Planetside 2 is DYING.

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by KoreanGuy98, Nov 7, 2015.

  1. Canaris

    instead of actually committing to developing PS2 into a great game the style & size of the original, all the dev's have done since launch is flipflop from one thing to another and NEVER.... EVER FINISH WHAT THEY START, all they create are short lived gimmicks which always fail.

    Planetside 2's legacy =
    [IMG]
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  2. Who Garou

    There are different kinds of gamers.

    Some games are driven to "beat" a game. You seem to be indicating that you are that type of player. You have to have something to unlock to make you feel that the game is worth playing. Some times players like this are willing to throw money at a game to be able to claim that they "beat" the game. This can be very lucrative for a gaming company, but this kind of player doesn't stick around once they think that they have "beat" the game; they simply move on to try to "beat" the next game.

    Some gamers are social gamers. They are playing because they like the group of gamers that they are playing with. If you have good friends in a game, you are likely to stay and game with them if they stick with the game. So these can be long term players.

    Some gamers like exploring the different types of gaming that a game allows. So if they get good at being an Engy, they try the infiltrator ... even if they aren't very good at it. They might change factions. Or make multiple characters that explore different aspects of the game play; one CERTed for Armor, one CERTed for Air, one CERTed with Medic focus, etc. Most games have a huge amount of content available that the average player doesn't even bother exploring, because ...

    Some gamer are "I'm the [insert role type here]". They love to [insert role here]. No matter what game they play, they play the [insert role here]. When they get tired of playing [insert role here], they find another game and play [insert role here]. It's easy to get bored when you do the same thing all the time. The only change in this case to stop the tedious repetition is to find another game. So yeah, this kind of player doesn't tend to stick with one game for long either.
  3. DeadlyPeanutt


    I was there, you're wrong.
    besides the 'get revenge' button, there has been little new content since hossin came out, and hossin is a silly nightmare.

    the game is dying because it has severe balance issues and no new content besides space pumpkins and a few new guns.
    the best new content that the game has had lately is that tank mines now trigger when maxes walk on them.
  4. Pikachu

    WRong in that pops were better or ghat quality was lower?
  5. DeadlyPeanutt


    wrong in that the game is essentially the same now as it was a year ago (toss in a couple of guns like the archer, the spitball turret, space pumpkins and a get revenge button).

    oh, and cut the server populations by 2/3, that's different.
  6. Who Garou

    They don't need to add more things; they need to clean it up.

    Honestly, the new VP system is pretty much garbage.
    It is starting to remind me of playing Risk.

    Reducing the Alerts to 1 hour wasn't a bad idea. Stopping continent locking after successful wins in Alerts was a bad idea.

    The whole idea of concentrating population with having continents become or stay locked as population dwindles and opening as population rises is a great mechanic to make the battles bigger.

    However, the continent rotation needs to happen faster to keep battles from getting stale.
    The new Alert system fosters stagnation on the battlefield.

    I'm not looking forward to the Ants myself.
    I think that the REVENGE ... I mean "bounty system" is misguided and should be removed from the game. I've said it before.

    How about some rotational non-holiday related Events?
    Get about Six of them in the coding have them rotate every 3-7 days.
    Have them operate sort of like Alerts and holiday events at the same time.
    Some thing to achieve over the course of time that is part of the game currently, but isn't counter productive.
    Gain some extra reward for capturing so many Amp stations (Tech Plants, Bio Labs, Towers, connection to warpgates, etc.) during medium sized or larger battles during the time period of the Event. Doesn't have to be a huge reward, but some CERT, XP, or Implant drops on successful completion during the Event.
    Something that will narrow focus and concentrate battles, without destabilizing the current flow of the game.

    We don't need more vehicles or weapons, just a way to spice up the action

    Of course, those directive hounds could use more stuff to "ding" on.
  7. Mad Hatter


    How rude! It sounds like YOU are the dick. I've always been dedicated to my beloved NC and have always pushed for faction initiatives without any outfit politics or self serving nonsense motivating me.

    I used to be very active in Leader chat, and while I still chime in from time to time, I'm not immune to the apathy and boredom which is commonplace these days.
  8. Moz



    Your point?

    If you think PC players dont own xboxs for example..... jeez most gamer's i know own an xbox AND a ps4.

    ALL the games mentioned can an WILL impact PS2!
  9. BamaRage


    I have to disagree, MadHatta does contribute his fair share and I respect him for that.

    However I do wish he would stop bringing grief to other players by intentionally flipping aircraft at the warp gate. Of coarse he claims its an accident but he does it over and over again. I fly a great deal and I have yet to accidentally flip the first friendly. And if I start flipping aircraft over and over by mistake I will fly no more. Its a despicable practice that only a dick would engage in. And its an offense for which you can be banned under the code of conduct section 14.

    Now that said I have been threatened by Madhatta for calling him out on this. This is why i am doing it here in open forum. I don't like the situation and would rather be a friend than an enemy.

    I love the game, ask anyone who knows me in the game and most will tell you I am hardcore NC. But if we don't stop grieving each other and work together we will continue to loose players and loose battles. I have six friends who have left the NC for the VS because of such BS. So keep being Dicks and watch what becomes of the NC.
  10. HappyBrah

    A perspective from a newer player, which seems to be lacking here...

    On a general note, a sustained and slow decline in a game's population is the norm for any online game. IMO the biggest barriers to new players sticking with Planetside specifically are the slow initial progression and lack of direction about what to do. I've wanted to play PS2 for a couple of years, but only got a PC capable of running it 4-5 months ago. I've watched a lot of Planetside YouTube content and knew a fair bit about the game before starting, but even so there was a very steep learning curve. I've recommended the game to friends but it's a big time investment and very few stayed with it.

    The unique gameplay aspects are the big draw. The huge pitched battles are awe-inspiring and there's no other game like it... watching a tiny battle escalate into a huge one, with columns of armour and swarms of air pouring in, is incredible. Nothing else on the market matches it. The incredible variety in classes and vehicles means that it's five or ten games in one - from fast-paced twitch-shooter, to sneaky stealth infiltration, to tank warfare. The air game is entirely separate, with a completely different playstyle and skillset. Support-minded people can ferry large squads to wherever they need to be, without ever getting involved in fighting, or spend a session resupplying and repairing heavy armour. Anyone with an interest in FPS games will find something to love.

    However, you have to love the game to bother unlocking past the initial gear. Certing into worthwhile vehicles is hugely expensive and/or time-consuming. You can buy a weapon with your starting certs and discover it's comparatively sh*te two weeks down the line. And you're at a major competitive disadvantage with starter gear. People who have been playing for years are streets ahead of new players in terms of ability anyway, without taking into account the fact that you can need a couple of hours of gameplay to unlock a decent weapon sight to be on par. 1000 certs for a single weapon is a ton, it represents several hours of gameplay for new players. If you can't get the guns you want without grinding a mediocre one, if your stock tanks get blown to bits by dedicated anti-armour, if your Sunderer guns seem like they're shooting wads of paper... you're not getting the chance to love the game.

    I'd suggest simply giving new players more free unlocks. I think it was 1500 certs to start? That was an Eidolon, scope and some Flash upgrades for me, and it was gone. I had no idea how valuable those certs were. For each class, give one gun, ability, suit, grenade and utility free, with 4-5 free upgrades to split between them. One vehicle primary, utility, defence and performance slot and again, a few free upgrades. Not certs, upgrades. It would open up a much greater variety of gameplay to new players, and any decline in a game's userbase can only be countered by engaging and retaining new players.

    There are still so many upgrades and cosmetics to encourage people to spend money, and membership benefits are good enough to be worth it in their own right. I'd bet that people spending money on the game aren't the ones who start playing and think "Right, I'm going to spend £30 on a sweet plane," they're the ones who've played for a while and want to be better and more effective. I would never spend money in the first month, but I bought a membership once I had specialised enough to really enjoy playing.

    //

    The gameplay is great, from a newcomer's perspective. The beauty of Planetside is that if you don't want to sit in a base getting bombed by 30 tanks, you can go somewhere else. I barely see the Bio Labs because IMO the dullest battles in the entire game take place there. I don't know what it was like a year ago, but rotating continent unlocks, Victory Points and limitations on capturing non-connected regions all work and make perfect sense.

    If I can be blunt, the community is outwardly one of the most negative and discouraging I've ever seen (except Hearthstone, jeeeez). I've never come onto these forums without seeing people complaining about the game dying or being broken, or ******** about other players or classes or factions or whatever. It seems there's a core of people who have been playing since the beginning and regard the game as their game, and are upset because it's not like the good old days. If you hate it so much now, go play something else. Someone else in this thread posted that new players have said they don't want to spend time/money on PS2 because they see so much about how the game is dying - makes perfect sense. Pointing it out every day is being part of the problem. (That's not directed at everyone here, looks like a vocal minority).
  11. DeadlyPeanutt

    true, the game is a mess right now, lots of spam, lots of hugely unbalanced battles, huge amounts of badly thought out weapons.

    bad weapons that will be nerfed later don't count as content in my view. New maps, new missions, new territories do.

    A good move would be to dump hossin, which no one plays, and create a new map. better yet, a series of small timed maps that are auto balance.

    or let the modding community do it. DBG could still sell hats, or helmets, whatever
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  12. ConradHorse

    I see 2 major dates starting a pop drop
    Summer '14 - server merge - ad-hoc attempt to increase income and cut on expenses by closing 3 servers that were actually slowly regaining pop ( look at the month before they got closed ) resulted in people being pissed off by laggs and zergs and crappy game optimization killing their CPUs. As soon as the next season it ended up in losing all the pop from cut off servers forever.
    Spring '15... dunno what happend... ah yes, nothing happened! Growing amount of bugs and no new game content apart from... NS guns which made even more people pissed off because instead of diversity of fresh yummy faction-specific content they got bare bones to chew.
    What those 2 events have in common? Station Cash. Greed once again buried a brillant.
  13. Savadrin

    As a fellow noob, I echo basically all of your sentiments.

    Some of my favorite fights have been on Hossin, which everyone whines about. I've learned to play Broken Arch Farm, because it's always there and unavoidable. I'm really sick of Indar in general. But it's where the fights are.

    There is a whole lot of pissing and moaning without much helpful thinking, but there is also a sizable contingent of vets here who do offer great ideas, and are helpful. Someone brought up the idea of adding NPC's into this game - and it's literally the ONLY MMO IN EXISTENCE WITH NO NPC's.

    Would it change the game overall? No, not directly. But it brings life to the world and allows amusing things to happen.You could have videos of someone kiting a horde of base defending NPC's into a nice hallway of prox and tank mines. Silly things, but FUN things.

    We are lacking a community leader. It almost feels like the rival divisions of this game - Infantry, Armor, Air - are all separate even in their own faction. That's fine, but being divisive hurts everyone. I don't know what sort of constraints DBG has on personnel, time, and money. But I do know that finding a personality who can engage the community is extra important if your population is not self-sufficient.

    I can't wait for non-combat or soft-combat usefulness to exist with (hopefully) ANT's and other additions to the game. I wouldn't mind going on forage runs if I decide to have some scotch while I play and find that after the second glass I can't really snipe or CQC Inf very well. I'd also love to have an autodrive to waypoint option so that when I'm solo I can hop in a gun and not just be roast goose.

    It doesn't even have to be smart, run into rocks or trees, but keep me moving while I swat a mosquito.

    This game, for all the complaints that people have after the novelty wears off, is quite frankly amazing in scope and scale for what it is. I'm only disappointed I found it so late, but that goes straight to the lack of advertising.

    Lastly - people like to knock subscription games. But having played both sub and f2p games for about 20 years now, I can say unequivocally that sub is better. You get less blatant hacking or cheating, you get less whining, and the same amount of hilarious idiocy. The possibility of microtransactions does NOT disappear, but they can be less costly to the end user meaning more likelihood to use.

    The paywall does much to keep the riffraff out. Anyone who claims they cannot afford $15 a month to play a game every day also can't even afford the PC to play it on, so ****. WoW broke every record for size and concurrent users, so don't tell me it's a hindrance to your playerbase. How about Guild Wars 2? Yeah, it was decent, but the pay2win reared its head once you advanced far enough. Let's compare the player bases of those games, and WoW has been running for 11 years, almost 12.
  14. Savadrin

    Seriously dude, 500 of those games already exist. Stop trying to make this game into what it is not. Just go.
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  15. PWGuy93

    Just putting this out there...

    DBG could benefit from an in-depth year end "here's where we are" blog post about the company, where things are at, where they are being driven. I can understand investor reluctance to speak but if they have an inkling of the gamer community they know that a lack of information is worse than the community filling in the blanks and making assumptions..
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  16. Blippy

    Don't forget the "Solid, like real solid" patch of Christmas 2014 that screwed up the game a variety of ways, not least of all the broken alerts, resulting in continents remaining locked for nearly a month.
  17. Mad Hatter


    I appreciate the compliment, but I have to wonder if you really are a crazy person. I have NEVER intentionally flipped an aircraft with malicious intent in the warpgate and I have unflipped and unstuck countless aircraft. Of course accidental flipping happens in the warpgate. Sometimes purely by happenstance and sometimes as a result of goofing around.

    When you were besmirching me in proxchat at the warpgate, my Galaxy and the Lib collided in the center of the 'parking zone'. I immediately unflipped the Liberator not 5 seconds after and you still continued to badmouth me in proxchat. You were incredibly rude then and way out of order with your comments above in your attempt to paint me as a habitual griefer.

    Stop being so silly,apologize for your slanderous comments and we may yet be friends.
  18. BamaRage

    First let me say that Mad Hatta you have lost the freaking plot. You have flipped my aircraft 11 times total mostly when I first started flying. Multiple times in just a couple of hours. Twice in less than 20 minutes and within the hour you also flipped no less than two other aircraft. I fly every time I play and have yet to flip one friendly aircraft. And you have been playing longer and have more experience than I. So I say this, if its truly unintentional then you should not pilot aircraft. Because you are obviously inept at it.

    But I do agree that an apology is due but your the one that should be apologizing. I gave you the benefit of doubt but when it continues to happen over and over I call BS. So stop the BS and apologies and all will be well. Otherwise I will continue to call you out and take action when its called for.

    Otherwise you can be a dick and continue and we will be at odds. Had you not threatened me in an attempt to silence me I would not have brought it up here. But with the threat levied I feel its an appropriate response.
  19. Savadrin

    /popcorn
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  20. TheShrapnelKing

    When Connery and Emerald (or Cobalt and Miller) finally have to merge, at that point all hope is lost forever.

    Basically, the devs have until Connery's pop drops so low it has to be merged with Emerald to keep this game's pop stable. Otherwise, at current trends I predict a server merge next year, and game death by 2017.
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