Planetside 2 Leadership In-depth Review/Overview/Issues/Suggestions/Discussion

Planetside 2 Leadership In-depth Review/Overview/Issues/Suggestions/Discussion


Author's Credibility
My name is Rectorol, I am the Commanding Officer of Black Widow Company's Planetside 2 Regiment on Mattherson TR. Our outfit is military structure based and we have around 400 to 500 active members in Planetside 2 on a Monthly Basis. We usually peak out at around 130 people on at once on a weekly basis. I've been playing the game since Beta and have been leading in it every time I log in. I'm the prime combat leader for all Black Widow Company Main Operations and set the Standard for Leadership within the outfit. As such I have extensive usage of Squad Leader, Platoon Leader, and Outfit Leader tools.

General Overview/Issue
As a Leader in Planetside 2 I find myself often lacking in extensive tools. Planetside 2 is a amazing game, that allows for leaders of all levels to occur. Unfortunately the higher up you go the less tools you have access to, to control and maneuver your forces. Coordination with allies is also difficult at times and perfect at others, without any real lack of security. Lastly tools given to outfits in game is extremely lacking currently.

Throughout this post I'm going to review/discuss certain aspects of the game from a Squad Leader, Platoon Leader, and Outfit Leader level. I understand however that the game play should take 90% of precedence over leadership. The PU for example deserve more attention than fine tuning leadership ability and skills.

Section A: Communication

1. Leader Chat - There are a few major issues with leader chat commonly appear. The overall concept is a great idea however.
   1. Lack of outfit - There is no clear distinction as to who is talking and to what unit they are affiliated with. This often leads to fights or discussions that take place attempting to find out who the person is and what their credibility is. Outfit Tags should appear in Leader Chat.
   2. Platoon Leader access to Leader Chat - Not all Platoon Leaders are sitting in a Squad Leader position. As a result the Platoon Leader will have access to the chat version of leader chat but be unable to hear the voice communication or talk on it themselves.
   3. Lack of unit credibility - One of the major issues, is lack of credibility. For example a Unit Leader states "My unit is on it's way to help Person A with their request at Base X". What we don't know is who this leader represents unless they state so (Outfit Tags), we also don't know how many people they lead. The only thing I can think of is adding a number next to the person's name to signify how many people are underneath them.
   4. I haven't seen this recently, but occasionally Squad Leaders will use Leader Chat to talk with each other. The recent changes to how the Platoon Leader can fiddle with Platoon Communication I believe fixed it.
   5. While I listen in to Leader Chat I normally stay quiet due to the amount of trolls and arguing that takes place rather than actually teamwork and communication. It's right now easier to identify members of Leader Chat who are serious and invite them to a private channel or talk in /tell. There's currently no repercussion for being a troll on Leader Chat. I'm not sure of a fair system that could be used though. It's more of a cultural change that needs to take place than something on SOE's part to take care of.
2. Orders Chat - One of the issues I see with orders chat is the negative responses to it.
   1. I'm not entirely sure how to change orders chat such that it doesn't receive the negativity that constantly pops up on it. For example, if someone posts an obvious, even though it is correct, order they are usually trolled. This is more of a cultural issue than a technical one, but I'd love to hear how the rest of the community feels about Orders Chat.
   2. The concept of Orders chat is great, however I feel a multi-continent chat would be useful as well. Possibly on a longer timer than 5 Minutes.
3. Private Voice Channels - These exists but there are several issues I've see.
   1. Creation and Management of the channel is extremely difficult. Having to do everything through text chat is hard at the best of times. I'd like to see the ability to create the channel through an interface and invite people through there as well. On top of setting up the password.
   2. Multiple Channels - The ability to join multiple channels and adjust the volume and push to talk for each individual would be nice as well.
4. Important Messages - One of the problems I have with typing things out in text chat is how fast it goes away. This includes things like Region Say, Orders Chat, and Platoon/Squad Leaders typing. Maybe allowing Platoon and Squad Leaders to denote in a message to their Platoon/Squad which makes the message last longer.
5. Platoon/Squad Messages - Similar to how we have an Outfit Message of the Day, I'd like to see an ability for a the Platoon and Squad to have a static message system.
6. Outfit Message of the Day - For members of Outfits, I think it would be cool if when they logged in it automatically put it in chat for them.
7. Outfit to Outfit Communication - I'd really like to see more support for outfit to outfit communication. Currently it's Leader Chat/Forums and that's it. Maybe adding in mailboxes for outfits in game that only defined outfit ranks can check.
8. Overall most verbal communication I use is out of game since my outfit utilizes Teamspeak 3. As such I don't utilize the Squad/Platoon/Outfit Communication that much. If someone sees constant issues or wants to discuss something with these I implore you to post them up.
9. Smoke Signals/ Request Markers - I'd like to see a little more extension into this for communication lines. With only 4 types of Smoke and a very limited range on when you can see it, it's very hard to use it to communicate to other allies. As such we end up using Offensive and Defensive Request markers for communication. I think a few more tools along these lines would be awesome. For example marking armor columns, air balls, anti vehicle nests, etc etc would be cool. They could last for a much shorter time so that way the map isn't spammed with 5000 requests.

Section B: Creating a Mission/Meta Game

1. So one of the main issues I find with Planetside 2 is that the leaders are the one creating the missions. Everyone has a different view on what the meta game in Planetside 2 is and what exactly an outfit/squad/platoon should be doing.
2. I know on the roadmap something that was posted was creating the ability to assign missions out based on unit type for potential EXP boost. I think that's an awesome idea and I can't wait for something along those lines which will definitely help the smaller outfits out with finding a niche.
3. Larger Outfits creating front lines and making major pushes are often ridiculed however for bringing excessive numbers to a fight.. For obvious reasons I don't want to split my platoon up to different sides of the map if I don't have to. There really shouldn't be huge rewards for moving large amount of units to fight each other, since you're being rewarded with more targets. However I'd like to see a little more detail of the amount of units at a base.
   1. A great example of this is when I see 25 - 48 and I have 48 units exactly. I arrive and then steamroll 25 people. The gap between those two number is a bit large. It gets even worse with the 48+ fights. Sometimes my Platoon will make a dent and even the numbers out. Other times I'm lucky if moving a couple platoons over there will even affect the numbers by 10%.
   2. A more reliable method of getting troops over to a new fight to balance numbers would be cool. For example even just a small exp bonus for arriving and balancing a fight depending on numbers. This would encourage re-secures a lot more.
4. Often time I'll hear outfits arguing over what's better. Winning a fight or creating a farm. In my mind, I want to win but I want to have a fun fight. Farming to me is not fun even though you rack up certs fast. The exp bonus for capturing a base is small. However if the flat number is too large than members will spend time ghost capping instead of trying to get in a fight. Winning even or fights where you are outnumbered should be rewarded greater. Where as taking territory when you heavily outnumber the enemy should be minimal. This would encourage units to get involved in even fights more often.
5. Defense Winning, right now winning a defense does nothing but give you a ribbon (eventually). I think giving a small boost to resources would be nice.
6. Right now the meta game is right where it should be (player designed) until true continent locking arrives. The Alert System has definitely helped in creating missions. Prime Time Alerts that pop really always need to be the three continent alerts. Right now when a single continent alert pops during prime time an outfit has to make the decision to split it's units so that they can continue to participate in the alert since it almost always will be continent population locked shortly.
7. I'd like to see more variation in the Alerts. Example: Empire with the most small outposts assaulted/defended. Even short 15 - 30 minute alert first empire to X Kills where revives would keep the number low encourage medic usage. The ones we have currently are fun, however they are extremely basic.
8. UES was almost a year ago and I would really love to see another event such as that more often. Maybe not the whole in-life portion of it. But I would really like to see some dev run events. The snowman event right now is really cool and fun however when we get done with the holidays some specific type missions issued out by SOE as they stream would be really cool.

Section C: Squad/Platoon Leader Tools

1. One of the issues I have when I squad and platoon lead is the lack of tools. The addition of individual squad waypoints was wonderful. I'd like to see more in that regards.
2. I mentioned earlier about adding in reporting tool of unit types. Just like the Offensive/Defensive Request it would appear empire wide but only last a short time.
3. The ability to manage the platoon better would be very nice. This has improved since beta tenfold but there's still a lot more work to be done. The biggest right now is moving squad members into different numbers.
4. The ability for the platoon leader to be separate from the squads would be nice.
5. Fixing the fact the Platoon Leader isn't always on leader chat would be nice as well.
6. Overall the Squad and Platoon Leader ability is heading in the right direction for combat. I feel they have enough tools to accomplish combat mission but some back end on the management would be nice.

Section D: Outfit Leader Tools

1. There's two parts to this for me. There's management and combat.
2. For management right now the tools are pretty nice. I'd like to be able to organize the outfit into groups however that's mainly because I run a decent size combined arms outfit.
3. For combat something that I really would like to see happen is creation of a better way to organize units in combat. Right now I have to just know in my head where all 3 - 4 platoons of mine are. I'd like to see the ability to combine the platoons into one group.

Review
Overall right now Leadership tools are fine, although they could be fine tuned and improved over time. Fine is good, great is better, perfect is the end-objective.

I'd like to hear other leaders thoughts and ideas on what they'd like to see improved in the game from the view of the leader.

I somewhat agree with this

-I've led in PS2 for a while, and led in MAG for a long time- Platoons, Companies, and Squads- and from the experience i've had leading larger armies of people in MAG- I can attest that PS2 could use some enhancement to it's communication systems...




I'd like to argue, that rather than Larger Outfits(no problem with that) -what we really need, that would solve our problems , is for Companies to be in-game. Where Multiple platoons are part of a Company, perhaps up to 4, if we are to use Sony Computer Entertainment's/Zipper Interactive's MAG as a guideline.

We should not be limited to 48 people. , and it's been done better- there's ways to handle this(and I can elaborate- I wrote a heavily extensive Guide on MAG's comms system which worked well for people leading multiple platoons, and Platoon Leaders.)

Regarding communication and said large numbers.
There is outfit chat- but that is insufficient, I feel- because of Leaders like me. I at the moment am not running with an Outfit- but I shouldn't have to join an outfit to coordinate with a larger force exceeding hundreds of men. Right now, I have to work with multiple platoon leaders through Leader Chat- and Leader Chat does work- but they could go bigger.

Fully agreed, organizing the platoons and not just on an outfit level would be much more beneficial. It's useful for platoons but organizing the smaller and non-outfitted players under a common leader would be result in much better game play for everyone.

+1, I guess.

I have a few ideas of my own on my Upgrade Project: https://sites.google.com/site/planetsideupgradeproject/home/planetside-2/command

Good post, Ill update my page with some of your ideas.

Leadership needs help to give players what they really want - large scale fights that are fun and rewarding.

Not that I disagree but starting with 'You should listen to me because I am X' is fallacious as hell.

If you ideas are worth considering they stand and fall on their own, a duck covered in grease with a tape-recorder around its neck playing said points, should make the argument just as well.

One of the major criticisms I have here about your actual points, is you seem to conflate larger outfit with competant outfit.

In several cases on Miller I can think of smaller outfits that are far more competent than several giant unweidly zergfits. And how, handing more legitimacy to the latter, over and above the former, would not just result in a more confused strategic situation, but in many cases outright trolling.

I hardly see eye to eye with TR (main) players. But I happen to agree with the OP.

As a former outfit leader, I always felt that my tools to help my platoons succeed were always limited. I'm the type of Platoon Leader that leads his own squad and fights with them (I always assign someone in a support role as my forward observer or map guy). Also, I have treated Command Chat as my own personal "Novella" as at times the drama that I hear on it is more interesting than the actual fighting that is going on. It should not be that way, but it is (at least for Connery NC).

Platoon Leaders, who WANT to communicate with other leaders need tools as the OP stated. Offensive/Defensive markers and smoke are great, but they only really work for their own platoon. The platoon leader squad waypoint markers are great and since ALL platoon members can see them, using them for non-squad based objectives (such as indicating enemy AMS locations) is fantastic. But having the ability to put markers indicating various target types would be super.

The amount of trolls on Command Chat is horrendous and at times Command Chat is being abused (I admit to abusing it, also). This needs to be quelled by limiting the number of people who would actually purchase Command Chat. The Command option in Planetside 2 should be globally refunded and set to be purchased for 1000 certs. If someone is seriously wants the Command Chat function, they would get it. I would.

Without a battery of psychometric testing before giving people /leader, nothing is going to stop a determined troll, or some dellusional zergfit leader who thinks he's napleon (and your CO) from screwing with it.

Another big problem, especially on Miller, is the zergfit leader who draws large numbers of people to utterly pointless locations.

What can you do about it? your not his mum after all. But thats often dozens, if not platoons worth of people taken out of the pot.

I don't pretend to have a solution to this, I just don't think any of the solutions on the table would actually help much either.

You could perhaps allow the community some level of self policing, and an ability of censor, but thats just as likely to become politically cut throat really quickly.

And activing moderating (speaking from experience), unless that moderator knows the community very well, and is as a human being very mindful of their biases, but at the same time, is not institution 'lets be fair' rules that end up resuling in absurd 'everyone gets their say' outcomes. Then thats pointless as well.

It is a big problem in the game, espeically give we (on miller at least) now as a thing allways have a trickel of new people signing up, who are confused as **** about what to do.

Their first interaction with the 'organised' community, is normally the invite to outfit spam in the warpgate, which in effect takes them out of play and can give rise to all the above problems, not the organised outfit thats actually doing something organised as much as possible, making an effort to get better, cooperate etc.

New item in the depot under services: Revoke Command token, 1000 certs. Can be used to remove the command chat certification of the specified player.

Done.

There's no amount of certs people won't pay for the privilege of being obnoxious, if they've decided they want to be obnoxious.

I don't usually lead platoons anymore but when I did, I generally muted the command channel. 95% of the time it was just full of self-serving BS.

I think orders chat would be a lot more useful if rather than an actual chat, it just received commands a la quickvoice. So one might be able to request reinforcements to defend or attack a specific base (possibly tie these in with the notifications on the map), or announce that their platoon had openings, or whatever. The useful functions of orders chat could easily be automated and that would remove most of the desire to spam/troll it.

No, I'm just coming at it from a larger outfit standpoint which is why I asked for a discussion on the ideas and did not state I'm right you're wrong. I'm looking for input from smaller outfits, there's a few on Mattherson that I have extremely good relationships with and look forward to working with on a daily basis.

However at times some of the smaller outfits end up looking to perform missions that support larger front line pushes. So for example a small air outfit would be more successful supporting a front line they were in contact with, without having to deal with all the extra of command chat. They would receive much more detailed information without tying up communications for everyone else.

Being able to invite them into a group larger than a platoon and receive request orders from a higher tier commander (than just a Platoon Leader) could result in much more devastating combinations. I don't want to destroy anyone's autonomy and them remaining in a platoon/company would be completely on that outfit. If the leader is being a troll and wasting their time they can simply leave and either operate independently again or find another platoon/company to attach themselves too.

I like your ideas, but at the same time I think they would be wasted on 90% of the players, because very few are going to want to have to micromanage to that degree.

I think much of your concerns and wants could be addressed and solved in a very simple way. We should be able to form temporary alliances / conglomerates, made up of multiple platoons or even squads, that are lead by the player that created it.

In a nut shell; If you are a platoon leader you should be able to form a temporary larger alliance with other platoon leaders, thus creating a temporary alliance, which would allow you to be able to see every group and player in that alliance on the map. It would be as simple as adding another option in the squad find menu.

Another simple feature that would be a huge benefit for this sort of change would be for the alliance commander to be able to simply place an objective on the map, requesting a certain amount of squads to respond to that objective, be it to defend or attack. For example the alliance commander can set a defend objective on an outpost asking for 3 squads out of the alliance to respond and this would be broadcast to all of the squad leaders that are not currently on an objective mission and every squad leader would be able to just accept or decline the mission and once they accept the mission, then its their responsibility to get their squad there.

Great ideas overall, just keep it simple...

There are no Outfits big enough on Miller to be considered zergifts. In my experience most people do their best to be in the right place, especially during alerts which is the only real time I ever see command chat used. The only time I see people being (subjectively) in the wrong place is if they are attacking a bio lab during a tec plant alert or similar. But that's pretty uncommon.

All good ideas.

I think what the OP is trying to say is that there needs to be more and better command and control systems in general, regardless of whether they are being used by a zerg fit, a small group of operators or someone else. (And I agree).

I can't help but agree with OP, and as a squad leader within my outfit (occasional platoon leader too) I'd love more micromanagement tools available to me when leading. I was thinking maybe the introduction of a new UI that you had to cert into, and would only be available upon promotion to SL/PL. Something that featured maybe tabs for each squad within the platoon, which gave in depth information on each member, (e.g. class, current primary/secondary/tool/utility/grenade type etc.)

Another thing that would be extremely useful would be aimed more at larger outfits, where you could add squads or platoons into a communication ring with your platoon via this UI, so that you could have up to say 4 platoons working together. This would help to cut out some of the bs that occurs over Command Chat. Also allowing inter-outfit communication between outfits that wish to organize amongst each other.

The current system works, and is very good, but as everyone else has said, there is room for improvement

Great post. I especially agree with the above, had a conversation about this recently. My outfit (SMG) has also been having issues with not being able to get everyone into single continent alerts during primetime. We're not nearly as big as you, either, so if someone is stuck in cue while the squad is participating in an Indar alert, chances are they're either going to be stuck playing by themselves or the entire squad/platoon will have to switch continents.

PS2 shares many of the same problems that PS1 had with regard to command structure.

For a command structure to be really effective, you need to have a solid chain of command. Outfits provide some measure of this, but often good strategies require the use of multiple outfits - at which point a clear chain of command is a very effective way to go.

We've already got a system for player-built structures with a clear leader, which is squads and platoons. A private squad (or platoon) can only be joined by explicit invitation by the leader. A public squad/platoon is where a player agrees to join an existing squad, and by inference agrees to follow the orders of that squad's existing leadership.

All we need now is a couple of tiers above platoon, with similar CoC and some high-level leadership tools for the company or battalion commanders.

As a squad leader, I would love to be able to select to join an open platoon, an open company or an open battalion. As a platoon leader I should have the option of joining an open battalion.

This way if a commander is coordinating the troops of a particular push, they can create a company / battalion for that operation. Such an action is very likely to require that commander to delegate responsibilities down the chain of command to platoon leaders, as direct micromanagement of 96+ troops is heading towards overkill.

If someone really doesn't like the way a particular commander is working they are welcome to exit the chain of command and create their own.

Because PS2 is ultimately a game and there's a lot of people who want to play general you'll never get a system that is ideal. However, the nice thing about the group/squad structure is it is:
* Transient on a per-play basis, so there's no need to join a specific outfit to be able to play with them
* Involves an opt-in to an existing, clearly defined chain of command
* Gives the commanders tools to handle insubordinate or toxic elements under their command
* Is player-driven

This sounds like what you're after at a higher level. So the smart money to me seems to be to create that at a higher level.