A Cert Discussion

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Indalecio, May 6, 2020.

  1. Indalecio

    I havent played Planetside in a long time. Last time i was fanatically playing i had an EXP Booster + Membership and i remember how awsome it was being able to gather Certs so fast to buy stuff for my Ant base.

    I joined the game again after the Escalation Update to see how the game is up to. Lots of players at the start of the update checking out whats up. Big battles and all that hot stuff. I played a bit without any boosters. Alerts were up all the time and even if we lost we still got something for our effort. But it still wasnt enough. Too slow to progress without boosters.

    I dont have the time to play 5 hours every day to be able to afford stuff ingame and the prices to buy anything with Daybreak cash is kinda absurd for some of us since we dont live in countries that the average wage is 50+ euros per day.I remember when you would win an Alert you had a chance to earn a skin or Decal. This is no longer the case unless i am extremely unlucky. 5 euros for a Helmet? 7+ Euros for each Ant building? Calm down Daybreak.
    Even if i bought a membership again it would go to waste since i cant play everyday,neither i can play a lot when i am able to. Its waste of money,and i dont like to waste money. If it cost less money then yeah,sure why not,but as the game stands its not worth it at least for me.

    Planetside needs people. The slow progress deters new F2P players when they get stomped left and right by veterans since they make little to no progress unless they are in a Zerg taking points and doing assists.

    Honestly i think that capturing a base, and staying at a point to defend it should earn you at least 3 times the exp since many times there might not be a single enemy in sight,and having to wait 3+ minutes for the base to get captured is a waste of time for the amount you get when you just stay there defending. Sunderer Spawns also need a doubling in EXP. Also when your faction has less population needs a MASSIVE exp boost.

    I resorted to Cortium Farming just to see fast yields of certs. And you offer nothing to the team when doing that just outside the Warpgate just to be safe.

    I was watching youtube videos and was seeing people with crazy Exp numbers like 500+% exp bonus. Wow. Just wow. And i was standing there with a 40% exp boost because our faction had no population. So if someone pays,he can make 5 times the amount a F2P player can make when they are severely disadvantaged. Why should they stay playing the game?

    IF we manage to win an Alert we get a good amount of 250 Certs. Thats really REALLY good for F2P player. If we lost its half of that,which isnt that bad for just participating. But if i get that amount,does that mean that someone with boosters earn 1k certs with 400% exp bonus? Just by participating they earn enough certs to buy a new weapon?

    I see Colossus will be added soon. I saw Main Cannon +4 turrets. Add that to performance upgrades and the rest of the stuff you can slam to it.My minimum expenses would be 5-7k certs....for one vehicle.

    I abandoned trying to build my Galaxy because the expenses were stupidly high. A new player wants new weapons. Yeah sure they get a lot of certs at their first levels to be able to afford some stuff,but its nowhere near enough for a good experience.
    • Up x 1
  2. Caesar_REDMIST

    This is one of the fewest games with which a BR 5 can kill a BR 100.

    Also you can be completely F2P in doing so.

    Going F2P just limit your choices on what you can do.

    If you pay, have membership and/or spend some db, you can get a lot of options when you play, different style of play.

    About new player with new weapons? Useless, they can stick with basic weapons that are very very strong.

    I made a new character that is now BR 15, and I don't feel to be inferior to anyone, any BR 100. This is a BIG ASSET of this game.

    If you like the game support it by having a membership and/or buying some db cash.

    If not be a F2P player and have fun anyway, only now it will take longer to have more options. I know a real life friend that plays since 2013 and never spent a penny and is competitive as the other people. However he had to spend quite a bit of time on it.


    I don't see what are the problems , actually.

    Only thing is that New Players should have more tutorial and more care about them so we do not lose them, not give them new weapons, is not the way to go.
    • Up x 2
  3. TRspy007

    It's a very big grind for vehicles and construction, but in terms of infantry it's not that bad actually.


    "Planetside needs people. The slow progress deters new F2P players when they get stomped left and right by veterans since they make little to no progress unless they are in a Zerg taking points and doing assists."

    I completely agree, there should be huge revamps focused on making the new player experience more manageable.

    It's a lot of more or less "small" problems that add up to make the experience a nightmare for most new/returning players. The fact vehicles are very expensive and aren't effective unless (near) maxed out is only a small slice of the pie.


    I mean, there's a bunch of factors why people make a lot of XP in some videos. For example, there's weeks where everyone gets 2xp, and this stacks with the members 2xp weekend, which means they can get 4xp during those days. Combined with boosts, and other xp multipliers, you can get a lot of xp if you pay for it, which i find completely fair, because they are paying after all.

    You can still obtain boosts for free in the sanctuary, and make tons of certs without them anyways. I get it, for new players its hard. But I'm a below average free to play player, I can make 2000+ certs during a session). And they give new players 100 certs for leveling up until BR 100.

    As for clearing things up:

    The alert rewards are set, like medals/directives, the rewards are not affected by xp multipliers. The maximum you can get for winning an alert is 300 a7, 300 iso-4, and 250 certs, for anyone.

    Don't worry about the new tank, it is an outfit based reward (war asset), you will likely not be able to pull one, and you aren't able to cert into anything for them (no customization).

    Investing is up to you, it's a free to play game, they need to make money somehow. How steep their prices seem changes relative from person to person.


    I understand you frustration, if you need any tips/tricks to try and help you, please feel free to ask me or anyone in the community to help you out in the game. Unfortunately, the game is still mismanaged and the devs are no longer present in the forums. It's good to see you back, let's hope you stick around for a bit!
  4. Liewec123

    its a good incentive to get people to buy membership and boosts,
    if you're having issues with xp then think about becoming a member.
    if you log in each day you get 1440 certs just from your membership (though forced log in is annoying)
    you also get a constant xp boost,
    you also get a double xp event each month,
    you also get 500 DBC which you can use to buy 2x full day boosters which you can use on double XP weekend for crazy certs!
  5. McToast

    I've never had a membership in this game, I spent about ~100€ (~110$) on SC... sorry, DB cash. I've used a boost here and there but never to a larger degree. When this game started, Certgain was low. I mean, really low. It took me a week of playing to pay for a 1000 Cert gun. Now it's absolutely fine. I play for a couple hours and then decide what I'm spending my 1k Certs on. Currently I'm sitting on 3k without giving it much thought.
    I've recently started leveling implants and playing around with Construction, and damn, it IS expensive. But those things are supposed to be "endgame"-stuff, it's what people, who have everything else, can dump their Certs into. The game needs such a Certsink. If your certgain is too low, buy a membership and a 6 month boost. Because the game also needs paying members, not only freeloaders like me :].
    • Up x 2
  6. Caesar_REDMIST

    People that are F2P players can go medic and have fun immediately concentrating on only one infantry class.

    Please now F2P players should not complain about not making certs that to me is ridiculous. You are already on par with us that we pay and this seems the BIG thing.

    You want to be F2P? fine you need more time to put in game or restrict yourself to less choices.

    What do you want guys, that RPG pays you to play the game?

    I really do not understand.

    You should ask for BETTER optimization of the game, this YES.
    • Up x 1
  7. NotziMad



    I made that same point a while back, but either I hadn't seen it, or they introduced it later, some of those item are now available in Sanctuary, you can purchase them with "merit" (which, if I'm not mistaken, you mostly obtain after successfully defending a base).

    It's quite expensive tbh, in the merit currency I mean, but still, you get to choose, whereas before that like you said it was a random drop at the end of an Alert.

    Some of the other drops (the guns, like the blackhand that doesn't have a zoom) are available from the A7 shop and can be purchased using A7 currency (which you can only get when an Alert ends).

    It's not much, and it's expensive, but I suppose being able to choose makes up for that a little.

    Also, I'm guessing (it would make sense) that this is only the start, that they will continue to tweak the game and more to the point, that they will add more items to those shops.


    ____

    Personal tip :

    I usually argue that PS2 isn't a RPG, so you don't pick a class and then stick to it all the time. Or rather, you don't have to, or even rather rather, even though it's a sandbox, you're not really supposed to.

    However, if you don't have a lot of free time to play, and you don't have a lot of cash to waste (cause let's face it, there are people starving out there and here we are throwing money into virtual items), I would recommend specialising.

    Basically, if you can't afford to build and level all the classes and do all the directives and gear up and build all the vehicles, don't, just pick what you like best and specialise while totally ignoring the rest.

    A galaxy is really only ever useful when playing in (large) groups, and even then, there's always going to be someone with a galaxy in that group, so maybe not a priority. Though if that's what you want, no one is stopping you, I'm just saying, if I were in your shoes, I'd pick a class, a vehicle, a couple directives and an acticity (like base bullding) and focus on that.
  8. zelekk

    After escalation you get **** tone of certs just by chasing alerts its 1.6cert/min on lost alert just for being on continent.
    With no boosts but with quiet lot of time (specialy now sth like 4h sesions) i can easly make 1k certs per sesion being quiet avarage player.

    About npe. I am usualy drilling new recruits in my ourfit and they really dont have huge if any problems with gearing their chosen classes. Vehicules ar quiet other case and this part should be worked on.

    So i dont feall like cert gains should be tweaked.
    But other parts of npe still are in need of lots of work.
    • Up x 1
  9. Demigan

    For new players there should be more cert gain and have one or two opportunities to reset some ill-spend certs. Perhaps even add some bonus certs that can only be used on vehicles since those are the most cert-demanding early on.

    Otherwise: dont increase certgain any further. One of PS2's allures is to offer a goal to work towards. If we increase certgain at the rates you suggest you can unlock just about any weapon you want in just a few hours of play. This makes unlocking something easy and less enjoyable, reducing the drive to come back for the game.
  10. That_One_Kane_Guy

    Yep. People who complain about the new player experience now, but imagine starting a brand-new NC char and using an iron-sighted, no-attachment Gauss SAW in the Bad Old Days of NW5 where even basic sights were 100 certs. What a new Player starts with now is more than most players then had by BR20.

    Most of the things I would have said others have already, so I'll add something I feel is situational but still important: awareness.
    >If you're playing solo, make sure to pay attention to the fights you are at. When you die, take a minute to look at the map and see where the fight balance is and whether or not it's worth it to stay there. If you are 3-1 overpopped by the enemy, leave and find a new fight. You aren't making certs anymore, you're feeding the enemy.
    >If you're with a squad or platoon, make sure you are following orders and sticking with your teammates. Even if you aren't getting kills you can make a lot of certs very quickly by simply dropping ammo or healing, while also being extremely useful to your team. If they're all just faffing off doing nothing you can always leave and join one that is more coordinated.

    One last thing: don't turn the game into a chore. If you're playing it for the sake of the grind, you will burn out very, very quickly without ever really playing the game. Find the playstyle you enjoy and stick with it, learn it. The certs will come but the satisfaction of learning and improving can't be bought.