The Death Screen Crutch

I dont care for your stats and libs cant fire into biolabs unless they angle themselves properly or if people are defending on the air pads.

I don't care if others want to use the death screen. I want to turn it off. Last night, I reported it for harrassing me.

Wow, lots of conjecture and insults. You make such a compelling arguement... -_-

then stop camping on the roof mr light assault.

but by your definition any tactic other than a frontal suicidal rush towards the enemy is camping.
and the classic example is defenders of a biolab charging onto the pad only to eat a face full of liberator and rocket pod. so they don't. they defend the choke point that is the door.

or is that simply defending when any class other than an infiltrator does it?

I still fail to see how this change dumbs down the game. It's exactly the same information you have when you die, only presented in a different way.

Yes, the information that is there on the minimap can be obtained through situational awareness. Since I hate repeating myself, I'll quote myself(then again, I can't expect you to dig through 10 pages of discussion when only half of it is worthwhile and the other half is trolls and insults targeted at the OP and others):

"I have proven how, and there are countless examples that support my claim, that the death minimap has affected gameplay. The players that don't have situational awareness, and players that have lapses in situational awareness, can and will use the death minimap to their advantage. The players that have situational awareness, such as yourself, have seen how it is useless. Even if the death minimap is somewhat remotely useful to new players, we've[sic] agreed, that there are better ways to help new players avoid random death."

The information CAN be obtained through other ways, such as spotting, listening for the cloak sound, watching for tracers, looking at the minimap, and generally keeping your head on a swivel. However, when a player dies to an infil/flanker without paying attention to the cues that can help with situational awareness, and the game gives them the direction of their killer, I see that as a problem.

"It is.

If I find a nice rooftop to take out my enemies(with a silencer or not), and my enemies don't notice me on the minimap(without silencer), can't listen to the sound of my carbine, can't spot me with q, and don't pay attention to the pain indicators, then they shouldn't know my direction, and I should be able to use that rooftop or rock to take out enemies for a minute or two.

New players should learn to recognize these signs, either through a tutorial or a mentor system."

Even more importantly:

"Situational awareness should be learned or taught, not given."

I gave no such definition, i dont know how that thought came into your mind.

it is not making situational awareness less rewarding. Not dieing rewards situational awareness. Getting opportunistic kills rewards situational awareness. the death screen only lowers the penalty for poor situational awareness only slightly( it is honestly not that hard to figure out where a sniper is hiding it takes VERY little smarts to figure that out.

Frankly, the death screen is an ignorant waste of time in my opinion. The old one I tolerated because it was just a quick popup that moved on to the spawn screen fairly efficiently. The new one is busier than a Rorschach test on acid, has that silly 'press any key to continue' thing from 1993 and just generally wastes time. I'd rather use my respawn timer studying the map to see where I want to go next, as soon as I die, or to get a feel for the fight on the continent during the downtime. Anything that gets in the way of that happening as quickly as possible is something I have absolutely no interest in.

Seriously, think of the mechanics of the death screen in a Biolab fight. It is 48+ up in this piece and I just died? Really? Do tell me more about how this could have possibly happened because I for the life of me never expected it might.

I don't care if I'm working a few sniper hides and someone uses it to see where I was. If others want to use it, more power to them. To me, it is the most annoying, improperly placed forced interlude in a video game I've ever seen. I'm playing a video game - what's next, are they going to start exporting my individual spawn session stats to CSV and sending that over to me for analysis after every death?

Get real, and let me turn this garbage off.

I propose that the community take control of the subject and quit forcing PS2 people to do it for them. They keep mucking up the game with this kind of Death Screen junk and the "so easy a caveman can lead a squad" Lattice system.

If you are an Officer or Outfit Leader you hold more power to lead these new people to their own holy grail in Planetside than any other in the game. If your outfit openly recruits anyone including these new people, start training them. The other option is Sony does it for you. Outfits that do this gain gamewide notoriety as top notch groups.

If you are a SL/PL or even a veteran, like myself, when they ask questions have the answer or at least point them into the correct direction to get the right answers.

Everytime I play the game I see Medics not rezzing, Engies not repairing or dropping ammo, no dart using Infiltraitors, HA/LA using smg's on Tanks etc etc. We need to be the ones to fix these problems. If im rollin' as a Medic, those dead guys look like XP to me. Same for Engie, HA/LA/Inf.

The quote we should be using is...

Don't be a tool. Use your tools if you want to win.

The more tedious way, that's for sure...but not impossible.

Then consider yourself one of the few who have developed situational awareness, probably one of the extreme few who actually turn towards my direction after the first Crossbow bolt...rather than die facing forward. This thread wasn't in regards to players like yourself...who earned the rewards that the Death Screen automatically provides everyone else.

Thanks for stopping by and the support!

Hopefully the development team reconsiders the decision.

If you would take a look at my stats, so eagerly provided by Nerd Mode, you would quickly take note of the fact that I don't play very often and have "eh" stats...as far as I know. If you care to read the opening post, which I assume you didn't, you'd see an example of the type of situations that this hurts.

The majority of Planetside 2 players lack situational awareness, not just new players...but the majority clear up to the higher battle ranks.

This is going to be fun...

So, the development team has implemented this feature as a means to bring back players who have left the game and retain new individuals trying it out...and you believe that I, a player with an abundance of time and dwindling interest in actually playing the game, don't have a solid point because I lack experience in the game due to inadequate playing time?

...so I'm part of the very demographic that they are trying to appeal to, but this demographic has absolutely no idea what would keep them playing the game and doing so more often because they don't have enough experience to know what would keep them in the game and playing more often? In case you haven't realized the absurdity that I'm pointing out in your argument...those are all rhetorical questions.

You're right...

I lack situational awareness and superior aiming skills, and as a player who is part of the very demographic that they are trying to cater to...I WANT TO LEARN THEM MYSELF, NOT BE HANDED THEM. I want a game where the full spectrum of tactics and strategy isn't watered down for instant gratification, and doing the opposite is going to decrease the amount of time I spend playing...not increase.

...yep, that was pretty fun.

I'm not really worried about sniping.

Long ranged snipers really shouldn't find too much trouble from this system simply because they are generally at maximum range and ducking in and out of stealth with each shot...most people generally just ignore them and won't go out of their way to hunt them down. Besides, this feature has a range limitation from my understanding...

It's situations like I described in the OP that are hit hardest by this. I was never worried about sniping, it was always the more stealth oriented flanking situations that I was worried about from the very day that they proposed this idea.

Ultimately...it's just a bad idea that doesn't really help with the very situation that they actually seek to address...like you stated there at the end and I detail in the OP.

Thanks for the support.

Thanks for the support.

You're missing the point...

Yeah, he's pretty much screaming, "Hey guys, I'm here killing you all, how's your day going?" and what's happening? This is what I mean when I say that the majority of players lack situational awareness, the death screen gives it to them during a time when they are no longer blinded by the chaos of battle.

This is the entire point...that video is a great demonstration of the lack of situational awareness that 90% of players suffer from.

The time spent flanking the enemy is supposed to be rewarded by however many kills you can gain through the exploitation in the lack of skill of your enemy. We don't punish straight forward run and gun players for their superior aim because they can kill an specific amount of people.

"Oh, you shot six people perfectly...time to let them kill you, fair is fair."

It might be, if the majority actually paid attention to them. Either way, paying attention to those hit markers is part of situational awareness...a skill you develop. The death screen automatically gives people this...which is the entire point behind the discussion.

A skill you're supposed to learn is being handed to players.

Your name is so fitting...

Do people who argue my points even read the opening post? It has an example provided that explains the problem here. This wouldn't be a problem if people STAYED dead...but they don't, and are normally back in the fight very quickly and right near the location they died when it comes to the flanking situations described.

For the love of whatever you deep holy, if you didn't read...read.

We're taking about tactical flanking positions...again, read the OP.

...

The only two ES rifles that lack bullet drop are the two rifles that no one uses and everyone has agreed are not even worth the certification points. The TRAP, which seems to be the only decent ES rifle, isn't a sniper rifle....................................isn't...a.......sniper rifle. The Phaseshift, which you're seething over, lacks close range scopes for the semi-automatic feature and isn't practical as a bolt action. It's a fun weapon, but any of the other rifles are beyond better and it's perk of not needing ammunition doesn't change that fact. As for the Railjack...go ahead and mention how great a weapon that to any New Conglomerate Infiltrator and you're going to get kicked in the shin.

I'm pretty sure that the majority of VS and NC Infiltrators would be more than happy to exchange our empire specific sniper rifles for any of the features we actually wanted since launch...like increased emphasis on hacking, fixing the decoy grenades to make them viable, or hell...just making our cloaking device consistent (Which includes increasing the visibility on low settings.)

Congratulations, you've pretty much exposed why you're really here. "I hate Infiltrators and anything that hurts their playing style is awesome in my book, damn the consequences." That's what your rant pretty much said when you boil it down...not anything valid towards the points presented, just a deep seeded hatred towards Infiltrators and a desire to watch the game burn...so long as Infiltrators find themselves weakened by the changes made.

You didn't read...

Not only didn't you read, to gain any understanding about what we're talking about, but you cast aside any suggestion given after asking for suggestions on how to do it better. What do you expect? How can I really debate with you when I have to reiterate everything I've already written because you...did...not...read?

I write enough walls man, I can't write those walls twice in shorter lengths to combat your inability to read and then take you seriously when you try to debate points you don't even know about.

The difference is now you are given a skill you did not learn.

It's the same as giving players auto-aim if they have poor twitch response mechanics.

People need to stop trying to focus on sniping,

This is more detrimental to the flanking situations I provided in the OP. This system makes flanking less rewarding, and decreases the penalty for poor situational awareness while simultaneously trivializing the accomplishments those within the minority have achieved through developing their own.

People who developed their situational awareness should be proud. As amusing as it sounds, anyone who actually pays attention to their hit markers should be proud...................because 90% of the population doesn't. I know this because I have a Crossbow that takes two fairly slow shots to kill and people don't even bother to move...let alone look towards my location.

If you developed your situational awareness, you should be proud to have developed a skill...and completely against GIVING the skill to people who haven't.

I have found that the deathcam has effected close in crossbolt infiltration. Will use it against itself but it was, is, and will always be a cancer to FPS.

It rots player brains and makes them dependent on the next big FPS to have it as well.

Burn the code for deathcam, radiate it, kill it now or see another game fall to it.

As someone who been playing infiltrator with stalker and crossbow. I can tell you that the death screen doesn't effect how well I can flank. Showing info that was available when they when they were being shot at doesn't hurt how well I can flank. If someone is going to the capture point and I kill them, by flanking and shooting them in the back, and they see I shot them from behind then they don't know were I was behind them, was I on the ground, was I in the building, was I in an unusual spot. If I am an light assault in on a tall radio tower or what ever those things are and I kill some one, and they look at their death screen. They don't know I am on the tower, they know exactly the same info when as when they where alive and getting shot at. Know if lets say your an light assault in a tree and there is no other cover near by you, then they will figure out your in that tree, but if they were nearby the tree when they died then they could have guessed that any way. I have been a stalker cloak in a room and I crossbow knifed a person. They don't know where I was hiding before I crossbow knife them, and their death screen just tells them I crossbow knifed them from the back or side. Something they could guess since it was an knife kill. So how does this death screen break the game. It only gives them info that they had when they were getting shot at. And you can say that it is an handy cap that prevents you from needing to situational aware, but that doesn't make sense what your saying, how does knowing the info you had when you were alive while you are dead handy cap for situational awareness. Situational awareness helps you most when you are alive, the death screen just tells you that if you were paying attention you would have known this info that probably wont matter if the person is not in the exact same spot when they killed you. If the person who killed you is flanking then they are still flanking so going to where your death screen say your killer is at is pointless.

I'll reiterate an example and explain.

Let's use the Stronghold example.

While I can't remember the exact number of kills I obtained within this location, that situation showed me just how little people have developed their situational awareness in Planetside 2...regardless of battle rank. With the new system in play, there is absolutely no way that I would have obtained a fraction of the kills before I was discovered because people are granted the general location of my position. This means that people are alerted to the fact that there is someone there and to keep an eye out. Every kill increases the volume of individuals focusing on that general location, and that means the position is now useless.

How does this help them when they're dead?

It gives them the general location of their killer so they look towards that location when they come back...which, in that situation, took only a couple of seconds for them to get back to since it was quite close to their spawn location. This wasn't farming new players, this was exploiting oblivious players of all battle rank with a weapon that requires two slow shots to kill...and I killed multiple people more than once..................who still didn't use those hit indicators to realize that I was nailing them from my location. Instead, they just kept lining up...and kept dying over and over again...all battle ranks.

Taking that aside...giving players situational awareness automatically encourages nothing but poor gameplay. This doesn't help explain why they died, this only gives them the location of their killer as some sort of pseudo compensation for the fact that they just don't know what the hell is going on around them.

So, not only does the mechanic water down the tactics described in the OP...but it provides something that doesn't even help with the problem that the development team wants to address. Ultimately, there's no reason for the mechanic to exist.

So your are saying giving the player situational awareness after death breaks down the need of situational awareness. That really doesn't make sense unless you like dying and then going to the direction your attack was just so he can be in a different spot and take advantage of your situational awareness again. I killed 4 different people while stalking on top of a roof. After they died they became very alert of my presence there, but still didn't know where I was so they shot darts everywhere which don't help with people staying still or crouch walking. When the enemy infiltrator stopped moving, headshot OHK. That directional indicator didn't compromise my position and the enemies became very aware of everything. Friendly infiltrator came to the base and uncloaked and all the enemies hunted him down very quickly based on sound. Same thing would have happened without the directional indicator. So how does it break down situational awareness? I found it useful for when I was repairing a turret and died very quickly to a light assault. I couldn't see a damage indicator when I was alive because I died quickly to four headshots. It was a light assault but base on death screen I found out he was not in the base, wasn't for the death screen I would be running around the tower looking for an light assault. That death damage indicator helps when you die while you are lagging. Some times I don't see what happens for a second when in big battles while I get 6 frames a second, so I never see damage indicators, death screen helps with that.

More hyperbole. This vague indicator gives you a general direction in which the killing shot came. You don't know distance or elevation. 99 times out of 100 it's practically useless; the guy who killed is long gone from that general location anyway. Bad snipers just get found more quickly; we found them just fine before this. They hung out in the same spot too long and we dialed in on their tracers. They were executed justly with a commisioner to the back of the head. The good snipers are doing just fine.

It isn't just snipers. I'll cite an example: I was ganked by a mana turret as an infiltrator. I saw the direction of my attacker on the kill map. I was rezzed, and I proceeded to headshot the unfortunate engineer because I had a direction. I gained a kill that I didn't deserve.

You may have the opinion that the OP's claim is exaggerated. However, it is undeniable that the death screen minimap is detrimental to gameplay. Although SOE uses it as a tool for new player retention, there are better ways to do it, as shown in the OP, and in other countless threads. The death screen minimap was a change that wasn't asked for, similar to being unable to ads while jumping.

This has been necroed.

It needs to be locked, it's no longer constructive and is just yelling at this point.

#1 not a PSA

#2 Death screen ain't even bad. Past 15-20m it's a cone of direction the killer fired from. The further, the bigger the cone.

So no, it's hardly an issue whatsoever.

Only if they were right on top of you can you tell people where they were when you got killed.

Guess what, any time you get killed by an SMG infil YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE ALREADY. Hardly anything new.