[Suggestion] Increase Time-To-Kill (TTK)

This game absolutely demands a higher TTK simply by virtue of the type of game it is. With battle as large as Plantside 2 offers, lag/latency are always going to be a major problem, having a low TTK on top of that means that you will often be killed by players that aren't even rendered on your screen or having it seem like you're dying from a single-shot when you shouldn't be.

Increasing the TTK will greatly help to level the playing field for players regardless of lag/latency, and on top of that it will make player skill significantly more important. Don't give me any BS about low TTK requiring better situational awareness. Situation awareness is just as important with a higher TTK as it will give you an immediate advantage against your opponent.

There is absolutely no reason why this game shouldn't have a higher TTK, doing so would improve this game substantially for everyone. The developers are ruining what could potentially be an amazing game by marring it with this low TTK. If you value the future of this game, you will significantly increase the TTK.

Here's a question. Saw we lowered the TTK - say A2G missiles and liberators could kill ground stuff quicker, but AAA had their Time to kill planes massively lowered as a result?

in cases like this- wouldn't this work to solve some problems?

For counters to each other- same thing. ESF's- say the main nose gun killed other esf's(and only other esf's) in a third of the time they do now.

I actually never had thought of this before, but your post makes me wonder- as stuff like this

can't be addressed by increasing TTK. Rendering issues in this vein won't dissapear- and as far as seeming from dying from a single shot- you aren't supposed to see what kills you unless you happen to luck out.

That's why they removed killcams.

No you're missing the point. Increasing the TTK will reduce the lag/latency issue because it gives a player more time to respond to a threat, and so while the lag/latency will still be an issue, it will be greatly diminished.

Increasing the TTK will bring a much needed element of skill to this game, as it stands now luck plays an unbelievably huge part of who kills who.

I was extremely critical of the TTK going into beta, as I had very fond memories of the longer TTK in PS1 and the epic holdout fight scenarios it made possible. I was on the fence for many months, but I really do think the TTK is about right where it is now. It is extremely, extremely rare that I die without being able to react and do something, and when I do it's because of either a very good player (or just a sniper), or very large error on my part... or a jerk ally.

Also for that last paragraph... you dont really think that do you? Changing the ttk even a bit would completely break the current game mechanics. A longer ttk would require essentially an entirely different game.

... and really lag/latency doesnt factor into this at all... and by virtue of the game it is? MMOFPS is barely a genre, it's got like 5 games, and most of them aren't even close to being realistically deserving of the title... I can understand you've probably dealt with alot of utterly ******** arguments against this suggestion in the past, I mean this is the internet after all, but im sure you can figure out for yourself that it just wouldn't work in this game in it's current state. PS2 with a higher ttk would be a completely different game. Perhaps a game you'd prefer, and hell I'd play it, but it wouldn't be this game, and I appreciate what this game's ttk has to offer. I think overall it is more true to achieving PS2's goals of epic, involved, and relevant warfare.

Right, well that was somewhat disorganized. Now I sleep. But yes, I recommend you reserve judgement for awhile and just try to enjoy the game. And if that doesn't work, well, what better options do you have?

TTK seems fine as it is, you get a regenerating sheild, can cert into med kits, and if you take nano weave armour you can tank a fair bit of damage, If you're too slow to react, that's you're problem. If lag is an issue, play on a better server.

I understand that changing the TTK would require an extensive overhaul, but it really is required for this type of a game. As you said, Planetside 2 is essentially it's own genre, but I'm not basing my argument on comparisons with other games. Planetside 2 is a unique beast, and so mistakes are going to be made in it's development, but it's important that these mistakes are corrected as well.

I've played this game since beta, I have plenty of experience with it, this isn't just some newb complaining about something they think is unfair without taking the time to look at the bigger picture.

And I don't understand how nobody else can seem to understand the relation of TTK and lag/latency. Having a higher TTK minimizes the impact of lag/latency by giving players a chance to react to the situation. An assault rifle from across the room shouldn't seem like a shotgun-blast at point-blank range.

Increasing the TTK would benefit this game all across the board. And yes, it would take a lot of work to implement, but the results would be a significantly better game.

I would rather have gunplay that required actual skill as opposed to the Modern Military Console Shooter levels we have now. Look at Quake 3. Massive TTK on everything that didn't require insane precision to use. None of this "balancing weapons against player speed" foolishness you see now with the introduction of mainstream gaming and its sad characteristic of being primarily dominated by cheap joysticks. Winning took actual skill without any handholding from the game whatsoever. Increasing TTK promotes accuracy proper gunplay, while also mitigating some, but nowhere near all, of the annoyances with clientside hit detection.

Quake's TTK would not work in PS2. I have no illusions about that, It was much too high for a game like this and any effort to incorporate it would be a tedious measure of redesigning almost every weapon and vehicle in the game. Better to experiment with increasing health and then minor balances to put most infantry TTKs above .5s while also toning down vehicle weapons as need be to not disadvantage infantry players against armor and aircraft.

That or at least work out some aesthetics. Are we able to get headshot multipliers through shields for a reason? I'm torn between them encouraging aiming and their making little sense. On the subject of encouraging aim, why the hell is flinching still not damage-based? Low rof, low accuracy, high damage weapons are put at a greater disadvantage than they should be at all but extremely long range because of this. CQB, this makes sense, but when someone can spray at you from 100m with a carbine designed for close range and juggle your aim enough to negate all of your rounds, it doesn't seem like the guns were balanced with flinching given any more thought than "it looks cool" by the devs.

I agree about the flinching aspect, that could do with some re balancing, but I currently think the Current TTK is fine as is. If the TTK was increased, you would also probably need to increase the amount of ammo carried by players, and high mag capacity weapons would suddenly become way better than any other weapons, giving TR a major advantage over other factions (and I main as TR). increasing the TTK also means that bolt action snipers would probably become more dominant at close range in the hands of skilled players than actual close range weapons. At medium to long range the TTK for most weapons drops significantly, high TTK for close combat means that high capacity weapons would be the only weapons worth taking and when high capacity weapons aren't available allot of close range fire fights would degenerate into melee fests.

Damage dropoff or long range weapons would need some work as well. Higher TTK without changes made to them would kill long range fights, which are fun enough when they happen, rare as they may be. If players can ignore shots over range, there's little point in having that functionality, and it would be sad to see it go alongside render distance being pushed up. Actually, increasing projectile speed for non sidearms as an earlier thread suggested might be the better fix instead of culling dropoff. Coupled with a larger ammo pool, the increased ability to hit moving targets at range would be a less frustrating solution than simply making bullets hurt more at the same distance. The higher TTK still improves survivability, giving players time to try to seek cover, while the shooter is able to more reliably land shots if their target doesn't break line of sight.

I don't agree, I'm not interested in a longer ttk. In some respects I'd rather it was shorter and infantry engagements occurred at longer ranges. It's simply a personal preference thing.

I'm all for buffing muzzle velocity, I enjoy long range fire fights too, I just think TTK is in a sweet spot right now, not so fast that you get instagibbed all the time, not so slow that close range fire fights are boring.

If SOE were to sort out issues with latency, it would do more good for infantry fights than any rebalancing of TTK.

To be fair I'm pretty sure the Dev's have net code high on their list of priorities.

Ponder what halving all fire rates would do (as in, making them slower; 500 rpm -> 250 rpm).
No changes to health.
No changes to damage.
No changes to accuracy or recoil (though recoil would be practically reduced).
Then adjust any weapons whose fire rate is controlled by their reload speed.

How would the game change?

At first I missed the only TTK, the last stand hold outs at the CC or the Gens with a dozen or so guys. A few medics could keep everyone alive while engineers repaired the maxes. I have fond memories from those days. When I started playing PS2 in beta I was absolutely disappointed with the lower TTK than in PS2.

It took a till release go really get used to the lower TTK and now it doesn't really both me. If I die immediately its usually for a good reason or to a vehicle. You can still hold out at a point with 2 maxes, 2 medics, and a few other guys. It just takes skilled and certed medics to do the job properly. The real problems with holding out at important places like Cap points and gens is that they aren't defensible. They have no doors and always are either out in the open or have 3+ ways in. I mean what is the fun of defending if you're on even footing with the attacker.

Lol no. If TTK gets higher you can\t kill even 2 guys without dying yourself if you can Aim yourself.

So be quiet. I don\t want to be like 2 enemies saw me. I\m dead. Focus firing in infantry fights.. I hope we never get to that point that it\s a must.

This has been beaten to death and the end result is always the general consensus that TTK is fine and shouldn't be increased.

I would list the plethora of reasons as to why, but it's easier to say "search for TTK".

And turn this game into World of Warcraft? No thanks.

I find it fine as it is.

TTK is already relatively long, and anyone can take 3 hits and be ok 10 seconds later due to shields.