If you haven’t played Daybreak’s ‘Planetside 2’ yet, then we wonder what planet you’ve been living on. Can you imagine a first person shooter with a persistent world, next generation graphics, and all the combat you can handle? Well Daybreak imagined it, and we’re here now to celebrate the third anniversary of what could be the most popular MMOFPS in the world.
Before we start the celebration, let’s discuss exactly what Planetside 2 is and why it’s so important to the FPS community. First of all, it’s a re-imagining of the original Planetside game, meaning it takes place on the same world with the same factions, and is even in the same time period. Now this is in direct contrast to what they did with Everquest 2, wherein they created a game that took place in an alternate universe, though on the same planet. Planetside 2 is still very much rooted in reality, or at least as close as it can get to reality.
So what exactly makes it different from any other FPS on the market? You have your Battlefields, Counterstrikes, and all other manner of shooter, so what sets it apart from all the other riff raff? More than you might think, actually. With most other first person shooters, the game eventually has to end, and the players return to the lobby so that they can queue for the next game. In Planetside 2 the game never ends. The battle is always raging and the rivalries are real. Additionally, the game, which emphasizes on territory control, can accommodate up to 2000 players per continent whether they are on foot, in vehicles, or even aircraft. The battle is real, the participants are pumped, and the war has only just begun.
In contrast to Planetside 1, Planetside 2 is a much faster paced game, and it has all of the typical first person elements that you would expect. This includes sprinting, iron sights, energy shields, awesomeness, and the spawn points you would typically see in a Battlefield type game. It has all the things you love along with a persistent world. Seriously, why aren’t you playing it right now?
If that’s not enough awesomeness to drive you onto the battlefields of Auraxis, then how about we inform you that on January 26, 2015, Planetside 2 earned the Guiness World Record for the largest FPS battle in the history of gaming. A total of 1150 players took to the battlefield on a single server, and you know what? We were there. If that’s not some awesomeness, we don’t know what is. Along with offering some of the largest and fastest FPS battles of our generation, Planetside 2 has been hailed as one of the best shooters in the world. The game was presented with several awards at E3 2012:
IGN Awards
Gamespy Awards
PC Gamer Awards
Many MMO’s tend to lose the hype a few months after going live but Planetside 2 is keeping momentum for a few reasons. First of all, it’s pretty. I mean seriously, you’d be hard pressed to find a game that can match it. Secondly, there aren’t many other games like it on the market. Open World, First Person Shooters that provide a persistent environment really are a rare commodity and we’re lucky to have it.
Now, here on the third anniversary of Planetside 2, you can buy a limited time bundle, which can be purchased in the Depot. It contains:
The whole thing can be bought for 3999 DBC/BC, though we have to admit, that’s a pretty steep price. Additionally, even though it is more expensive than the down payment on an imaginary car, the heroic boost can only be used on the character that you purchased it on. No, you cannot transfer it, so make sure you purchase with the right character. Remember, we warned you. The bundle is available for a limited time, though the anniversary event goes on for a few weeks.
All games have their memories but we have to admit that some of the stories from Planetside 2 are the absolute best. We’ve taken a small sampling of them from Reddit for your reading pleasure:
I posted this story a while ago on this subreddit but it was way back nearly a year and a half ago when my squad bumped into some NC at Ymir, we planned on doing some usual harassment on a NC/VS fight but a player voiced in yell chat if we would lay off them. It was said in a very friendly and polite manner so we said do you want to fight together and well to our surprise they said yes.
Well the VS basically entered a stage 2 salt coma as with TR siding with the NC it became something like 25% NC and 23% TR fighting 53% VS and we actually took the Biolab from them for the NC. We dicked about and had a laugh, both squads were distrustful but over the bases we fought together a real comradeship formed between us, to the point where the NC and TR squads brazenly TK’d anyone that threatened the new found friends.
Out of all of them I think only two didn’t join the The Lost Frontier, most of them became my good friends over the months after but over time life likes to bring reality to us and out of the players that took part in that fateful battle at Ymir, only five are still around on Connery. The others have moved on or left abruptly without a goodbye but that doesn’t really matter as in the end no matter what happens you can look back and say, “yeah we had a blast that day.”
I got a job in Midtown Manhattan because I made a friendship playing this game. Hows that for a memory
It’s gotta be the little rivalries you get on the battlefield. You’re running around and shoot somebody, then they kill you, then you kill them and before you know it, the battle has moved on but you guys are still there trying to outsmart each other.
I fucking love when this happens, it’s one of my best memories of PS2 having that versatile gameplay switch.
And of course, joining my current outfit the first ops night I had where I was so nervous I’d screw up 
My first proper introduction to my current outfit,
This one day, I decided hey lets play this planetside 2 game, haven’t played it in weeks or something because I got bored of the lonewolf game.
I decided to join a squad then, and there was a platoon open lead by this guy called Ironmike911, and it was really fun to roll with them. Mike constantly played music and sent orders with his epic voice, he was also taking requests in, and for the first time in planetside 2, or any game really I felt really good, It was relaxing and fun playing in that platoon.
I have a lot of memories of flying around in my galaxy with ZAPS pals. I flew solo mostly but once the squad spawn update came out having gunners made it much more fun. I still remember using the carbon weave camo and stealth to blend into trees on Hossin and having a lot of people in mumble crack up as some mossie flew right past the giant galaxy in a tree.
Ramming ESFs, libs, picking off other galaxies with bulldogs, it was all great fun. Crushing flashes, harassers, and lightnings was even better.
In general I just loved figuring out all the different things I could do with the galaxy. After a while I had trouble finding new things to do and the galaxy update (my hope for new tools to play with) got pushed back to who knows when.
Some of my friends stopped playing and eventually I just ended up playing less and less too. Had a lot of fun, met a great group of people that I still play with, and made some fun videos about the galaxy. I’m going to chalk that one up as a win.
I remember the first time I met you and the glorious Bastards of Connery NC.
I was logging on after a long day of school. None of 13BDs “senior” (we were all new) officers were online. I opened up the squad menu and saw a squad labeled “The Bastards” with the [RNGA] tag.
It was Indar, and the sky was black, punctuated intermittently by brief bursts of light from flak nests and dug in Prowlers. We were moving in on the Crown. You had us all in a Galaxy, flying map of the earth. We almost made it to the warehouses undetected- but a lone skyguard spotted us, and the screen became obscured with roaring flak shells and our gunners returning fire.
We dropped onto the roof of the largest warehouse. I was an Engineer- you had me set up a turret slightly behind the doorway. The two medics rushed around the building, frantically reviving our comrades as we fought a desperate battle to hold the point room.
Just as all seemed lost, as our last surviving squad member fell to a hail of plasma, reinforcements arrived. The sky was filled with NC soldiers falling feet first into hell. Drop pods spattered across the courtyard as Galaxy after Galaxy made human bombing runs across the zealously guarded facility.
We respawned at a backup Sunderer behind the main spearhead. Instead of following those pushing up the road, we took a different route, following a narrow footpath up the side of a cliff. We broke out into the main facility after a tense 3 minute sprint, right behind the main emplacement of defending Vanu. It was a bloodbath.
The sun had dawned on the Crown, and it belonged to us. It was that day that finally got me into Planetside. I was on the ropes- zergfits seem fun at first, but throwing your body into the meat grinder gets repetitive fast.
You showed me how much fun teamwork is in this game.
Thanks, Ace. See you on the battlefield.
What’s next for Planetside 2? There is a lot of speculation, with a number of new battlefields still in development. We all know it’s been a pretty tough year for Daybreak Games, first with the departure of Matt Higby, and then with John Smedley stepping down as CEO in the wake of an incident with a Lizard Squad hacker. Still, the little company seems to be pushing forward, giving us the large scale battles that we’ve always wanted, and most importantly, a community that we can grow to love. If you haven’t tried your hand at Planetside 2 yet, then we strongly recommend you give it a try, preferably before the anniversary events are over. The war is still going on, and they could use your help. Suit up, soldier, and get your boots on the spawn point.
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