I really want to like Planetside 2, but I can't figure out how to have fun in the game. Help!

For the last few days I've been trying Planetside 2 for the first time. I instantly was wowed by the game and its epic scope, but as impressive as the game is, I can't seem to have fun in it. The reason why is try as I might, I can't seem to get into a situation where I'm in a good, equal firefight with the enemy. I'm either overrun or we overrun them before I can hardly participate.

I tried the first day to play it solo or with a couple friends and found out pretty quick that wasn't the way to go. Since then, I've joined platoons/squads, but it seems like I have the opposite problem now. We travel around in a big convoy and take over the bases with overwhelming odds. We then jump around the spawn room for 5 minutes shooting the force fields so no one can come out. This happens over and over again, where we travel to the next location and trap them in their spawn. This isn't fun! I hardly even see an enemy to shoot or get to the objectives before others have taken them, and then I just sit their bored for 5 minutes while everyone shoots the spawn doors and wonder why the game just doesn't give us the base at this point.

So am I doing this wrong? Is there a good way to get into a good equal, prolonged firefight with the enemy, or is this actually rare in this game? The game is so cool! But I just can't seem to get in a situation where I feel like I'm in a real fight!

Join an outfit that does not take pleasure in roflstomping the enemy, but one that is always looking for fights.

My outfit would usually bounce back and forth all across the map, on different lattice lanes to either break a zerg vs zerg stalemate, or spearhead an attack, AKA "zerg hearding", break the initial defense, kill everyone, see the majority of the zerg arrive for the base secure and the spwan camp and leave for another location.

its not your thing and thats OK. Also you may be playing in a servers off hours. If your still having issues i would just move on. Some people get it and some dont.

Look for bases with enemy units of around 0 - 12 or 12 - 24, these are usually good especially when starting out.

Following the zerg can get a bit boring as alot of targets are eaten up by all the bullet spam.

I suggest finding a small outfit as they generally (at least from my experience) find smaller fights to participate in where you can actually make a telling contribution yourself. Once used to the game and you can always look for a larger outfit or just look for bigger fights solo.

Can I ask what server you are on and which empire?

On the map screen if you hover the mouse over a hex it will give you a rough estimate of the % of forces present .. Best to avoid battles where either side has a huge advantage ..

As mentioned above its better to play this game within a outfit. But it comes down to what you want to do for example do you want to be in the big warzone either attacking or holding a critical location or be part of the spec/black ops going around taking territory your enemy cant defend.

Also Fair fights happen alot on my server of course during alerts it becomes rarer since you want to accomplish your mission. But for me greatest part of this game is that you can get outnumbered by friendlies or enemies. For example if you are defending and getting overwhelmed so your squad/platoon leaders can ask other outfits or maybe there other squad/platoon to reinforce then it ends up being that "lets hold the line til reinforcements" or if you are overwhelming a enemy position then it means send your forces to where it is needed rather than lets zerg here until enemies show. But fair fights is not really what this game is really about its about massive scale combat that no other game does whether its fair or not depends on how many people participate.

Also joining/being apart of a good outfit that can provide these good fights allows you to build a sense of community which for me most FPS dont do well especially most modern FPS games these days.

This all sounds very cool. This is how I WANT the game to be. I'll start looking for an outfit. Currently I'm playing on Connery as Terran, but I haven't decided for sure what faction I want to play.

Use Light Assault with maxed out jetpack, and then primarily fly fighter jets. That way you can bail out of the aircraft before it dies and survive. This seems to be the favorite combination of the happy player these days.

I play in the off hours mostly & find it easier to find a decent battle. Seems whenever I play at prime time it's almost unavoidable to become part of a Zerg.

Nice thing about this game is the number of different things you can do. The different classes, play combat, support roles, spec ops. Fight cqc or at longer ranges. Don't want to be infantry, try a tank or fly. The worlds your oyster in planetside 2.

Make sure you are on a server where you can play during primetime, and just join the open ops of different outfits on the server until you find one that actively looks for good fights.

And don't follow the zerg. Solo play can be fun sometimes if you actively look for a fight that needs the help instead of following a steamrolling group of 48+

There are plenty of open pub platoons that you can join in game, even ones that are run by established game outfits that don't require you to join. Get a headset, join a squad/platoon.

Try a support role like medic or engineer or use the go-to stompitude of a HA. Do a little research on what some of the best/most used weapons are for your faction/preferred classes.

Don't be afraid to switch classes. Use the class best situated to your current situation.

Make some goals for yourself, certain unlocks that you want to achieve and your order of preference for unlocking them. Set small goals and then go from there.

If you're sitting back and not getting kills, try to be a little more aggressive. If you're being aggressive and dying a lot, dial it back a bit and stick with a squad/platoon.

Don't worry about your battle ranking. It really doesn't matter. First, focus on having fun. Second, focus on the unlocks you want. But don't worry about battle ranking.

Is your base about to get run over? Don't want to sacrifice yourself? Use Instant Action to drop to a different battle or at least somewhere more advantageous in the current battle.

Sadly most people that play this game enjoy shooting fish in a barrel and love to reap the rewards for capping empty bases. It will take time to get used to this game to where you can go out solo and have fun. Those mindless, no skill zergs will always be here since most of the community seems to love getting XP for doing nothing in a shooting game.

If I were you I would just get a bit of certs to where I could buy myself some decent weapons and upgrade my classes so once you actually learn to play you have the right tools to do so effectively. Your experience now will not always be this way and eventually you will surpass the vast majority of PS2 players and enjoy shooting all those losers in the face.

Go to a 25-48 vs 25-48 battle
Your solo effort is useful there and you dont get shot as soon as you walk out a door

Step #1 - Look at your map.

Step #2 - Find an area where there seems to be an equal amount of friendlies and enemies engaged in a battle.

Step #3. Go there.

M

You are doing just what new players do when they join Planetside, taking it all in and just trying to understand the game and battle flow. It can be daumtimg at first, but just like anything you will get the hang of it...it just takes a little time.

My advice and pretty much anyone else's also would be to find a good squad. On your deploy screen, when you are dead at a particular location, press find squad in the upper left hand quadrant of your deploy screen. This will pair you with a local squad near your location. I find this to be the best way to participate in a pseudo organized fashion.

Also, follow the hot spots on the map. These are normally your bigger battles. 48+. Again find a squad in that sector of the map and try to stick with them as much as possible. This is a squad based game. It is much harder for novices to play lone wolf in this game opposed to other fps games.

Also try not to jump all over the map. Pick a littice lane and dedicate yourself to attacking and defending that lane. If all else fails, find the Crown and fight there

Stick with it. There is truly no other game like PS2.

A good outfit would go a long ways.

Don't play on the over populated factions; play the least populated.

You have to FIND a good fight; they rarely 'just happen'. Look for bases where the population is even (pie chart on the map when you roll over a base).

Avoid rolling around with the zerg. It's boring as you've already found. Find a smaller, more tacitcal, platoon which is where a good outfit comes in. Good outfits run fun platoons with leaders watching the map for GOOD fights not boring spawn room campsites.

Find the class you like. You'll have to spend a few hours on each.

Find the vehicle you like. Again you'll have to invest the time to try them out.

I'll second that. The game's huge population means that most battles will be unbalanced--either farming or being farmed. The constrained lattice system and lack of other missions types means if you find yourself in an unbalanced battle (likely) that proportion will likely continue to the next lattice link--and the next one--and the next one....until such time there's some major disruptive event to shake things up, like kids coming home from school and jumping on, or an alert. If however you seek out or find yourself in a pretty well balanced battle, expect it to be more static and more likely enduring through several other links.

Not necessarily true. The lattice system on 2/3 continents makes it impossible to jump to active hexes and avoid empty bases.

Finding an even fire fight is pretty hard and always was & will be in planetside (both 1 and 2).

Its not usually due to population imbalances as that one faction may be on a different continent mostly while your faction is on your current continent.

There will be times when your pushing hard into a continent then your stopped at one point and the factions duke it out for awhile, sometimes days or hours, but like I said those are few & far between.

This game attempts to replicate giant scale wars on a smaller scale. War is never equal, while your focused on one objective your enemy will be focused on another, whether thats fighting you, flanking you, taking a different objective, or just derping it up at warpgate.

To each their own. For me, theres nothing like the feeling of running from one base to another in the middle of a zerg and seeing 100 fellow TR foot soldiers running across an open patch of terrain towards an objective.

Gives me goose bumps.

I do enjoy the occasional 2 - 4 man base defense as well.

My recommendation: learn to fly. Even during zergs you can engage in small battles by scouting ahead and clearing towers, enemy air, etc etc... Just be ready for a steep learning curve on the flying...