Indar Locked = Log Off

Go away baddie, Cyssor was bae + long-*** battles was just a reality of continents in PS1. All part of the fact if you wanted a locked cont you had to fight for every last inch.


Anyway back on topic, I'm getting to the point if only Hossin is open Imma log off. I liked that the devs tried something different, but it's a PITA to get around, confined, it's basically an infantryside continent, which is fair, but it encourages C4 fairies, SMG infil ganks and A2G farming.

I don't mind having to leave my lovely certed and ****** out Prowler at the warpgate, but it lacks that combined warfare vibe. I guess it comes down to a split between the combined warfare type of planetmans and the MLG infantrysiders, but dems ma feels on the matter.

I pretty much enjoy the other continents, Amerish and Indar being favourites, but more than capable of getting a good session out of Esamir (which is perfect for long-distance AP MBT plinking).

Hossin is...different, it looks aesthetically interesting at least, but gameplay wise it's not ticking my boxes and the novelty has long worn off.

2014.
Hossin wasn't even close to today, back then.

Stop bothering the dead...

Everyone has a favourite continent, and everyone has reasons to like it the most. It is pure freedom of choice where to play, and more important - if to play at all. For the health of the game it would be beneficial to have as much pop as possible.

My approach on this topic is:
"Just remove all freedom restrictive additions, like continental lock-out and lattice and let the players decide".

However the DEVs decided that it would be better to focus everything together with artificial restrictions, and risking that some players leave or log out. I cant say if this is the right decission, since i find myself logging out, too. Would be nice to have the mean numbers of players per continent over a large time frame.

The only place on Indar I actually like to fly around is the south east corner. The desert and plains don't offer any cover and are plagued with towers packed with Flak and Strikers. Amerish is decent and Esamir is a playground for Ranger Harassers. Hossin is by far my favorite place to fly.

I enjoy playing just to lock a continent.
I enjoy getting the reward.
And i enjoy kicking any continent fanboi campers off their beloved grounds to finally play on another continent.

If i see stalemate fights or enemy alerts that we will not win, i leave the continent for good and try to trigger an alert on another continent.

You could capture a continent WITHOUT locking, and if you want to go playing somewhere else, you allways could do this.
Continental locking does not influence you, but a lot of other players...

While Indar is good fun, I much prefer Esamir personally.
It's good to switch up the continents because you can adapt the tactics to each one and the game would become a bit too stale if it was all constantly on one continent.

Which is the very reason it is so satisfying.
Why would i want to invest several hours of playtime to lock a continent if nobody feels the impact of my doing so?
Of course, grinding xp and doing air knight 1vs1 is so much more important and certainly more fun. (Find the irony.)
Today everbody thinks he is entitled to get everything he wants, but the truth is you gotta fight for your wish to stay on that continent and i will do my best to kick you out. Thats competition. I enjoy slapping my big continental lock into your face and you will take it and i will enjoy it. You don't want that? Then fight. Or behave.

... and the last one beeing online wins Planetside 2?

I can understand that. Indar and Amerish are my favourite continents and I remember the first time when only Indar was available and even after that Esamir came online, I only played on Indar. Thre was nothing like continent locks and I only played Indar.

Currently I dont like continent locks. It really breaks the gameplay. Many people take a continent lock - especially when it is late on their day - to lock off. And this makes it really hard to get good battles going and starting on other continents. You really see a huge drop in playerbase after a continent lock at late EU or US times. Of course, it always drops at late times, but still it is not that drastically as when a continent get locked... it more smooth.

On the other side, people always have their favourite continents and if they get forced to play on other continents, then it is like playing your favourite shooter and you cant get into you favourite playfield.

Also the queue system for logging in and getting into a waiting queue for a continent, due to balance or limit restrictions is good on the one side, but also bad on the other side. You either have to wait in the VR ground or have to play on another, maybe empty continent and that is really bad, especially when new (to the game) people get stuck in a queue or the VR and cant get to the action - its annoying and I can imagine that many people just leave and dont come back...

It would be better to overhaul the continent system to maybe lock the benefits and bonuses to the winner, but dont lock the continent at all. If the winner want to keep the benefits, than he has to keep the control over the continent ALL THE TIME.

You would get more people on a server if all continents were open and people can play where they want, but give them incentives to go on other continets, when the balance there isnt given or limits on a full continent is reached or close to get reached.

However, continent locks are bad

I like Hossin... It's hilarious to watch ESFs doing the wrong turn and exploding on the trees...

Agreed. Continent locks (as they are currently implemented) effectively work to kill the game's momentum. Which in turn is a major factor to drive large numbers of players from the game (both short term and permanent in long term), especially when it is a popular Continent being locked.

The Designers likely added Continent locking as their solution to other problems. But in doing so, they created still other problems. Which they have not been able to fix.

One of the major problems with DBG PS2 Dev, is their communication/info blackout with players. This covers the death of both things like Roadmap, as well as 3rd party tools like Oracle of Death. Once the data, communication, and interaction breaks down, the game shifts into technological catatonia state. This is further compromised by the handful of Dev people being still on it, being those people who both lack solutions and caused the technological catatonia state. And while some players will continue to think-tank with each other even in the c/i black out, this too will degrade over time without proper updated data, as the underlying game continues to change via devs, and as the population of these players shrink as they disengage from the think-tank over time.

Clearest solution for a Dev is to force the re-opening of communication/info with players. And/Or, to get a better Dev team (or key members) in place that can handle it better. Likely this also points out to management failure to assess and manage talent and environ needed. Another option is to look for useable solutions from other games/sources. And a good bet is to set up a better process to test and implement solutions quickly, easily, and economically into the game state(s). Just saying

Yup. PS2 is stuck with denying players content they want because either:
1) the Designers want to deny players, and/or
2) the Designers don't know how to set-up an alternate option that doesn't cause other major problems

This is something that should be "designed out" for any other game that looks to explore this genre niche. In the current PS2 technological catatonia state, and given current Dev team/management, playerbase atrophy, and the games gradual cumulative asset obsolescence, it is unlikely to be addressable and correctable within PS2.

Agreed. Que and Pop Cap thing is a mess. As is Pop imbalance.

Again, this is something that should be "designed out" for any other game that looks to explore this genre niche.

You would get more people on a server if all continents were open and people can play where they want, but give them incentives to go on other continets, when the balance there isnt given or limits on a full continent is reached or close to get reached.
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Yes:
1) it's a necroed thread
2) it's still an ongoing issue in PS2
3) it's actually GROWN to become a bigger issue in the current PS2 (more Continents locked now, Pop Caps in effect now, smaller population now, etc.)

Hossin is a drifter jet playground. Probably my favorite. Still like all of them.