What is the point of this game?

Though there's not a whole lot going on outside of primetime anymore, you're kidding yourself if you think that there is nothing different about this game from other shooters. You're also probably a huge part of the problem, but that's aside from the point. I've played a helluva lot of shooters in my day, including the original planetside. Wasn't a fan of the original, might have been too young, might have had too poor a computer, the fps mechanics weren't good, moved on after 4-5 increasingly inactive months, and this was just after launch. Whatever you want to say about the other bits, or any other game, PS2 is far superior in how the FPS mechanics work. As much as I hate to bring it up, the graphics also don't suck anymore. Despite the other issues, these two things made all the difference, at least between those two games.

The battlefield series has always been one of my favorites. I was psyched to get BF3, loved it, put many hours into it, but I didn't want to put another $50 into it for expansions. If you think PS2 isn't a team game, BF3 REALLY isn't a team game. BF3 has a great combination of smooth gameplay and large scale, at least compared to other major titles, but at some point you just stop getting anything from being, really, really good at it. How good you are at the game only factors so much into whether or not you win. I wrecked hardcore TDM with my AN-94. I couldn't fly choppers for ****, but I usually dominated the skies in a jet. Who cares?

Now, Planetside 2 is a reduced version of both games in many ways. Nobody is wrong there. Planetside 1 was way more complex in design and thus had way more options for what you could do in play. There was a lot of really cool **** you could do in PS1. That didn't make the game any less unplayable for me, as it just wasn't that fun to shoot things. Battlefield 3, this game's closest relative, has better gun mechanics, better map design, and is way more polished. It's also completely mindless and almost totally anti-social. You aren't going to join or make pick up teams. And as much as people **** talk SOE, EA's practices are even slimier in my opinion.

The difference here is in the scale of the thing. As it turns out, that's actually a huge, huge difference. Even though everything looks like it's a zerg, it's the result of how we think and who plays here; it mostly ain't the thinkers or the talkers, 'namean? They get on here and expect that they're going to get tied into this giant war by sheer game mechanics alone, but they just can't see them. All they see is giant force colliding with giant force. They don't see themselves making an impact, and aren't willing to spend the time to see what that's like.

But every once in a while, a tank column forms up at the warpgate out of nowhere. You join the zerg in spawn camping a base, almost taking it, when suddenly an overwhelming force wipes you out very suddenly. Out there in the masses, you see guys who kinda look like they know what they're doing. Scattered though they may look, you realize that there are certain tags that make a difference in who wins a battle. Hell, you may even get in a platoon with active leadership who have an understanding of how this game works. Buuuuuuuut there are no victory conditions, or you otherwise have to satisfy your need to be dissatisfied, and you come here and ***** about a game that you haven't really played. If you're not having fun, you're with the wrong outfit.

This is an MMO. Playing with others makes all the difference. If you can't see that, you have no imagination.

Well at the moment there is no real objective other than fighting the enemy, the alerts are very bland and the fighting can get extremely boring ( fight them until you get them spawn camped or they fight you until your spawn camped ). The arguments of OH THIS IS NO ORDINAY FPS YOU NEED TO BE IN AN OUTFIT OR SQUAD TO PLAY THIS GAMES is tottal bs as far as I am concerned. well that is kinda true but it is at the moment just another fps with more people involved and with the poor performance, population balances, base designs, weapon balances and vehical balances it's truly showing to be more of a failure than the promised path of greatness. Way too many bugs and way too many people who think they are the best on the world for taking advantage of poorly designed weapons/vehicles and farm all day long disrupting and disheartening the new players from even wanting to play anymore. I for one enjoy planetside and do think they are slacking on the development of gameplay and such matters in which should have been sorted ages ago. Period.

There is no deeper goal built in as a part of the game. At least for now. The closest thing is probably faction and/or outfit rivalry.

I just do what I like, and I often like to play this game.

Yes and important part of MMO entertainment is a sense of progression. All other MMOs have level up system which gives you access to new powers/content and accumulation of resources/equipment.

I played EVE Online a lot and people there usually plan months ahead. They set certain goals for themselves and they slowly accomplish them. Player organizations that do this flourish, those that don't usually fall apart as their members go join some other more stimulating organizations.

You are right there is no ultimate point in any game but what is lacking in this game is a sandbox in which people can set some long-term goals for themselves. Currently only thing that offers any sort of progression in Planetside is certification system.

Calm down people... my question was not literally what is the point in playing games. I am aware they are there for entertainment. My question more was, what is the objective of this game. Perhaps I should have titled it better, but still... I think after reading, you can get the jist of what my question was.

People seem to get REALLY defensive over this game...

In a game of this scale one player definitely has little impact and that is why battles can seem so pointless. It is not fun to participate in something and have almost no influence on the outcome. That is why instead of using "change the tide of battle single-handedly" as a reference point, each individual player should have their own personal goal assigned to them by squad leader or mission system(if they are not in squad). This could give an individual player a sense of meaning and accomplishment.

For example mission system could give a tank drivers first objective to destroy enemy tanks and Sunderers. Mission goal could look something like this:"Destroy two enemy vehicles without dying". When all tanks are down next objective can be "assist infantry push on specified waypoint by getting 30 infantry kills or kill assists" or "keep area around waypoint clear of enemy infantry"...

Playing with others definitely makes game more interesting but majority of outfits nevertheless never go beyond "everyone attack platoon waypoint" style of play. That is why I would like to see more platoon coordination tools implemented in this game. Player missions are a good start.

"Currently only thing that offers any sort of progression in Planetside is certification system."
It is, but for week or two. Everything is so cheap.. And there is not much to buy. All guns are so equal, that sometimes it is not even worth to change the default one.

Get in a halberd magrider tank and shoot sht.

why does nobody look at the roadmap? specifically, the resource revamp and the continent locking and capturing mechanics?

What "Is" the point of this game....? You win this battle .... You lose that one.... make friends.... upgrade characters... win alerts... lose alerts... etc. etc. etc...... what's the point...?

A matter of fact... what is the point of any game...? You win, you lose ... never ending boring cycle... nobody cares... no lasting achievement...

Geez ... what's the point of life...? Day to day boredom... not a point to be found anywhere. Why am I here? What's the point??

Maybe Sony can fix life with the next update and give it meaning.... probably won't though, just another pointless weapon or vehicle...

It's like the halls of valhalla except you always have idiots sitting next too you.

Can ya stop with this propaganda already.

This exact same crap has been spewed since March. We are no where near anything like you imagine and if PS2 ever is anything like you describe, it will be several years from now.

So stop spreading lies, there is nothing in this game but TDM. Even the Esamir update made the bases TDM infantry maps.

Zerg or go home, it is the only thing left.

Like a lot of things in life, school, love, wood chippers, you get out of it what you put into it. When you reduce the game to its bare minimums, you are correct in saying it's a simple game where we're simply shooting one another over a series of sites. That said, it leaves a lot of space for your imagining and inclinations and a lot of people get into it. Sure, you might be fighting for Snowshear for the 32nd time, but it can still feel like an amazing time because you think it is "ours" and you don't want to be the reason it falls out of our hands and, sometimes, there are memorable moments that come out of the fights. Though, ultimately, that may depend on how attached you feel to your faction and to your allies, so it's a game that may rely on you being social, at least to some degree. Even from the position of being a lone wolf pubbie, this game has gained something from the idea of having to rely on others and to do some good for them, even if it's just a fairly silent and organic thing. I can only imagine it's better when you actually have some bonds with the others, whether it's just to use a mic and the proximity speak; or to be part of an outfit that's in constant communication and you get to say something like, "eh, I was *ucking killed, but there's an Infiltrator trying to sneak up to B from the north hillside."

Actually its months away, feel free to dimiss me as propaganda. I don't expect to really reach many of the 'game is dying' chorus. Seem to be keen on ligering on on forumside screaming about how everyone should abandon the game because they burnt out.

Logistics has been in development for a couple of months now, Cont lattice is mostly waiting on the mapping to be done.

Not spreading lies. I'm on the community council, see slightly more than you do and I was one of the people who spent a lot of time bullying SOE about Logistics. For them to finally listen late spring and start devoting resources to it.

I imagine slightly less radical options were on the table, they went for the one that will actually enrich the game, despite it putting them in a difficult position re: subs and resource boosts.

So yeah the whole 'SOE are ****, they don't give a damn and the game will never be more than a cynical money grab'. Doesn't fit the observable evidence if you bother to do your research and are capable of a bit of analysis of whats going on.

I really don't rate your analysis skills buddy, as i've allready noted TDM doesn't have objectives. PS2 is littered with objectives, your just factually incorrect.

Or join a descent outfit and have fun.



But hey, some people just want to hang around the community, trying to convince people to stop playing

OP: The point of the game right now is killing stuff over a persistent world. Territory ownership changes regularly, and there's only a couple of bonuses that current matter (i.e. Tech Plants giving tanks and Indar giving infantry resources).

That being said, this game has improved 200% since I started playing it in beta. This game is only going to get better. So I would find an outfit and have fun killing things. By January the game will have a much more robust metagame.

Actually, the bigger the battle, the more important tactical gameplay is. When it gets to platoons fighting platoons, you're often not going to win due to sheer numbers alone. It takes people making smart, tactical gameplay decisions.

The more you post, the more I'm thinking this is a l2p issue. There are many places where you can fight inbetween bases. If all you do is fall back to the next base and wait for the enemy to come for you, then you'll only fight at bases. But if you're smart, set up forward spawns and ambush enemy columns you can find yourself fighting all over the place.


By and large, the bases aren't poorly designed either. They're balanced to allow attackers and defenders to have more-or-less equal footing. Making every base a defensible stronghold where you can just Alamo all day long is poor design and encourages the zerging you appear to hate.

The bases have gotten better over time. They're pretty damn good now.

As it is, only point there is, is to grind certs and improve your equipment.

SOE should add more elements to make the gameplay more varied and add some longer term strategic goals like continental conquest. All of this will come sometime in the distant future though.

I think a lot of this comes down to the sort of outfit community you may or may not be involved in.

Playing solo or running around in some spactarded zergfit. Never going to get the most of out planetside.

Pretty Much. this ^^

We all want a more involved Meta-game and a more objective based gameplay (like cont-locking, and territory specific vehicles), but ultimately its about going toe-to-toe with the enemy and winning the day while enjoying yourself doing it.

Oh I see Mr. Councilor.

The fleeing population is partially your fault!

Great Ideas you had there, you managed to cut the pop by more than half. If you work for Dice, Job well done!

The mapping started in March, even you agree, not even half is done, 6 months later. Never mind any of the systems needed to make it fun.

Again great advise you gave, HALF of the pop left.

Lol wut? Perhaps that made more sense in your head.

Incoherent ad hominems, eh? Not responding to any of my points, eh?

My work here is done. We are done here.