Praise for Hossin SOE :)

Except for the tank steering ofc

Seriously though Hossin is amazing, and the continent locking mechanic is a fantastic, simple, effective first step towards a more meaningful game (and it addresses population issues in the meantime too ).

Indarside rant

It is so nice to finally be rid of indar, the main obstacle to my enjoyment of PS2 for the past few months has been sickness of being stuck on (imo) the worst continent 23/7. The Esamir VS Indar debate is a fair one but Amerish is an objectively better continent than indar, the only thing indar has which Amerish doesn't is a plethora of bases which can be mercilessly spammed with tank shells from an elevated position (the indar watchtowers are particularly shocking with almost all of them having tanks being able to fire flat at the top level from some hill). Amerish has flat out better designed and more diverse bases which allow exterior armour/aircraft to attack the infantry in the base without dominating them, influence the fight without deciding it.

So I hope you can imagine my delight when not only is it now possible to play on Amerish with the large population which it deserves but that an even better continent was released with it..

Hossin

This continent is so amazingly designed that I don't even know where to start, so I'll just list everything:

1. Base design - You guys are getting good at this. The way the swamp sort of merges with a lot of the bases is really cool aesthetically and there is an Amerish level of base diversity to boot. The base layout itself generally does a great job of allowing infantry to decide the capture of a base with their own firefight and sustaining minimal interference from outside bombardment. This base design has led to me having more engaging infantry combat in the last few days than I have had in the most of the last year elsewhere.

2. Role of armour - The road system is fairly good (for what is clearly a more infantry focused map by design - I believe) and off road shortcuts are plentiful and navigable. The fog adds a really cool dynamic to tank fights, seeing shells come whipping out of the mire or having two tanks not notice each other as they drive through the thick swamps until they are within minimap range of each other is exactly the kind of "feel" that I love. It adds a great level of identity to Hossin the "limited visibility continent". There is also a large amount of usable off road battlegrounds to ambush/engage enemy tanks from, driving around the murky swamps with me and my gunners eyes peeled to scan for shapes is a much more engaging experience than simply hit trading at range and can really let you devastate inferior drivers in large numbers.
At the bases themselves the role of tanks is less about finding that perfect farming spot and more about limiting the options of defenders, either by destroying opposing armour/sunderers or by shelling exposed parts of the bases. It's fantastic - infantry can defend a base passably without getting farmed but their options of attack paths and in-base flanking options get limited/reduced due to the lack of air and/or tank supremacy in the local area.
Better still is the lighter vehicles such as AP lightnings and harassers can operate quite effectively with the terrain provided and can provide fun alternatives to traditional tank combat.

3. Role of air - Easily the best air-ground relationship so far on so many levels. First off you have severely limited effectiveness of flak and lock-ons regarding A2A combat above the canopy, there are so many large trees and other terrain features that it is difficult for a factions ground army to decide the outcome of air combat taking place above it - this is great for pilots who just want to kill other aircraft.
Secondly you have the canopy/fog layer creating a soft barrier between the A2A and A2G/G2A "zones", the presence of fog and expansive trees forces A2G aircraft to generally get very close to engage in many areas, it also prevents the detection of many tankers attempting flanking maneuvers from aircraft hunting for stragglers (because most flanking routes on Hossin take you through extremely thick terrain).
Thirdly aircraft engaged in actually attacking ground forces become extremely vulnerable to A2A gank aircraft due to a combination of easy visibility from above and the difficulty involved in a quick escape. For the same reason flak can be devastating due to the extreme proximity and swift disengagement issues.
Fourthly the trees and terrain themselves can allow for some extremely exciting and risky pursuits and escapes by flying under the fog/canopy level (indar canyons don't even come close).

4. It just looks cool - I am so happy that we finally have a continent which is a slap in the face to all those who would prefer a fair fight decided by aim alone everytime. Hossin looks cool, the fog is at the same time aesthetically pleasing, tactically influential and identity defining of the continent. We may never have beta nights back but we have this .

As someone who likes to play Infantry/MBT/Lightning/Harasser/ESF this contient is the complete apckage whilst looknig really cool to boot.

Thanks SOE, if I wasn't already a member then I would have resubscribed for this. THIS is REAL content and the start (I hope) of real meta. If you nail the resource revamp along with advanced continent locking then this could become something really great.

I just pray that you stick with YOUR vision of what Planetside should be and don't dumb it down to please the frustrated masses.

Great job.

Buff harassers.

That guy on Ceres

(I didnt read you post, sorry. lol)
Just wanted to give my praise aswell. I really like the Hossin design, atleast for Infantry combat.

The landscape is sometimes almost claustrophobic, and (imo) gives a great sense of really being in a swampy damp overgrown environment.
I also like that some places seems catered towards LAs, with vertical gameplay and obsticales LAs can easily fly over, where other infantry has to spend 30+ seconds to go around.

Infil is fun (for me) aswell, because of all the places to sneak around. Lots of places for a stalker to ambush.
The fog makes it a bit more challenging to snipe at range, which i personally dont mind.

Good job SOE.
Credit where credit's due.

Yeah, np with not reading it. I just felt bad with all the usual forum whiners bashing it for not being to their (incorect) liking

Hossin makes me eager to see how the new Valkyrie vehicle will perform. Should be interesting.

I like Hossin too. The only thing that sucks a bit is the airspam cause it is basicly impossible to use G2A due to trees being more of a problem for turrets and lockons than for lolpodders.

what i didn't like about hossin is the choke points, all the rest is where they put their creativity to work (that moment after the patch when everyone was dying on the killer water though, no one knew what the **** happened xD)

but OP, if PS2 sticks to their 'visions', it'll just have moar setbacks, gameplay problems, etc.
(see 'hurr durr weekly updates!' 'hossin on april 2013!' 'bugs are fixed this time!' 'bugs are really fixed THIS time')


TL;DR: random floating objects / incomplete bases aside, old bugs seem to be necro'd by SoE after the Hossin patch, not sure if they were really fixed though.

I've read all the post of the OP and it's clearly what I think : good analysis !

Hossin is fantastic! good job SOE, really love playing on that continent! - some of my best action so far!

I love hossin I HATE THAT ITS GHOST CAPPED AND LOCKED!!!!!!

+1

Yep. Loving it. It plays well and runs well.
Nice job SOE, and thanks for taking the time to get it right.

I'm not totally in love with Hossin but what I do like is the variety we now have.

I never realised just how much Indarside was annoying me until it went away. Now we have a huge variety of different fights and I have no idea where I'll be fighting when I log in.

I was never a huge fan of Esamir (despite the bases themselves being somewhat well designed for infantry combat) due the vulnerability of my vehicles to air when not playing with an outfit.

But with continent locking I enjoy playing Esamir now because it is just a little more variety, sure Amerish/Hossin are the undisputed kings of the map pool but Indar is still fun (especially if you feel like farming infantry) from time to time and Esamir in small doses is a nice change up too.

I always spam spot at enemy air and shoot flak at the dorito. The trees can be useful for ground based AA as well since flak goes right through the leaves.

With dumbfire HA's in the doors... oh we're gonna have FUN



EDIT: Almost wish they'd put AI MANA turrets in the doors instead though actually.

I'm pretty much on hossin any chance I can get. I love it, the base layouts are exceptional, I think the more people play it the more they will enjoy it. Great job SOE on the map.

I love everything about Hossin. Especially with how creative you can get with sundy placement.

Hossin is definitely awesome, Harassers are back and are awesome on this map, we had 2 squads of harassers & sunderers and we absolutely wrecked armored divisions through all the nifty little shortcuts everywhere.

I thought Air was going to be horrible but yeah, the trees give great cover to escape :3

You weren't stuck on Indar. Clearly you just didn't know that you could warp to the other continents at the warpgate, or when you died.

Agreed, OP. Hossin is an amazing continent. Definitely loving fighting on it.