Problems with PlanetSide 2 as I see them.

I just logged on this morning and joined an outfit and spent two hours ghost capping points. We got really close to the Crown, and I was thinking finally, great! We get to fight, but the platoon leader just barked "don't even think of going to the crown or I will kick you from the platoon. We moved on to another point where I finally got to kill one infantry...that was the highlight of the two hours. We ghost capped a few more points until I just got so bored I had to log off.

I really think you should have started with only ONE continent, not three. You don't have the population to support the entire Map of three. I will give it to the end of the month.

Right, but you have to realize that why was that needed? Shouldn't the developers be able to see what are the problems in this game and be able to comment or do they just sit in silence and play the waiting game? More and more it seems like there is just way too much office politics going on. I mean, if you looked at the base designs for alpha they were actually good. They were defendable. They encouraged infantry fights. You had to actually get out of your vehicle to do something. What happened? Why did they do a 180 and make all bases and structures that are just **** rooms for infantry? Did they not like the look? Well, adding different textures can fix that.. I mean, what happened from then that caused those drastic base design changes for the worse?

i have to say the sever pop is really unbalance i mean to day there was 40% VS 25% for TR and 32%for NC for the Genudine US west sever

i just hope they find a way to fix this problem with it being boring or over pop for one empire on one sever

Though we would still have to deal with people spamming HE/Zepher, or boring stuff like camping spawn points and pads with vehicles. Why? Because the game allows them to, and in the case of camping shields it sees that as legit, as a part of it... but then again you could say the same about the Zepher, it isn't there by accident it was the very first belly gun for the liberator pre-dating even the shredder, the HEAT-HE-AP concept was also always here.

From what I read I am assuming that this happened before in PS1 with the Flail (long range artillery) vehicles and Orbital Strikes. So simply removing the cert system isn't all, what's more easily abusable with the worst effects should also be changed.

I wanted to know too and tried asking them, as did others, but the main reply we got back was "We just feel this is the direction we think is right." or something along those lines, obviously paraphrasing. In the beta, a lot of the bases actually didn't have walls as other people pointed out and the devs seemed very timid on making defensible locations. One thing they seem to be pretty consistent about, however, is that they do not want facilities to experience the fights of old such as those in PS1, where you might be holding a particular location for hours on end.

Another reason why we don't have something 100% like a lattice system w/continental locks (Figment and p0intman on PSU made a very good point that a lattice-like system already exists in game via hex, but its overly redundant) is that they wanted people to experience the game everywhere and that they didn't want players to be left out of a particular experience because of a lock. What is funny, however, is that with this mindset and the current state of the game we are actually limited to where we fight...for instance on Indar on Connery, I have yet to ever fight at Dahaka or Hvar even though we've circled the TR warpgate on it before.

In which case, it might no longer be an issue of game mechanics but rather an issue of simply the players in general. But to stick to the main discussion of defensible bases, it just didn't fit or was the goal of PS2's development. They have tried to respond to us by making bases have walls with forcefields, generators, etc including by changing the way bases were captured. But essentially their system doesn't work very well still regardless of those changes.

I saw this yesterday. The zerg capped a tech plant and moved on to the next base, and some enemy took back C and then B, and no one in my squad wanted to bother taking them back, so we just jumped into a sundee and drove away.

The day after the double xp went away, I spawned in to deserted, friendly bases, where all the generators and 90% of the turrets were destroyed, and I repaired them all, then i switched to infiltrator and un-hacked all the terminals too.

I think people are being motivated to follow the zerg, because if you stay back and rehack or repair, you lose out on the capture xp. another factor is when the zerg leaves you behind, and the enemy are already retaking the place, some folks don't want to go solo and die a lot for the thankless job of protecting the base.

We've actually capped a base that TR and VS were fighting at on esamir....I think it was Eisa. There were about 15 of us on the top level of the base with the AA/AV guns and the TR/VS had this massive tank battle and moved away from the base. We ended up capping the base when the zerg left and no one seemed to care to come back It was pretty funny.

While I don't agree with everything the OP posted (changes to grenades and changes to sunderers farming, both issues should be solved in other less extreme ways), I think that most of the suggestions are valid and would do a lot of good to the game.
I see only one problem:

NONE OF THEM WILL EVER BE IMPLEMENTED. EVER.

I just don't believe it.
There's virtually NO feedback from the developers on this forum and they seem to be going about with the idea that the game is 99% fine and that what little there is to change can be achieved by minor tweaks. Which isn't the case.
This game needs real changes, complete overhauls of certain mechanics, in the spirit of what the OP said.
But right now nothing leads me to believe that this is what the developers think.

This might lead to problems, but why not try this for a few days if it's possible? I mean, there's a reasonable chance people won't actually stop playing LA/HA/MAX/Infil just because support gives more exp over time.

I don't know, maybe those stats are more complicated to put in the game or bring complications with them. Don't forget we're still in beta and may still be for quite some time.

Very much agree with this. The best part about rewarding a small number against a much greater number or a medium/large number against a larger one is that it can't be exploited, the worst thing that can happen is people not calling for backup. Wait nevermind, that can be a big deal despite no one answering /order requests(empire chat) or issuing any requests. How? Platoons and outfits. This kind of change should be carefully planned, you cannot trust the community not to find a way to break or circumvent what you're doing.

Interesting. Where can I see more of the alpha bases? Damn, why did the selection for alpha testing have to be so random if they were going to rush the game anyway?
I'm guessing Indar had less bases and more "empty space" is correct? Well, at least that kinda justifies it, they got excited while completing the map.

What, are you expecting them to mail everyone apologies and then to come here and admit they ****** up the game? Seriously, it's a big risk to admit too much problem. It's like expecting them to drop the current cert system.

Besides, it's not hard to find people who are loving the game and don't see major problems destroying their enjoyment. Even BCP opens the thread saying he thinks the game is fundamentally good.

Here we are

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/01/03/p...el=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

Even in the latter days of the old Planetside, when no AMS lasted longer than ten minutes without getting nuked via orbital strike, when no courtyard was safe for more than five-ten seconds because half a dozen Flails were spamming it from the next mountain range, it didn't feel as bad as Airzergside. There were places to hide and ways to fight back. There was none of this bug-on-a-countertop sensation.

Just for emphasis, all it takes to fix this is making infantry safe from vehicles where they are needed(buildings, capture points) or reducing the sheer power/survival potential of lone aircraft. Since IMO they have already messed up air balance and are sort of past the point of no return, not to mention tanks would still be annoying, I am for the former.

I agree with several of the points here. On top of whats said about structures, most of the territories are extremely dull. The facilities need to be expanded in several instances so that they can be more interesting to fight on. For example, I was playing in a Auraxis Firearms Corp and thought: "Why is this cap point here? And further more, if this is a headquarters for a firearms development corporation why can't I tell?"

I want to see original designs for different territories, places like Auraxis Firearms, the Crown, Commanders Rest; All places that sound interesting, but in reality are just carbon copies of another territory. Examples for those are AFC Office Building Complex, a fancy hotel to replace the carbon copy tower for The Crown, and a Ski Resort for Commanders Rest. If its exactly the same name, then it can copy buildings. If you need to, have a competition for who can make the best design for a territory.

I lol'd when you edited my post to say 'parrots.' Why are we even arguing? We should just be glad he posted this, because the dev's actually read this one, unlike the other threads that are just raging about the game, and saying how they're going to quit. Cute.

I've been posting about the need for a dynamic XP system since the first round of beta invites. I have a thread going about it over on PlanetSide Universe which has almost unanimous support and positive feedback from SOE dev Malorn.

I'm glad to see it mentioned here by Buzz to garner additional support, but this is something we've been asking for for some time now.

Yeah, I wonder what's up with that. Are there plans for making all those places look less alike besides changing terrain? But anyway, art issue, not even close to important.

Like... the Crown, say. Which is where everybody goes for the fun fights, because you can... uh... you know. Fight for awhile. Try one thing and die, try another and die, make a big push and ALMOOOST make it, then try something else. Whether you're on a bridge trying to get up or you're the defender trying to bust out. Teamwork. Tactics. Variety. Inventiveness. It's not a farm; it's the farthest thing from it. It's *fun.*

If it were merely a farm -- like say, sitting outside of a spawn building and spattering bullets on the invincible force field, daring the trapped defenders to come out -- no one would ever bother to attack the Crown. But they do. Because it's fun.

I am going to point-blank tell any developer reading this that you need to drop your anti-defense pathology like a red hot rock. You are WRONG. It can only do more damage from here on out. We don't need tweaks. We need a revamp of base design. That lies at the core of what ails PS2.

Ok, you did present this as the biggest problem in your original essay, its also what the majority of the debate has spawned around. The other points that I would consider important such as the lack of metagame, are by no means unique to your essay. If anything the only real original content in it, is this K/D issue. Which again I contend is a completely fabricated one. Which draws attention away from other issues that need addressing.

As i've said, to suggest this I PS2's biggest problem and to not even mention performance. Just... wha? This is the point I really cannot hammer home enough. You've by and large ranted about K/D, shouted into the cave about metagame, base design and raged about libs and completely missed the BIGGEST ISSUE with PS2. The one that is actually affecting the player base in a meaningful way and is whats being currently worked on all hands on deck. Performance.

As I final note, your point about Combat Downtime, falls into my category of lol wut? Lets make PS2 even more like a modern run and gun, but scaled up? You could as equally argue it should be 2-3 shots kill and combat uptime is currently far far too high. Its a matter of taste, in which case PS2's offering itself as a distinct product is not a point that can really be debated. Its allmost akin to saying 'everything but a kill spray' should be instantly shake-off-able and the medic gun should only have one level.... That seems like a terrible mechanic to me with the aim of turning the game into nothing but one giant twich fps spam, but if you want to produce a game with it, i suggest licencing the engine and having a stab.

Hell... thats the real issue to me, your points are either nothing more than an attempt to Mary Sue PS2 to your (unforunately shared, but back to my point about run and guns rotting peoples brains) particular preferences and biases about what a MMOFPS should be or.. are what the community has been saying since at least nov 23rd.

Thus, I submit sir, you fail.