A New Soldier Game Update Live Now on PS4!

PERFORMANCE, PERFORMANCE, AND STABILITY

Thank you so much to our PS4 community who have been waiting patiently for us to bring over the massive amount of content from the New Soldier game update on PC. It's been a long road for us to achieve parity on both platforms, but we're confident that tomorrow will be a major step toward that goal.

This update includes a wealth of improvements on PS4. We've done everything possible to bring the recent graphical improvements from the DX11 update on PC to PS4, including bringing the latest version of the game engine PlanetSide 2 is built on to console. We expect PS4 players to see framerate boosts of at least 5% all the way up to 30%, depending on gameplay condidtions. Overall framerates should be much smoother, and should dramatically cut down on peaks and drops. Players should also see VASTLY improved loading times, as much as 50% or more, for all players playing on PS4. The updated version of our engine also offer much more powerful and robust debug tools, which will allow us to continue improving stability and performance on PS4 well after this update. 

Ultimately our goal is for the PlanetSide 2 experience on PS4 to be completely in-line with the PC experience, and we're incredibly excited to be drawing closer to fulfilling that vision. Read on below for a full update on everything coming to PlanetSide 2 on PS4 tomorrow!

PLAYSTATION PLUS MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

If you are a PlayStation Plus member you will now notice you are granted an additional 50% of bonus XP. This is an addition to other XP boosts you may have equipped and the 50% of bonus XP you are awarded for having an active PlanetSide 2 Membership.

NANITE SYSTEMS OPERATIVES HAVE ENTERED THE BATTLEFIELD

Built to function in the harshest weather conditions and most demanding combat roles, our new Nanite Systems Operatives are here to serve. Players now have the ability to create a robotic character on a new, fourth faction, the Nanite Systems Operatives (or NSO.) In light of this addition, we've also granted another free character slot to all players.

• NSO characters are available to players with active PlanetSide 2 memberships only.
• Each time an Operative moves to a new continent, they will be assigned to fight for whichever faction currently has the lowest population.
• This faction will not be re-assigned until the player travels to a new continent.
• Operative characters use Nanite Systems weaponry only, and have their own special Directive lines available for completion.
• NSO characters do not have equivalents for faction-specific items, so use caution when purchasing bundles that offer items for multiple factions.
• A MAX unit, main battle tank, and empire specific fighters are currently missing from the NSO arsenal, and we will be exploring their implementation at a later date.
• NSO characters can reside in outfits (even while contracted for opposing teams,) and can join and lead squads for whichever faction they're currently fighting for.
• If an NSO character leaves a continent and is contracted to fight for a new team, they will be removed from their active squad.
• For the time being, NSO characters will be unable to access Tutorial and Koltyr.
• Beyond that, NSO characters operate similarly to a character from any other empire.
• They have the same health pools, movement speeds, hitboxes and animations, and they die and respawn just like any other soldier.

The design of this system had a few targets.

• Firstly, we wanted a way to address population balance without having to rely on a faction queue, which (while effective) isn't a fun way for players to spend their evening if they want to play with their friends on a particular faction.
• Secondly, we wanted a way to celebrate and reward our players who have active memberships, and there is no more prominent way to flaunt your support of the game than piloting a combat-ready robotic soldier.
• Lastly, we wanted to invigorate some of the PlanetSide 2 lore. The release of NS Operatives is the true beginning of a larger story arc surrounding Nanite Systems, and some hero characters you may (or may not have) heard of just yet.

We hope you enjoy these new soldiers, and the havoc they will certainly wreak upon the battlefields of Auraxis.

THE ANT COMES TO PS4

This heavy mining vehicle is now available to spawn from the vehicle terminal for 200 Nanites. Using its mining laser the driver can use to mine Cortium...we know this vehicle is meant to power the construction system which is not quite ready for PS4 yet. For now, we hope you find the addition of the vehicle entertaining as it does add some unique new ways to participate in vehicle combat thanks to its Cortium Powered Turbo engine and weight charactertistics. We will be running some more public construction tests after this patch to once again see if we can make construction (or construction-lite) work for the PS4 platform.

We'll have plenty more to share on this major PS4 update later this week, including details surrounding our new Summer event, re-enlistment bundles, weapons balancing, spawn system revamp, and a wealth of content and features previously only available on PC. Full patch notes with all the details are available on the official PlanetSide 2 community forums. We hope you are excited as we are with this update, and look forward to seeing you back on the battlefield!