Buy Alpha Squad package to access Planetside 2 beta

The massive online shooter Planetside 2 had recently hit beta. Sony Online Entertainment noticed that more people wanted to join the beta than there were beta passes available. So, the company has now started the Alpha Squad programme.

Joining the Alpha Squad comes with the pretty hefty price tag of $39.99 (approximately Rs 2,200) for what will technically be a free-to-play game when it is released, but it does come with a lot of in-game goodies. According to the website, joining the Alpha Squad will give you immediate access to the closed beta of the game, along with 4,000 station cash (around Rs 2,200) to spend in the in-game store for any game by Sony Online Entertainment. Along with all this, you will also get an exclusive title: Founder, along with a six month 10 percent experience and resource boost and 12 weapon-unlocks spread out among all the classes.

Access to the beta is possible by buying the Alpha Squad package

The beta was announced by John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment on Twitter back in August. Earlier, the beta was being delayed because the developers wanted to polish the game more, and Sony Online Entertainment seems to be all set to offer players an awesome experience during the beta. An alpha build of the game was shown at E3 this year, and it was critically hailed as what could be one of the best contenders in the MMO market.

Smedley had also confirmed on Twitter that the game will be free-to-play. He tweets that players can choose to “never pay us a dime if you don’t want to”. PlanetSide 2 would have to compete with other successful games in the free-to-play market, such as League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, Blacklight: Retribution, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Lord of the Rings Online.

The game's website describes the game as, “Massively multiplayer gaming takes on a new face in PlanetSide, where thousands of players wage war on a planetary scale. A newly designed 3D engine drives PlanetSide's first-person player-to-player combat and vehicular warfare across ten continents.”

“It doesn't matter if you're an avid RPG gamer or a fanatical FPS player, you'll find something in PlanetSide that's just right for you. The stage has been set, the battle lines drawn, and dropships are ready to deploy you PlanetSide!”

The game records character stats and information about other player’s characters on the My PlanetSide page on the game’s website. “Character stats for yourself and information about other player-characters and outfits, an updated World Map with balance-of-power info, Leaderboards and more. My Planetside is your command center for game data.”

According to the game's website, Planetside 2 is set to launch before the end of this year.