Global Characters with Server Selection

How about changing the character select system to be more FPS friendly? Basically its like this you can select any server you want be it for population reasons or ping or players and u can load up into that server with any character you created. Way better than the current **** we have now what do you think? Outfits could be on the global thing too like your outfit stays with the character you select and u can select any server you want with your character and your outfit follows. it would probably require an overhaul of the system but well worth it to keep this game alive in the coming years I say. So devs should fund something like this immedietely.

This is especially good to keep the game alive and fresh especially if you decide to play at night where your server may have lower pop (currently) but with this new system you can say log onto the EU servers in the am if you normally play on west and east coast servers.

devs should do this now!

But then they can't make server change tokens that people can (have to) buy.

What exactly is the point of that system? Me playing a character on Cobalt or Miller, wouldn't change anything. It also comes with some possible problems of server migration, where people will jump to the server where they are already overpopulated and winning, and will leave the other factions to not wanting to go there, and that is already a problem with the current system, this would just make it far worse.
So no, there isn't anything really gained from it, other than it possibly causing more problems than there already is. Also merging the two servers per continent, would likely be a better idea.

It would also shift the cert-SC balance, making SC to be a less useful alternative when purchasing weapons.

For example, currently you must "repurchase" weapons with certs on each new character. So if I made 3 different NC characters, I would need to purchase the same weapon three times with certs. Whereas if I used SC, I only need to purchase it once.

But with this change, there's really no reason to have more than one character anymore. I would just need to make a single purchase with certs, making purchasing with SC a much less attractive choice.

I mean if your problem is that you want to switch servers depending on time of day, you're perfectly free to start a new character (I think the free limit is three) on that server. Then switch between characters when you want to. Sure you won't be able to take your shiny new stuff along (unless you spent real money to support the game), but that's by design.

It would be like battlefield 4 for example where it saves character progression and you could just log onto any server you like while keeping your character(s) outfit(s) progression without being stuck to 1 server.

Again, there is two servers per continent, and they are completely the same. This isn't different maps like BF4 or different gamemodes, it is Auraxium no matter where you go.
There really isn't gained anything from jumping from one server to another, only difference would be who you fight against (which as a reference to my first post, can become problematic if that creates an imbalance of where people go).

This is a MMO, lobby game mechanics are redundant at best.

pop might actually hit high instead of medium at best if they redo it like bf4. why on earth do you insist on chars being stuck to 1 server when the pops get low? just look at any game with character progression that isnt an mmo and you will see its a far superior system since you arent glued to 1 server. but since this is an next gen mmofps free to play with SC and subs to keep them alive they should simply allow people to log onto any server they want with any character they want period.

Can you address the counterpoints brought up by Chingles and Lemposs above rather than dodging the questions they pose?

And where would the population to make the server hit high, come from? The other servers, hence they'll get lower. So again, there is two servers per continent, unless you want to jump from continent to continent (please don't I am tired of shooting people 20 % more just to kill them), you gain nothing but one full server and one empty, instead of two medium servers. Server merge is more preferable.

You do know the differences between lobby games and MMOs right?
Lobby games, like BF is a maximum of 64 players on a map, PS2 is above 1000 players on a map, so switching server will land you with a different team in a lobby game, in a MMO you simply go somewhere else on the map.
Switching server in BF is necessary, since they run on a limited little map and have game modes, PS2 has four continents (albeit some are locked some of the time) each vastly bigger than BF, and therefore one needs to circulate their maps to not bore people to death, the other allows you to go where ever you want. You'd gain nothing from switching server, it is completely the same thing you would go into.

But I am somewhat beginning to have a slight suspicion that you would want such a system, just so that you could jump server, if your faction isn't zerging and plowing the other team into the ground? Am I right in this, because you seem to want to implement a rather redundant system, for no particular reason other than "I want it". Can you even give me a somewhat objective reason as to why, one would want to switch between servers? Something that isn't based upon the notion that lobby games does it, hence a MMO should do it as well?

This game would benefit from the system simply because you could log onto any server you want, with any character you want.
Higher population = better fights, period. 30 - 180 ping really isnt that bad when playing west coast, east coast and European servers if you have any experience in fps games at all ( no offense , just saying ). It beats glueing ppl to 1 server just to have AT BEST medium pop with 30 ping during out of school / work hours then low pop during off hours ( u still die so 30 - 180 ping isnt that big of a deal if they allow server selection with any char you created ). For example this other game Star Wars The Old Republic allows server transferring, this game has none, I recently came off a pvp server called The Bastion in Star Wars The Old Republic because it had low population and barely any Republic players compared to Imperial players, I was playing there for 3 years. I swiched to The Harbringer which is a pve server ( doesn't enforce pvp in open world ) which has population status noted in red: VERY HEAVY, as opposed to in green, on the bastion server: LIGHT. and the game plays way better with high population, both Republic and Imperial side have a boatload of people to play with. You just need to see it first, as opposed to defending medium pop at best servers. Thats what this game suffers from and having a system in place that doesn't restrict your char to 1 server would eliminate this problem. You could just switch servers in off hours if people in your timezone log from whichever server currently had high population if another server was gathering population.

So basically what im saying is all you guys need to see is you are a PlanetSide 2 player just like me and not a server like DayBreak in other words don't try and stick to a server cause you think changes might make it worse when it's already in terrible shape cause this game doesn't allow you to jump to any server you want like a standard FPS game, if this was an RPG game where you have storage and crap I would understand but its an FPS so there is no excuse now the way the game is set up and how simplified it is to keep people glued to 1 server. They should allow you to select any server you want with any character you want so the game doesn't suffer from low population when its supposed to be an MMO FPS.

Also a game like BF4 does not suffer from low population since u can choose which server you want to play on with your char and you aren't stuck to 1 server over there. Thats why it was a good example to me.

I like this idea. I think everyone should have 3 characters by default. 1 VS, 1 NC, 1 TR. Then they can buy more if they want to make new characters without deleting their old ones, but the option to delete characters would still be there if they want to make like 3 VS (yuh!) or 2 TR and 1 NC.

- One server full, one empty. Might as well server merge, as I have said continuously.

I do not want to know your current performance if 180 ping does not affect you, but I am sure the ones that have to tolerate that you warp a little and have dodgy hit detection will be completely fine with it. 180 ping is detrimental to performance in all games, Planetside 2 more than most.

- One server full, one empty. Might as well server merge, as I have said continuously.

What an excellent example of what I continuously have said people will do and will create the problem of: one server full, one empty. You don't see the irony in this little anecdote?

- One server full, one empty. Might as well server merge, as I have said continuously.

And how many people does a BF4 server have? Oh 64 at maximum. Do you think that might have something to do with the game not having low population servers, that it only has to find 64 players, and not 1000+?
Also they do have low population servers, and no one plays them, what a great example once again.

Sorry but you really aren't addressing the point or understanding the problem. Once people get the power to server jump, they'll jump to the one with the most population (like you did in SWToR), which then leaves the other server to have next to no population. This can lead to something like queues being implemented, so now we can't play the game with all our friends or a lot of other people, because that is what every wants to do, and nobody wants to join the empty server.
It would solve a few problems, and create a whole bunch of new ones. Something that is likely better corrected with server merges.

Devs still haven't done anything to address population imbalance problems period. Me being able to transfer to say emerald with my br 100 vs char doesnt help if that server gets low pop at night when I usually want to play. Also if they do something like this before the game is dead i'm pretty sure 1 server can handle all of the games population. Cause I dont see it increasing ever if your char is locked to 1 server when its an FPS game. Just look at any other FPS and you will see how this is a terrible way to handle chars just cause its large-scale. Due to timezone differences people need to be able to choose which server they log into for ease of access and better replayability for this game.

Here is a good example since people don't seem to see what im talking about. This is at 6pm on a monday west coast. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=538291145

Ping is a problem, and especially between continents, since the connection will be slow and bad. If you want to know what that does, you will find yourself dying instantly, people will tell you that you are either warping, or sponging more bullets than you should, you will have to shoot people for longer to kill them and vice versa. There really isn't anything to say, even the most optimized servers for FPS games, will have this problem when continent jumping.

Seeing as during prime time, we already have queues for alerts, as well as long front lines of battles, our experience isn't changed for the most part, we don't even get to see it anywhere else than on the map. Not to mention we already have enough people that bunch up in 100+ fights, more of those are not something we really require.
Again, it doesn't address that you would have one full server and one empty, per continent, which I will say one last time, warrants a server merge, not server changing.

BF doesn't suffer low population, because it has to get 64 people to fill a map, and it can close servers that are low population (usually a lot of server only run prime time for their continent). PS2 doesn't have that luxury, we need thousands of people to fill a map and we can't just shut down servers when they aren't filling up (they could, and people wouldn't like it).
And ping is a very real problem and detriment to players, you not knowing about it, is quite curious to me but that is another story.

Last time, you are comparing a MMOFPS to a lobby FPS, they aren't the same, and server jumping might give higher population (again, server merges solves this better), but you stand with servers that are being unused and empty (and if there becomes queues, people will literally not play, since they won't join the low population ones), and you have people that have extremely poor gameplay since their ping is detrimental to their performance, as well it affects their opponents.
MMOs will always have problems with population in off hours, lobby games less so. You are trying to implement a feature that is successful for lobby games, but has quite different effects on a MMO and really aren't comparable since the populations are different in size as well.
Server merges of continental servers, is a better solution to make servers more populated.

I agree that you would solve some population problems, but you will create a whole bunch of new problems, not to mention as I previously said, you will likely find migrations of factions or groups that will skew the game, and make it more frustrating for people than it already is. It is a bandaid solution for a MMO.

http://grab.by/LnVs and it only took about 5 minutes to get in. That's another example of what this game needs, bustling servers and I don't see that happening if the devs don't 1, implement a system like this, or 2, allow people to transfer their chars already to different servers cause i'm sure there are plenty of people that have br 100s lying around just rotting on dead servers, as seen here http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=538291145

Landmark does this. The servers are marked by geographical location and you can play where you want.

This should be the standard in every MMO. I've played in EU servers in different Battlefield games, Crysis, and a few other shooters from the East Coast of NA. The only reason a region gets a wonky ping or connection is due to firewalls, dirty connections, and proxies. That pretty much only includes China and Australia, or low budget ISPs(which you'd see the same connection on a localized server anyway).

just merge already and be done with it.

Planetside 2 is a game that outweighs the benefits of any current connection technology that exists to the player/consumers' home even to this day.
It'll probably be another 5 years before that that's not the case. Forever and ever. Thank F* for that.
But not now.

Planetside 2 is not the problem.
It's the number of players playing at the same time.

There's an issue of 160 ping in Planetside 2. It works "OK" at about 51ms, but after that, it gets uncomfortably like "I'm dying over and over again behind cover I know I reached with seconds to spare and it's not fun after 10 times in a row".
But then you get that one great moment, and then it stops again and repeats "10 times in a row when you're not being careless whatsoever."

Then you get players that preclude this evidence and spurt out without thinking "idiot players", when they're no doubt experiencing the same thing, but cancelling some of it out just by doggedly pretending it doesn't exist.

This doesn't translate to any game I've played with 4-16 players in a "map" with a similar latency (although you can feel it at about 170ms, even with all that netcode trickery QuakeLive employs to keep balance), but you just don't feel like there's a problem of latency if you're winning or losing. It's "OK".

48 players on average in your view, all doing between 1-5 different actions in a given moment over a variable connection of 80-160ms is going to exhibit problems; and they get worse as time passes. You're sitting behind a curve that is always curving you a bad view of the situation.

You tend to feel the problem, more than you see it. Since we're used to relying on visible evidence, we ignore it completely and others' suggest we see a psychiatrist to resolve the problem because "they're enjoying it more than you by leading 2 seconds of whatever they're feeling based off of an inhuman coincidence that they survived and you didn't".

We all know what's happening. You're not seeing what you think you're seeing on your screen, and neither do they. It's a bit of a mirage in that sense.

Developers are very happy that this pseudo medium of contention exists, because technically, it's not their problem.

What is the "standard" of population for any of those eight servers (how many people are on those servers)?

Sorry I dont know exactly but when I had over 60 minute lock out when the server would just read HEAVY there were over 700 people in the queue. Dont know why it did this, it was only a few moments ago before I posted that screenshot but they are suppose to be able to get to VERY HEAVY anyway so its good it did.

Thats why im saying PS2 needs a new system or a character transfer system at the very least to handle the chars cause their playerbase is dying while SWTOR is fine they just released a free expansion so that was probably why.

Having chars stuck to a server sucks