[Suggestion] Balancing vehicles for new players

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by GhostAvatar, Aug 27, 2014.

  1. GhostAvatar

    As a new player any vehicle you pull will be inferior compared to a long established players. Everything an established player has certed into is a straight upgrade over the default. This is something that has been mentioned many times on these forums. And they are correct to do so. Unlike infantry weapons where unlocking attachments is a sidegrade (there are downsides to the bonuses given). Vehicle unlocks are a straight up buff.

    To me the answer is pretty simple. Make these unlocks actual side grades. Make it so you have to give something up for the benefit you get. Now how do you do this in an already established game? Lets take MBTs performance and defense slots for an easy example. There are two ways you can do this. Both of which requires creating new items that are given by default (like Enhanced Targeting for implants). Now you can either decrease the base model attributes and have these new items increase them back to where they are currently. Or you can keep the current base attributes and these new items will be a straight buff to the current attributes.

    So what will these new items be? Well they will be a combination of all the other available unlocks in that slot, but at a lower level. So for example, under the performance slot you currently have racer or rival combat. Lets say (for the sake of this example) that racer increases speed by 10% and rival combat increases turning by 10%. This new item will increase both speed and turning by 3-4%. The reason for only 3-4% is because it wouldn't be enough of an incentive to specialise and unlock the other items, unless you unlock to the last level. Now anyone who who uses racer will be losing turning, and vice versa with rival combat.

    Now this would leave new players either on equal footing. Or have a small edge in one aspect, compared to established players. Thoughts?
  2. Alarox

    I'd rather just make it easier for newer players to get certs early on (cert grants every X battle ranks) and have specific default unlocks such as NAR for all vehicles, Fire Suppression for ESFs/Galaxies, ES abilities for MBTs, etc.
  3. GhostAvatar

    Wow, so no real arguments from forumside :eek:

    I really must learn to post more controversial ideas.
  4. Villanuk

    So under your new system, an experienced player can change faction, get a top notch tank and rip the hell out of others, I say yes, so I can get a vanguard and unleash hell.

    Or like we have all done, you learn how to use tanks as you know your disadvantaged then as you improve, work hard for your certs you reach the required level by hard graft and have a sense of achievement.

    the problem with society these days, is that they don't want to work for anything, they want it easy and given to them and this is a classic example of that and you learn nothing because of it.
  5. ColonelChingles

    I'm okay with it.

    All weapons and certification lines should be sidegrades instead of upgrades. Arguably this would allow for more "extreme" certifications because the penalties would keep them in check. For example, maybe having a really fast Lightning means that I ditch some armor protection for it. Or an increased reload speed decreases my overall ammunition count. Or heavier armor attachments mean I move slower.

    Of course the same should be true of infantry as well. Nanoweave Armor should make infantry move more slowly the more they cert into it. Carry extra ammunition, rockets, or grenades should also make infantry much less agile. Carrying C4, AT Mines, Medkits should make infantry move sluggishly and force them to carry less ammunition.
  6. Pelojian

    work hard seriously? farming is prime example of working hard on the easiest route. stomp small fights, run into big fights, bust as many fleshy pinatas as you can so you can get more certs and spend those certs to get an edge in other areas.

    can you really blame those with less grindy play wanting some decent options?

    It's no wonder the devs keep adding 1000cert weapons to keep the farmers interested in the game. while those that try to play differently are at a disadvantage because the farmers are better equipped from stomping others one way so they can stomp in other ways.

    Developers should revamp the cert system, cert costs and reduce the cap you can bank them. farmers should be discouraged more.
  7. Villanuk

    Farming is part of the game but there is far more to tank play than sitting outside a spawn room. Only because people use tanks it does not mean they farm and these days where tank zergs are on the increase, farming is a far less common trait.

    I do agree than the certs do need to be looked at but then if you have membership, then I don't find certs that hard to come by more so with the re-vamp of ribbons.