Just because EC is open world, doesn't mean the combat is going to be any less close-quarters centric as SM. Half the classes are melee focused, and those that aren't are often carrying the equivalent of submachine guns and flamethrowers, with extremely fast gap closing abilities. There will not even be a sniper class at launch. I think it'd be a waste to have projectiles when 90 percent of the weapons on the battlefield are firing at less than 100 meters at all times. Plenty of games have competitive difficulty curves with hitscan, counterstrike as the case-in-point.
Eh, the main reason I would want to have projectiles is that if we did it that way, then hitscan could be the exclusive domain of laser weapons (which actually travel at the speed of light), and as an Imperial Guard player I think that would be an interesting perk. But having hitscan be the default is not the end of the world, there are other unique attributes that can make the lasgun interesting (like ludicrously huge magazines).
Projectiles, if it doesent affect the games functionality (which it will...). So we are hitscan bound.
I fully support projectiles, but agree that hitscan can be a laser specific trait. Having a falloff on the bullets makes it all the more satisfying when you get a hit. Moreover having skill based long range combat should be a necessity for open games like this. There may be more often than not close quarters situations, but. That does not mean there will not be long range situations.
We are gonna have both, some weapons (most of the infantry weapons) will be hitscan and weapons like plasma cannons will have drop althought I think this info is pretty old, not sure if it's still on the plans.
On a side note, how do we know that projectile physics are the reason/major/minor contributing factor to ps2's performance issues. Also, warhammer 40k is scheduled to be released quiet some time after planetside 2 was, which means, Moors law XD.
We don't, but I'm sure it contributes to it's performance. But mainly its the poor optimization and such that is affecting PS2's performance.
I'll be the guy who points out Tribes: Ascend. That game had a decent mix. Thougj most assault rifles and SMGs were projectiles, snipers ans pistols tended to be hitscan. Hitscan is better for an MMO like this for most weapons because there will be A LOT of players around. I still voted projectiles, in case they manage to make the webcode and PC optimization really awesome and make projectiles work.
Bolters of any kind will be fine with hitscan. It actually suits their lore mechanics more to follow an extremely predictable trajectory. Stalker, HB, Pistol all included. The other standard solid projectile weapons (like Autocannon/Shootaz) should have drop if they could allow it, but eh, they won't/can't atm.
