We join SOE and delve into the details of PS2's recently released continent, Hossin.

Last week, Sony Online Entertainment released its newest PlanetSide 2 map: Hossin. A massive, swampy continent enables the ongoing war between the New Conglomerate, Terran Republic and Vanu Sovereignty to wage on. New features such as Continent Locking, Outfit Recruiting and more enhance the battle in Auraxis.

We joined Creative Director Matt Higby and Lead Designer Luke Sigmund earlier today for a detailed look at Hossin!

Continent Locking
Players can now control which continents are openly contestable, when alerts are available and when the warpgates will rotate with this feature. When an empire controls a large percentage of territory it locks out the continent from the other empires. The alert system ties in by locking down the continent to whoever owns the majority of the continent in the time denoted by the alert, or dominates 95% before time expires. The playerbase has had some mixed feedback regarding Continent Locking, but Matt thinks that the reactions have been "pretty solid." The biggest complaint is that favored continents are locked down, which the team expected, but they're excited to see the player agency going into the feature. With the alert system the turnover can be within hours, so patience may win out for your empire.

Outfit Base Capture
This "ownership" system awards a facility/outpost to the top contributing outfit during a capture. This works by the outfit having the highest score becoming the owner of the base; the flag of their empire is hung at the base and the decal for the outfit is displayed on the flag. Luke discussed that more work will go into base capture, especially in making the decals easier to see.

Outfit Recruitment
Looking to get more players in your outfit or join one? A streamlined process has been introduced for players to build, seek and join outfits, allowing more flexibility in how you choose your recruits. The UI allows seekers to search via different parameters including outfit name (with the search bar), specialization (infantry, etc) and classification (casual, competitive, etc), then submit an application. You can also create an outfit or list your outfit seeking recruits from the same UI, and invite applicants while they are offline.

More to Come
Not all Hossin bases were ready upon release, so the team is working on them to get them ready to go. They also seek your feedback on the new continent! Later in July players can look forward to Directives, a tiered achievement tracking system that will enhance the current medal system. It will streamline seeing what you need to do to earn achievements as well as show off what you have accomplished so far. The Valkyrie, a four-person aircraft, will be coming in August, with rumble seats that riders can attack from, but you can be attacked from. Matt called it a "tactical vehicle... designed to be faster and quicker [compared to a Galaxy]."

When asked about Smed hinting at the possibility of H1Z1's teased weather coming to PlanetSide 2, Matt discussed that, while the team hasn't planned out how exactly it would work yet, they think it would add a dynamic gameplay-impacting experience. Performance issues will be a major factor in how, and if, weather is implemented.

Luke and Matt mentioned that they're excited about how controls and the interface is coming along for the upcoming PlayStation 4 version of the game. Improvements going into the PS4 build also makes its way to the PC version of the game. There will be a PS4 beta, but no time frame has been announced yet.

You can join the batte for Hossin now in PlanetSide 2!

Ann "Cyliena" Hosler, Managing Editor