Capturing Bases: Gameplay is like ping-pong..here is why

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Moxin, Nov 29, 2012.

  1. Moxin

    Players invest a lot of time and efforts to succeed in taking over enemy bases and territory.

    You can discuss about how effective are the structures of individual buildings, but I rather talk about the following:


    There is on major point miss in this game and this leads to actually a gameplay which is pointless and unsatisfying.

    * Buildings should not be recaptureable for a certain time after one of the faction did conquer it.


    Why ? Because the actually gameplay is like ping-pong !
    What is the point to invest time and effort, to take risks just to see that minutes later your captured facility or whole building gets captured again.

    Iam not just talking about low pop times when a handfull of players can turn the sides of a whole server in just a very short time, which is in the end sad aswell. Iam rather talking about medium to higher populated servers. But performances must be rewarded !


    There needs to be a timer that people actually enjoy higher quality gameplay:

    * Players should hold what they capture and dont leave so this game turns into Ping-Pongside 2.
    * use of more of the provided land mass and not just camping or precamping


    Another point which influence this indirect is unbalanced Faction Population:

    * Currently, the penalty (or the advantage for the lower populated ones) for higher population of one of these factions is minmal and not enough. A serious change is needed here for the better.



    If you want to offer a game which is really exciting and holds the playerbase for longer, you have to adjust the gameplay. Developing characters with weapons and certs is of course very nice and adds for a long term motivation, but this alone does not cut it.

    With Planetside 2 you are offering a new and big game which offers massive fights with combined arms, a rewarding gameplay for the invested efforts of the playersbase of each factions is therefore important for a long term motivation but also for a more satisfying gameplay.
  2. Xasapis

    On the other hand, capturing something doesn't guarantee that you can actually hold it. Especially on contested bases where all three factions are present.
  3. absolofdoom

    I agree with the problem but not the solution.
    • Up x 1
  4. Yetii

    What we need is that system where we hacked the bases cap point and we got the Lattice Logic Unit that we then had to make a mad dash for our nearest facility to cap the other facility. I think that it would fix this ping-pong problem.
  5. Xaragoth

    Currently the capturing gameplay doesn't feel very important. Defend even less. There clearly needs to be a change to it.

    Personally I'd suggest a power-grid system that supports major strongpoints. This would mean that leaving outlying bases or amp stations undefended could actually de-power entire areas of your map. To improve on that, you could also add supply and storage areas that could be made important by reducing/increasing the respawn time within nearby hex fields.

    It would maybe also help if you could only capture areas along a frontline. So that you don't have one side being pushes, go to defend and lose the other side.

    Not sure how practical some of this is, considering the behavior of "the mob" running around. But something needs to happen to make everything feel more important.
  6. Moxin

    Whats your suggestion ?
  7. Tiny

    There is absolutely no reason for defending. Attacking you get instant credits, defending you get increased credits, but not instant. Much easier just to grind out credits via attacking only. All 3 factions do this so it becomes ping-pong as you said.
  8. 12987

    i disagree
  9. Evilnox

    Some defending bonuses would be pretty cool. Like area wide XP per kill for the defending party. Then they would have a reason to stick around.
  10. Maer

    The solution is to be able to fortify bases. "Reverse" hacking, "reverse" overloading.. making certain base aspects more powerful or less susceptible over extremely long periods of time (An hour, two hours to max them out). It would give 10-15 exp per fortification.

    It would encourage people to stick around in bases by giving them something to do and some way to score points, even if the enemy isn't pouring in the front door.

    Execution is simple:

    Engineers can hold E on the generators to fortify them. It might take 20 seconds for 0.1% more destabilize time, or duration before explode. It might cap at 50%, 25%, 500%.. it doesn't matter. Empower turrets, reduce vehicle spawn times.. something like that. In small, earned amounts.

    Infiltrators can do the same with terminals. Hack-proof them to a certain degree, where it needs to be hacked multiple times or over a longer period of time to flip.

    Medics could enhance the SCU to reduce spawn times by extremely low amounts, accumulating to something significant over a long period of time.

    These are easy solutions to incentivizing base defense, as well as enabling a way to "fortify" a base. It wouldn't result in "uncappable" bases (is that even possible?) as long as the time it takes and the enhancements it gives are balanced properly.

    The problem with locking bases after capture is that hindsight is always 20-20. There are no immediate or obvious repercussions for letting a base fall. The average person simply doesn't care, or understand the significance of such an occurrence. You have to incentivize it, and consistently. Not just when action is taking place, and not just following a successful attack/defense.
  11. TheEvilBlight

    Defense points would be nice. Depending on how much you heal/rez/resupply/kill the indirects may add up faster than the up-front bonus.

    As it is, people can appear at the end of a fight and get the cap xp for very little work, though that certainly doesn't sound like fun...
  12. zukhov

    The problem is people don't stay and defend a base that is going to be attacked again, and just rush of for the next cap.

    I lead squads, and almost every time we cap a apoint someone instantly asks where we are going next. Don't check for enemy advancing, hidden AMS, infiltrators etc. The moment that base flips they are out of there.

    Sure there is a 10%? bonus on xp for eveny action you take in defence, that will usually add up to more than the bonus the attackers get if you manage a prolonged defence. However people either don't realise this or the psychology is wrong. People react better to a large chunk of xp rather than being drip fed a bonus, even if the drip feed adds up to more eventually.
    • Up x 2
  13. Maer

    There needs to be a reason for people to hang out in bases when there is no immediate action. I really think my above post would solve a lot of that, as well as adding a huge utility role to the game. This is a war game first and foremost, and an FPS second. Base defense in this game is just not right. There shouldn't be ZERO people in ANY area at any time.

    It should be desirable to be in an empty area your team controls. One way or another. Find a reason for people to go there.
  14. absolofdoom

    Funnily enough I'm not a game designer. I don't have one.
  15. mendota

    Often times I ask the squad "where are we going next" because a base can be flipped so long as it's touching another faction's influence. So, in those cases, the best way to defend something important like a Tech Plant, is to quickly flip all the surrounding Towers and smaller bases.

    But yeah, the psychology is wrong. You gain certs just by sitting on a base about to flip for your factions. You don't get the equivalent reward for sitting on a base defending. Incentivizing defensive actions in more cases and/or with higher amounts of XP would go a long way towards shaping player behavior to value both offense and defense.
  16. FigM

    My idea:

    Once a base is captured, it starts a 2nd "reinforce" timer that lasts 30 minutes. If "reinforce" timer finishes before other faction takes the base, then that base becomes immune to recapture for 2 hour
    • Up x 1
  17. zukhov

    Reinforce is a pretty good idea.
  18. Yeo-Yin

    if you get exp (tons of) for this reinforcement, this will change nothing except that people will stand to reinforce it longer. It will be just like now, no fight, no def, just zerg, but zerg will be slower.
    If you don't get exp for that, nobody will do it.

    @Maer : it's just like pve, but even less funny. Repair turret, reinforce it many time, go to the next turret, do the same thing ... this is pve, "monster baching"-like. Very boring.
  19. Aerolath