Necessary skills for being a PS2 Rambo? :)

Dear Community and SOE,

I would like to ask for your kind opinion about a few things/players that got my attention in the past week(s). I am playing the game daily for almost 3 months now currently as BR53 NC on Cobalt(EU) server. I do think that since some time now I climbed the steep learning curve of the game and become a better player day by day(teamplay,stats wise etc).However since some time now(especially after gu07) I feel that something has changed for me from player experience/fun point of view.

Just to make it clear this thread is not about please nerf this buff that or something like that,just as I said in the beginning I am courius about your thoughts. I am continously checking the players database profile of myself,friends and the profile of the opposition I used to fight day by day and whom I recognize by name easily after this interval of playing PS2 to see if my daily experience is more or less correct or not.Due to this recenlty I became a bit of frustrated as my feelings started to show in numbers on profiles.Before I managed to make daily k/d's(I admit that not k/d is the main goal of the game at all but still a number that can prove your feelings) of 1.5 +- 0.3 now I am happy if I manage to get 1.0 +- 0.3 again which I consider a significant difference(daily 100-150 kills).These numbers are decreasing rapidly especially when the VS arrives to Esamir(I play most of my time there),but still opposite to other servers this not necessarily means we are outnumbered as per continent population.

I can easily live with the fact that there are better players like myself and still I am not whining at all,but constantly getting OWND [] brings up some frustration considering my 17day+(BR53 total k/d of 1.05) ingame time spent (constantly looking for fights) that I think is more like what an average PS2 player spends online. I did unlock and certed several weapons/classes(smg,lmg,shotgun,rifles) so I can say that I have quite a decent(?) arsenal currently. But sadly I had to recognize that in some situations this still worth almost nothing compared to other players/weapons.Again I must mention that I know the combat is situational etc and every time I am trying to adapt to the actual fight.Also I am not a lone fighter,but moving with my outfit/friends to be able to enjoy every bit of the game.

Sorry for the long introduction,but wanted to show a clear picture of my background for you to be able to get the most accurate feedback from you.So by analysing the players database(together with my friends) for hours and comparing that to my ingame experience I surprisingly realized that maybe the problem does not only originates from my "average"(?) player skills.For my shock I found that there are many players from the opposition factions(sorry but I mean and fight mostly VS)that have 2.5-5(found someone with 42too ) k/d's that brings up a tiny bit of more frustration.And because I don't wanna accuse anyone for exploiting/cheating/hacking etc here I would like to share some links for you asking for the help of the community and SOE to have a better understanding how I could reach these heights of professionalism.(loads of these players have similar ingame time spent like mine).

I am really looking forward to hear some constructive feedback maybe together with your most effective tactics,weapons,counters,best practices etc so I can learn and have a better undestanding of some elements of the game that I may still lack.Also if anyone of you from the opposition recognizes her/his profile pasted are especially welcomed due to having a daily contact already ingame and possibly knowing me more Please if you check any of the profiles visit the killboard,total k/d,time spent,top 3 weapon kills etc so you can easily compare with mine.Thanks in advance to those who read this and especially to those whom gives constructive reply. Public links in decreasing order->

Rambo1,Rambo2,Rambo3,Rambo4,Rambo5,Rambo6,Rambo7

Rambo8,Rambo9,Rambo10,Rambo11,Rambo12,Rambo13,Rambo14,Rambo15,Rambo16,Rambo17,Rambo18,Rambo19,Rambo20,Rambo21,Rambo22,Rambo23,Rambo24,Rambo25,
and my absolute favourite but from Miller Rainbow007

my profile : RamboXX

Sorry for the naming but I really love John Rambo

edit: edited the wall of text

Enter key

Use it.

Had to stop reading after the 3rd line...
Your wall of text is making my eyes bleed.
Seriously, edit it and add some paragraphs, you have about 20mins left to fix it.

WALL OF TEXT

whoa

Apparently Rambo has given up his knife and Bow in favour of bludgeoning us to death with walls of text.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Also, take a closer look at stats other than just the k/d. A deeper look would gleam that they seem to favor the ESF

Be 12.

Get in the Dalton seat 24/7.

and the top miller rambo is using lag switch sometimes. hes esf goes, if under fire, for short millisecond to full stop and then he very quickly 50-70 meter further...

ive seen him doing that 2 times, also i heard other see him doing that too.

Rainbow007 is from Russia, so one can argue that its because of bad inet connection.

but i dont see (RUSL) russianlegion warping allover the place.... so... something smelss about rainbow007 much.

KD 11.81



Figures.

nano5/resist shield/med paks!!/conc gren. Ability to adad and burst. Does me pretty well as NC.

Get rid of the bow, get a shotgun for towers. I still prefer a LMG everwhere else (ns-15 with laser sight) Saw if open air.

Up until about BR30 i had about a 1.0 K/D. weapon choice, armor choice, knowing the maps played a huge difference. Now at BR58 i am over 2.0 k/d and typically go 3.0 in a night more recently. My vehicle K/D is probably .5 sadly as i have render issues when using them that i still haven't solved.

We also prefer to kill TR on connery. I can actually see them at night.

The higher KDRs usually indicate vehicle spammers.
The VS recently got a nice buff to all their weapons so you might be experiencing that.

It's not you - it's the constantly changing game mechanics.

Planetside 2 is a fairly skilless shooter. Some people might argue otherwise, but due to the very low time-to-kill of infantry and all vehicles, personal skill actually means very little.
However, it is still possible to be "good" at Planetside 2, but the skill means less than it would in another, more skillful shooter such as Tribes or Quake.

Some fundamentals you should keep in mind, never stand still. A stationary target is an easy target. Even if you're not being shot, if you're in a danger zone, keep moving.
This does take a lot of practice, but it much easier in a slow paced combat game like Planetside 2 and other modern military shooters. It is the practice of aiming at a moving target while moving yourself, and requires quite a lot of mouse precision. There is no secret to it, just practice.
Box-strafing is one of the most effective ways of avoiding gunfire in a direct fight, which is alternating strafe directions randomly to throw off your opponent's aim. The longer the range, the more effective this can be, due to bullet travel time it is actually possible to dodge through the line of fire without being hit, most notably against weapons with lower re-fire rate.

This is something that you'll probably have to force yourself to do until it becomes second nature.

There are other ways to do this. In close range fights, getting up in your opponent's face seems like a stupid idea, but a lot of people either can't react fast enough or have mouse sensitivities too low to turn around quickly (or too high, meaning they can't track accurately). This relies more on confusion to throw off their aim. You can also jump and utilize jetpacks to tip combat in your favour.
Most of these methods focus on two things: never sit still, and exploit your enemies (presumably) inferior accuracy.

And what ever you do, never crouch. The boon to accuracy does not outweigh the vulnerable state it leaves you in. A stationary target is free exp for the taking.

Everything else is pretty much experience with the game you're playing. You need awareness of the maps and it's common dangers, common sense to not just rush into a building that could have many enemies inside of it hidden or a mine trap waiting for you (I always run into mines because it's not a feature my past FPS experiences had, haven't made a habit of checking doorways for them yet).

And then, you've also got to realise that most of the people with high KDR are not infantry players, they play in vehicles most of the time. This is because vehicle have a much lower time to kill versus infantry, and you only need to kill two enemies per vehicle spawn to be in the positive. That's not very hard in most circumstances.

Finally I'll end with this: KDR is a stupid gauge of the usefulness and skill of a player. It underlines selfishness in a team based game and encourages turtling and anti-fun gameplay. This was very pronounced in the early days of Tribes: Ascend, when they added stat tracking which included a KDR. The quality of gameplay took a nose dive. T:A is a primarily capture the flag game, which requires dedicated flag runners to grab the flag from a usually well defended base. Over the course of a 30 minute game, those flag runners are likely to only get 2 or 3 kills, while suffering many more deaths. But that does not make them "bad players", because their objective is not to kill, it is to grab the flag and run. Even if you only get the flag 1 in 5 attempts, that is still useful to the team.
Having a KDR in Tribes:Ascend caused the vast majority of the playerbase to act like human beings: take the path of least resistance. The number of players on defense increased, because it results in the highest KDR. You're surrounded by other players to protect you, you're more numerous, and you don't have to move at all to kill as your enemies come to you. The result? A primarily team based game devolved into a selfish mess of chest-thumping "CoD kiddies" as some people eloquently put it.

The reason I bring this up is because it's a fundamental problem that exists with in Planetside 2 also. The teamplay aspect of Planetside 2 is less pronounced than in Tribes: Ascend, because it is an extrinsic reward, where as a high KDR is an intrinsic and more immediate reward.
It is not the ESFs or the MBTs farming up infantry, it's not the infiltrators padding their kill counts that win battles. It's the meat on the ground, the soldiers piling forward with disregard for their own lives that win the battle. Your KDR may be lower, but you are infinitely more integral to the success of your squad, platoon, outfit, faction, than those that only exist to pad their KDR.

Thank you very much for all the replies so far,I already learnt a few things that I should adapt into my gaming.Also these kind of information I think can be useful for other players too.Thanks again,keep them coming if you think it worth a few lines.

I am just wondering why haven't replied any folks from SOE side to this post yet, because as far as I see Sabiq has right... I checked these "Rambos" and I have to realize I have met them very often...
I am a NC player from Cobalt (my bad I know) and I faced with a problem several times what I call "Friday Nightmare" (okay i am a liar, this is an every day problem) when these pro players came online, and start their job. EvaJones mentioned many tricks (#13) what could be usefull, but you should see what are these guys capable of...

Just few examples:

• When they come inside a building they know my exact location and bumm, headshot (this happened with me so many times).
• They could defend an outpost against a small NC army (two or three of them is enough against 10-15 NC)
• Their weapons are much more powerful than mine, I mean I have to shoot 2-3 times to kill them (leg, head, head), but one shoot is good enough against me (same shotgun)

I know this game is a little bit unbalanced after the last patch, but it is not my cup of tea, the really important thing is these Rambos destroy my mood, and I am getting frustrated and disappointed every single day. I can accept these players are better than me, but they are much more better then anyone else on this server. I couldn't imagine how can a player has better K/D than 4 (I know K/D is not important, but this number can show a trend, because we all know we are human beings and we have bad days when we couldn't be better then 1).

I reported them several times, but they haven't gotten their deserved ban... (is there any tool where could I track my ingame reports?)

Last but not least, when these guys are offline I am better than 1, but when they come online I am just getting worse and worser, and my K/D is getting lower (0,4). I think this says everything...

1.
Find a vehicle that you find can reliably transport yourself from point A to B without dieing. Preferably one that you can defend yourself with, or use to kill 1/12 sundies.

I find that the following works best for the medic:
Medics: Lightning, Fire suppression, Nanoregen, Heat cannon/Skyguard.
The Lightning is simply an ideal ambulance, its low profile, fast, is good as infantry cover, has good camo cover, doesn't draw attention, and is cheap.
Its guns are very effective due to sheer reload speed for its cannons, and the skyguard.... Is a beast for killing aircraft. Trust me.

Light assaults: ESF.
You don't need to waste certs to safely bail out, nuff said.
Scout radar makes a very good preliminary tool for choosing where to assault.

Infiltraitors: Flash.
Wraith module+Fury/Basilisk= 1/12 sunderers hate you. Smoking tanks hate you. You love you.

Heavy Assault: MBT, Top gun that looks attractive to teammates.
MBT are high priority vehicles that draw enemy high priority vehicles. Specialized top guns draw valuable support teammates who will stick with you.
Even if you loose the tank battle, you can bail out and display very poor sportsmanship with your rocket launcher, AV grenades, and C4... To massive profit.

Engineer: All.
What... Did... You honestly expect?

Teams: Liberators. Battlebusses (Bulldog front, Fury back.) 2/2 MBT. Galaxies.
You know what to do with these...

Obviously, these are simply guidelines, what you do is up to you.
However, if you do not use vehicle transport, you will find yourself seriously in pain, dieing frequently to vehicles when in transit to the next base... Not fun, or ideal.
And not good for rambos farming up their KDR.



2. Choose a good CQC to medium range weapons, and farming tools.

Now you have effective transit, which will almost certainly protect you, and provide all the long range fire you need on the move. You need something that allows you to effectively do combat in the bases you arrive at.

Don't expect to get any respect in anything that isn't an infantry to infantry killstreak, thus, this is vital to being an acceptable rambo....
Reasonable weapon choices (Almost all support ALS

All: SMG's.
Most: Shotguns.
Pistol: Underboss (Commissioner is more long ranged, or anti infiltraitor... It technically has one more scenario where it is more useful... If you hit your enemy just 4 times before pulling out your pistol with just a 143 weapon... It will kill when the underboss can't.)
Medic: HV-45. TAR. Carnage BR.
Light assault: Jaguar (Or Lynx if you perfer faster, shorter bursts,) VX6-7 (Or Serpent, Same story,) GD-7F.
Engineer: Jaguar, VX6-7, AF-19 (Engineers shouldn't get nearly dirty, without artificial survival enhancers, like the other classes,) AV turret.
Infiltraitor: See all.
Heavy assault: G2A launcher, MSW-R, EM-6, Orion.

3. Choose your battlefield.

Find battles that will lag lower end machines, and record footage of people who appear to be moving at 20 FPS in a 120 FPS enviroment acting like incompetent derps.
Shoot them in the face.
Make montages with dry, emotionless commentary about personal preferences and core game mechanics.

Barely use class abilities, patching yourself with nanoregen. Shielding yourself with resist shields. Flying into hard to reach places. Don't cloak, place mines (Without them being suicide mines,) or use your AV turret on camera in a video not about these abilities specifically.

he did, 10 times. he didn't use the tab button. but it doesn't look too different from a research report.

You're forgetting a step.

Make sure your commentary, while being dry and emotionless, plays on the various current catchphrases of the people whining on this forum. If you state a negative opinion on the game in an eloquent enough fashion, you will be hero worshiped for sticking a middle finger up to the man and gain youtube subscribers as a result. Those who state any form of positive opinion are labelled as fanboys. If you wish to be a Rambo, you cannot have the fanboy stigma attached... Far better to be the eloquent malcontent.

Ohh right. Also.

Make sure you are never caught dieing to anything that isn't your own mines, a tank gun, or rocket pods.

Seriously.
Its bad business.

Looked at some of the Rambos, and all of them had a significant amount of kills using vehicles. So there's probably your answer as to why they have a higher KDR than you.

My advice would be to play on Ceres and have camo on, because it's so full of noobs right now that you can often take out multiple people head on playing an engineer. Also spawn at a base where you are being spawnlocked and enjoy shooting noobs who stand in front of your spawn shields. I had a 16 killstreak going the other day from just shooting fish in a barrel.