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Planetside is back, trying to once again reinvent itself with AFTERSHOCK.
- Devastate enemies with the all-new BattleFrame Robotics (BFRs). These heavily-armored mechanized robots feature multiple weapon systems for awesome firepower.
- Experience massively-multiplayer online action with thousands of players. Includes original PlanetSide, the Core Combat expansion pack and updated content.
- Command various battle vehicles including the air bomber, anti-aircraft buggy and ATV assault vehicle.
- Also features Combat Specializations, “Battle Islands”, Multiple Battle Configurations and “Instant Action” mode.
While the expansions are only $9.99 you still have to subscribe to the damn thing in order to be able to play. It’s a shame. Maybe SOE will get it the next time around. But it’s doubtful. As I have pointed out about a million times, $12.99 / month ($120 / year) + VAT is a bit steep. And game publishers need to outsource content creation and themselves pay for server hosting. It’s not like they didn’t charge $50 for the bloody game to begin with. A game that is only playable online. It shouldn’t come as a shocker that online play requires dedicated servers and that people will be reluctant to pay subscription fees.
Maybe a compromise is in order? Why not give the game away and then charge for membership only? Or even better, release a dedicated stand-alone server and let people host their own servers free to the public or at discount prices. Perhaps it wont be as grand as the veritable armies of players that you face on SOE servers, but smaller maps and fewer players would be fun as well. Buying the game and playing for free on SOE servers would of course be preferable. But I know from personal experience that latency is a big problem in Planetside, i.e. there would have to be free-for-all server clusters on every continent. And that is a bit much to ask for from SOE. Until they figure it out, MMORPGs are out of the question for me.
