Tier 1 of consumables should be free

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Vaphell, Jul 5, 2014.

  1. Vaphell

    So i recently started a new char on Emerald. Long story short, new chars are an atrocious experience. Hundreds of certs for even the most basic of utilities. Ain't nobody got time for that grind in order to start enjoying the game beyond pewpewing with stock weapons.

    To the point: stuff like restokit/medkit, 1st mine, 1st c4 brick should be free so new characters can from the start at least taste some utility available in full glory down the road. That long after the release when a newcomer has to deal with BR-50s everywhere these things are not a luxury but pretty much a necessity and i think that new chars should have access to entry level utility toys.
    New players are already tens of thousands certs short when compared to average, frequently playing players. There is a huge divide between the haves and the have nots and the have nots need more help at the start of their journey.

    In case someone thinks certs = money and SOE shouldn't open lev1 of everything consumable or because existing players had to spend some 1.5years ago - that's kind of short term thinking. As they say it's penny wise - pound foolish. Few hundred certs in freebies are not going to break the game and they may in fact improve the retention of newbies (=potential customers) who wouldn't feel as hopeless as they do now facing decked out everything. Skill, gear, and knowledge gap is absolutely insane, today only the most mentally resilient people stand a chance to start playing PS2 and stick around.

    And if you really really need to put some cert barrier - put a price on convenience, eg make a max stock size very small by default, with optional unlocks increasing it, or things more expensive but with optional price reductions.
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  2. Phyr

    I'd rather they not give everyone C4 to start with. Newbs are lacking in AV choices, but C4 should be gated.
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  3. Vaphell

    No strong feelings about it because i am not a heavy c4 user atm but why?. Because it would be too easy to inflict pain against tanks? And the other way around, eg a maxed out PewPewA Magrider is not too easy against a stock char? What, are you going to chase it with a stock HA tube in your hand while it evades 90% of slow *** rockets?

    Against anything mechanized of any value at least 2 C4 bricks are required and imo 1 default brick is not going to cause a zomg c4 everywhere apocalypse. 2 entry level chars would have to get into the touching distance to score a kill. Also people who know what's up are sinking one of first few certs into it either way so it's not like the c4 is gated for long.
    I think there might be difference in behavior in infantry fights but still c4 is 100 a pop.
  4. Phyr

    It would be too easy to inflict pain on everyone. It takes a minimum of 2 c4 to kill a tank, which is the reason most people get c4. If I only had 1 c4 I would spam it on infantry exclusively. We already have enough explosive spam as it is.
  5. Frostiken

    Because C4 is broken as ****.
  6. MasterCheef

    The majority of players you encounter are probably not new anyway. gating c-4 wont change your experience much. Anyone who has been playing for an amount of time will already have c-4.

    c-4 is gated only to be a goal for new players. It has nothing to do with its effect on the battlefield.
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  7. Vaphell

    Isn't it a bad thing? That's a death sentence for a MMO in slow motion because attrition works one way. SOE should really work on destroying high barriers of entry we currently have.

    You are literally creating an artificial wall for newcomers to jump over for no good reason. That's not a good long term approach.
    I am saying that this policy needs a revision because there is no reason that new players even need 'a c4 as a goal' or 'a medkit as a goal'. Gating anything that long after the release is a completely rtarded idea because we should strive for luring more players and grinding for the most basic of basics is simply not fun. It's one thing to grind fighting BR30s 1 year ago, it's another to grind fighting BR100s around every corner today.
    Are you saying that every new char should live through a rite of passage that is about nuthugging others with magical pistols for weeks so that they can print enough support certs?

    Hell, I know my way around infiltrator but my new char is already looking at 1780c for darts i consider a 100%-must-have alone. I sank 200-300c already and i still have only 2 useless darts and all i can do is to snipe, with no reliable support exp to be had. Remaining 1500c is going to be a long long grind. I really don't need 50c here, 50c there, yet another 100 over there for tier1 crap.

    While it's true there is much HE spam, c4 is still the trickest way to do HE as it's the only touch range method that requires delay and manual detonation. Nobody says you have to stay on 1 brick, also it's much easier to shoot people with guns than to run towards them with pants around the ankles, it's also much easier to invest the equivalent of 3.5x bricks and go for a skillsuit instead. Also some people probably would be using other stuff, like medkits.
  8. Inex

    There are a few vehicle and MAX options with that sort of price tag on them, but most are in the sub-hundred range for entry.

    Generally, I'd say there are two reasons to make an option default/free:
    1) There is no way to get that functionality otherwise.
    2) There is a serious power disparity for haves/have nots.


    In the infantry side of things, most of those options offer a different approach but not a different ability. Mines/C4 offer AV to more classes, but you can still get a reasonable punch with the default launcher. I have a hard time thinking of something infantry really need unlocked. I wouldn't mind seeing any given option slot have something unlocked by default (vehicle performance options, I'm looking at you), but it doesn't feel like an imperative.

    And there's also the fact that as a veteran, you know all the fun toys you have to work with. An actual new player is going to need to progressively work with new tools to figure out how everything works anyway. And with the passive certs & ribbons you get nowadays, the 100-ish certs you usually need to unlock something are maybe an hour or two's work. That gives some time to fool around with what they've just unlocked, and then go get something else shiny.
  9. Vaphell

    proxy mines for infiltrators, the crappiest class of all when it comes to xp farming ability in stock form... 200+400 >_< while engineers, certified cert printers with too much work on their hands, get the same for 100+150.
    Also i rather meant totals here, but If you went over all classes to gather all these 30, 50, 100 scattered all over the place you'd hit few hundred with ease.

    The problem with the default launcher as the only stock AV is that it makes HA a default class to go out in the fields as or it ties you down to spawnrooms/terminals. Yeah, noobs can pull stock tanks but once the decked out enemies trample over them without breaking a sweat and they hit the timers and resource shortages, they are back to square 1 with infantry.
    Also it's very unlikely to kill a tank that doesn't overextend with dumbfires. You can shoot rockets till cows come home if the guy is not greedy (he will get some nice repair xp) and it's not like you will get any xp for deterrence. C4 is a 'if you can count, count on yourself', though very risky way to alpha-strike the vehicle and take it out permanently and that's why people universally go for it.

    Even if infantry don't strictly 'need' particular things unlocked, why even give the option of wasting time to grind for it? The only thing to be had here is frustration when the investment doesn't pan out as imagined.

    Not a mech player, so finer details of mech/air realities elude me, but I agree about the slots always having something to plug in.

    100 certs in 1 or 2 hours is kinda optimistic assumption, especially in case of true newcomers. They don't really know their way around yet, they don't get all the exp from secondary sources behind cert walls so they are not as showered with ribbons as people with a variety of toys. They are looking at armor slots and class abilities, (some hitting 1k+ a pop) in the long run either way and then there are ungodly expensive vehicles to play with. I'd spare them these trivial hours to unlock basics no matter how trivial these hours are.
  10. Prudentia

    Step 1: Go to VR
    Step 2: buy everything atleast once with Ressources
    Step 3: go back to Live
    Step 4: stock up on stuff
    Step 5: Profit
  11. Codex561

    What are you going on about?
  12. Prudentia

    that you can "unlock" every consumable, Grenades, mines, medkits, C4 for all classes for free. however if you want to unlock a second tier, you still have to buy the first tier before, which is a non issue for grenades
  13. Codex561

    I never knew that :confused: going in game to che-- oh wait I already have everything unlocked :(