I got into the beta for this
Apparently i got in awhile ago i just found out about it today, they didnt even send me an e-mail i just checked the site and it said my account was active when i was checking up on it so i dled it and logged in and it worked
I have no idea why i didnt get an email but maybe the same happened for others
If you signed up for the beta go here:
http://www.planetside2.com/downloadClick download and log in, if it lets you dl the stuff then you got in, if it doesnt then you didnt get in
I havent played it yet, i started it up, all the graphics auto set to medium and i was only getting 20 fps, lowered the settings and only get 30 fps, the game is really hard to run
Ill probably play it tomorrow and might make a post then with screenshots and thoughts about the game if i can get it running at a reasonable fps (at least 40)
---------------------------------So i played it for awhile today
I had to lower everything to the lowest possible settings to get it to run at 40fps (except render quality i left that at 100% since it didnt really give any more fps by lowering it)
During times when no one was around and barely anything was on screen i got 60fps, but in huge battles my fps would drop to 30
Also while flying my fps spikes up and down making it really hard to fly
Ive heard of people with top of the line computers (16gb ram, i7@4ghz,2 680s sli) running it at medium and only getting 40-50fps, the game is ridiculously hard to run
So all the screenshots here are taken on the lowest possible settings
The first character creation screen
Planetside 2 has 3 factions (all human)
The Vanu Sovereighty (VS), they beleive alien technology is the way forward, they use laser weapons and hover tanks, their stuff is built to be more accurate/versatile, they wear purple and teal
The New Conglomerate (NC), they beleive any form of government or control is wrong, they use scavenged pieces of weapons/equipment/vehicles to make their own weapons/equipment/vehicles, their stuff is built to hit harder than the other factions but not none of it is as reliable, they wear blue and yellow
The Terran Republic (TR), they beleive authority and control is the only way to survive, they use well built military like equipment, their stuff is built to last long and be reliable, they wear black and red
Play NC if you want to kill in as few shots as possible assuming you can aim and hit with all of those shots
Play TR if you want to unload a storm of bullets into your enemies until they fall over dead
Play VS if you want something in between those 2, also hover tanks
This is the character customization screen
There is very little character customization right now
It is beta so maybe they will change it but right now there are only 4 different faces for each gender
And you wear a helmet all the time so you will never see your face making this customization pointless
After picking a server and making your character you spawn into something like this
Im using the radial hud which puts health energy and an ammo bar around the cross hair
Its easier for me that way, it fades out when its full (i purposely depleted a bit so you could see it all at the same time for this screenshot)
By default that info will be shoved at the bottom right corner
The brown bar on the right is the ammo, there is also a numerical ammo counter at the bottom center of the screen (31/199 in the screenshot), your grenade count is under that (you can only hold 1 at the start)
The blue bar on the left is energy, not all classes have energy, right now it displays as empty for classes that dont have energy which is annoying, your energy is also the circle next to the ammo/grenade count at the bottom center
The green and blue bar at the bottom of the crosshair is your health and shield, you wont take health damage until your shield is depleted, your shield regens rapidly if you havent taken damage for awhile, your health does not regen over time
Theres also a bunch of symbols and letters
The letters are control points, a green square around the letter means that you own that point, a different colored diamond (depending on the faction, blue for NC, purple for VS, red for TR) mean that an enemy owns that point, flashing squares/diamonds means someone is currently taking that point, gray diamonds means that point is neutral
There are a bunch of other symbols, im not going to go over them all, in this screenshot you can see gun looking things and a triangular thing that has 2 arrows like this < > and a circle on top thats 53m away
The guns are weapon stations (you can resupply your grenades or ammo there) most of them are easy to figure out what they are (a plane looking thing will be a place to get aircraft for example), the other thing is a generator of sorts
This is the what the triangular symbol i was talking about is
These things can power spawn points or force fields, destroying them will shut those down
They will not repair themselves, an engineer will have to repair them so if you destroy one in an enemy base and then take that base you wont be able to use w/e it was powering until someone (or you) fixes it
A section of the biolab facility, 1 of 3 facility types
The biolab is my favorite facility, its a giant dome thats high up in the air that has buildings and trees in it
The only way to enter it from the ground is to use a teleporter (there are 3 different teleporters that lead into it, each teleporter requires that you own something in order to use it, 1 teleporter requires you to have control of point A to use it, another requires control of point B and the 3rd requires you have control of the facility itself (the 3rd can only be accessed by the faction that is defending
There are only 3 facilities types but each one has a different layout
All biolabs are domes like this but the layout of the buildings and trees inside each are all different, even the locations of points can be different (i know at least 1 biolab has a jump pad that leads up to it where all the others have only teleporters)
There are at least 50 facilities on the map, i havent counted
The map
This is the map zoomed all the way out, its huge, that biolab where i took those screenshots is about the size of 1 of the hexes here, not every hex is a facility, the hexes are grouped based on facility location
The numbers that each group of hexes has is how many resources that hex group is worth, taking facilities will turn that hex group over to your faction and if it is connected to a hex group that is connect to your warpgate you will gain the resource it gives every couple of minutes
Your warpgate is a safe place that enemies cant enter (they can see you while your in it though, if they are close enough), the TR warpgate is in the bottom left, the VS warpgate is in the bottom right and the NC warpgate is in the top middle
The color of the hex group tells you who owns it, red is TR, purple is VS, blue is NC
That VS area in the middle of NC territory isnt gaining resources for the VS because it isnt connected to a hex that can connect to their warpgate
The exclamation marks are hotspots, these are areas where there is heavy fighting, once every 30 mins you can click a hotspot and drop pod into it instantly to get right into the action (you can also use the hotspot list to the bottom right)
The check boxes on the right let you filter what the map displays, i like having everything display at the same time
The resources on the right tell you how much your gaining over time, you have to be logged in to get resources
The bottom 3 resources (the greeen orange and yellow ones) are used to buy vehicles and explosive type weapons (grenades/c4) you can have a maximum of 750 of each, once they are out you cant buy vehicles until you gain more (you can also gain some by capping and killing)
The top resource is called araxium (i probably spelled it wrong) and is used to unlock new weapons or buy implants, its also the resource you get the most from doing stuff (think of it like IP from LoL)
The store screen, available implants
You start with 1 implant slot and can unlock more, up to 3 or 4 (i dont know how to unlock more but you can, maybe at higher levels)
They give you small boosts are can only be bought with araxium, i think the gold ones (the first 4 in that screenshot) are only purchasable with station cash (real money) but the cash system isnt working yet
The gold implants seem to be something like XP or IP boosters from LoL, there is a separate slot (only 1) for gold implants
The store is also where you can unlock weapons, there are dozens of weapons but only 5 or 6 are currently available in the beta (and they are all for MAX and heavy assault), you can only use araxium to buy weapons (theres no cash option on the menu) and hopefully they keep it that way
You can buy cosmetic things or exchange araxium for the other resources (you cant change the other resources into araxium though)
Cosmetic stuff
There is a ton of cosmetic stuff that can only be bought with real money, just look at that scroll bar, and thats just for vehicles, you can get weapon cosmetic stuff too
None of it is available in the beta since the cash system isnt in yet
All of this stuff is just for looks though, none of it actually does anything useful (not even camo because camo will be faction colored, not green or brown)
For useful stuff you can use certifications
Certification screen
You gain certifications for killing, capping, destroying stuff in a base, pretty much everything good you do gets you points and points get you certifications
You also gain certification points while your offline for some reason (might be a bug, i like it though)
Certifications can give you more armor, a better scope for your weapon, more grenades, different grenade types, better special abilities, deployable spawn beacons, better accuracy, the ability to use medkits, better vehicle control, tons of different stuff
Most of them cost 99999 because they are disabled in the beta
Each class has there own certifications, some classes can use the same weapons and certifying in that weapon unlocks it for the weapon for any class that can use it
Each vehicle has its own certifications
Universal certifications work for all classes
Leadership certifications work for all classes
The first things i got were more armor, medkits and a better scope
The IRNV scope which costs 35 certification points
This scope is the best scope in the game, in my opinion, it shows people and vehicles in orange, everything else is gray
It takes longer to switch into the scope then it does to switch into other sights, and everyone shows as orange enemies and allies alike so it does have its downsides, but it works at night (the night is really dark and flashlights are bugged right now) and its pretty easy to tell who your allies are even when using it
In that screenshot you can see the person directly in front of me is an ally and the guy off in the distance is an enemy (allies have blue arrows above them)
The galaxy that is parked there is an enemy aircraft, but it looks friendly because an ally is standing on top of it or flying behind it (i know its an enemy because i saw it before using the scope, also its on the minimap)
The further away something is the harder to make out what it is so its maximum range isnt that great but its far enough for this gun (putting it on a sniper rifle would be a terrible idea)
This scope also limits your field of view just as bad as a sniper scope would so using it all the time you are likely to be killed by someone to your left or right where they are just out of view
The spawn screen
This is what you see after you die
The orange skull is where you died, the green dots are avaiable spawn points
The list on the right can also be used to select your spawn points, it tells you how far from your death point that spawn point is
The nearest spawn point is 230 meters away in that screenshot, which may not seem that far by looking at that map but it does take awhile to run on foot
You can also switch classes on this screen instead of having to go to the class screen
The class screen (the black line you see going over the padlock icon on custom loadout 2 is the laser pointer i have on my gun to increase its accuracy, in beta it renders as a black line in this screen for some reason, you cant see it in game at all)
You can have 3 different loadouts for different weapons and abilities, i have no idea how to unlock the loadouts
You can change your weapons, ability type, sheild type, grenade type, and tool type here
Each class has a unique ability but that ability has different types, for example the infiltrator can cloak but he might have a cloak that lasts a long time but doesnt work that great up close, or he might have one that works for a very short time but cant be seen at all, you can only use 1 of those at a time and use this screen to switch between them
Vehicles have a similar screen
The vehicle screen
Vehicles have loadouts and certifications just like classes, you can change the type of weapons they use
There are currently 7 vehicles
The Flash is a fast atv with no weapons or armor, its used as a cheap and quick way to get 1 person from one place to another
The Sunderer is a bus that can carry 11 people, it is pretty slow, has guns, and is well armored, the driver gets to control 1 gun while the others are each controlled by someone else
The Lightning is a tank, it carries 1 person, its pretty fast and has moderate damage and moderate armor
The Prowler/Magrider/Vanguard is a tank that can fit 2 people, the 2nd person controls a turret gun, it is heavily armored, slow, and does heavy damage to targets, The Prowler is the TR version of this tank, it fires faster, the magrider is the VS version is more maneuverable, the vanguard is the NC version it hits the hardest
The Mosquito/Scythe/Reaver is an attack plane, very fast and maneuverable, only holds 1 person, the differences between these are about the same as above with the different tank versions
The Liberator is a bombing plane, it can hold 3 people, the pilot gets a gun that shoots forward, the 2nd person gets a gun that shoots back and the 3rd person can drop bombs (requires someone in the 3rd seat to fire bombs, the pilot cant do it)
The Galaxy is a transport plane, it can hold 12 people, has 3 guns, 1 on top and 2 on the wings (each gun is controlled by a different person), the pilot doesnt get to control any of the guns, jumping out of this plane while in mid flight wont kill you upon landing (jumping out of any other plane will kill you if you fall far enough) jumping out while flying is called hotdropping
The galaxy can be used when you are alone but you should really pick people up in it and not just fly it by yourself (it costs 400 resources, the most expansive vehicle in the game)
Having a squad is probably best if you want to drive it
The social screen
Theres a way to find squads if you arent in one, i think the ones shown here are based on distance and only ones close to you are shown
The auto join thing is bugged (i think) because it almost always puts you with 1 other guy and thats it
Outfits are like clans
Friends is your friend list
Communications is a chat room for your outfit/squad and (maybe) friends (you could also just use the chat window at the top left in game, but the one in communications might be easier to read)
The video section is where you can upload videos to youtube or twitch.tv, it can record and upload when finished recording automatically (i might use it later just to see how well it works)
And thats everything i think
The game is a lot of fun
Flying is easier then i initially thought it would be (when im not lagging), i hated flying at first because moving the mouse horizontally causes you to roll instead of turn (A and D turn you) and this confused me greatly until i stopped thinking about it and let my hands do what they had to do to do what i wanted to do, its really hard to explain
I still have trouble with hovering in place (there might be an auto hover button that i missed, the way ive been hovering is stupid, but it works good enough)
And landing without taking damage is a pain
There are some things i dont like about the game though
Most of them are complaints because im comparing it to planetside 1
The first thing is that any class (except max) can hack, it used to be that you needed a special tool to hack but now you dont, i wish you had to have that tool
Another thing is that you only need to stand near the point to hack it, back in planetside 1 you needed to focus on the thing to hack it and you couldnt attack or move, i think you should have to be defenseless while hacking alone
In planetside 1 you had an inventory that was similar to diablo 2's inventory, where you have spaces and can play tetris to fit stuff into it, this system would allow you to take a sniper rifle while using heavy armor for example, or take a rocket launcher with the cloaking armor (this would be stupid since you could only fit 1 or 2 rockets with that armor but you could still do it) in planetside 2 theres no way to do that, only the infiltrator can use sniper rifles, i hope they add something in that lets you mix and match a bit more
In planetside 1 you could hack doors (with that hack tool) and lock/unlock ally/enemy doors, this would slow the enemy down and i really wish they would bring them back in some way
In planetside 1 you could hack enemy vehicles/turrets (again with the hack tool) and hijack them for yourself, currently in planetside 2 there is no way to steal enemy vehicles and i want them to add that
In planetside 1 you could deploy automated turrets, the only turret you can deploy in planetside 2 has to be manned (and must be manned by the person that deployed it which is just dumb, they should let others use it if the person that deployed it isnt there), so i would like to see them add deployable auto turrets
The rest of my complaints are about balance issues, the NC stuff seems much better than anything else, but it is beta and balance will probably change a ton so i wont complain too much about it
The NC starting area seems better too, they can take the whole top of the map without much trouble where as the other 2 factions are both on the bottom of the map and the sides have less area to them then the top does
I might post more screenshots if something cool/buggy happens
If anyone else has the game tell me
by 
Subject: Planetside 2 
