Dispelling the Implant P2W Myth

No, it's not the same thing at all.

Grinding out a weapon in PS2 is a one time deal, consumables (the hint is in the name) aren't like that.



Now the big issue of whether consumables are are problem is always the same: COST.

If they are cheap enough that no one needs to use SC to keep supplied then that is fine (for the Player - SOEs accountants may not think so), however if the "free" cost is too high so that SC is needed to keep the average (or indeed any) player supplied you're basically squarely into P2W territory.

Its closer to pay to win than weapon unlocks are. One could feasibly continue to have an advantage by throwing money at it as a paying player while non-subscribers who do not buy implants not only do not buy the implants but likely get less implant drops because they are earning less XP.

Im pretty skeptical of being able to buy things that give you an edge in a FPS game. Especially the infantry game, where newbies are close to being on equal footing with veterans.

I hate rental crap in games. You have to keep spending endless to stay at maximum power. To me this is what FREE to play games do when they get desperate and want to milk the loyal costumers that will spend huge amounts of money on the game because they are the only source of income left.

We will see how easy the are to maintain but If I fell like I am spend too much of my game resource just to maintain in game power. I will find a new game

Haven't tried implants yet but they seem more Pay to Whine than Pay to Win.

Personally I think the biggest problem with the implants are the batteries.

If you want to use them, and not spend real money on them, they cost certs to use.

Now in the standard free-2-play model that PS2 has had so far you use your certs for basically two things:

1. You can unlock new weapons, which you pay for once and have for forever.
2. You can upgrade existing weapons, classes and vehicles. But again, once you've paid for these upgrades you have them forever.

Now you have another 2 options:

3. Buy implants, and once you pay for them you have them for ever. (if they didn't cost batteries I'd be fine with them. I think they'd still complicate the game a bit without adding much depth of play, but I could easily live with them. They'd basically be just another suit slot more or less.)
4. Buy batteries. These, unlike everything else that costs certs or real cash, disappear with use. As such they cost upkeep if you want to keep playing with them.

So you can buy batteries to stay on par with other players in moment to moment combat, which will kill much of your ability to get new weapons and upgrades, or you can ignore implants and be at a slight disadvantage in moment to moment combat but keep your weapon unlock and upgrades coming at the same rate as before.

As such, a free-to-play player doesn't have to use real cash to get a hold of batteries, but if he doesn't he will have to live with one of two penalties now, which he didn't have to live with before. (specifically not using implants while others do, which gives him or her a minor disadvantage, or not buying weapons and upgrades as often as he used to be able to.)

It's not quite pay-to-win, at least like we've seen it in some other games, but it is pay SC for a combat advantage or get gear slower. (or pay SC for gear so you can get a combat advantage)

Either way the game is a bit less friendly to free to play people than it was a little while ago, and even paid player's need to invest more money into the game if they want to be on par with everybody else and maintain their old rate of acquiring new toys.

So in the end I really don't like the new battery system. On a free-2-play -> Pay-2-Win scale, I would have rated Planetside 2 at maybe a 2/10 before. There were a few situations where paying was actually purely better, but not that many. It was mostly convenience. Now though, I'd rate it at at maybe 3.5/10. It's still definitely free-2-play, not pay-2-win, but it's a lot more pay-2-win than it was 3-4 months ago. And that's fairly disturbing to me. Paid for scopes bothered me, but they were nothing when compared to how the implant system works so far.

just going to leave this here

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/26256n/fun_fact_this_is_the_max_survivable_height_for/

How can you forget something that's never happened?

At present rates, perhaps. But I wouldn't wager against increased scarcity and higher cert prices once everyone has had a chance to try and get hooked on using the things. A lot of people won't buy them unless they've tried them so for now they are plentiful enough to use liberally. We'll see if that's the case a few months from now.

I am getting a bit concerned now about chargers...

My VS is currently #10 in kills for the day, and #8 for score for the day on waterson.
I cannot keep a Tier 2 implant charged from drops averaging 400SPM for the day...
How exactly is a normal player with the average SPM of 150 going to keep them charged?

I already feel like I need to just shell out for an ultra charger to keep my regen working for more than 10mins..
This is going to be pay to win if they do not increase the charger drop rates...

Discus...

750 certs = about 1 hour 20 mins to 40 mins depending on the rate of decline.


It is way to greedy I would love to keep playing the game , I am 21 maybe it's time to grow up blessing in disguise perhaps the death of planetside 2 to me


maybe just play double xp weekends ? I am very sad I subscribed about 2 months ago now, buyers remorse for sure.

OP, I believe you are either blind or hopelessly optimistic.

Either way, I don't agree. This whole thingamajig widens the gap between a fresh new player and those who were here since launch (or even earlier) even more - therefore it is bad for the game's wellbeing. Buying effect immunity (and a good deal of implants are exactly this) is just a cherry on top.

Go play a Korean MMO and then you'll see that this isn't really a big deal.

Won't argue with this though.

Not to mention theres some arbitrary "Cap" in play .. so even if you are playing you may still need to buy chargers ...

Ref : https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...n-implant-drops-or-a-bug.187150/#post-2708649

Its making it hard to argue the P2Win angle when the supposed system itself stops you from earning them without paying.....

After playing for a few hours it seems like drops are plentiful enough to not even need to buy them.

As a subscriber.

Not sure about non paying members, but even if it were cut in half it would be sufficient.

as somebody who plays both PS2 and MWO, you are pretty severely mischaracterizing the coolshot 18 situation. The heat reduction is exactly the same as the trained-up coolshot 9, which is available with cbills (and hardly anybody runs either one anyway because lol airstrikes.) People got mad because PGI said they wouldn't include coolant flushing in the game at all and then backtracked on that, not because there was a version available for real money.

anyway

the real beef with implants isn't so much pay-to-win per se, as it is that people felt like operating them on a free basis would be too onerous or outright impossible. I haven't had a chance to see how they work on live myself yet, so I can't really say anything there.

ed: also (and I can't believe I'm saying this) MWO's system is less onerous on players, since the cost of a coolant flush will always be covered by your match income. You'll make less profit if you choose to use one every game, but you won't get a scenario like PS2 where you're actively playing but lack the exp/minute to continue using the implants.

There is an implant that gives you more XP?

I don't Pay2Win.
I only Pay4Fun.

It all adds up

whoah whoah whoah, back up. Did you just use the word "grind"? "Grind" in the context of a First Person Shootah game?

Im a F2P player and I honestly havn't read into the whole debate of the implants too much because at the end of the day, none of these 'auto spotting people you damage', take extra fall damage, see people's health bars and etc. are important. It is still player skill, aim, awareness and everything else that makes a 'good' player, 'good'.

Sure, some of the things are useful such as the health regen and the ability to see people's health bars; but I've been doing it just fine with the passive Biolab benefit, medics and the fact that it's been a few months without being able to see the enemy's health ever since that patch.

So really, I don't think it adds all that much to my gameplay.