We take our knowledge of this game for granted, having endured tough lessons, doing things over multiple times before realizing that this may help with that, etc. I've seen a lot of new or newer players recently, but they are at a big disadvantage. One thing that struck me was that even some of these players, who reached BR20, didn't have the ideal setup and kept dying to me and others repeatedly, even though they seemed somewhat knowledgable of the game and, from my encounter with them, had fairly good aim and awareness. But here's the deal, he didn't have max nanoweave, shield and some weapon attachments that I had the pleasure of using. In other words, his chance against me, at least as infantry, was slim to none. Now whether these people, by choice, understood the importance of these certs and chose to ignore them is unknown, but I can't imagine them having fun butting their heads against a brick wall and dying repeatedly. As a new player the amount of cert choices we are presented with can be overwhelming and often we make the wrong choices. We get enamored with new guns, more grenades, etc., but quite often we overlook the really important ones (IMO), that can really make a difference in a typical engagement. How does the game inform these players that hey, it's better to get X if you want to play infantry at first? Or hey, it's suggested you get Y if you want to do this? And the reason I say this is that those early moments are critical in determine whether a player stays or leaves in frustration. If there was some means that better explained what each cert does or some broad suggestion I think those early impressions would be much better than dying to someone like me over and over again. The other alternative is to just get rid of anything that delays TTK, like nanoweave, that way everyone is on equal footing.
Some players publish guides. I read an excellent on from Iridar about LA and it included advice on what gear etc. to prioritise and why to choose one but not others. Some way of signposting the availability of such guides within the game would be a good idea
Needless to stress the urgency that this forum gets a pinned Community thread feature, so that these guides are readily available 24/7 on the first page of the appropriate forum subsection, and don't get lost to the endless and ever expanding ocean of threads...
It used to be a pinned thread on LA subforum, but was unpinned eventually. Something something no pinned threads policy something something. So I guess the only way is to manually link the guide to anyone looking for advice, though obviously not ideal, as some people don't want to start posting. There's always reddit, which has lots of stuff in one pinned thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/wiki/new_player_tips_and_hints
I am BR fiftysomething, and I still get confused moving about the bigger bases- eg. Tech Plants. Are there any decent maps/ guides, so when someone shouts "use the back door", I actually know WTF they're talking about?!
I'm terrified of most of Reddit, though. The salt pans that comprise a lot of Reddit have discouraged me to ever even create an account. Of course, there are elements of it that I do enjoy visiting, such as Polandball, (simplifying politics into humorous and meaningful little cartoons is always funny), though I tend to stay away from sites like that, (probably me worrying too much, like I always do). At least here, there is some level of prohibition and rules, and the posters here are professional, often polite, (I like to think that we're polite most of the time), and refrain from profanities, unlike in the flame-thrower wars I see on Reddit. Steam has quite a good selection of guides - I published one myself, very recently, on how to play the Combat Medic. Though I think that the pinning feature needs to be re-implemented here because the official forums are often where new players will come first, and hence should ideally have the best there is to offer regarding guides and assistance. I'll have to try and track down your guide, yet I'm sure regardless that it is very good. I just wish they'd bring the feature back, because it has so much mileage. It can be used to pin good threads, guides, Q&A-based topics, and also threads of a social theme such as a PlanetSide 2 based meme thread, or a "Which Forum Members have you Met on Auraxis?" kind of thing, that'll be kept on the front page and easy to find. Such threads have existed in forums that I've previously gotten quite active in, such as the World of Tanks ones, and they worked fantastically and also gave those Communities a friendly, welcoming and sociable edge; contrary to popular belief of the toxicity of the WoT forum Communities. @DBG: Bring back a pinned thread feature! If not, I'll boycott the forums! Not that the developers would care much anyway. In my time here I've only seen three posts made by Radar X - two of which are the pinned threads here...
