store for the future in Planetside, perhaps in they way of weapons/vehicles/lands/rulesets, Me and
my I-C buddies really love this game and are always exceptionally eager to be on the very forefront of news about the game, god bless
the developers!!
EnricoPallazzo - Hello Fatalist! Weapons... Vehicles... Well, let me tell you what we are planning now which may help to answer your
question
EnricoPallazzo - Right now we are working on the LFS System Revamp. After that is implemented we are looking at the Commander or
Command and Control changes to enable a commander to direct larger battles (more pinpoint control of squads)
EnricoPallazzo - During this time, we are also looking at implementing new game plays WITHIN the game. For example, CTF or "Rabbit" or
"Assassin" games.
EnricoPallazzo - So, I would say that Weapons and Vehicles will be right be hind that closer to the end of the year. I hope that
answers your question.
Brekkee - *Moobie* the recently announced ads made quite a furor on the forums, and in-game as well from what I saw. can we get a final
response on wether the oft-proposed free play supported by ads while paying members get no ads is even being considered?
EnricoPallazzo - Hey Moobie - I answered this question earlier, so basically we're going to look into the free game play (to an extent)
soon and the Ads currently will not have anything to do with it unfortunately. We're going to see how well they do before we make a
decision.
Brekkee - *ShadowThunder* The sunderer and non-variant delivers are rarely used. Are these vehicles being adjusted in any way to make
them more appealing?
EnricoPallazzo - Good questions. Currently they are not being worked on but I will now add it to the list to discuss this week. It's
not on the list at the moment. Post your ideas on the forums and I'll take a look this week.
Brekkee - *Anon608* Are you planning to change plasma at all?
Zatozia - We collected information about the plasma from forum threads and plan on examining what the concerns are about it. If you
have more, feedback on it, be sure to add it to the threads that already exists on it.
Brekkee - *PsychoMantis* First, you're doing an excellent job Enrico; keep up the good work. Secondly, how does SOE plan to combat
blocking the advertising servers. What advantage is there for players who choose to watch the ads rather than edit their hosts file?
EnricoPallazzo - Hey PsychoMantis, Thanks for the vote of confidence! Current plan is to do nothing. As I am aware - It is possible to
do this but you would have to do this every time you log in. I think people will see that the Ads will not be a big part of the game.
If players understand that by allowing the ads to come through, it will only help the game and it's success.
Brekkee - *G2* What is the status of tournament mode? I had all but forgotten about it until a few days ago, was the idea scrapped
because of so much negative reception or is it still in the works?
EnricoPallazzo - Hello G2, No definites at this time. We're looking into it but it is not at the fore front currently.
EnricoPallazzo - I will have to educate myself a bit more on this. =)
Brekkee - *TheArbitrator* Are there any future plans to look at the Client Side Hit Detection bugs like "Shot Gun pellets" and killing
people who appear to be AFK but where actually on the other side of the continent, or even you are in the doorway, running down the
stairs and all of a sudden die by a Tank shell?
Zatozia - I'm not exactly certain what you mean about that question. But if you send me more information about it in a PM on the
forums, I can check further on it.
Zatozia - If its a bug, you should /bug report it in game and provide as much details as possible.
Brekkee - *[I-C]Fatalist* Good evening oh awesome Planetside dev team *bows* do you plan on offering any new incentives or rewards to
veteran players, or perhaps players who have achieved certain things? take care dudes!
EnricoPallazzo - Fatalist - Yes. For example, we're looking into offering more rewards to the newly expanded BattleRanks even though
they may not be in this weeks publish. We're being careful to not make Jack of all trades within the game so it is getting complex to
give out additional rewards. So to answer your question again in long form, yes. We definitely want to do this more.
Brekkee - *Tigerbot* I, and everyone else, have always wondered this...Can you possibly tell us how many people are currently on the PS
dev team?
EnricoPallazzo - Hey Tigerbot, You got me on the spot on this question. I do not know if there are any reservations on me answering
this question so I will have to decline for now. If I don't see any reasons for not answering this question, I'll follow up on the
boards or in the next chat.
EnricoPallazzo - Mr. President - Thank you for joining us tonight =) Picking up tips? =)
Brekkee - That will wrap it up for tonight. I’d like to thank the developers for coming! The log for tonight’s chat will be up shortly
on http://planetside.stratics.com
Brekkee - Thank you all for joining us! You can join #Planetside to chat more about the game.
Brekkee - Also, Planetside Stratics is seeking talented and dedicated people to join our web staff team.
Brekkee - If you are interested you can read more here: http://planetside.stratics.com/content/stratics/joinstaff.php or email me at
brekkee@stratics.com
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