ZergSide2 stops being fun

First thing to learn as a Platoon leader you need more troops when attacking vs defending. Its been that way since the dawn of time and will continue till the end. Otherwise you get a stalemate or you get slaughtered. A 60/40 split will do the job just about every time.

Give us the PS1 AMS, PS1 mines, PS1 spitfires, PS1 motion detectors and we can make it a fair fight.

Well I feel like we are always having the smallest ground ownage (NC).
And our Zergs look like 70 Tanks + 30 Gunners that dont want to get out and 10-15 people trying to attack.

SOE has setup the game so that grinding is much more the focus, and not participating in "interesting" battles.

Zerging is the best way for most people to farm. Farming is the best way for most people to grind.

People *will* (sometimes) seek out an interesting battle in their down time from grinding. But much of their time will be spent grinding, especially when there is some sort of bonus to grinding going on.

XP, achievements, rewards, and automated praise are all tied to farming/grinding. And many people feel a sense of "winning" satisfaction as well.

If this leads to better grinding, then for most the answer is yes. If there were no enemies, it would change to PvE, but people would still do it.

Having noone left to play in Alerts only becomes a problem for most if the game changes so that it's bad farming.

Usually each faction just zergs ~empty bases anyway. Zergs tpyically don't "steer" into (or away from) each other. There is no non-Squad/Outift communicatoin in the game, so steering a Zerg is like herding cats. But Zergs will tend to snowball more and better in areas without many enemies.

Only, if/when SOE makes that more profitable or configures it to happen more.

If no defenders spawn, people will just ghostcap and then move on to the next base.

Squads/Outfits are OP. It's like playing charades where one team is allowed to talk. If non-Squad/Outfits had shared voice channels (with the option to mute specific people), Squads/Outfits would be much less effective.

Best current counter to a Squad/Outfit is having more people than them and then Q-Spotting them. Coordination and superior loadout options are no match for overwhelming mass bearing down on them... unless there's some sort of choke point or terrain advantage thing going on.

Pushing out of Spawn Rooms and pulling armor will just improve the farming for the zerg farming you. I know, I farm with Mosquito Banshee or PPA Scythe in zergs all the time. Pulling air will not help you unless you are a better pilot than me and we don't have a lot of Air (cause Air in the Zerg can't rely on Zerg for AA support). If you are a better pilot than me or outnumber our Air, then I will leave (either respawning after you kill me or by using Afterburner) and go farm somewhere else.

Right, it's zerging. But basically the tone someone uses when they use the word is indicative of their skill: a skilled player uses it as a simple word that means a lot of players; an unskilled player has this tone of disgust, as though using teamwork is some vile thing.

The "forget better tactics" comment in your post is key! Bringing more players is a better tactic. It's a decision their faction made to achieve victory over you. You lost due to their decision. That's basically the definition of what skill is in games (and most things): it's the quality of decision-making and execution of those decisions, as they relate to a goal.

Which isn't to say all zerging is automatically "a better tactic". It definitely isn't. But "forget better tactics" seems to imply you feel winning by being better organized and using more teamwork is never a valid victory, and that's wrong.

Examples of where zerging isn't skill are things like:

• One step forward, two steps back: zerging one base while losing two others along different lattice paths.
• Higher global pop: When you're "zerging" not because of your faction's decisions but because there is a global pop imbalance.
• Higher continent pop: Most continent pop imbalances aren't skill too, unless the faction is choosing better continents to fight on (if an alert starts on another continent, the derpy faction staying on the current continent zerging bases is actually playing quite badly...unless they're playing especially smart and actually lock the continent, in which case they're complete amazing.)

The fact that this is so nuanced is further evidence of how much skill is involved in correct population management in PS2.

I don't disagree that pop-imbalanced fights pay a cost for this depth. But if this depth lacked any value, we probably wouldn't be playing PS2. Instead, it's part of what makes PS2 deep and worth playing long-term rather than just another throwaway bored-in-a-month shooter.

Back in the days of Death Legion, we used to cap bases with 2:1 odds against us and no Sunderer. It can be done, but its hard, and no one wants to fight a hard battle. EZ mode is what most Outfits want regardless of faction or server. There are certain Outfits on Emerald that are far more notorious for this, but most do it to some extent.

Personally, I pick the hard fights. I play the faction with the least population or whomever is 'weakest'. That leads to me not playing much VS on Emerald any more for a multitude of reasons.

We don't hold ourselves bad either, it just gets annoying to be zerged.

Deploying away from the zerg is hard, when every fight is a zerg.

I also barely see 20 AI Prowlers and 10 Banshees together, maybe because there are barely TR zerg in alerts?


I am not crying, I am also trying to solve it.

It comes in the form of a forum discussion.

Yes, hating with switched on brain is possible, as experience shows.

Leader requires effective squads with more than 5 people, which are rare on Cobalt TR (and when they exist they are invite only).

Just outpopping every fight is a zerg.
Teamwork is hard, when there is noone on the continent to teamwork with (except lone wolves).

But that is what happens all the time.

Pop numbers are, as I stated, equal.

And yes, it is TRs fault when they don't fight back the zerg.

But who can be angry with them, noone wants to fight a zerg.

An effective way to get randoms into your Gal was not found yet.

Well, thats the issue.

What Platoon?

I spam replies because then everyone gets a seperate message that I quoted him and does not have to find the post relating to him in one single post with 5 people quoted in.

It makes finding your quote and the answear to it easyer.

Alert wins and player numbers on Cobalt seem pretty even with an advantage for the Vanu in general. So I really don't agree to the OP.

But it's indeed a lot about farming vs getting farmed. -> No wonder that Planetside 2 has a problem to attract and keep players. It's very much a farm the spawn design instead of bringing the open world battles many are supposedly hoping for. And it isn't exactly a great CoD/BF substitute for people who crave that.

If there will ever be a PS3 the game has to become very different. And the intended audience better defined and catered for. Right now it's "Everyone" which just results in degenerate design. IMO, ofc.

That's funny. This is happening to the NC right now.

Try shooting back, if you kill more of them they will disperse back to fightong each other. Also u could create an account on one of the other factions and start an insurrection.

Did you just suggest making an alt on another faction in order to disrupt/TK that faction?

Problem is there are no "strategic" positions to actually fight for. In ps1 you fought hard for that tech plant just to get tanks and libs. There is no incentive to not ghost hack.

We should 'man up', while you guys are rage-quitting?

The Lattice. This is what most of you wanted. This is what you get. Tactical 100%, strategic 0%, no more depth, just giant fights. Learn to love it, because that's all there is.

A lot of us warned you this would happen. It's like the 2008/2012 elections - support what you think will be fun, and then realize that there's a price to pay.

Shooting back?

At who?

At the PPA Magriders and Scythes pinning me in the spawn?
Rockets don't go out.

At the NC ScatterMAX army?
Before I fired a second bullet I died.

At the 5 people shooting me at the same time?
I won't even tickle someone.