Planetside 2 is suffering from an identity crisis! Here's why!

I don't really object too much to silly vehicle camos – a bit of individual expression for vehicle owners is cool and a good way for SOE to collect money (which they need to do somewhere). The jokey infantry accessories I totally agree though, they are too far down the jokey road and also make it hard to tell when someone is a friend or an enemy. I saw an NC guy in maroon camo the other day when fighting the TR ... sorry about the friendly fire mate but that really is just something that shouldn't be for sale.

I agree with the OP on all points. It seems to me the dev team took a wrong turn somewhere along the road of development. Planetside 2 should be a serious-looking shooter considering the serious lore of the game. The standard armour/camo should resemble that of a low-rank soldier (badass, but somewhat "weak"-looking). Those who would be willing to spend money could then make themselves look more badass / intimidating / "important" by buying armour/camo upgrades. This does not have to come at the cost of sacrificing the serious tone of the game: the added cosmetics would simply be added to resemble each of the factions' characteristics.

In all honesty I'm not too fond of terrain-specific camo either, come to think of it. It does give paying players a slight edge over those that prefer to keep it F2P. Either give everyone terrain-specific camo for free (unlockable with certs?), or remove it completely. While we're on the subject of free stuff: give F2P-players some other unlockable cosmetics too, please (composite-like armour/helmets); killing the same-looking guys over and over doesn't really do the immersion any good.

Who needs *snip*ing? Not me. Anyway, there are a lot of artistic additions I find good, fine, ok, dandy, and even great. I think most of the camos are fine with the exception of the giraffe camo, palm tree camo etc. like you mentioned. I think all the little silly things like non-glowy hood ornaments and little rainbow and smiley patches are fine because they let you show your personality without being too huge and glaring.

The real problem is the helmets. Skull helmets are infuriating. I've gotten killed more than 4000 times, and for the most part I just move on and respawn. But whenever I get killed by some guy wearing a SKULL HELMET, regardless of the circumstances, it evokes an angry reaction of a varying but always strong degree. They look so duuuumb and CoD-like.

On a lighter note, I really like the newer helmets and the player-designed ones. They fit nicely with the sci-fi theme.

As someone who bought the skull helmet, I agree with you, and I also sort of regret buying it, but only a little, and only because it really doesn't fit the planetside 2 theme.

But also, you are correct about it being the only thing at the time. The only other option at the time was the LS-0001 or whatever composite helmet whatever it's called which looks exactly like the regular helmet and I don't even know why they are selling it.

I'm just waiting for a double SC weekend so I can invest in the viper helmet.

I understand your frustration. I often feel like SOE is sending mixed messages.

I have been a fairly vocal proponent for what I perceive as an important balance situation. I think I have finally accepted that it may not be in the interest of SOE's business model to make the game fair and balanced.

And I'm cool with that. For me this means I'm gonna spread my play time out over all three factions a little bit more and to heck with those who don't like it.