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PlanetSide 2 is letting players make the missions
The world of PlanetSide 2 is a battlefield, one that is constantly evolving and changing. Sometimes you need a commander who can come up with some off-the-wall strategies, a desperate flank, an ambush for a pursuing force, something like that. So the developers at Sony Online Entertainment are giving players a tool to make that happen via player generated missions. Anyone with the required command certifications can start creating missions at the relevant location visible to the entire faction. The missions are meant to be short-term bursts of activity, with major experience bonuses for a limited series of objectives. So someone on the ground might put out a call for an air strike, offering big bonuses to flyers who divert and take out hardened ground targets. It's a fascinating idea that can offer mechanical bonuses for improved leadership and placement, something that players will have more reason to practice once the system gets rolled out later this summer.
The Firing Line: The pleasures and pitfalls of PlanetSide 2
My time in PlanetSide was a blur. It's also a ways back in the rear view mirror, and I've played so many MMOs in the interim that I can't even remember exactly when it was. The game originally shipped in May of 2003, and I was entrenched in Star Wars Galaxies from its June 2003 launch going forward. That would put my six week (de)tour with the Terran Republic somewhere circa 2004, maybe? I forget. The point I'm getting around to, though, is that regardless of hazy dates, PlanetSide stands out as one of those seminal MMO experiences that showcased the possibility inherent in this particular genre. The upcoming reboot, then, should be pretty spectacular and deserving of some fanboi adulation, right? Well, yes and no.
