Any Noob-Unfriendliness we could fix quickly?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by JibbaJabba, Sep 5, 2018.

  1. JibbaJabba

    A New continent and (lawd I hope) a marketing push is going to bring old players back and possibly some new ones.

    When they get here they'll get dropped into the meat grinder. A lot of vets that have been out of the loop are going to get caught off guard by where the skill ceiling has moved to. Noobs... well we already know that's rough.

    So...No grand ideas. Stuff that could be implemented easily and before the new continent...

    What can we do to make this game more friendly to those that may arrive?
    • Up x 1
  2. Botji

    Adding a delay on crouch spazzing would be a nice start and not only make the game a bit friendlier on newbies but also not make me want to take a spoon to my eyes whenever I have to fight the special kind of special forces that abuses this as much as possible.

    Perhaps it will even fix people sinking through the ground?

    Other than that I only have the server latency problems and the good old balancing issues that comes to mind... The age old ESF problem that also plagues the Harasser, being close to unkillable unless you are using the same vehicle or manage to corner them. Well, overwhelming numbers/force also works but thats the point, you shouldnt need a group of coordinated people(2-3 times the people) to take out light vehicles like ESF or Harassers.
    • Up x 1
  3. pnkdth

    Similar to Dark Souls, the marketing should have the tone of "you will die. A lot." and that you are not the chosen one and that together we stand or fall <insert some kewl speech here for each faction>.

    Contextual tips when dying a lot. Let's say you are being mercilessly shredded over and over, perhaps you are running in and seem unaware of COF. simple animations of ADSing, using cover, bursting, etc etc.
    +
    Option to pop into VR from death screen and return to the battlefield when you're done till you reach a certain BR.
    • Up x 3
  4. AlcyoneSerene

    With the ongoing platoon reworks, make the squad and platoon waypoints clear from one another - this was completely confusing and I could not find a single guide online about what was what. Now they seem clear, but I can't tell if I finally learned which is which, or if it was actually change and made more logical and intuitive.

    Also, bold the colors of your squad when viewing the platoon tab so you know which colored star / fireteam symbol color is your squad / fireteam waypoint.

    I like the suggestion above if advertising to ensure people know you're essentially cannon fodder, and not some superhero who holds the keys to the battles on his or her shoulders because magic.
    • Up x 1
  5. That_One_Kane_Guy

    DBG would do well to simply make some up-to-date high-quality tutorial videos and perma-link them to the launcher as New-Player Tips & Tricks*. Some of the most helpful things out there are the 3rd party YouTube tutorials, and there's been so many changes that a lot of the guides are obsolete or irrelevant. Some officially sanctioned content would be nice.

    What would be extremely helpful is something explaining this games idiosyncrasies especially as compared to the run-of-the-mill shooters out there. There are a lot of simple things to learn about this game that could be really helpful to new players that veterans just accept as common knowledge. For example I remember not learning that enemies could hear my spotting callouts until I was probably a hundred hours or so into the game, and that's just a simple one.

    *They may do this already, I haven't looked recently if they do they should make it more obvious, maybe link to it while the client is downloading, so the first thing a new player will see is a host of tutorial videos explaining game mechanics.
  6. TR5L4Y3R

    well aircontrolls should be fairly quickly changeable ..
    allow option to yaw with mouse
    allow strafing
    put away the constant need to press spacabar for any air ..
    add senstivity to keypresses
    togglespeedkeys

    shouldn´t be too much to ask ..
  7. iller

    The biggest Noob killer is the (much tolerated through laziness) prevalence of Lag Swtiches... and it always was.

    Basically if you're not VPNing and lagswitching like the "professional" outfits then you're looking at a 0.40 KDR everytime you log in and attempt to fight those outfits (yes even Recursion along with the more obvious ones like: YLBT, and FPSK/TWC2 has players who sink to this level). And NO the answer is not to just HIDE the player's KDR. The answer is for them to fundamentally restrict the effectiveness of LagSwitching through direct TTK changes anytime the Client's Ping spikes. (and possibly even show that client's latency NETGRAPH on the victim's deathscreen to make spotting and reporting these players easier).

    2nd biggest REPEATED killer (as in farming) of newbs is SMG's on ambushing classes. SMGs still have no downsides. The Vanu and NS ones are unrealistically ACCURATE even at 70 meters. They also don't have nearly enough damge Falloff at medium range to make the Newb Shotgun that all newbs starts with competitive to ANY SMG on the "market". Ppl will point out all the other competitive advantages newbs still lack but the fact of the matter is the SOE/DBG actually DID address quite a few of those disadvantages through Directives and changes to default loadouts that include things like automatic Tier5 Nanoweave, or MANA AV turret for newb Engineers plus all the Scope and Rail options unlocked by default. Those were all very important changes that greatly lessen the Certing confusion new players are hit with when starting the game.

    ....But the 2nd biggest thing that new players WONT BE PREPARED FOR is the completely overwhelming Environmental-Awareness META game that SMG abusers use that no Newb will have any answer to. Both SMG infiltrators and Light Assaults will run circles around these New players no matter how quick the new player's reaction times are. The SMG abusers KNOW that they have a huge advantage over every single default loadout the new player has so long as the SMG abuser lands the first bullet and continues to ADADADAD dance at every range up to 70m regardless of how low their own Skill levels actually are. They will outlive Shotgun Heavies at close range. They will out snipe Semi-auto Snipers at long range. And they will out Assault every new combat Medic at medium range and cleanup every single kill they got the first hit on nomatter how bad at handling an actual rifle they are. Those players are the TRUE NOOBS. The eternal Noobs who only get beat 1v1 by much more experienced and talented players.

    And this game literally has wall to wall SMG p**nography just for them if you look in the Cash Shop. There are more SMGs and SMG like weapons in the Store than there are Battle Rifles, Scout Rifles, and Carbines COMBINED. It's obvious who Adam Clegg and Matt Higby wanted dominating the earlier to moderate skill levels of this game and although they have long since departed it, their flawed approach to favoring CHEESY bullying tactics at the expense of New player retention is still on full display as long as you're willing to open your eyes and look at the worst offenders
    • Up x 1
  8. PoopDatGame OUT!

    add prone..it will help alot..unless people in the future never lay down unless dead or something :/

    and add a soldier76 character..who needs the rest.
  9. DarkStarAnubis

    Explain much better how weapons work, possibly with graphical diagrams instead of meaningless numbers. Right now you need a Ph.D. to figure out something out of a weapon description. Some examples:

    (1) Show Recoil using a circle + sectors diagrams to combine together horizontal and vertical recoil min/max and angle, making the drawing proportional to the values. Simple concept here:
    [IMG]
    It looks like a weapon that kicks up and to the right approx. around 45 degrees.

    (2) Show CoF as a circle more or less big, displaying initial CoF, then CoF after 5 shots and 10 shots to show its growth to make people understand the value of bursting and the importance of a low starting CoF for alpha damage in weapons like the Gauss SAW.

    (3) Make the above diagrams dynamic: so when you add compensator/grip/laser you can see how the weapon characteristics change

    (3) Add moving targets or dummies to VR to test weapons.

    (4) Encourage the use of Koltyr to learn as much as possible before jumping into the fray. Change Koltyr rules so that players below BR15 will get XP in Koltyr and give some "participation XP" to BR above 15 to stay in Koltyr
    • Up x 6
  10. UrielSeptimIV

    As I said before:
    1)CoF should not increase while ADS.
    2)Headshot multipler on automatic weapons from 2x to 1.85x.
    It will keep new players safe from calling Planetside P2W.
    We should reconsider what new player can expect from the game with combined arms elements:
    -If new player engages vehicles 1v1 he will die (It is known that tank should be stronger than a single infantry man, expected).
    -Veteran should be killed in situations when new player have superior tactical advantage.
    • Up x 2
  11. FateJH

    All things are pretty noob unfriendly, if you think about it.
    • Up x 1
  12. raffa2

    what the heck did i just read?
    • Up x 1
  13. Twin Suns

    A big banner that says...."There's no crying in Planetside 2".

    And a disclaimer:

    We won't dumb down the game for ya. You might've been an elite player on other games you came from, but this is Auraxis!!!

    Adapt & Overcome is the mantra and if you stick it out, it might be the most rewarding game you've ever played.

    o7
  14. CplRDaWiggy

    Big believer in giving people ice cream as a soothing balm to the soul. 'Course its laced with laxatives to help teach them that standing still will result in a blown out anus.

    Mostly gunplay mechanics though. There are a lot of variables in the operating standard of weapons that a cursory glance at a bunch of numbers don't adequately explain.
  15. TobiMK

    I said this earlier to someone else, but this is by far the stupidest thing I've ever read regarding PS2.

    "Professional" outfits (whatever that is supposed to mean) don't use lagswitches, they are simply good at the game. The amount of actual lagswitchers you will encounter over your playtime can be counted on one hand with some fingers missing. Some people have a ****** connection, and ping limits could help. But if you honestly believe more than a handful of people run artificial netlimiters, you're completely deluded.

    SMGs lack range and magazine size. They are made for CQC situations with 1-2 kills per magazine before you reload again.

    Don't know what game you are playing, but SMGs in this game lose effective damage output at around 30m. If you factor in that a majority of players can't aim to begin with, that range is realistically around 20m.

    I don't know what you are talking about here, it reads like you're just making **** up as you go. Let me make it perfectly clear: When an experienced player and a new player fight, the guns do not matter. I don't know what you mean by "SMG abusers", but every experienced player will use awareness and movement to their advantage and thus have an insurmountable advantage over a new player. SMGs do not change this and I continue to be utterly confused by your misinformed stance on SMGs.
    • Up x 2
  16. Icedude94

    Eve Online takes pride in being extremely unforgiving to new players who don't take the time to understand game mechanics. It's really up to the community to give new players the best experience. If I didn't find a good outfit that did stuff like point holds that required teamwork in a variety of roles, I probably would've quit Planetside a long time ago. Eve is the same way with its player corporations.

    The best thing we can do for new players is to point them in the direction of the large outfits which provide the content and have the manpower to take time to teach new players tactics. Every server has at least one "zergfit" on each faction. Emerald has PHX for NC, AOD for TR, and GOKU for VS just to name a few.

    Some players may not be interested in being a jack of all trades right away and may want to dedicate themselves to flying or tanking or support roles. We should help them find outfits of likeminded players.

    It's that outfit community that keeps people playing because Planetside is a very unfriendly and unfair game to the new lonewolf.
    • Up x 2
  17. MonnyMoony

    Most of the things that will catch noobs out are simple issues with the game mechanics or cheesy weapons/tactics that exploit glitches in game mechanics - most could be fixed relatively easily.

    Headshot multiplier is very unforgiving - and even if you get the drop on a vet (or a cheater) you are likely to die because of it.

    Crouch and ADAD spam. Another mechanism that vets, cheaters and those running key press macros can take full advantage of. Could be easily fixed by enabling movement intertia and/or adding COF effects to these types of movements.

    Road kill cheese - especially on maxes. There needs to be some effect on smaller fast moving vehicles. Ramming infantry using flash or harasser should at the very least negate some of their forward momentum. The fact that they can mow through an entire crowd of infantry without any effect on direction or speed is pretty poor. Ramming maxes is even worse - and both vehicles should suffer major damage if ramming a max at speed. Air roadkill is just ludicrous - especially when the aircraft essentially crash into the ground yet suffer no damage when performing it.

    Air farming cheese weapons like Mustang AH. There is no reason for these to exist other than to troll infantry and they are virtually impossible to evade.
    • Up x 4
  18. MonnyMoony


    Given the game uses clientside hit detection - could it include a damage multiplier that is related to ping of the host machine at the point the shot is fired.

    If you have acceptable ping - your damage multiplier is 1. Unacceptable ping and your damage multiplier drops to below one - scaling based on how bad the ping actually is.
    • Up x 2
  19. DeadlyOmen

    The best noob friendly thing is for the noob to recognize that he won't be good until he is no longer a noob.
  20. adamts01

    Have you actually ever played Eve? It's infinitely more easy on new players than Planetside. Exponentially so. You could literally play every day for years and not ever run in to any PvP. PS2 drops you right in the middle of a **** storm.

    There really is no game as brutal as PS2. Everything else either has a match maker or in the case of open world games like EVE there are essentially safe zones for new players. PS2 has neither, so it needs to put a ceiling on the effectiveness of vets to some extent.

    As for a quick change to help noobs, I agree with UrielseptumIV in that headshot damage from automatics should be toned down. I don't know if 1.85 is the magic number or 1.9, but 2x combined with nanoweave makes headshots critical, when they should only be an advantage.
    • Up x 1