As a new player

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Xuralo, Jun 13, 2014.

  1. Xuralo

    Hey guys,

    I took a look at this game a while ago thus my PC was not good at all (fps < 10) and waited 'til my upgrade to have a look again at this game.

    At the time I was really bad thinking the cause would be the lagging, not having a steady image and no range vision at all.

    Unfortunatly this was / is not the only problem. I have no idea how to "grow" in this game; my average game time is about 1 minute until either a sniper hits me or a tank blasts me away. Knowing that I have the starter guns I try to stay behind the lines. Yet I need at least 2 shots with my sniper while I'm always a single shot target. Needless to say I have no good KDA. No kills => no XP => no point to upgrade my equip.

    Any advice you could give me? I am not unfamiliar to shooter and also do know that my aiming is not the best but to be honest: do you need to be a pro 24/7 gamer to actually continue this game?
  2. dBMachine

    The starter weapons are actually some of the best in the game. If you want a 1 shot kill sniper rifle than you can buy one of the bolt actions for only 100-250 certs. Which is cheap.

    This game can be frustrating sometimes because when two zergs slam head on the "meat grinder" effect can be pretty bad.

    Try to join a good public squad with a decent leader. A good leader will guide you to the farm wile adding a little structure to the chaos. It can be easier than just running lone wolf.
  3. RHINO_Mk.II

    Don't snipe. It doesn't do anything in this game.
  4. a-koo-chee-moya

    Go medic. Revive people. 1 revive is almost equal to a kill.
  5. DaninTexas

    Roll medic for awhile. Good exp and it will allow you to learn the ropes for awhile.

    Don't worry about the starting weapons. They are seriously some of the better weapons. As someone who has spent well over $500 on this game and has nearly every weapon unlocked over every faction - There are some decent things to buy - but really - the starter weapons are still some of my main go to weapons. If you can't kill the enemy with a starter weapon with out any attachment - having all the weapon unlocks and a million certs won't change it.

    In fact I just deleted my NC guy and started over only because of name. I have still managed to keep a positive K/D and on a couple days a 2+ k/d ratio on a new character. Most folks cry about weapon unlocks and not having certs when in fact it is just them sorry to say.

    Good luck to you. Stick with it - game has a brutal learning curve but if you fight through it - this game can offer some of the best adreniline highs any video game will give you.

    Live for those rare moments where you are the hero
  6. khai

    Get in there and don't care if you die at least at first and snipers target the cautious guys staying back because they are usually moving slower and easier to hit. I find engineer is the best for getting certs especially for new players. Carbines are good short range weapons that do not really need that much skill at the ranges most people use them at. But the main reason is the ammo pack and repair gun. Find a group of heavies/snipers/guys just standing around shooting and drop your ammo pack (either the equipped one or press "b" while you have your turret selected) and rake in the points. Or find something getting hit, a turret or tank or sundie and just sit there repairing it. Get yourself some armor and you too might take two sniper bullets (unless they head shot you).

    The guns really are side grades for the most part. There are some exceptions but for the most part the quality of the weapons are personal preference, and you might consider my favorite gun to be terrible while the one you think is OP I find fatally flawed. That being said the starter weapons tend to be the average weapons for the faction with all the others being variants with more damage per bullet but worse accuracy or 0.75 ads but a lower muzzle velocity.
  7. vanu123

    Two pieces of advice: Find a good and active outfit/squad to roll with, play engineer or medic while you are still getting used to the game because they will make bank on certs.
  8. Ken Photon


    Really?! I don't have to try and kill people? Thank God!!

    I'm not even joking. My K/D is at 0.062 the last time I checked, so killing people just isn't for me. I didn't noticed that reviving gets as much experience as killing, so that's a saving grace for right there.

    And to the OP, you could read over the wiki to get yourself familiarized to the game. I also recommend having a look at some of the guides they have around here. This is the one for the engineer. There are links for a guide for the light assault and the medic near the end. And lastly, start out with the medic or engineer. You'll get certs without having to kill anyone.
  9. Codex561

    What faction do you play?
    VS have probably the best LMG in the game (heavy assault) which is default
    NC have great guns all around
    TR have arguably slightly weaker guns but a lot more room for mistake.
  10. DaninTexas

    This is my wife's first FPS. She rocks it and has a complete blast playing only Medic. By playing medic for a few months she has finally gotten comfortable with the game enough she is starting to get some awesome kills. One point I went down and she was 2v1 and killed them both to res me after.

    Medic is the go to class for all new players IMO. The assault rifles hit like freight trains and even if you can't hit - rezing and healing does so much for your team. I would argue a single medic does more than a 5+ K/D ratio person.
  11. IberianHusky

    As an engi repair vehicles and maxes and place ammo packs wherever you see a large group of people firing on a certain location. This will make you a ton of certs. If you want to make even more certs, cert into AMS for the Sunderer (Only 50 certs) and give your teammates a forward spawn to earn even more certs!

    Had I used Medic or Engi when I started out I'd be like BR 60 by now. I played almost exclusively HA and I'm only lvl 36.
  12. Mezinov

    Welcome to Planetside 2. Starting out can be very overwhelming, not only because of the games scale, but because compared to many modern shooters Planetside 2 feels very different. From driving and flying to the interface, Planetside 2 is it's own unique snowflake.


    That said one of the best things you can do getting started is join a squad from your social tab. Don't just use the auto-join squad feature as squad quality varies greatly. You want a squad or platoon with an active and engaged leader, not one of the many that are scattered across all three continents and any number of bases.

    "Open" Outfit squads tend to be the best, in that everyone is going in the same direction, though they tend to do their voice comms on a program like Ventrillo, Mumble, or Team Speak. I know when my crew runs only one of us ever has the in game VOIP on, and we make them our liaison
    to "the blues" (anyone not in the squad or outfit). This isn't a huge deal though, as these Squad Leaders and Platoon leaders are usually very good about keeping the waypoint on the current target - so if nothing else, you will know the direction to go.

    Now that you have a group, the best thing to do is go engineer or medic. Both have competent guns that are workable at all ranges, and most importantly they are support classes. As a new player you won't know the base layouts or where or when people like to hide in ambush or spam explosives; the best way to get this knowledge is to play support and follow people around. Pay attention to whats going on, and eventually you will start to get an idea of what is up in Planetside 2.

    As a Medic in addition to an Assault Rifle you will have a Nano-Healing tool and your default ability will be an AOE heal. The AOE heal allows you to heal yourself and any nearby friendlies, thus making it especially useful as a new player. You will find yourself short on health alot. The Nano-Healing tool itself can be fired at friendlies, dead or alive, to heal or revive them. Healing and reviving will give you a steady steam of points, and as consequence certs, so your progression wont be tied to kills.

    Alternatively, you can take the Engineer. You will have a carbine version of the Medics assault rifle, so a bit less accurate at range but the same stopping power, and your kit will consist of a Nano-Armor tool, Nano-Constructor, and an ammo pack. The Nano-Armor tool will let you repair friendly terminals, MAX units (the big armored guys), and vehicles. This is a great source of points, especially attaching yourself to a friendly MAX (they get shot alot), but you have to watch out; vehicles will prioritise their safety over yours. So if you are behind them repairing, they WILL run you over without a second though. You will also be a prime target repairing a MAX. Your Nano-Armor tool also runs on a HEAT system (so if you run it too long consecutively it will overheat and have to cool off).

    The Nano-Constructor, by default, lets you put down an Anti-Infantry turret; you place it with left click, and then get in and out with your Enter/Exit vehicle key. It has alot of perks; great accuracy, runs on HEAT instead of ammo, and has a shield that provides protection from small arms from the front. That said there are downsides. The damage isn't great, but not to be laughed at, you are an easy target for snipers - and the big one - rocket launchers. A rocket launcher hit will blow up the turret and kill you dead.

    Your ammo pack will be your BEST source of easy points. In a battle everyone is shooting and everyone needs more bullets. Throw your ammo pack down and it will resupply everyone in a small radius (5m or so) including yourself. Throw it down near friendlies and watch the points come in. It does expire after resupplying so much ammunition, so keep an eye on it if you are holding a area, and put a new one down.

    PRO TIP; If you take out your Nano-Constructor and hit "B" (or whatever you bound your change fire mode key to) it will cycle between your Turret and the Ammo pack. This means in the future you can use the ammo pack slot on your loadout for explosives, without giving up your ammo pack!

    Your K/D will be horrible for months. There is no getting around that; but it is fine. Only the most jock-like of the players care about their overall K/D, and generally most players look at the combination of their Score Per Minute or Hour and their session K/D to get an idea of how well they are doing on the battlefield. For example if my Session Score Per Hour is 330000 but my K/D is only 0.33 I know I am doing alot of supporting of my team, just not killing, and am generally an asset to my team. Conversly my Score Per Hour could be 3000 and my K/D 15. That means I am cowardly avoiding death, taking only safe kills, and generally not helping my team.

    I am generally an above average player, so if you want a point to compare; I generally have a 2.0 K/D and 17000 Score Per Hour.
    I will do better or worse than that depending on the day I am having... like last night, I swung a 3.7 K/D for most my session and 32000 Score Per Hour.

    Most of the people I play regularly with have below 1 K/Ds (0.6 to 0.9), but are still amazing assets to have on the battlefield who I wouldn't trade for the world. Additionally, alot of them also have the same Score Per Hour or higher than me.

    With all that out there; the best way to get better at Planetside 2 is run with other people, see what they do, and adapt that to how you play. Also prepare yourself mentally to die upwards of 20 times for every 1 kill you get in the beginning.
  13. Koldorn

    Protip:
    Wrel is your friend.
  14. Wafflepancake

    Above all mentioned trips - many of which are good (I'll claim medic > eng for certs due to ammopack xp caps)another very important thing to keep in mind is to have fun. Find an outfit. the better organized the easier the game will come to you.
    what me and three others do in our outfit is dedicate our game time to the new members (those new to the game) and have em piggy back with us in vehicles, air and, on foot.
    This will get you into the front line and will help you learn your way around bases. There are a lot of shortcuts that you will only come to know by experience.

    So OP I invite you to join me and we can run the tracks :)
    What server/faction do you play on?
  15. Konstantinn

    If sniping is your thing (although it isn't overly useful in this game and I personally wouldn't recommend it) you just have to get used to it a bit. Compensate for bullet drop, lead target, always aim for the head. You literally can't kill anyone at full health with 1 shot without a headshot, and that's only like 2 sniper rifles per faction. Other sniper rifles specialize in follow up shots and have their own perks as well as limitations. That said starter weapons are often no worse than others, game is pretty well balanced that way.

    So anyway, here's a few tips for a pretty terrible sniper (it's not my favorite thing to do by far). Meh, I've had some degree of success from time to time.

    1.Most important thing about sniping is not showing yourself for too long. You have to get used to the cycle of cloak, aim, decloak, shoot quickly, cloak immediately.
    2. When you cloak generator is running low have something to hide behind for it to regenerate. It's kind of annoying cycle, but some people got pretty good at it and are enjoying it.
    3. If you expose yourself as an infiltrator out in the open, someone will take you out quickly. Never stand still when you can be seen (on any class). Standing still is giving your enemy a free headshot.
    4. Have to get used to picking good sniping spots, that just comes from experience.
    5. Don't be predictable, shoot a bit then move. If you're poking out from behind same rock, next time you pop out someone will be waiting with their cross-hairs aimed at that spot. You won't even have a chance to react.
    6. Move slightly when cloaked between shots, people will often know your position and take a shot at you right after you cloak. They can't see you from distance, but they will try to predict your position so strafing a meter or two between shots is a good idea.
    7. Hold breath, shift, use it. A lot. Get hold breath implant if you're a really dedicated sniper.
    8. Often when you are close to enemy and not moving, or even worse moving (no matter how fast), you can be seen. People will knife you just for kicks. DO NOT rely on your cloak in close quarters, it will fail you time after time. Infiltrators that cloak and try to run away from a CQC ,thinking they are stealthy, are free kills. Trespassers will be shot, runners will be shot in the back type of deal.
    9. Spot other snipers from their tracer. Sniper rifle shots leave a nice trail for a split second leading to their position (yours too ... so keep that in mind).

    Stalker cloak is a whole different game from sniper cloak.
    • Up x 1
  16. DK22

    all good advice.
    nobody likes snipers though, :)
    even nearby friendly snipers make me nervous, that repeated cloak, de-cloak sound :eek: , 'go away man, yer scaring me.'
  17. Paragon Exile


    The VS, TR and NC infiltrators all make different sounds when they cloak :3
  18. Cinnamon

    I think the main problem is that this game does not have "invisible walls." When you go somewhere you really shouldn't be you will just be killed pretty quickly by another player instead. Even people who have thousands of hours playing the game constantly get killed in this way.

    You can play support like medic or engineer to stay behind other people or do something like watching streams or youtubs videos of other people playing.

    But the other side of being where you shouldn't be is that sometimes you can really surprise people who don't expect you to be there. It is like there are places where you will not be killed instantly that people expect you to be that they are scared to go. Places where you will be killed instantly because they expect you to go. A grey area in between those areas. Then there is the golden zone of places where you will not be killed instantly where people don't expect you to be and they just sit there letting you kill them.