I haven't played in over a year. Hossin had just made the test server around the time i quit playing. I would say I mainly quit do to bugs not getting fixed, cheaters not addressed, and the overall dumbing down of the game. As I read the forums it looks like nothing much has changed and the servers are half as many now. It appears the players wallets have spoken? So... Should I return or should I move on?
The game is pretty playable right now. There were some neat bugfixes in the latest patch, and I expect more to come. Not sure what you mean by dumbing down, the game was never specifically bright. But it's not dumber than it was a year ago, that much I can say.
I like planetside 2 with all bugs, cheaters (i see one or two for 6 month), server downtimes and high pings because this game give to me so much positive emotions and many new friends that i can close my eyes for negative moments. Come back mate, no matter if you TR, VS, NC - lets play together!
Based on your middle-rank BR characters I'd say the game has a lot of new stuff to offer you. New guns, new mechanics, and while the servers did merge further, there's plenty of population these days to guarantee a good time. If you're NC you'd love Ravens. If you're NC and a sniper the RailJack is a no-bullet-drop railgun. If you're NC you'd probably love the Canister vehicle gun. If you're TR the Vulcan can one-clip an MBT, and the Marauder is good at killing infantry. If you're an Infiltrator they just buffed the hell out of EMP grenades. If you're an HA, Medic, Engi or LA the new directive weapons are pretty alright. I also took a year off and wasn't expecting much when I came back, and I was pleasantly surprised, but I went into it with a good attitude and without a chip on my shoulder, so YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). +Pretty new cosmetics for your dollies! edit: Also, Higby 'left' the game, so all the new best stuff doesn't automatically go to NC any more. At least that's the hope.
Also came back from a year-long hiatus just recently. The game seems to be very stable and I haven't run into any blatant cheaters yet. As far as the game itself, not much has changed. The things you found irritating a year ago still remain. Hossin is an infantry heaven - probably my least favourite continent. But I don't play much light assault so there's that. Population is dwindling because grinding stuff takes ages while you're constantly being farmed by BR100 players. New players simply quit after a while. Also, forum feedback is always overwhelmingly negative regardless of the game. Better see for yourself.
Come back and chuck a few rounds down range, you've lost nothing giving it a try but you stand to gain alot if you enjoy it.
I ran into one blantent cheater on emerald last night (first in a while really) he killed me one, I reported and moved on. He must have got bored that no one was giving him the attention he craves, since we all just /reported and didn't care. Over all he ruined like maybe 5 minutes of play. Didn't see him the rest of the night. People blow the cheating way out of proportion and usually give the cheater what they want (a night of attention). Still though it seems to be well in check. I've run into just as many hackers in other AAA titles, people just like to ***** about them in planet side since they effect more then 8-40 people at a time. No game is 100% clean. Live with it or don't.
Run, and never look back. I also skipped a good 8 months, and came back due to both some boredom and too much work. It was a mistake. The game took my soul, processed it down into Nanites, then sold it for a few bucks of SC like a made-in-china plastic toy. There is not a single day I go without Planetside now. Even if not making it to ingame on a given day, I sure as hell check the forums at least. The game is pretty stable and playable right now. Also, most of the time you have an evenly distributed gradient of population density from 1v1 fights to 96+ vs 96+ meatgrinders, so you can pick what you like most.
Well, it's free, so what's stopping you from joining in and finding out? Never use game forums to make a decision. The biggest chunk of people who use forums are people mad enough to need to talk about it. All the people who are basically happy with the state of the game are busy playing it.
At the moment, the game is more good than bad. The biggest issues are performance/latency/bug related. Empire specific infantry weapons are acceptably balanced, but IMO require the greatest area of work still. Empire balance between ESF is extremely close. Empire balance between ground vehicles needs a tiny bit of work, but is overall in a good place. (NS Sunderer loadouts are more *****ed about than ES MBTs) The game does still attract new players, but they don't frequently stay. Some servers have issues with veteran player retention not being spread out between the factions which can cause...issues. Game is 6.5/10 Would play most days.
Sounds like ps2 still has loyal players. Thanks for the time to respond. I appreciate it a lot. My new internet just got installed yesterday. So i will update the game and give it a whirl. See you guys soon!
