Warpshadow.com

I don't know if anyone is familiar with its first incarnation, or played in the beta up till a few days ago, but PS2 goes live today for download at Noon (CST). It is a persistent MMOFPS that is free-to-play, but developed by a major company (SOE)

Brief Summary:
If you haven't played it, Planetside 2 is a persistent warzone where 3 armies fight for control of multiple coninents by land and air. To join the battle, you have the option of choosing one of 6-7 infantry classes (which can be changed easily during play to adjust to situations), all with the ability to use every gun/plane/tank from the moment you log in. There is no "end game", there is no "questing", there is only war.

It's put out by Sony Online Entertainment, and has been in development for a good while. For me, its been a low pressure way to blow off steam and have a good time.

Anyways, If anyone else is planning on playing, wants to give it a shot, or wants more info etc., I will be starting up on the "Mattherson" server as one of the Vanu Sovereignty with the name "Lysis". My Magrider tank could always use a trusty gunner

Looks cool! I mean, the last thing I need right now is a MMG to distract me, but if I did? It would probably be that one.

Yeah, I think that is one reason I've taken a shining to PS2:

When you log in, people are fighting.

When you log out, people will continue fighting without you.

It's not like most MMOs where there is something you can "miss out" on. Or even from the other side, that your absence will hinder.

So what happens to your character when you log out? So if you're driving your tank around, for example, and I'm hanging out in the gunner seat, do I just drop to the ground?

Looking at it, though: wow - looks like a really cool game.

Pretty much - Each vehicle is tagged to an individual character. So if I am driving my tank (you can "unlock" tanks so others can drive them, otherwise they are reserved for the buyer) and then I log out, the tank will despawn shortly thereafter. Also, as a form of clutter control, different vehicles will only allow you to be away from them for X minutes (normally 5-10) before despawning. If you embark into it, it resets the timer.

I think one of my favorite additions though is that you can pilot as a "support" vehicle. there are APCs both by ground and by air that are just gunships to deliver troops by. You don't have to be a tank driver. Having people to play with really makes it better because, without them, you're only operating at a lower % effectiveness. One vehicles has room for 4 gunners (!)

I've been playing these games since the days of LAN parties and Doom, my favorite being Joint Operations. Sounds like a similar type of game, but obviously not an MMOFPS (although it did allow for some pretty big matches). Had a group of about ten people on that one and you're right - definitely more fun in a group. You can kind of fill in the gaps. Kind of like a 40k army!

Exactly!

Launch day went pretty well too. Still a random error or two, but I've seen far worse.