As a 17 year supporter and Veteran of Planetside who provided much input in Alpha. I have to be honest and say that the Bastion Carriers and Outfit Wars was a step in the wrong direction for this game. A new map alone would have drawn people back, all you did was stack more bugs on top of more bugs without fixing long outstanding bugs in graphics, sound, performance, let alone addressing spawn camping and overpopulation issues, no one wants to be the lone warrior against 300, where is the fun or replay value in that, along with crappy vehicle physics light vehicle for instance climb like crap and I can keep going on. I really hope Star Citizen pulls it together with Theatres of War as you guys at Rogue P are heading in the wrong directions. Putting effort into stuff like a new Siege Tank but not fixing the game.
Looks like a lot of outfits out there are enjoying themselves though. With some good natured post-game chatter on Reddit! https://www.reddit.com/r/MillerPlan...gratulations_to_dig_for_a_well_deserved_gold/ It is a damn shame this wasn't up and running when there were a lot of outfits who were excited about faction/outfit rivalries. Could have been epic. Oh, well, it is easy to harp on the past... Perhaps this will get some competitive spirits riled up and get ready to step up. Bastion on the other hand doesn't feel particularly well-thought through or executed.
Lets put it like this: at what cost? Having a portion of your playerbase enjoy itself but at the same time cause noticeable drops in population for the rest of the players is not a win in my book.
Are people dropping out in noticeable numbers because of Outfit Wars? In what way is engaging outfits in competitive rivalries a negative for the game? It doesn't happen for long enough or often enough to split the community (which is the common concern) and might actually draw people back in to play more to prepare and get the stuff you want (work on tactics and strats, evolve the competitive meta, etc).
A a miscommunication, I thought you were talking about the live servers like the OP was, rather than segway into outfit wars. Even so, the qualification happens on the live servers, and we've already seen farming bebaviour develop rather than gameplay that makes it better for others. The deliberate sergregation of players in the weirdest "teamwork" ever isnt helping either, especially with only a few really being able to use the end-products like Bastions to their fullest. So again: at what cost? Even if we consider just the fact that a portion of the already shrinking playerbase is now busy on a different server altogether taking players away from live where they are needed (assuming they arent being goaded into farming techniques) is a bad thing in itself.
More incentive to ghost cap and tools to spawn-camp! A perfect fix to 2 of the game's major problems!
It was a marketing move, and it worked, and it really did. A ton of players joined or returned to the game. But "player retention" (wink wink) isn't based on marketing, and that's where I agree with you.
In my opinion Outfit Wars are a good thing. Is some of it's success lucky timing being released in a global pandemic that has people staying home and playing a lot more games than usual? Sure. Were a lot of long time players who came back for the Escalation patch just happy to see some kind of forward motion for the game after years of poor management (cough Arena) and lack of development. Yes, I think that's likely. And it's also not that great to have the first new map in years locked away from most of the player base and even the people lucky enough to get to play there only get less than an hour a month on it. But despite all that it has worked, it did bring people back and a lot of people in bigger outfits have a goal to work towards. People who didn't usually join outfits before are joining them now. Smaller outfits are thinking about mergers. There's some friendly (and sometimes not so friendly) rivalries between outfits and a bit of Reddit smack talking happening. It's good for the game and good for overall population which makes it good for everybody. People could play for years without setting foot in Desolation or caring about it and still benefit from having more people to shoot on the live servers. I'm not nearly as happy about the Bastions though. They are an extremely low skill way to get lots of kills and generally are pulled by experienced players who have platoons running regularly and are the most dangerous to the newest players who are still trying to figure out the basics of the game and if they like it enough to stick around. Frankly the new player experience was already a weak point of PS2 and adding something to make it worse doesn't seem good for the game in the long term. At least they look cool.
There will be an adjustment period but ultimately I hope more people consider being a part of an outfit (smaller outfits are considerings merges). PS2 wants to be about big numbers and the zerg is only ever going to be as successful as the opponent lets it be. If there's an outfit (or several, calling the shots) then outfits are bound to clash. I do not think the Bastion itself is particularly well-designed though but I really do like it as a type of "boss battle" to break the routine of farming.
Yes, people are adjusting: They leave the game. Outfits aren't well designed right now, and forcing players to play outfits is a horrible decision. As I've repeatedly said: SPO's are there to support the teamplay, not to be the teamplay.
It ain't perfect. I'd like to see something that's works as a transition like being able to join a sort of "looking for group" but in this case it would be Looking for Gunner/Pilot/<insert class here> and so on. You can then add each other as "game buddies" (or some cool military term) where you both have to accept which gives you certain perks (like SPs get in order to find and deploy near each other). Hell, even a simple icon over a tank which shows it is locked or is "Looking for gunner" would help a lot as it would immediately communicate what's available. It should also be super easy to implement.
But that is completely backwards of how it should be! You don't want people to segregate from each other by joining small groups that reduce the amount of teamplay they'll have outside of that group, you want them to be able to play together with anyone they are close to. Then if they liked how it went there's the squad, platoon and outfit systems to continue that teamplay, not to be it. And considering that the system is making people leave the game it's definitely not perfect, it's horrendous and hurts the game.
All they'd need to do is add outfit resources (albeit lesser) for failing to defend a base, And greater rewards for a successful defence. As it is currently outfit wars is just telling people to zerg. Zerg over bases with an 80%overpop and get heavily rewarded, Waste time trying to defend a base and get absolutely nothing. What did the devs think was going to happen?! It's really ruining the experience, i've always tried to find the good fights, with fairly even pops, But those are so rare now, no matter which faction I play, every base is either us zerging or getting zerged, It just isn't profitable for outfits to actually fight eachother...in the "outfit wars" update... So let's make defending rewarding so people might actually do it. If they fail (likely in this zerg meta) they still get a little bit of resources, If they win, they get a bigger reward!
Would help a lot with that if proximity chat would actually be a voice chat that reaches everyone of the same faction in the same base you are in. That would help coordinate literally everyone except for those with a brick wall in front of their faces, and if they like the way that's done they can then join the outfit or send friend invites to keep contact with someone they find they work well with.
I want that too but I do not want this to be the only way to play the game. Hence, the part where I want more immediate communication (visual queues, icons, and so on) but I also want constellations of players to form to evolve the immediate/initial team play. Like it or not but people want to play with their friends and create a sense of community because it is fun. The open groups of "looking for..." are just that, open and interactive, but you can also choose to form up and play with a specific individual(s) if you want to. I would claim the main reason people leave is because there's no real sense of meta or purpose beyond the grind, it has always just been the grind. They're at least trying to figure out ways to have long term targets to aim at which in turn might lead to an actual meta. You gotta give people a reason to cooperate or all those fancy ways of communicating and working together will remain unused in favour of zergballing.
First I would claim that people are leqving because the "teamplay" is decidedly not the teamplay they wanted. Even before the update hit the servers saw a massive spike in player numbers upon the announcement of the outfit-oriented update and the Bastion. But now we already see those numbers go down and go down fast. People are already giving up on the update, and the most probable reason is that the teamplay they thought they wanted completely missed the mark. Second, I think I've handled it a little wrong, lets go back: I dont think there is something wrong with adding small-scale "looking for group" groups is a wrong thing on the surface. But since it'll have the same execution as current squads and platoons it would detract from actual teamplay. If you as squad/platoon lead see an aircraft above you that isnt in your squad, then he could be the best teamplayer in the world but you wouldnt be able to do much teamplay with that person. You cant tell if he's in someone else's squad/platoon, you cant quickly and easily communicate something to this person. But you can with your squadmates, so leaders are encouraged to focus on their own squad and ignore other players that they cant communicate well with anyway. But lets assume that there are small objectives to complete and there is a solid communication system in place. Then you could do Squads, Platoons and Outfits (SPO's for people who havent read previous discussions) like this: Players can join together in loose "looking for group" groups. Lets call them Fireteams, which is handy as those already exist as a subsection of Squads. A Fireteam can set a goal, and this goal will be visible to all other players within the local region. A Fireteam would have some altered spawnrules to make it easier to stick together, they would have their own communications to make it easier to talk to each other but they would also have an expanded library of communications towards local players, be they random or SPO members. This way they are able to solicit the help of nearby randoms, Fireteams or SPO's not part of their Fireteam and help coordinate them. If some randoms like the Fireteam or the Fireteam likes some randoms they encounter, they are now encouraged to join up as they've been playing together already. Not only that but two or more Fireteams could work together enough that they decide to create a Squad. In a Squad we already have Fireteams, so thats easy. They are now part of a larger picture but have also already played without the overall supervision, so the members of a Fireteam can operate independendly from other groups instead of forming a Zergblob that is par of the course currently. The goals of the individual Fireteams remains clear to randoms and other FSPO's (Fireteam+SPO). The Squad also makes its intentions clear, and all other FSPO's would now be able to see this, allowing any random, small Fireteam or other Squads and Platoons to see and anticipate these actions. The Squad Lead in turn gets more tools to coordinate with his own Squad but again also more tools to communicate and coordinate with randoms and FSPO's. And again if the teamplay is good between anyone, they can group up to form larger Squads and eventually a Platoon. A Platoon again has expanded communication and coordination with itself and other groups outside it, meaning at some point players might decide they like it as it is and eternalize it as an Outfit. The goal here is that each step higher is a step more responsibilty towards everyone. Players around you get more information about you and you in turn can ask more of those players. The randoms are wildcards that you can ask to work towards your goal. Your mates in the FSPO are the more special troops that can work more closely towards the same goal. And even if you have a full platoon, each individual Squad has its own leadership and each individual Fireteam already knows how to work together as a small group and simultaneously solicit teamplay from nearby other randoms and FSPO's. The result could be considered a teamplay pyramid that sucks players into itself. Each step is a natural progression that players engage in when they are ready for it. From the random that joins a leaderless Fireteam because they want to stick together and work together to the Squads and Platoons where someone starts giving increasing direction and overwatch to each individual smaller group, without destroying the ability for the individual Fireteams and Squads to keep meeting, coordinating, playing together and recruiting players on an individual level. Best is that everyone knows what is happening. You dont have to wonder if that player next to you is a random or the Grand Hat of your faction that just doesnt happen to be in your squad.
