Global Agenda

[Morreion]

Global Agenda - An sci-fi MMO third-person shooter developed by Hi-Rez Studios hoping to release by the end of 2009.

Official Global Agenda website

Global Agenda game overview at MMORPG.com

Global Agenda: Producer Interview

Global Agenda gameplay vids show off customization and PvP

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Hands-On With Global Agenda (Rock Paper Shotgun)

A nice preview! Oatik found this link.

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Global Agenda Impressions (Keen and Graev's Gaming Blog)

Pros
* Fundamentals are there.
* Combat works and feels fun.
* Teamwork and Strategy puts you leagues above the rest.
* There is always action going on and something to do.


Cons

* Lobby Style Multiplayer – Seems to serve no purpose other than to provide an illusion.
* Massively Instanced – Everything you do, everywhere you go, it’s all instanced. Nothing is connected – NOTHING.
* Small “battleground” like maps comprise the majority of PvP.
* Repetitive and uninspired PvE – Killing bots on maps that all look the same. Harder just means the bots do more damage.
* Lack of depth to personal achievement and progression – If they want it to be about persistence with RPG elements, this needs to be fixed.
* Crafting has no depth to the point that it should just be removed.
* Conflict zones are restricted until its time to instance into them for your 10v10 fights – This persistent struggle is nothing more than a picture you look at when you hit the Y key. There’s no attachment to the conflict. It’s get in, skirmish, get out and you’re done.

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Global Agenda: Executive Producer Todd Harris Beta Interview (MMORPG.com)

We asked Todd about game balance and he quickly said, "That is the number one obsession of our lead designer." Todd said that it is hard to balance a game for both PvP and PvE. So they started by balancing it for PvP first. Since that is where they expect the bulk of competitive players to be. Then they went in and added PvE enemies which were designed around the PvP balanced game play. Basically the system takes into account the players first. Another area that was important to balance was stealth in the game. Stealth and recon play major roles, but Todd said that there are some equal counters to stealth based characters.

Global Agenda: Inside Beta: PvE MMORPG.com)

Equipment in Global Agenda seems to be handled a little differently than most MMO players might be used to. You're not going to go about killing bosses for loot or set pieces. And while you may get crafting components from PvE missions to help make certain pieces of equipment, the vast majority of your gear will come from either unlocks leveling or purchasing from vendors. What's more is that save for the melee weapon and jetpack, each item at a player's disposal uses a set number of item points. At level 7, I had 15 points at my disposal to assign to each item. There are four different ranks of each item and each rank requires a point. Being that I fell in love with my mini-gun I assigned it the rank of four in order to give it the highest damage output possible, and had 11 points left to disperse between my other equipment. Three went to my assault rifle (I was playing a primarily offensive class after all) and the rest I split pretty evenly between other items.

Global Agenda: Inside Beta: PvP (MMORPG.com)

The classes also seem to be balanced rather well at this early stage. Perhaps one of the reasons Hi-Rez decided to stick with just four classes at launch was the notion of keeping things in order. The Recon players are appropriately annoying and stealthy in a way that drives Medics nuts, but they're weaker and easier to take down than the Assault players. Robotics players are extremely adept at defense, and come in very handy when defending control points or setting up shields in corridors and doorways. Out of all the opponents I faced, the most annoying to me was the Recon, and that's likely because he was designed to take down Medics like myself. Luckily I usually had an Assault and Robotics friend watching my back when I was on defense.

FAQ That: All about Global Agenda's Conquest mode (Massively)

So what exactly makes Global Agenda cross the border from persistent FPS to full on MMO? Conquest, my friends! Conquest. And now that the NDA has been lifted, we're free to tell you all about this agency only mode.

Global Agenda: Conquest mode is the game's take on a real-time strategy game versus an FPS. Your alliance of agencies can take ownership of the Global Agenda world and lay claim to valuable resources to build agent modifications, weapons of mass destruction, and even more fun little tools. But you must guard your territory carefully, as other alliances will have the option to siege your land, forcing you into battles for domination of the map.

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We have an agenda: Global Agenda launch day coverage and play with Massively event (Massively)

The cat's out of the bag! Or perhaps the spies are out of their hexes? Either way, Global Agenda has gone into official launch mode today! We here at Massively can't help to celebrate by looking back at our past coverage of Global Agenda, as we watched the game go from a little team-based TPS to the MMORTS that it is today. If you like commanding, or if you just like shooting people with hi-tech guns, then this might be the game for you!

Lots of links to information in this article!

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Global Agenda: Launch Day Interview (MMORPG.com)

MMORPG.com:

Balance is key in a game like Global Agenda. How does the team keep track of the metrics necessary in order to level the playing field as evenly as possible?

Todd Harris:

We track everything - individual player statistics, team statistics, device-statistics, Conquest production rates, heat-maps to show hot zones within each map layout, and more. Everything in maintained in a SQL server database and we have some powerful visualization tools that let us report and graph trends. This way we can use objective metrics to compliment the subjective impressions around what seems overpowered or underpowered to the community.

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First Impressions: Global Agenda (Massively)

Final verdict

Is Global Agenda worth buying? Yes. Easily yes. The game is built on the combat and the combat shines. Even better, the combat is the "free" part of the game, meaning you can play it to your heart's content without a subscription.

Is it worth the subscription currently? No. Not yet. Conquest is fun and inventive, but it's lacking. The items feel tacked on to the battle system and there's not enough in Conquest to keep people sticking around. Conquest battles certainly feature a more epic scope, as they let agencies (guilds) bring in vehicles and other mechanical tricks to defend or attack territory, but they don't have staying power. I don't feel the pull to really own a hex.

However, the game is built on a solid core with great graphics and animation. With a few updates to the subscription aspect of the game and a few new features, Global Agenda would be a great subscription game. It just needs those added incentives to get me to want to pay my money. (And I would be amiss if I didn't say that Global Agenda has a very, very reasonable subscription fee -- 10 dollars a month.)

Global Agenda is going to be a game that goes somewhere. Hi-Rez seems very committed to adding more to this game, and that's exactly what it needs. It's already a brilliant game of instant gratification; a game that you could easily play along with all your other MMOs and still feel accomplished. You jump in, queue up a match, and you're playing. The match finishes and you can see your experience gained and money earned and you feel like you did something, even if you lost. That's the mark of a fun game -- when it's fun even when you get thwarted. But when more incentive to stick around is added, then it's going to shine.

So if you like shooters, like Team Fortress 2, or have been looking for a more action-based game to get into, you'll want to pick this title up. Don't worry about the subscription fee. Play the core of the game and if you want more, subscribe. If you don't want more, then don't. It's a great hybrid system for a fun hybrid game.

[Morreion]

Global Agenda Review (MMORPG.com)

Final Score
8
Great

Pros
Engaging Conquest Mode
Excellent Matchmaking System
Finely Tuned FPS Mechanics

Cons
Conquest can be Daunting for the Inexperienced
Lacluster Auction House System

Global Agenda is a great game that's not easy to categorize. In fact, it is probably better served by that very fact. It's got a little bit of everything at its core, and yet somehow retains its own identity as a worthy offering to gamers looking for something a little different.

There are three main game modes to choose from. All players have access to both the match-made PvE missions and PvP matches. The third mode, and what players must pay the $12.99 per month to access, is the Conquest Mode, a persistent world domination type board game where competing Agencies and Alliances fight over plots of land and resources: wealth and the power that comes from it being the driving factor. Obviously the tune being sung by Hi-Rez Studios here is one of "competitive gaming". But killing and being killed by other players isn't the only thing you'll wind up doing with your time.

[Morreion]

First Impressions: Global Agenda (Massively)

Is Global Agenda worth buying? Yes. Easily yes. The game is built on the combat and the combat shines. Even better, the combat is the "free" part of the game, meaning you can play it to your heart's content without a subscription.

Is it worth the subscription currently? No. Not yet. Conquest is fun and inventive, but it's lacking. The items feel tacked on to the battle system and there's not enough in Conquest to keep people sticking around. Conquest battles certainly feature a more epic scope, as they let agencies (guilds) bring in vehicles and other mechanical tricks to defend or attack territory, but they don't have staying power. I don't feel the pull to really own a hex.

However, the game is built on a solid core with great graphics and animation. With a few updates to the subscription aspect of the game and a few new features, Global Agenda would be a great subscription game. It just needs those added incentives to get me to want to pay my money.

Five tips on being a better agent in Global Agenda (Massively)

You want the green health bubble

One of the weirdest things for shooter players to get use to is the idea that enemies drop little spheres of survivability upon death. Each time a player goes down, they leave behind a green health orb which will heal anyone who crosses over it.

What does this mean for you? It means that a class can survive on its own, or in dangerous situations, without the aid of a medic. Sometimes, even when the odds are stacked against you, it's better to stand and fight than to run and attempt to heal with your rest ability. If you think you can take someone down in a fight, take them down and use the health bubble that drops to continue the battle with any remaining enemies.

Also, if you're at full health and run over a health bubble, it will recharge your energy instead. This is great for recons who are spending time in stealth, as you can take the health to get your energy back while staying cloaked.

Hi-Rez fleshes out their plans for Global Agenda, includes open world MMO zone (Massively)

Last we heard, Hi-Rez Studios was considering adding more "open" mission areas around Dome City, giving players an open-world feel to their game. Well, Hi-Rez's Erez Goren stopped by the forums on Saturday to lay out the full plans for not only the areas outside of Dome City, but also for some new weapons appearing in the game, new maps in AvA, and new options to help agencies compete and hold ground in AvA. All of this is scheduled on a very ambitious timetable -- available by the end of March. If certain features become pushed back or delayed, Hi-Rez will also reconsider extending their current "free subscription" policy.

However, it was surprising to find that the open-world areas mentioned in the last newsletter literally will be open world areas. Multiple mission teams and players will find themselves on one gigantic map, completing PvE and PvP objectives for experience and loot. Missions on these maps will be for a varied number of players, starting out at the solo player and going all the way up to a 10 man strikeforce. And, of course, some areas of the map will be "unsafe" and open for agents to beat on other agents.

Global Agenda takes aim at bots, aimbots specifically (Massively)

"Cheating is relatively rare within Global Agenda," executive producer Todd Harris told Massively. "However, as within any competitive shooter, some players are trying to cheat their way to success. Fortunately, since we run centrally managed servers, we can identify and react quickly compared to other online shooters that rely on community managed servers such that a cheater could simply hop to a new server. With our monitoring and stat collection we detect cheaters and reward them with a lifetime ban. We've already implemented an initial batch of bans and we'll continue to have a zero tolerance policy for cheating."

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Version 1.3 - Sandstorm - Info (Global Agenda)

Version 1.3 (named Sandstorm) will most likely be the most important milestone in Global Agenda history. Here is what we are currently working on, please remember that everything will not make it into the final version and everything is subjected to change once more testing is done. Version 1.3 is scheduled to be deployed in April (probably towards the end of the month)We try to make most changes as incremental as possible as to no radically change the game play, at the same time we want to address what the community wants most.

Character levels and specializations:
Leveling from 30-50 will now have a lot more meaning.
At level 30+ players will be able to choose a specialization path for the character. Each class has two specializations (that match the current Skill Trees)
You can only choose one specialization which allows you additional skill points in the specialization tree and allows you to use new weapons/devices that are being introduced.
If you want to specialize in both areas and change between them frequently you will need to create and level up another character for that class.

New weapons/Device:
For each class specialization new weapons and devices are being introduced. We are trying for at least one weapon/device per slot type per class
Some examples: The Laser Sniper Rifle, The Barrage Grenade Launcher, The Claw,The Perfect Rifle, The Beacon Tracker, The Impact Hammer, The Multi-Heal Gun, The Oathbreaker Boost. There are over 50 that we are currently evaluating for introduction.
These weapons/devices will be earned in a special way using Conquest Tokens
These weapons have a minimum player level requirement ranging from 30-50

Store openings:
More stores will be open.
The Jetpack store will have two new jetpacks available that are purchased using Conquest Tokens

A new hightech UI is being introduced although not all screens may be changed to it in time for the 1.3 release.

Conquest and Mercenary Tokens:
Conquest Tokens are earned by playing/winning different parts of the game with a maximum tokens that can be earned each day. (Subscribers will get them faster since they will be able to participate in more parts of the game, but everyone can earn enough over time to get the various rewards)
Mercenary Tokens are earned by playing/winning various matches with a maximum tokens that can be earned each day. (All players earn these at the same rate)

Rewards, Loot and Crafting:
We plan on having full Armor drops as loot in PvE missions which are character bound when you get them (both Co-Op and Open Zones)
We also plan on allowing Armor crafters create upgrade kits to these Armor drops to improve their stats.
Weapon upgrades will be replaced with Upgrade Kits that allow players to improve the stat on the actual weapons (instead of overall stats)
Weapons will also drop as loot in PvE with improved stats over current weapons (which can be then upgraded with Weapon Upgrade kits from crafters)
Weapons and Armor can also be purchased with Conquest Tokens and Mercenary Tokens.

Open Zone (Warzones)
We are currently testing these zone which are large open spaces that players will join to do various missions. For the 1.3 release we plan on having open PvE zone with several different mission types as well as a PvPvE zone with several mission types and a zone win condition.
We are currently rewriting some of the Unreal 3 server to allow more players to interact in the zone. We don't know what the final number will look like yet but we hope for a minimum of 30 players in a PvE zone and 50 in a PvP zone.

This will be posted to give the community an idea of what we are doing, followed by a more formal marketing when enough it ready and we feel that it's solid.