... there were more ways for solo/new players to get into the battle Remove the current instant action mechanic. The current mechanic encourages players to rely on luck to drop in desirable locations. This is not something you want in a game with real time strategy elements. Replace it with a mechanic that allows random friendlies to spawn inside of chosen Galaxies, Valkyries, and Sunderers that aren't squad locked. ... Outfits had more options Remove the public display of KD. Only you, your outfit leader, and ranks your outfit leader dictates, should be able to see your KD. The current public display of KD really hinders a lot of players who are self conscious about their KD. Emphasize kills/captures/defenses/revives/repairs per minute! Outfit leaders should be able to create and customize ranks within their outfit. This should not be hard to implement at all. It would also help out larger outfits who need the extra organization tools. Outfit leaders should be able to pay certs in order to upload a custom insignia. Outfit leaders should be able to set an Outfit Cammo similarly to the way they can currently set the outfit insignia. Outfit leaders should be able to disallow lower ranking members from creating squads with the outfit tag. Sometimes you want to train a lower battle-rank... but you don't want to take the chance that they will start making squads with your tag on it. This would help out Outfits as well as new/inexperienced players. The outfit of players in command channel should be displayed when they are talking. The amount of people under their command should also be displayed. It gets old having to repeat what outfit you are in and how many guys you are fielding. ... Health kits and Movement were adjusted Make med kits only replenish 65% health and have longer cool-down time between usages. Med kits are currently an "I just lost that engagement, let me just start popping these med kits and I'm invincible as I run away absorbing tons of damage" utility. You should not be able to "tank" absurd amounts of damage whilst being instantly healed to full HP in this way. Particularly in conjunction with Resist shield, the mechanic is completely broken. Make restoration kits restore 85% health over time. Slightly longer cool-down time between usages. Restoration kits as they are currently aren't so bad... Run speed with Med kits, Restoration kits, and C4, should be increased by 5%. This makes sense to have in the game. "You run faster with the knife!" Light Assaults should have a passive run speed bonus of +5%. Light Assaults should be faster than the other classes. They are supposed to be agile/mobile! Heavy Assaults should have a passive run speed reduction of -5%. Heavies should not be as fast as other classes. They have HEAVY weapons. .75 ADS LMG's should not exist. Adjust/buff the weapons which lose it accordingly. Because again, Heavies using BIG and HEAVY LMG's should not be able to move side to side as fast as a Light Assault with an SMG. ... Death Fields and Shields were implemented properly Remove spawn room fields that damage you if you get too close to them. The only time you should be damaged by an invisible field is if you are going out of bounds of the continent. The current death fields are just annoying and serve no purpose in enhancing game play. You shouldn't be encouraging players to hide in the spawn, which is what the current system does. Areas around enemy warp gates should not be out of bounds. You can not shoot into warp gates, but enemies can shoot out of them. That is more than enough of a deterrent to stay away from them. Tech plants and amp stations should have several large shields around them that operate the same way as the bio dome shield. But they wouldn't be domes. Just random shields that impede enemy tank and aerial bombardment. ... the current Lattice System were removed You should be able to capture any base, at any time. The lattice system should only dictate resource flow and connected regional benefits from TechPants, BioLabs, and AmpStations. This would deter the current meta game of zergs just hopping from base to base, which currently promotes lopsided and laggy battles. ... more flavor were added to the game Fine tune the asymmetrical balancing of the factions. Give the factions a bit more flare with more unique abilities, weapons and vehicles. This thread is open for constructive discussion. If you agree with most of the stuff I listed, please like and bump the thread. If you disagree, let me know your thoughts! I will edit the original post appropriately if enough people dislike an idea or have an alternative idea which would be better. Please also bump the Reddit thread if you would be so inclined: http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/2k9pld/planetside_2_would_be_better_if/
KD is not displayed publicly in game. The only place it is displayed publicly, is on the players site, and on 3rd party stat sites. Unless you plan on removing KD tracking from the API, there can't really be any way to hide it on those 3rd party sites. Based on your signature, you weren't here for the origional hex system. It wasn't any better for zerging. It was typically a lot worse, with a lot more ghost capping going on as well. The thing promoting the current zergs hopping from base to base meta is the redeploy system, giving instant access to most fights on the map where you can defend with less than 50% pop. Not the lattice system.
Valid points, I'll edit the original post when I get some more feedback from other players. I have to ask though, don't you think that allowing players to cap any base would allow smaller squads to take part in small skirmishes more easily? Especially if all the main battlefronts are zergy battles? People in a zerg typically don't want to leave it. I feel like the potential for "back captures" of non lattice bases would punish people who are just zerging.
I think they plan to remove Warpgate pain fields when they implement warpgate captures. I don't really mind current pain fields (though they've been applied pretty liberally recently, especially on Hossin. They could stand to be toned down) but I would like a better visual representation of pain fields, give it a slight haze of Nanites or something so I don't accidentally wander into it. I also rather like the Lattice system as it is now. Though I hope they give more purpose to it with the resources update, phase whatever. Right now it's a bit arbitrary. Really like the movement speed/Medkits changes though!
Go play Battlefield instead, problem solved. Maxes aren't my preferred class, one of my least used in fact, but they're a part of what makes Planetside the game it is, leave them be or i'll come deliver a double pounder with cheese to your door!.
I've only pulled a MAX twice since I've played PlanetSide 2. Once when I first started the game and a second time by accident... Another 6 times in VR training just to test them out I believe... I'm not a fan of using MAX's myself, but I think they are a cool mechanic to have in the game. Maybe they should cost more resources, but I think that completely removing them from the game would make the game more dull. I get excited when I hear an enemy MAX thumping my way. It's always a rewarding feeling to kill one.
It generally just got really annoying having to spend 80% of your time in game going from small fight to small fight to stop those back caps, which is part of why the lattice system was implemented. There's generally enough small fights going on, or enough things to do in big fights, that a small squad should be able to find plenty of things to do. Obviously this may not entirely hold true at peak hours, but it's true for a large portion of the day. There may not always be a large number of small fights, but they're definitely there. I mean, I hate to say the whole thing about the point of PS2 being massive battles and all, but, I can understand where you're coming from. This could more or less just be a fundamental difference in what we want from the game.
Also something I forgot to add... ... a 6v6 infantry match making system were added! Along with small infantry maps. I know this might be a tough one for SOE to do. But I think this would be HUGELY appreciated by the players
I get how people capping random territories could be a nuisance, but I think that the Valkyrie could be implemented in new and interesting ways with such a system? Oh and don't get me wrong... When I've got a platoon going, I'm more than happy to be in those epic/cinematic big battles. But at the moment, at peak hours, it's hard to find a small fight if you have a small fire-team who just want to fight in a small engagement. Those bases behind the front lines would be perfect for instigating a small skirmish I think?
I'm gonna say flat out no to a lot of your issues. Some things require them to reinstate sanctuaries and HART to make better, others things are set because of poorly made base designs that promote camping and being camped. The lattice system isn't good, because they missed the whole purpose of the lattice from the first game, but hexes are worse, you may not have been here for it, but the "freedom" was only ghost capping and trying to go around fights, no one fought eachother, everyone just ghost capped in circles, it was real sad, I disagree with this current system, but its better than no fighting at all. Cram it. If tanks had it their way, aircraft would be removed. If Aircraft had it their way, flak and lockons would be removed. MAXs are a core feature of planetside 1, the idea that people come onto this game and say, "cater to my childish needs" should recognize call of duty or battlefield as their go-to game. MAXs are poop in comparison to what they originally were, just like vehicles, because you and everyone can pull one at any time. I think the issue is, unlike planetside 1, you have classes here and not just you being a soldier with your own equipment you select. The only class that has a small tweak is the infiltrator, who has less health I believe. Before you chose to wear heavy reinforced armor and you'd be slower, but capable of carrying more, that isn't really a thing present here and its purely because there is no real room for depth in that kind of sense, doesn't mean they can't apply those differences regardless. I could see the heavy assault being slower but having a little more shields and health over the medium and light armor, and speed benefits to being lighter by default. The idea you pick a suit perk is lame because you can only pick one, and getting adrenaline pump instead of something infinitely more useful is pretty much what it boils down to. the .75 ADS isn't really a big deal, though it does provide a feeling but not a huge gain that changes performance for anyone, I guess I'd be fine to giving up the few weapons that provide it, but at the same time, I'd like a total overhaul of a lot of weapons, since we simply have a lot with minor number tweaks rather than having weapons that actually DO something unique. Medkits are underwhelming, I never run with them, but the difference between restoration and medkits should be made noticeable in the kind of use they serve. Restoration should restore 100% worth of health at a constant rate even while taking damage to serve as a "tanking" medkit you hit yourself with before running into a room, where as the other should heal 50-75% instantly. One should be made real cheap and easy to carry a lot of, where as another is expensive and can't have as many. The thing is, people will claim this makes heavy assaults OP, and I don't really think so, its either you are good at killing infantry, or you are good at killing vehicles, I run C4 and I'd never run without it because I like being able to demolish vehicles, but others would simply like to just survive infantry combat for more than one engagement. There should be mobility vs toughness, specialized vs jack of all trades, important choices to make in how you want to play, and it of course will make people upset, because people here seem to simply want to be unopposed in anything they do.
My apologies... I just realized that I can not indefinitely edit the original post on these forms... I will be editing the original reddit post though. Please try to move all conversations to the reddit thread if possible. Again, please bump and like this thread if you feel so inclined.
could no longer edit above post... I really like your idea of allowing non-squadded players to spawn on platoon galaxies rather than instant action. It is meant for players to get into a good fight quickly, and your idea would send them where they are most needed. It would also allow gal pilots to bring in reinforcements without needing to redeploy the entire squad every time. Pilots can lock up gals if they don't want anyone outside the squad spawning in it. Not liking letting outfit leaders use certs for insignias. I know nobody likes to hear this, but SOE needs to keep the money flowing. Much as I love using certs for things, I love more development more. Also not a big fan of outfit leaders imposing a uniform camo using in-game mechanics. Feels a bit too rigid to me. I can see why you would want that, and it wouldn't affect me, but feels like too much control, too much micromanaging. ***************************************************************** As I see it, the current redeployment system is problematic. It breaks the flow of the game a great deal. It has no downside, no consequence. In a sense it does speed things up being able to deploy directly to a galaxy but it also means disconnecting from the action entirely, repeatedly. Moving an entire force across the map should take more logistics. I know it's already hard enough herding cats, but there's too much whack-a-mole going on with the current system. No matter where you knock, you invariably get exactly the same response. If a faction didn't position their troops in such a way as to cover their various fronts, then they've made a mistake and will pay the price. Right now, that's not an issue since click "look who's here!" I also wonder to what extent the specialty of weapon types across factions is too wide a gap. The drop/no-drop, rate of fire, etc. creates a very difficult balancing act without, imho, really adding to the experience. I'd rather see a more even playing field from that perspective. Lastly, would love to see them shore up their anti-cheats. Getting out-thought by the opponent is awesome. Having the same player repeatedly headshot instantly from all angles at any rate of movement regardless of anyone else's actions gets so blatantly obvious, that really should be caught, account deleted and electric shock delivered through the mouse.
I don't mind adding "shield domes" or something similar to some bases if it's something you can take down. I have time and time again said that to make a base battle fun. You should make the battle go step by step trough different defences. So there are several things that need to happen before you can even start thinking about "flipping" the final point. Which would also obliterate ghost capping in most cases.
The hex map was an abhomination. You never managed to keep the territory under control because micro teams were capping all the territory all day. You were forced to leave good fights and redeploy every 5 minutes. Im case you didn't notice some territories border up to 10-11 territories... The lattice is not perfect maybe but the hex map was crap.
