What when you don't need certs anymore?

Hi all,

I'm serious about this question. What do you think you'll do once you have everything you want?

I mean...I can't imagine that capturing bases over and over is motivation enough to login once you have all certs/weapons you want/need.

I've asked myself the same question and couldn't find an answer. Thus my curiosity.

Cheers!

Yeah the metagame needs a kickstart. Several discussions going on, join one and get in line trying to get to the devs.

I'll finally be free of having to do cheap boring stuff with high cert rewards, and be able to play however I like without being outclassed because no upgrades.

Same as now, play for fun.

this game will be dead long before anyone has to worry about that

Something will be overpowered next and youll buy more, as for getting everything, you are 3 years behind the correct time to post this.

what don said : they will introduce something slightly more overpowered, wait a few months, nerf it , then release some new OP weapons

You really having fun with pointless base capturing? No offense, just hard to believe. But to each his own.

As somebody who likes to stick with a game for a longer period, I don't think I'm 3 years behind the correct time.

Sounds reasonable, you could be right.

Then it would be very similar to PS1.

It was fairly easy to reach the top BR in PS1. Additionally, you didn't need all the certs to be a self-sufficient "super trooper" with self repair and self heal + Heavy Assault + your choice of planes + some more specialization. I played PS1 for quite awhile after reaching the BR cap (many reached the cap without much trouble) - SOE introduced merit badges (AirCombat Ace, etc) so progress was no longer focused on BR but also on achievements. Plus, once I have the certs I would then start to enjoy using them (rather than focusing on earning them)

In PS1, quite a few people did decide to do something else with their time once they had "everything they wanted" in the game. I like the "end game content" in PS1/2: as long as there are people who can fly / shoot / think better in this game, the challenge will remain, and I will not get bored.

The f2p is replacing the subscriber system, so this is how it works: you pay about $15 per month to get all the good stuff in the game, three months later when those who didn't pay catch up with you SOE will release a content update with new stuff that is better than anything in the game and they might even nerf the stuff that people have been demanding to be nerfed because they are OP (only then it will make no sense because better stuff is introduced).

The players who are willing to pay will do so and get the good stuff, in practice the game is no different than any subscription based game for them. Players unwilling or unable to pay will find themselves at the bottom of the food chain again.

With each update less paying players will come back, buy less stuff and stay for less time. With each update less non-paying players will leave, start to play less and stop recommending/promoting the game.

Non-paying players are the reason for the continued success of the MMO genre: To date only one game has been a huge success with a subscription model and that is World of Warcraft. Many tried to emulate it and failed, some were really good but a lack of a playerbase doomed them to failure. As more and more publishers lost their shirts on expensive subscription-based MMO's (looking at you EA) the f2p model emerged as the way forward. Publishers made players an offer: play our MMO as an underpowered second-class cannon-fodder player for months and you get it for free eventually. This coupled with the fact that people can play and fall in love with the game before paying money helped make MMO's a success without a subscription.

I think its a mistake to think that f2p can replace subscription and just as Guild Wars 2 made a breakthrough with their buy-to-play model the next big f2p MMO will adapt this to the f2p model, i.e. pay $60 to get all the good stuff and you never have to spend money on game items (for the non-paying player it would be play 6 months to get all the good stuff for free and you will never go back to the bottom of the food-chain).

The coming collapse of f2p MMO's: There has been a boom in f2p with really good AAA quality games and more are on the way, this can not be sustained as the number of these games is increasing dramatically soon there will be financial flops, but there is another reason why major f2p MMO's will stop attracting players: the f2p model can not replace the subscription model because it cheats the non-paying player and put him permanently in a disadvantage position.

Will SOE merge low-population servers? Let us think this one logically: if they merge them then they will be putting more than the maximum accounts on one server. When a new content update is released this server will be maxed out and people will not be able to play. If they don't merge them players will give up on the game and when the new content update is released they will not return. People are asking for server merge without thinking the implication through, but I bet SOE is [adding this because it touches on the coming content update + long-term problems with PS2].

If base capturing is all you do in the game, then sure I can see why it can get repetitive and boring. But not everybody play for the base captures. I do dumb things such as when it's impossible to defend against an attacking force, I go out and blow up their sunderers and close their spawn points. While I don't get a lot of exp going away from the battle, I'm satisfied with myself for saving the day even though nobody really noticed what I did. I make it a habit to destroy vehicles and do everything I can to help the team behind the scenes.

Personally I find empty capping boring, so I always go to where the action is. As long as there's good infantry & tank action, I'll be there and have a good time. Yes, to me it's fun to just play the game and enjoy shooting at people. There are much older games that still got hundreds of thousands of players playing, games like CS:S for an example. It's quite pointless playing that game anymore, it's not like you get upgrades or work on improving your characters at all. You start the map with money to buy the same guns to shoot at people for 25-30mins. Or a game like BF: Bad Company 2, I stopped getting upgrades in that game long before I stopped playing it. I kept playing the game because it was fun even though I had nothing else to obtain on the character. But as pointless as base capturing or just shooting at people are, some people do enjoy it. You'll be surprised that you actually might be in the minority in wanting a "point" to everything you do in shooter games.

Now if you are truly serious about your question, then the real answer is by the time you're done getting certs for various characters and vehicle upgrades, they should have new content out. New continents, new meta game & locking mechanisms, player owned facilities & bases, new weapons and vehicles to get, etc.. are all things they've talked about that are upcoming.

I play for the digital murder.
I do not care if my side is winning or losing.
I enjoy the kill.
Its not how many I kill
Its about how i kill.

Give me more mines, allow me to put more down and i will wipe away the lazy and foolish.

Serious question, why are people playing a FPS if their main motive is not to kill people while aiming in first person?

I've asked myself the same question and couldn't find an answer. Maybe you'll answer it since you're in that group?

not farm and actually play the game.

Right now I just move from location to location farming the best I can. Fun... LOL no, I just farm for now so I can have fun for later, because right now EVERYONE is doing it.

Right now I don't really play to get certs or to grind XP. I am in an outfit, and every time I'm online with them we go to war. So when I have everything I want, I'll still be going to war with my friends, laughing and cussing and messing around having fun doing what we do.

You might try that.

How about we continue to shoot things? I don't see why we need a deeper meaning in everything, it's a shooter, so shoot things. The supposed meta-game is just a little extra to give us some kind of direction what to shoot and when.
If I'm all certed out, which will never happen anyway, I will continue to shoot everyhing that looks like a smurf or wears spandex. Or I will cert out my NC toon and will shoot the spandex guys and everyone who looks like a communist.

You really have fun making fake money?

Ok. That cinches it. Think I'm gonna make a game where you push a button...with every press you make 10buttoncredits. It'll fly off the shelves! People will go bankrupt buying this game just so they can 'earn' buttoncredits! Soon I'll be one of the fabled 1%ers, leaping off my high dive board into an olympic sized swimming pool full of gold doubloons!

You do realize that this would actually work? Add a nice art style to it and every reviewer will praise you for your hit indie title.

Serious question, why are people playing PS2 if their main motive is to enjoy FPS gameplay?

I have played countless shooters over the years, and the infantry combat in PS2 is most definitely a nominee for worst of all time.