My BR1 friend experiences Planetside 2

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by M1kst3r1, Aug 19, 2014.

  1. Taemien

    Planetside 2 is a unique game to say the least.

    On one hand you would think FPS veterans would do well right? Its a FPS too. However there's alot of content to take in that normal FPSs even with 'massive' 32v32 or more battles just don't have. In Battlefield, Call of Duty, ect, you have one map with one objective. Now there might be different ways to achieve that objective. But the idea is to win the map. Basically run the enemy out of tickets or have the most kills at the end of the match. Pretty simple.

    Now lets go over to the MMO part. Many think MMORPG players will have a tough time being used to tab target and using rotations while standing still. Well WASD movement and such isn't alien to them. And one advantage they have is working with groups, raids, and guilds. These correspond with Squads, Platoons, and Outfits. These players may not be able to take a FPS vet one on one. But they don't need to, they know how to work with a platoon and just gank you with 47 buddies. And if they have a PVP mindset, they can be quite ruthless. They won't follow 'honor' rules.

    Now back to the FPS player. Where they start getting tripped up is the strategic part of the game. In most FPS the objective is simple. Win the map. In PS2, sometimes you need to concede a base to reinforce another. Sometimes you have to execute a feint on a base to draw people to it in order to protect your faction's real objective. This is well beyond most FPS vets. Its also beyond most MMORPG players as well.

    MMORPG players are also a bit singular in their goals. They can work together in squads, platoons, and outfits. But working with an entire faction isn't easy. For most they even see people in their faction as competition that they can't kill. They don't realize everyone that isn't the enemy is not an obstacle.

    For players who have played FPS and MMORPGs, they have a leg up. They get all of the advantages of both types of players. But they still need to learn new variables. Primarily the strategic ones. Even a small squad of 4 can influence an outcome of an alert depending on their mission and goal.

    PS2 will make anyone new to it flounder. The ones who persevere will do well. But you have to have the gumption to stay and slug through it, keep an open mind, and be ready to adapt. There's nothing SOE can code in to make the process easier. Tutorials can only teach you how to move, shoot, and drive. Everything else is an evolving meta game that can't be accounted for.

    You could code a tutorial today, and in one balance pass, it will be obsolete. In one metagame change by the players, the tutorial could be obsolete. Strategy is content created by players for players, to combat players. Its evolving, changing, and fluid. About all a tut can teach someone is how to cert farm. But we have enough cert farmers already.

    To be successful in PS2 means you need to be ready to learn, ready to be taught, and be ready to ask questions of your peers. There is hundreds of outfits across the servers that will teach new players the ropes. And like any MMO, you need to be in one to get places. You can lonewolf it and try to learn on your own, but the process will be much harder and longer. But its up to the individual how they wish to go.

    There's no flaw in how PS2 treats new players, just flaws in how new players try to approach PS2.

    Login. Die. Learn. And then Die some more. Learn more. Then Kill. And Die some more. Learn. Adapt. And Kill some more.

    That is how you learn to play PS2. If a new player finds this unacceptable, then they need to play another game. And there is nothing wrong with that. I don't like the kind of game that the SIMs is. I don't like Second Life. I don't like many other games. I don't see their developers as being bad at their jobs. Or that they should add or change things in their games that would make it more appealing to me. They are making games that are different and that other players do in fact like.

    I see PS2 as the same thing. I like it, and I play it. Those that don't like it, shouldn't play it.
  2. Sagabyte

    They need a realistic tutorial.

    Tutorial: In this simulation, you will be spawning from a spawn room and must avoid the tank fire to reach your destination.

    Solved.
  3. ColonelChingles

    In addition to being a FPS with RPG elements, there are definitely RTS elements as well! Now if only I could get my squad to follow my orders as faithfully as AI units do...

    Instant BR50 promotion if they spawn their own AP tank and flank those HE tanks from the rear. After all, there are BR50s (and higher) who have yet to figure out this lesson. :p
  4. Bonom Denej

    Every time I kill a BR<5, I send him that kind of /tell : "If you're new to the game, welcome. Don't worry, you'll die, a lot. Don't get frustrated, it'll get better by itself. If you're a high BR smurf : HA HA, I KILLED YOU."

    Anyway, I started this game slighlty after release with no mentor whatsoever. Back in the day, there wasn't that many high BR but there was no help at all. First time I logged on, it was "there, you just spawned in a massive battle, now go get some ki- oh, sorry you're already dead". I stopped playing because I was heavily invested into StarCraft II and couldn't really deal with two heavy games like that.

    When I came back almost a year ago to have my now almost BR40 VS character, I still had no mentor. But I knew I would enjoy this game so I watched videos, read wiki articles and asked the forums. I already had a good experience in FPS so it was easier.

    A few months after I started playing, I introduced the game to two of my friends who never were big FPS player. They stopped playing because they lost interest in the game quickly.

    So yeah, a mentor is good, player motivation is even better. Someone who realize that this game is freaking unique should and probably will do what it takes to get better. A player who is kinda dragged into this game will probably stick with its mentor in the beginning but may quit after a few months.
  5. SacredRay


    You're a better person for not playing SC2. That game is garbage and I'm ashamed that I shelled out the money for both WoL and HoTS whilst only having just over 300 career games.
  6. Bonom Denej

    I was working towards my diamond rank, I never regretted buying those games ! ^^ But my professionnal career took away most of my free time and I couldn't keep up with SC2. That's when I switched to PS2, since I know I can play only once a week and enjoy it without having the impression of losing grounds.
  7. sauna

    Awesome story! Keep on teaching :).
    I recently came back myself and was hella confused with all the new stuff but noticed that my muscle memory worked at least. After a session I instantly started showing the game to mates in as a pedagogically way as I could (i.e. in order of importance for them, which in this case is to not die as much and be able to fight back as soon as possible):
    - follow the star
    - check for the waypoint
    - communicate if you're lost so I can wait/meet up
    - zoom out and zoom in on the minimap and look at it often to see where enemies come from
    - when attacking a base, look at the pistol-icons since that is their spawn
    - when in a vehicle, use third person to get a better overview
    - look down left at squad composition to see what class is needed
    - etc

    It's hard to do at the same time as you yourself just want to charge in and blast away. But if I do, my confused friends will be even more confused and not have as much fun.

    Suggestion to devs: hire someone with a background in pedagogy (such as working with Autistic persons, T.E.A.C.H., etc) to work with the tutorial and new player experience. These are people trained to put themselves in other peoples shoes and think like they do.
  8. SacredRay


    Well I come from the golden days of WC3, so my opinion of SC2's awful dumbing down of micro options, unit utility and general interface was not favorable to me.

    I Big Busted my way to low Masters within a couple of days during those 300 games. Big Bust = DRG's Roach/Ling/Baneling 7:30 timing into macro transition. Everyone was too busy 'macroing' up and playing farmville, so it was easy and I got called a cheeser. When I played as brainless as they did, I just went 200/200 13 min Max Roach and A-moved to victory.

    F*cking awful game.
  9. nehylen

    I was a player of 99~2004 FPS games, after which i stopped, to play a mmorpg i've invested myself in for ten years (dark age of camelot), which was mostly a team pvp experience . The year before i tried PS2 i'd played mostly ME3 MP ( which is a 4 player coop TPS). And then i started about 2 months ago (mid june), and now BR71, thanks to a lot of holidays i was forced to take in july. :p

    When i started PS2 i knew i'd be having a tough time learning the ropes, so i convinced myself on insisting for at least 30~40ish hours of gameplay before i quit.
    That was a rather good boundary as there was a lot to take in, and i just died over and over. My KDR was depressing as i thought myself a much better shot than that, initially.

    It's not before BR 25~30 that things started to settle, my aim and judgment were getting better. The biggest thing to learn in retrospect, was the general idea of bases layout, and how to make the most of them since most buildings are re-used on all continents, with slight variations.
    I'm happy that i insisted as the game is a lot of fun overall, though i can't deny i had to tough it out initially.
    There's still a lot to discover for me though, as i've barely touched the vehicles at all.
  10. Bonom Denej

    Wow, we sure didn't play the same game. I played Zerg too (since SC1) but I never had that "one strat to rule them all" feeling. Especially in the end of WoL / beginning of HoTS where the patches were really heavy and moved things around. Honestly I still love StarCraft II, I'll probably get back to it if I have the time to do so. But I don't see that happening soon.
    Anyway, let's stop with the off topic ;)

    Same thing for me, I was a quite good Counter Strike : Source player, but I started to really feel comfortable with PS2 around BR25 (I think I can my find old forum posts from back then that will say the same thing).
  11. sauna

    DAoC <3!

    Yeah, one thing that HiRez is doing very well for their games (Tribes at least afaik) among others. Is to have video tutorials ingame, both official and player made. It's almost always a better way to teach things to make it visual for the person learning.
    There's already a lot of dedicated streamers and youtubers out there with very well produced clips of teaching things so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to add some to the tutorial experience of PS2.
  12. consciousvillan

    i think in this game more than any other fps the community really effects the level of enjoyment you get, this is made even more so by the fraction system
    i got bf 3 free in the give away not long ago and hadnt played the series since bad company 2.. i was shocked at the attitudes in the official forum. due to that battle log interface that tracks tour stats and makes them visable to all it meant your standing in the community is reliant on your k/d, your accuracy, what weapons you use erc.. when the stats were temporaly down i even saw players saying there was no point in playing if there stats werent recorded. this kind of tracking of players built in to the game browser just seemed to make the community act really badly, being rude, insulting, arrogant etc.
    compared to the other fps i play red orchestra 2 that dosent even display deaths on the score board so as to encourage team play as oppose to individual glory along with other game mechanics to make team play the way to win.
    i find ps2 to work in a similar way, the game design means you must play as a team to succeed which leads to the community being much more helpful. even with the fraction sorta dividing the community thats more of a fun appearance of division than actual hate...

    lol ssorry if i ranted off topic a lil
  13. Taemien


    Yeah it does have similarities to RTS. The difference as you pointed out is that people don't follow orders with the discipline that AI units do in such games. This where methods to boost morale, inspire, and motivate actual players into doing something are important skills. There is literally no other game that places emphasis on that like PS2 does.

    And of course there is no tutorial for that. Well.. there is, but not one SOE can provide. But the US Department of Defense can through their various Basic Training programs. But that requires an 8 year commitment :D

    No in all seriousness, leading people and following leaders is just a skill a new player either just needs to have already, or is ready to learn. In all my points before. To be successful in PS2 requires no tutorial, just patience, willingness to learn, and willingness to adapt.