The Adventures of a (Sorta) New Player

FOR GOD'S SAKE SOMEBODY HELP ME
Ahem, sorry.
I signed up for the PS2 beta yonks ago, but couldn't play it thanks to a pretty bad computer.
About a year ago I got an upgrade, so I installed PS2, joined an outfit and started playing.
I remember absolutely nothing from that time, it was a whirl of 'What the hell is going on' that somehow got me to rank 14.
So I quit at some point, and recently decided to return.
I thought 'What the hell, I'll start a new character'.
And I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, all I know is my *** is getting handed to me in every single engagement.
Every tank outdoes me, every player outdoes me and I'm too petrified to touch the aircraft.
Every gun I have is absolutely useless at any range beyond 'I'd be better off kicking him in the shin' distance, and the sniper rifle I have never kills anything instantly and takes two seconds to chamber another shot, by the time that's happened the target has either killed me or hidden away.
All of my points has come from killing infantry in a tank or reviving/healing players.
In short, playing PlanetSide 2 as a new player is like getting kicked to the curb and having your head stomped on repeatedly.
Seriously, even Dark Souls is an easier start.

Yeah, new players are in for a rather rough start. Only advice I can give is to practise in VR and get someone with experience to tutor you.

Which server/faction are you playing?

See, SOE, that's the kind of crap you should not let happen

And that is the beauty of it.
Ignore all the twerps above dissing SOE about the new player experience. It's an MMO. The community is the one at fault for not being welcoming to new players.

Don't go at it alone. Find a mentor or two. Or three. Or four! Join an outfit. Ask questions.


This isn't your ordinary average ankle-depth shooter. It's an open world with multiple possibilities. The number of elements involved in battle is huge. And the complexity scales with O(log N).

Remember - the draw of this game is its complexity and learning curve, and all the sorts of emergent strategies that arise from the basic properties of each element in the game.

P.S. find a skygod and get him to help you with flying, but only after you get the basics down, or he'll get extremely frustrated. By basics, I mean minimally flying(drifting) backwards, sideways, and sustained controlled flight upside down. Bonus points if you can go full speed 10m from the ground. Practice on VR flying under treetops. It's worth it and not too hard.

Enjoy your stay!

possibilities: outpop and them farm the spawn room warriors
be outpopped and get farmed on while being a spawn room warrior

New Conglomerate, Briggs

My first experience goes like this:
'Press instant action!' the game says, as I jumped out of spawn, keen for some fun.
Alright, I'll do that.
I plummet out of the sky, holding my rifle eagerly and I jump out of my pod.
'Alright, who wants so-' Oh, I just got wrecked by an airplane with rockets.
So I spawn at a spawnroom instead.
And get ruined by another airplane with rockets the second I step out.
Then I get ruined by machine guns.
So on, so forth

Cynics have already rejected outside possibilities so why bother discussing with them?
Yet to see the light of small squad ops. Check out DA ops on youtube, see how even small squads can change the flow of battle.
Actually, don't bother to, cynic. You're already convinced about your own point of view.

Were you playing alone?
Or were you following an outfit around that has the resources and manpower to engage with the enemy on the strategic level?

Let me be honest:
You are going to have a really rought time in planetside 2 for at least the first few weeks.

The learning curve is EVE like and you will lack a lot of the tools to counter/deter a large number of enemies - especially vehicles.

My advice:
a) Are you not a masochist? Find another game, steam summer sale is great for that.

b) You are a masochist:
- play medic or engi and just repair/revive until you got enough experience to tackle other ppl: stay with the zerg(biggest group of friendlies)
- Always stay indoors and only go outside when inside a huge zerg.
- Dont stand still...ever.
- never press [tap] or look at the scoreboard.
- stay with the zerg.
- and never stay too long in the same location/spot. Try and always move around in the base.

I have absolutely no idea.
I clicked join squad, squad spawn and then tried to follow people.
Half the time I didn't know what direction the enemy was and ended up shooting teammates.

Well that doesn't sound like a fun experience at all

You need to take cover, don't run in the open.

Click on social and pick a platoon, it's more fun with a platoon.

And yes in PS2 you going to die alot

No, the new player experience is not fun, not even close.

But

It does get fun/very intense/interesting when you have friends/outfit and certs to play whatever you need/want. Ofc that does take months of casual play.

You, sir, are terrible player Or just trolling.

You weren't in a squad then.
A squad has active voice comms all the time, some background "couch chatter" going on, calls for fire/backup, etc.

Don't join a squad for the sake of joining a squad. It doesn't do anything but place a little number next to some other random players.
Don't expect a squad that doesn't communicate to magically multiply their effective strength.

Specific to you:
For NC, try out D1RE, IB, RSNC, anything really, except R18. R18 is a zergfit - getting things done using pure numbers leaves no room for individual learning and enrichment. Start with an outfit that does squad-level ops.

Sort of true for indar/esamir. Amerish and Hossin allow more freedom of movement for infantry outdoors.
But, lacking the tools to manage large numbers of enemies? You have just that - join a good outfit. Gun one of their tank secondaries. Most outfits don't really care about player skill levels, since the most overpowered bit in this game is cooperative action. If you doubt this, check out most of the "OP stuff" in the history of planetside - most occur only when used in tandem or with a certain degree of coordination.

Finally: never stay with the zerg or you'll end up like a certain player who thinks PS2 is all about either:
Zerging the spawnroom with nothing much to shoot at, or
Getting zerged with nothing much to shoot at.

Stick with a squad ops outfit. Best size.

Outfits are like clans/guilds right?
Well they're not really something I can join, as my internet barely let's me play an online game and I still get semi-regular lag spikes.
I simply can't use teamspeak or any kind of voice comms software.

Yep outfits are Clans.

And if you connection cant handle a voicecomm, then i would suggest you look for another game. The single player experience in PS2 is not great.

yes, outfits are like clans/guilds. Or in an MMOFPS context, formations/units.
Imagine, if war were to break out, that you simply grabbed a service rifle, your gear, "everything-on"-ed, and walked yourself to the frontlines. That's what all the new players are trying to do. They simply get slaughtered.

In your case, it'll be really hard to get a good ps2 experience.
Unfortunately. Try R18 out then, it's your only hope. It's the PS2 equivalent of the "army of peasants". Just hope the other more Ranger/Guards-esque outfits will pull specific equipment and tactics to counter enemy pushes/defenses so you guys can POL (passage of line) through.

Yeah..
Guess PlanetSide 2 ain't for me then

I think OP might be exaggerating a bit..

Go at YouTube.
Watch first tutorials for new players and you would safe yourself ton of bad gameplay time. Just watch how the pro players play the game a bit for your preferred class vehicle or loadout.
Check Wrel and others good PS2 YouTube channels.