For anyone looking for an FPS, SOE has added Planetside 2 to their recruit-a-friend program. By joining via this program if you haven't played in the last 6 months, or at all, you get a 1 day 50% experience booster, and 3 free Light Machine Guns, 1 for each of the 3 factions.
For those of you that are interested, here's a little bit of info on the game;
The Factions:
- The Vanu Sovereignty (VS), The alien tech scientists. They use energy based weapons that for the most part do not use standard bullets but battery packs. With the exception of their Bolt-Action Rifles, no gun has any bullet drop, but instead each shot loses energy the farther it travels. Some VS only weapons are the Lancer, a 6 shot laser "rocket" launcher that is capable of charging up to 3 shots into 1 blast, doing 4x the damage of an individual shot. The Lasher, the VS "chain" gun that fires orbs of energy the size of your head that has a AOE, lashing effecting, thus the name. Finally, the Cerberus, which isn't available on the live servers yet, but has been described as a shotgun pistol, it has an 8 shot clip and is able to do some splash damage to enemies near the location the bullet impacted.
- The New Conglomerate (NC), The power of capitalism, playfully nicknamed "Space 'Murica" by the players. Their engineers have designed the most powerful weapons in the game but to gain that power they have short sided the accuracy and reload speed of their guns. Some NC only weapons are the Phoenix a camera guide rocket launcher which can be redirected in mid-air but can also be used for open air recon, within the rockets flying range of 295 meters, though the turns on the rocket are very slow. The Jackhammer, the NC "chain" gun that could be better described as an over-sized shotgun, capable of single shot and triple shot firing modes and able to kill an infantry at full health and max shields with 1 triple shot round at close range. Finally the Desperado, which isn't out on live servers but is seen as a two shot burst pistol with a 14 bullet clip and poor accuracy at mid to long range.
- The Terran Republic (TR) The followers of the old traditions. They are the oldest of the 3 factions using standard military weaponry and armor, although the armor has been tweaked over the millennium to better protect against the newer weaponry of the enemies. Some TR only weapons are the Striker, a 5 shot, clip feed, lock-on only Rocket Launcher, while the damage form the whole clip is comparable to that of a single 1 shot rocket launcher with it being clip feed you can quick switch targets, either air or ground, and give your allies some covering fire and attempt to scare off any pilots. The Mini-Chaingun, which behaves as a traditional chaingun would, once it starts up the accuracy quickly drops down when used at long range but can shred enemies in close range. Finally the Inquistor, which like the Cerberus and the Desperado, is not in the live servers yet, it is a rapid fire semi-automatic pistol with a 30 shot clip, the largest clip size among the side arms.
The Classes:
- Infiltrator, snipers and spies. They are able to bend the light around themselves with their nanite cloaks. Along with their pistol sidearms they also carry Motion Tracker dart guns that go off every few seconds slowing enemy locations on the minimap. They also are the only class capable of using sniper rifles those have the highest view range of all the infantry is also useful for spotting and tagging enemy infantry and vechicles.
- Light Assault, the most mobile class in the game. Though they can only care up to 3 weapons on them are able to very dangerous is played well. The Light Assault's key features are their running speed and their jet-packs. Depending on the jet-pack they are able to gain a vertical advantage that most, if not all the other classes could only dream of getting, or increased maneuverability by drifting a few inches above the ground.
- Combat Medic, doctors trained to revive the dead. They carry medical applicators that are able to heal or revive friendly infantry. Each Combat Medic also wear a nano-regen device that can restore the health of themselves and allies in a nearby radius.
- Engineer, trained in the art of technology. Engineers are equipped with a Nano Armor Kit, a repair gun that can repair friendly offensive structures and generators, vechicles, and MAXes. An engineer also is able to spawn either an anti-infantry turret that is equiped with a front facing shield or laser guided anti-vechicle turret. They have no extra abilities due to the turret.
- Heavy Assault, soldiers trained in a multiple types of weaponry. With the exception of the pistols, every weapon mention above are used exclusively by the Heavy Assault. They are equipped with a secondary shield over the standard infantry shield, which can absorb damage, mitigate damage, or restore itself dependent on enemy kills.
- MAX, Mechanized Assault Exo-Suit, a tank in the form of an armored suit. MAXes are the only class that require resources to equip and are on an acquisition timer. The MAX is the only duel wielding class, mostly wielding Anti-Vechicle weaponry but also have Anti-Infantry weaponry for close quarters combat. A MAX can have any of 3 different abilities, a charge that allows the MAX to sprint forward, faster than any infantry to close gaps between itself and the target, ammo canisters to increase reserve ammo. If they are from the NC they can also get an Aegis Shield, an energy riot shield that can be aimed but removes the ability to fire when used. TR MAXes get the option to use the anchoring ability Lockdown which bolts them into place, locking them into only 180 degrees of view, but increases their rate of fire. The VS MAX can get the Zealot Overdrive Engine (ZOE) which increases their mobility and damage output but lower their defenses.
The Vechicles:
- Flash, standard issue 2 person transport quad. This vechicle is the cheapest of all ground vechicles. It can be equipped with a turbo button that burns fuel rapidly that can increases your speed by roughly 25% for a few seconds, or a cloak if being driven by an Infiltrator. It also has a rear facing back seat that can be used by any class but the MAX and the passenger can use any held weapon while in the passenger seat (no turrets sorry). For its speed and light armor it is also prone to flipping on its back and exploding.
- Harasser, a 3 person transport buggy. The seats are driver, who has no weapons, the gunner who controls the turret attached to the roof, and the rumble seat, which can be used by any infantry, including MAXes.
- Lightning, a 1 person tank. The Lightning is equal to the Flash in speed and has Ground-to-Ground turret or a rapid fire Ground-to-Air turret.
- The Main Battle Tanks (MBT). Each faction has a unique MBT, the TR has the Prowler, a large heavy armor tank with a lockdown ability that increases projectile velocity and reload speed. The NC has the Vanguard, also a large heavy armor tank, with the most armor out of all the MBTs but is the slowest in terms of speed and rate of fire, although it can be equipped with a Vanguard Shield to absorb extra damage. The VS has the Magrider a hover tank that is able to quickly rotate and strafe, because of its mobility the main turret is only able to be moved up and down, and to aim left and right the entire tank needs to turn. The Magrider is also able to equip a booster called the Magburner which gives it a quick speed boost. All 3 MBTs have a secondary turret that can be manned by a passenger.
- Sunderer, a large 12 person transport bus. The Sunderer the more popular of the two mass transports that are in the game. Its seats consist of the driver, two gunners, and 9 passenger seats. It is heavy armored and is able to repair nearby vechicles or dispense vechicle ammo, it is also able to be come a spawn point for quick respawns to help cap points faster and attempt to suppress enemies.
- The Empire Specific Flyers (ESF). The ESFs are 1 man planes that are the most popular of transport thanks to their high speeds and maneuverability. All ESF weapons are relatively the same in use and only differ in design. The TR has the Mosquito, or Mossie. The Mosquito, is designed after its namesake, and it is the fastest of all 3 ESFs thanks to the large boosters. The NC has the Reaver, a bulky heavy armored flyer that has the highest afterburner speed out of all 3 ESFs. The VS have the Scythe. In design it looks similar to the Star Wars Rebel icon/logo. It is the most agile of the ESFs and thanks to its separate lateral boosters, has the faster vertical climb speed when leveled out.
- Liberator, a 3 man "bomber". The Liberator is has 1 pilot seat able to fire at head on enemies, usually ESFs, and 2 back gunner seats, one at the base of the tail facing the ground, and another at the end of talk facing behind the Liberator. The ground facing gunner position has a smaller range of rotation compared to the back facing gunner position. It is also able to "park" in mid air as long as it has a pilot.
- Galaxy, a large 12 person transport plane. The Galaxy is the most expensive vechicle in terms of resource consumption and is also the slowest, and generally has its own terminal separate from the other Air vehicles. It has 1 pilot seat that has no access to weaponry, 4 gunner seats, 1 at the end of each wing, 1 on top and one on the back, and 9 passenger seats. It has the most armor out of all the air vehicles and the pilot is able to manually deploy all passengers when they get to the target destination.
If any of you that are interested and have any other question feel free to ask me. For those that want to get into the game here is my referral link: Planetside 2 Recruit-A-Friend