In what direction is the game heading? (serious conversation)

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by karlooo, Apr 12, 2021.

  1. karlooo

    Please no jokes.
    Just seriously tell me, who's a returning player, what are the devs goals, newest additions, and ultimately what is their vision for the game?
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  2. DarkStarAnubis

    [IMG]
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  3. Liewec123

    In a nutshell i'd say it's leaning more towards "Spectacle>Gameplay" these days,

    Big shiny things that look good in videos and pictures but detract from the experience.
    Orbital strikes, bastions, colossus tanks, citadel shields, cortium bombs etc.
    All of this stuff looks great and might get the occasional person downloading the game if they see it,
    But when this stuff is used against you in the actual game it is just sooo freaking annoying.

    That's the new direction of the game, Atleast how I experience it.
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  4. JustGotSuspended

    Don't think they have a vision, the game is starting to lose core mechanics that made planetside planetside, and players seem to be gradually losing interest with the game. Many hardcore vets I knew have quit for good or had to migrate to the more populated servers due to ever low pop and the lack of good/fun fights. I'm sure the game's gonna make it through to the end of this year, maybe the next....but it's definitely never going to be as fun of an experience as before and I doubt we'll see any meaningful updates, at least none that would bring pop back. I would say the game is dying, and the planetside 2 player fisu charts seem to confirm this.

    As a returning player, I would hop on during prime time, join a squad/outfit and ask around in game. Cyriousgaming and camikaze78 are great sources to check on youtube for solid explanations of stuff you might've missed.
  5. JibbaJabba

    How long since you last played???

    Most recent direction:
    Focus on outfits - new battlefield toys for commanders added.
    Outfit wars just finished a cycle (that's paused for a bit then...)

    Current direction:
    Base content - Specifically Esamir
    There is a new major facility (a bit more Planetside 1 style) being added right now. It's on PTS.
    And an overhaul / balance pass on some existing bases that were added after shattered warpgate.

    Upcoming:
    The existing 4th faction (NSO bots) is getting new faction specific toys, some quality off life improvements.
  6. OneShadowWarrior

    I been in the game for PS 1 and 2. I haven’t seen anything to be excited about in the last 2 years.
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  7. DarkQuark

    Let's be honest with ourselves here.

    The game is several years old and the company that owns it has changed hands multiple times.

    It has been in maintenance mode for some time and will continue to be until it no longer pulls in a profit. There will be no major add-ons, reworks or significant expansions.

    Minus a small addition or change here or there, it is what it is until they shut it off.

    But with that said, I still enjoy it immensely and games can run like this for a long time.

    Play it for what it is and not what you want it to be.
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  8. karlooo

    Even if the truth was that the game is just up and running, to squeeze the last juice out of it...The devs must be idiots.

    Why did they even invest time and effort into their recent projects? After all their and our own experiences, there is just no way to understand what are they doing.

    Like let me put it this way. It's hard to start something....Literarily, they have been served the solid running idea on a plate, Planetside 2. But instead of improving it, they pulled down their pants and took a dump on it, and then continued their own way. So, Planetside 2 is still this unfinished game, with more unfinished items added, with a touch of some sort of weird RPG style to it...

    What does this have to do with squeezing the last juice out of the game? It's more like something is just wrong with the devs.
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  9. DarkQuark


    There is no doubt that many poor decisions have been made. We don't know why and probably never will. And like you mention this is a total shame because PS2 has so much potential and even today is unique in the game world.

    I think the best we can do is hope for the best and just have fun with it as it sits now. Worrying about why, when or where just detracts from the fun of the game in my opinion.

    Worrying intensely about things you cannot affect is a waste of time and stress.
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  10. MonnyMoony


    Yep this. None of this stuff is designed for new players or returning low to moderate BR players as most of it has a very high buy-in cost, or is limited to outfits only.

    For new or returning players, these things simply represent more ways for you to be relentlessly farmed, especially when you factor that 8 years on, most veteran players have also maxed out all their gear, implants, ASP skills etc. This game is much more difficult for new or returning players than it was for the first few years after launch.
  11. JustGotSuspended

    Oh I'd say since Hossin there hasn't been anything exciting. The Hossin early expeditions were lit but it kinda died down once the thing was normalized and it became clear they would never finish it. Also the giant new base they were gonna add was scrapped because of performance, so the continent kinda lost it's promises before it even launched. The spawn system revamps and lattice updates would've maybe sparked excitement if it wasn't announced they would be "temporary" fixes, which the Hossin construction bases had foreshadowed maybe wouldn't be as temporary as naïve players had thought. I guess maybe you can factor in construction, but I think it was kinda clear the thing was gonna suck given the hives wp thing, the huge no construction zones and the fact the ANTs literally obliterated anything they brushed against.

    I guess maybe Amerish was the latest exciting thing they added, now that I think of it.

    Yeah overall I'd say there hasn't been anything interesting since 2013-2014 - there are some good reasons why - but I won't get into the details unless asked.
  12. Pelojian

    milk the game till it dies.
    push casuals down the stairs.
    buff outfit functions.

    the usual stuff.
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  13. RabidIBM

    If I were to compare planetside to a car:

    Its original owner loved it, but sold it after a couple years, then it went through a series of owners who put in the bare minimum of maintenance to keep the used car running. Then got picked up by an enthusiast who thinks he can put all sorts of crazy upgrades on it, but can't actually afford them, so he's doing the work himself to save money, but he doesn't know how to work on cars, so he's watching YouTube videos while he turns the wrenches.

    Imagine the state of that car, and you have the state of Planetside.
  14. karlooo


    That's one thing but they are also like childeren... The players demands are so simple but the devs for whatever reason always overcomplicate it.
    A simple example, people asked for weather, logically just for immersion. The devs added a lightening storm, tornadoe thing which does damage to everything randomly lol.
    I'll talk about construction a bit, here is my view.

    Some players don't have the hardware, the PC monitor, the internet, to be able to compete in the actual game. Their game doesn't run at the optimal performance, to reliably headshot, or just accurately hit the target.
    These devs have been constantly talking about this topic, but why do they keep, for example lattice links? All it does is compress the players into a single point, causes unstoppable zergs, and ultimately a lagfest and unorganized clusterfuk. Same with Sanctuary, all this talk about performance but then they add this area, with has the most horrendous performance in the game, majority of ppl rather stay in VR training when they have to.
    If players wanted big fights, you can do this with immersion, by updating the sounds effects and visuals, and at the same time by spreading out the fight, which construction could have supported. Even War Thunder attempted this in terms of effects and successfully finished it recently....A 10v10 battle in War Thunder feels much larger than a 100v100 in PS2.

    Ironically with their changes they neither improved performance and neither did they form large battles.

    Construction is a stepping stone to a concept which holds a lot of promise if done correctly, to spread out the fight, force an update on the lattice base designs (increasing the size), the map and game in general, including outfits. For example to fortify an area in a lattice base, to add another spawning location....All these changes will give room to both casual, expert players, strategical players....To everybody.
    This rework of the map and possibly game would have given room to to add in other, currently meaningless roles into the actual game, such as the vehicle warfare. Currently vehicles feel like a placeholder, which has been rushed out by the original devs of PS2 to have it at least useable in game instead of fiddling around with it...These devs where supposed to improve it.


    Construction has always been in an unhealthy state, and it became obvious that the game must be updated as well and not the construction role itself. But again the devs overcomplicated the situation, the players asked for all sorts of ideas and items to be added, which clearly showed that the players felt that the construction role is not part of the game and cannot have any meaningful impact.
    Again, instead of trying to solve this simple problem, the the devs chose to add more meaningless items to it, completely annihilating the role into something both unusable and unhealthy... ironically.


    Or off topic but I remember player complaining about vehicles which shouldn't be allowed to be part of the lattice base fight, spawn camping. What did the devs do? They improved traction on tracked vehicles making it easier to climb mountains and recently added a giant ground pounding battleship with the most powerful guns in the game and can fire anywhere with no restrictions...The spawn camping is worse than ever.
    IMO the best partial improvement to lower spawn camping would be removing the restricted zones...All they do is force players to stay back at a safe distance.

    Like I don't understand anything.
  15. RabidIBM

    The bastion could honestly use some restrictions on when it can be pulled. If drawn during off hours, it becomes the spawn camping nightmare you describe. When pulled during prime time it is actually a fun centerpiece for ops, and actually balanced and leaning into weak when against real ops.
  16. elkikko92

    Yes, this game has big potential. But the gameplay really doesn't works.
    I love have a battle only in facilities outposts; I've seen a lot of stagnation battles in a few of outposts, ever and ever the same.
    They could introduce a lot of updates and improvments (like the recent new facility), but the metagame is totally absent.

    The best idea I think is try a lot of solutions in planetside 2, when the devs understand the goods mechanisms so they can think to create a new planetside 3.

    If there is no metagame, the entire gameplay of continents does'nt works.
    First of all: create a real good resource system deep and fun. Without this planetside can't works
    Second: remove all the bases not fun, like little outposts with only one control point
    Third: lattice system can be cool, to link an outpost with the next; but we need more kind of capture system (with generators, shields, and creative ideas)

    sry for english
  17. BlackFox

    It's an Infiltrator farmfest. Either it's a hill full of nearly untouchable snipers or wannabe Predators going full CQC.

    And I know, people will bring all sorts of arguments (some true, some not) out. But I don't really care anymore about them, as I am sick to constantly die to cloaked griefers. I want huge firefights but in 95% of the matches it's a game of Die and Seek. The game probably dies on that hill, that's the direction it's heading to.

    If the developers don't have a sequel at hand in the next 1,5 - 2 years the IP will be dead
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  18. karlooo

    Speaking of large and stagnating fights.
    When you put into Youtube search: Planetside 2 large battles, it is always the same thing.

    It's always this extensive open world battle, and if it's in the vicinity of a lattice base, it is always the largest ones.







    I don't understand....Like here you go devs, this is what the players wanted lol.
    It's right in their face, first and largest viewed videos on Youtube related to large battles.

    Tell me, why the absolute F are they forcing all the players to fight in a tiny base with these lattice links? Nobody wanted this. Same with the biolab, I have never seen on Youtube a "large planetside 2 battle" in a Biolab, it's more like the largest clusterfuk.

    _________________

    I have noticed that the extensive fight that relate to these videos shown, currently, are only achievable on Hossin.
    Cause the players already know the strats. Indar, Amerish, Esamir....it's all about spam. Whoever spams the most tanks.

    On Hossin, infantry have plenty of cover from the tank/air spam, the fight can expand. I've experienced this more often than on any other continent (when the PS2 population surged last time), and it resembled the videos shown above.
  19. xLluisett

    I usually died versus heavy assaults,that is why i play one now. Maybe you should play an infiltrator for counter snipeing. One tip for counter snipeing,do not stay quiet for much time,either if you play infiltrator or not. Because if you stay quiet on a major battle,you will get the followed headshot from a sniper. Is the bàsic knowledge about this game.
    I learned this playing the infiltrator class on PC 7 years ago.

    Because we all know,distance and good aim = God. Sadly the infiltrators can not destroy vehicles.

    Now i am having fun using the rocket launcher on the face of my enemyes,only 1 shot is necessary and i feel like a boss.
  20. Snow Sheltie

    I'll make a couple pointers here from a bitter "retired" vet. First is that the bases were so close together (at least in 2018, I don't know about now) that it either didn't make much sense to fight over open fields or there wasn't enough time to begin a field battle. To set up a field battle required a CO to plan ahead and set up a 'roadblock' of sorts and then wait for the enemy to trickle into the defenses. I've been able to set up a few good, fun battles that way, and I've also found it an effective strategy for a smaller force to harass and slow down a much larger force by allowing the larger (and often more disorganized) group to trickle into a well-placed defensive line. The harassers and liberators were also an excellent field-battle killing weapon. Both were easily capable of swooping into an open field battle and destroying all armor and/or sunderers present before retreating to safety before any effective return fire can be mustered. The best strategy then was to just hunker down at the next base where they couldn't be effective. I always believed the harasser was too powerful of a weapon for its firepower and agility and the liberator was far too agile as well, especially seeing on a daily basis how a single, well manned liberator or even a good solo lib pilot can effortlessly wipe out multiple ESFs without incurring much damage (if any at all.)

    The reason why the lattice system was even created was because the old hex system was cancer. If you thought battles over bases on the lattice line aren't big, try dealing with two dozen Vanu players, each one persistently going to a different base over and over and over (and over) again like lemmings because it is connected to your territory by a sliver. Also, you couldn't start a cap at a base if nearby bases were being capped. Basically, to make progress somebody had to be posted at every single bloody base connected to VS territory to fend of that same random idiot who kept running there, dying, and then running back in the next 3-5 minutes to repeat again. Nobody likes to babysit an empty base vs one insane player who keeps rushing there till the end of time. Stuff like that is why the lattice system was implemented. Bear in mind lattice lines were in Planetside 1, I'm just not sure why the hex system was used or implemented the way it was.

    Story time. The most fun I had with a battle I set up was a battle on Amerish at Mekala tech plant. We were assaulting from the north and I realized we were not going to secure it. Based on earlier fights that night I knew the TR were going to roar into our bases and then wreak havoc. I decided to secure a small hill that covered the road between the plant and the next base. I had two platoons. 1st platoon set up sunderers up behind rock formations on the hill while second platoon set up 200 meters ahead. 2nd Platoon was ordered to "draw the enemy towards them" and fall back to 1st platoon's position when they were overrun. The plan worked brilliantly. 2nd platoon's fire drew the TR to their position, then they ran back to 1st platoon. The TR took the bait and ran headlong into withering gunfire from the hilltop. The TR then launched a full scale attack on the hill but due to the flat, open ground surrounding the hill and the tall rock formations protecting the sunderers, it took them the better part of an hour to finally dislodge us from that hill. By the time they finally removed 1st and 2nd platoon from the hill, the map had changed and they were forced to redeploy to fight the VS. It was a blast.
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