...some things have changed, and some haven't. I was here on PS2 in beta and on release day (Matherson represent!). I played in a few different outfits for a couple of years and then moved on to other things after burning out. I was never any good, trust me. I suck at FPSes. But I've always loved Planetside 2's truly massive persistent combat. The desperation as NC of holding off those endless TR zerg pushes back in the day--and if you were a first-year player on Matherson you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about when I talk about the TR zerg. Getting steamrolled by the Vanu all-star team of several tactically sharp, very skilled outfits. Occasionally pulling a miracle out of our blue shiny bottoms and seeing the NC paint a continent in the blood and freedom of our enemies. You get the idea. Not even Battlefield gave me anything like it, and I love me some Battlefield. So I got a spam from Daybreak in my inbox about this new expansion and I decided to reload the game and give it a shot. This time I decided to try TR, because dakka is good and I don't look good in purple. I landed, ran through the tutorial, and found myself staring at a 40-person queue and 45 minutes to get into Indar, so I went to Hossin. 4 battle ranks, 1 kill, and 17 deaths (you read that right) later, I logged, somewhat stunned. I forgot how insanely gut-punchingly prison-shower HARD this game is when you're BR 1 and land in the middle of a humongous meatgrinder. Most of the time you die and never know what happened. I tried being an engineer, because I knew I wasn't going to do well in the whole shooting-people department and I figured that would be the most help. Not really. Every time I turned the corner on somebody they killed me. Every time. Even if it felt like I got the first shot off, my trusty TRAC-5 and my potato aim combined to not get the job done. Everybody else had more shield, better accuracy, maybe better sights (though I did have enough DBC to buy a sight for my gun at least) or, y'know, was in a tank. Mostly I had behind rocks and tried to repair things that ran by, because as soon as I went out, I died. It was incredibly overwhelming, and I knew what to expect. I can only imagine what it's like for a truly new player, if there are any coming in. That having been said, I'll be back. There's still no place else for me to get this level of brutal insanity in FPS combat. Even if I suck beyond belief, "tactics" consist of zergballs, the graphics are meh, and the mechanics are dodgy, I'll come back and try again. Either I'm a fan or a masochist. I'm not sure which. Probably both.
Yeah it is definitely harder now to get into this game. Sure back in beta it was a little difficult as well, but since pretty much everyone didn't really know how to play, it meant it was easier for new players to fit in. I would advise checking out youtube for some footage and try to replicate the good ideas and advice shared there. Cyriousgaming is a good one. Also you may want to find a squad/outfit to join and run with. The game's a bit easier when you've got a bunch of dudes actively trying to take care of you.
I started playing 3 or 4 years ago, which at the time, was still late. Since the game's been out since 2011. Either way no matter how pro you get, even if you're the top 100 on the leadboard. You're still gonna die a lot. I've not met any vet who doesn't still die often or a lot. Just see that as part of the game & not something anyone ever gets over. Dieing happens & always will. The only difference between the pros & noobs is of course, killstreaks before you die. Honestly just get to a place where you get 2 kills per death, more often, which may take months of practice. Eitherway just be glad it's not like other mmo's which make it impossible to kill high level people, atleast PS2 gives you a fair shot at low levels. High level is just for versatlity of items, that's it. The situational awareness may take a year of practice to compete like a pro. Tho overall it's all fun worth trying to get better. Tho ye your fighting people with alot of playtime. Still die 10,000 times before you decide on the game, especially if your dueling people who have died 100,000 times.
Thanks man, I will do that. I am having an issue (and from reading chat, I'm not the only one) where the voice chat was super-quiet and simply could not be heard over all the gunfire and explosions no matter what I did. Makes squad work hard. I'll see if I can fix that. I'm not totally ignorant on how to play but it's been such a long time, all the new mechanics and all this NS stuff is going over my head. My main experience in playing yesterday was just feeling like I was nothing but farm bait for the other teams in the middle of a giant two-way zergball. Some will come back with time (I haven't touched an FPS in months) and experience. But I was marveling at how other players seemed to spot me in my bog-standard TR armor so easily and take me out while I was spraying shots all around them with my carbine even when I did get the crosshairs on where I thought they were. Oh well. No way to get better but to get stuck in.
You have garbage aim too? BROTHA! (Respectful Arm Grasp) Yeah, the New Player Experience is garbage. But if you can get an idea of what you're doing, ditch any thoughts about K/D (obsessing over it turns you into a monster) this game has something no other game has. And thats why I came back, with my meh laptop and framerate, and my potato aim. Because there ain't no feeling like being Planetside.
Honestly that's one of the main reasons to join an outfit if you're going to play with squads. Join their discord/teamspeak because in game coms are nearly always broken.
Well, the second day went better today, as in I got more than one kill. But it was insanely frustrating nevertheless. Played HA mostly to work on the "mission" for it. The main thing seemed to be that the CARV, which I know is a 143 damage light-hitting gun, was taking many many shots to down anything and anybody, while I seemed to be dying instantly and not just to the infiltrators. (I forgot how much I hate infiltrators. ) Are the newer NS weapons particularly overpowered or something? I felt like I was at an incredible disadvantage with my simple little CARV and a 3x holo sight. It's like I was wearing bright 50,000-candlepower pink camo and everybody else had infiltrator cloaking devices...I moved a little, tracers lanced out of nowhere, I died, repeat x lots. I guess it'll come back in time, but it's going to cause me a lot of frustration getting there. And yet, I'm still hooked. Still no feeling like it, warts, bugs, and all. BR 10, here I come, one stupid frustrating death at a time. (Is there an Internet stats page like the old old Das Anfall page? Not that I really want to look at mine, but, morbid curiosity and all that.) Time to go back to engineer or medic, I think. I'm probably more help there and can get more points.
So I think I figured out what makes PS2 such a more frustrating experience than, say, Battlefield, and a more frustrating experience than when I played it back in the Jurassic period, and it's a couple of things: 1. There is more of a difference not just in skill (due to experience) between low- and high-BR players, but equipment. I don't know what the heck these new NSO weapons that end in -100 and -200 exactly are, but they sure seem God-tier compared to my starter stuff like the CARV or the Mercenary (yeah, I went back NC, I like TR well enough but I've always bled blue and yellow in PS). And yes, I'm familiar with NC and TR weapons and how they work and their strengths and weaknesses overall (VS less so) but man. Everybody now is a robot walking on funny ski legs and using crazy weapons! Really different. And it means I cannot win a straight-up gunfight. Literally. I've already in two days lost count of the times I get the drop on somebody, open up, hit them, and they turn around and take me out and I've barely gotten through their shield into their health. And not just heavies, but medics or LAs too. I don't understand it, I guess I'm missing some cert purchases that let you be that tough or I'm not hitting as much as I think. 2. Death can, and does, come from anywhere. In smaller games there are easily defined objectives and front lines and all that hoo-hah. PS2 is more like a battle royale. Infiltrators can be anywhere, even far behind the front lines. (Yes, tonight I got domed hundreds of meters from any fight because that was the closest place I could spawn in, and when I walked outside, a sniper was camping the spawn exit.) No angle is safe. No opening might not have somebody covering it. Just getting from the Sunderer to the fight is a challenge. And once you get there, it's explosive spam and walls of tracers. So tonight was like: Spawn at Sunderer, move up carefully toward fight at installation using cover and caution, die to roving infiltrator. Respawn, move up hellbent trying to stay away from homicidal stabbystabby cloakers, die to heavy. Respawn, move up at a good pace but trying to use terrain cover, die to heavy in the one spot I forgot to cover from. Respawn, move up covering that spot, die to random fighter explosive spam. Respawn, finally get to fight, catch a guy coming from the side, light him up first, die anyway. This is the most brutally unforgiving FPS experience I can remember since the REALLY old-school days of LAN parties. And I'm still going to keep at it because damn it can be fun. Just...maybe in smaller doses to keep my sanity.
You shouldn't need new guns to get you started, I want to start with that. Finding a squad or platoon is definitely important. If 10 dudes are facing off against 12 dudes, and for some reason that guy is running around doing his own thing, well, that guy is going to get squished. I can see how this game has a higher barrier to entry than it did 8 years ago when I joined because back then nobody had 8 years of PS2 experience. My "tutorial" was a drop pod into contested territory, I didn't know that I had a jet pack, but somehow I still got 3 kills in my first life. I don't think many newbies today are going to open with 3 kills before dying.
Both, definitely both. But jokes aside, I came back from a 2 year hiatus and I sucked hard. I was never a brilliant marksman in a firefight but I could kinda hold my own before. I eventually figured it out my sensitivity was way off what I needed and I was using a mousepad too small, these are the sort of things a newbie might not think to look for and they really do matter. As for BR1 being a cruel environment, I just rolled up an NSO alt and yeah brutal AF. I've made it to BR24 now but I'm only just getting to feel like I'm prepared for a given fight. So many certs to get hardware I relied on without a thought at ASP100.
