If criticism had a physical manifestation, John Smedley would be coming home with a broken nose and a black eye after today’s ordeal. Planetside 2 was gearing up for Game Update 13, which was set to implement a form of the implant system that original Planetside players should be familiar with. Implants are consumable items that last just a few hours and are single-use. They are powerful in nature and allow for protection against grenades, increases range, regenerate health, reduce damage, and makes the wearer undetectable. Sounds great, right up until the point where SOE took a hard left in their truck, slammed through the guard rail, and landed in an orphanage.
The problem? The implants, at least from what players knew, seemed somewhere between overpowered and unbalanced. Factor in that they would be purchased with certs/station cash and not infantry resources gained through playing the game, and you have a nice setup to turn Planetside 2 into a game where only those willing to pony up some cash have a snowball’s chance in hell of living long enough to accomplish anything. The community responded to the announced update with a resounding “absolutely not,” and John Smedley later announced via Twitter that implants would be removed from GU13 and sent back to the drawing board.
We look forward to seeing how Sony will reintegrate implants, assuming the update doesn’t die in the workshop.
(Source: Twitter)
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