The Complete and Total Comprehensive Revamp Thread - "Change everything so it actually feels good"

he probably saw something about his favourite weapon that he didn't like and his simple mind just went "lolwut me no like dis"

Well, the thing with the Vanu on the mobility aspect, at least vehicle-wise, is that they've only got one unique ground vehicle, and while the Magrider is certainly more mobile in every direction, it isn't that mobile, I imagine since with its current mainline combat capabilities making it more mobile would just be blatantly unfair. What I'd imagine instead was a vehicle that was optimized around just about every movement direction. A Prowler might accelerate and go faster in a straight line, but a Magrider would be able to start, stop, change directions, go backwards, all just about nearly as quick as it can forward. Also, why are the things so huge? Knowing the Vanu they probably have some sort of crazy direct interface system where they can cram their pilots into tiny neural interface cockpits and have them control vehicles with their minds, with their surroundings captured by camera feeds uploaded directly into their brains or something. Could make the tank much smaller and thus that much harder to hit with that mobility.

But for that to happen, the frontline fighting capability of the tank has to come down. I don't have exact numbers, but I'd experiment with reducing the DPS of the main gun further and reworking the vehicle's armor to favor more equal protection of all sides, especially the rear, at the cost of frontal armor protection. Compared to other tanks the Magrider wouldn't be particularly vulnerable from any side, but it isn't strong from any side either. The overall idea is that, one on one, a Magrider is never going to win a straight fight with its counterparts in other factions, but by virtue of being small and maneuverable overcomes the enemy by being evasive and constantly on the move gunning for their weak spots, while it can use its high mobility in any direction to control the engagement, being able to readily run away from a bad situation as it has to and coming right back to harass the enemy further.

Now imagine if there were no empire specific vehicles and pretty much everything the Vanu could pull behaved like this. You're right, it'd probably take some changing around of the terrain to actually have space to maneuver in, but it'd suddenly make a Vanu vehicle convoy something completely unlike any other faction. They're small, start and stop on a dime, strafe around quickly. Sure if you peg one with a tank shell head on it's going to feel the hurt even if you hit the frontal armor, and they pretty much have to exploit your weak spots to deal much damage back, but they're optimized around doing just that.

Hopefully SOE will do asymmetrical balance

Good sir, I applaud you. Vanu be with you.

I'll be honest, I'm not going to read through all fifteen bloody pages (and counting). Your post is all I need see, and it is glorious.

I couldn't agree more that Planetside feels... dull. It's a truly spectacular game in what it provides, but it could be so much more. It lacks polish, it lacks style, it lacks the "shock and awe" feel that should come naturally from massive, hundred-plus-person battles. The factions all feel like color-coded clones, and that's tragic.

When I think of asymmetrical balance, a specific battle comes to mind for me. It was back on Waterson, a few weeks after the Jaeger merge (may it rest in peace), and it took place on the open ground between Quartz Ridge and Indar Excavations, late at night. The dirty TR commies held Indar Excavations, while my valiant brothers of the Vanu Sovereignty advanced to capture the base via a ground assault from Quartz Ridge. We were seeing multiple platoons on each side, with several veteran outfits giving their best. When it turned into a bloodbath, nobody was surprised.

It began when our sunderer column advanced out into the open. From the moment that tower came into view, the Prowler lines had us in their sights. AP rounds slammed into our transports, slaughtering whole squads before they ever fired a shot. My squad's sunderer took a bad hit halfway to the base, and we bailed moments before the thing went up in smoke. We tried to take cover in the ridges, but many were blown to pieces by the merciless HE bombardment before they could reach safety. Hiding out behind a dried husk of coral, I watched as artillery rounds impacted all around, tracers lancing through the night air. Scythes and Mosquitoes dueled above us, lighting the terrain with their explosions. Neither side dared bring liberators into the fray, neither faction could gain control of the air - the battle would be decided by our ground forces.

Many among us feared the Terran line could not be broken. Under the constant roar of the Prowlers' cannons, the distinctive howl of the chainguns... we were nearly broken. Then we heard something beautiful: the unmistakable pulsing flare of sauron fire, the blast of plasma cannons. A Magrider team had flanked the Prowler line. Caught unawares, and unable to move quickly enough, the Terran artillery was obliterated. It was the chance we needed.

My Vanu brothers and sisters charged. Under the cover of combined Lasher fire, we advanced towards the tower, darting from cover to cover to avoid the unceasing hail of gunfire poured on us. Finally in range, our superior accuracy afforded us the advantage on open ground. Though many fell to the Terran scum, we soon broke through. As beacons lit the night around Indar Excavations, our forces rained from the heavens to enlighten all who would oppose us. Though they fought bitterly, we eventually claimed the tower from the vile Terrans.

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You want to know what I think when I hear the words "asymmetrical balance?" I think of that fight. I remember the raw force of Prowler bombardment, the clever ambush by our Magriders. I remember the hail of Terran fire, the precise lethality of Vanu plasma weaponry. I remember high-speed aerial runs by Mosquitoes fighting the dancing Scythes. I remember the roar of the chainguns as they mowed down squad after squad, the sight of Lashers driving our foes into cover. Each of us had our advantages and weaknesses, each of us played to our strengths and suffered from tactics we couldn't replicate. It was a mad, desperate, glorious battle. Had our positions been reversed, it would've gone very differently - and that's exactly how it should be.

If it's not like that in at least 2 years time then PS2 would have been a waste of time and money, so let's just hope and pray and threaten.

When can we get a spawning Balance change no one has mentioned this as a problem When every time there is a battle we have to get into to support there is no spawn point or sunder around to get us in that area while on the other hand I see spawn points in area's where there is no threat and is not connected to any part that could be threatened.

******** pub lemmings are ********.

What about the strange way balancing has been done on some if not most weapons, for example HA lock ons are do more damage than ESF tomcat. ESF dumbfires are outclassed by HA dumbfires. (its a little wierd)

Simple: balance is slanted towards infantry in terms of damage potential to compensate for an infantryman's fragility. In theory, this should be fine... but the amount of infantry present at any given time renders the logic such balancing runs on obsolete. Sheer volume trumps individual weakness. Vehicle weapons need to either be brought back up to be on par with infantry weapons, or infantry weapons need to be brought down to the level of vehicle weapons. Problem is, SOE refuses to acknowledge that their balancing mechanic simply doesn't work, and the amount of infantry players whining about how they can't be the ones to get a killing shot on a tank or ESF aren't helping. Seriously, you're an infantry soldier, you're supposed to play selflessly. I know that first-hand.

Yea, people whining about how the ESFs are farming are missing the fact that most are simply swarmed by infantry 2 seconds later.

I haven't been on that much to check on this thread, is SOE still dense as a brick or suffers severe hearing loss? If likely so... I fear that until they clear out like half of the roadmap we won't see something like this happen....

I was driving around in the MBT and I was thinking, what if their specific ability was passive certification (like the Sunderer AMS) i'd say there would be some rage about the Vanguard shield but that could be changed from 100% damage reduction to 50% reduction and in exchange it gets a longer activation time maybe?

EDIT: or perhaps make it something like the HA shield (but i don't like that idea)

#Nature'sBack

Honestly, I had to leave for a while to get school in line.

To see that you b*tches have been keeping these threads alive makes my lead-lined nuclear heart melt.

Which I guess isn't impressive considering lead has a very low melting point, but making the uranium melt is impressive as f*ck.

BUMP!

IT WORKED!
Make VS weapons more unique.

When I first heard about the game I was hoping the factions would be like those in Red alert, where each had a completely unique set of weapons, vehicles and abilities...
I was so very...very...wrong....

I support anything that is for more faction flavor, cause screw those elitists who think everything needs to be absolutely equal within .01%!

These ideas need to be put on the test server. that's what it is for.
and these ideas are just amazing.

Dude, do you have any idea how much I would freak out if SOE let me borrow the test server? Or even gave me a low-population, single-continent server on the test servers to host my work on. Three months, access to whatever numbers I need to edit to work on weapons and vehicles, and one guy who works for SOE who could help me get everything done (I'll admit, I'd be dumbfounded by the actual technical work. I have no experience with their engine), and I assure you I could create a Planetside 2.1 (as I'll call it) that would blow everyone's mind.

The best part? I have plans on how to increase profit without boning each and every player (I.E. not what they're doing now). So it's a win win!

You should see if you can get in touch with Vanu Labs, he has a local PS2 server IIRC, so maybe he can put you in touch with someone that can help. Just spitballin' here, of course, but it's worth a shot.

THIS EXISTS.

SWEET MOTHER OF F*CK WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS BEFORE.

YOU SIR, GET A REWARD.

AND IF THIS ACTUALLY WORKS, SH*T. I'LL BUY YOU SC OR SOMETHING. OR MAYBE PAINT YOU A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF MY BEAUTIFUL FACE.