“Is the optimization patch bringing you and your friends back to the game?” ReachCast CQ 60

This weeks question is ...

“Is the optimization patch bringing you and your friends back to the game?”

As always, respond here or e-mail us at ReachCastShow@gmail.com or call us at (415)787-3224!

my friends who liked the game still play it. but to be honest the majority of my friends never liked planet side because it wasn't COD enough for them. extra FPS wont win them back at all.

I've seen some people coming back, unfortunately it seems like many more of them are enemies instead of friends

Some of the people who have come back aren't sticking around because content hasn't changed since they last played, and there are still a lot of extant imbalance and bug issues that also contributed to them not playing anymore which have not yet been resolved.
I think we'll see more coming back after some of the upcoming balance changes and a LOT more once we get some new content.

Sometimes I wonder how does PS2 have this many players we have now if nobody seems to like it. I think I'm the only one in these circles who like this game, it was just the same with Battlefield 2142. For some reason majority of people don't like "futuristic" stuff.

It definitely has for us. It came at a good time too, as our community was leaving Guild Wars 2 WvW.

A big thing is it has drawn our more competitive members with lower-spec rigs back, as now they can compete on a pretty even level.

Most other MMO`s out there are geared to be playable on a very wide range of machines. That`s SOE`s competition (besides BF4), and OMFG was something they had to do.

I'm not sure, but Cobalt has been noticeably busier this weekend. Lots of action in lots of places.

Nope, but only because I was burnt out of PS2 since I played it so much, so I won't be back until we get some more interesting content like Hossin, the ESF update, the Infil Update, etc. By the time we get these things the game should be fresh and new for me and fun again, instead of the chore it felt like it was becoming. A few more Frames isn't enough to pull me back into a game that I already had an acceptable (by my standards, 40 fps on Ultra is good enough for me) frame rate in. New content will be though.

The optimizations has brought some people I know back into the game yes. How long they'll stay is uncertain because there are still major balance issues that need to be resolved, and major gameplay changes that need to be implemented before I see the masses coming back and staying.

What Still Needs To Be Done

1. Add continent locking for an actual Meta game. (The only Meta game that PS2 ever had was the Crown, and SOE nerfed the base capture point placements so hard that it's not even that good of base to defend anymore. ).

2. Implement the resource revamp and make it the solution or at least part of the solution to end vehicle/tank spam so infantry players don't have to deal with the following scenario constantly.


While at the same time doing the revamp without hurting players who want a defined role in vehicles or that are passionate about driving/flying them a lot. I'd like to still be able to have fun with the armored task force within my outfit after the resource revamp.




3. (After 2 and vehicle spam is ended) Buff vehicles to the extent that they can participate in large 48 V 48+ battles without being vaporized by infantry AV weapons as long as they aren't being flanked. When I say participate I mean a Main Battle Tank should be able to fight in the middle of big battle with support, and not be reduced to shelling on the sidelines. This also means reducing the range of infantry AV weapons to 300 meters so that tanks aren't being shot beyond infantry render distance, and so there are not huge vehicle dead zones that prevent combined arms gameplay.


Infantry AV in this game needs to go from this.



To this


4. Improve base design and spawn design. That doesn't mean ruining combined arms gameplay/taking the easy way out by slapping up giant walls and rocks all around the bases. (I'm looking at you Esamir)




This means adding base designs that allow infantry, tanks, and air to all fight together and have a meaningful influence on the battle. Do you think it would be awesome to have tanks help infantry push forward in a courtyard as they make there way to the main building or capture point and then have infantry do the heavy lifting inside that building or capture point area by themselves without having to deal with vehicles interrupting? I do!




5. Fix infantry spawns so they can't be shelled and AOE spammed to oblivion. EISA Tech Plant's spawn was a good start.

No, unfortunately. I've been back and checking out the game, but I can't convince any of my friends to come back. That includes my old outfit. First impressions mean that SOE has lost about 20 of my personal friends and about 50 of my outfit's regulars.

Doesn't mean I'm willing to spend money on the game again, though...and until I'm willing to spend money here, I'm not willing to spend my time endorsing/advertising/recommending/pushing this game to people. SOE burned me pretty hard there with promises of content (and no delivery) so it will take even longer before I feel this is a game WORTH bringing my friends back to. I don't trust SOE enough to make my friends deal with them.

Yes and no. Unfortunately some of my friends have internet problems so they still have some trouble playing even though their framerates are a little better. That's not SOE's fault. We're also waiting on content and continents since most of us have our defined roles and gear already. We're just grinding our way to freedom, waiting for that next big update so we can dump 2500+ certs into something, only to see it get nerfed a month later.

I can say that I like the game along with the rest of ReachCast, otherwise we wouldn't be doing our 60th episode this week

I don't think its bringing people back to the game who didn't enjoy the game before. I do think it's bringing people back to the game who like the game but previously were running it terribly and were at a severe disadvantage due to their terrible frame rates. Briggs has been quite busy (relatively speaking) since PU01.

I've seen lots of threads here from players running fairly dated machines who are now able to play the game at 25-35 fps where previously they fury were around that annoyingly unplayable 10-20fps mark.

I've had a very noticeable performance increase with PU01. In the range of 30 to 40%

now that all the kiddies are back the hate tells are rolling in 10 times worse than before.. i'm not sure i wanted those people back in the game

Eclipson is back.

I haven't noticed any more of my friends list coming back but I have noticed that the server is much busier than it has been in the past six or so months.

I agree with the other poster that I think once they add in Hossin and some of the over overhauls, that you will see more people come back in.

I think content being delayed for so long is something that will hold players back from returning. coming back after 3 months to the exact same thing isn't so fun even if you get an extra 10 fps. With that said im super glad about omfg and think it needed to happen, but i think we will see a bigger influx of players with new mechanics like resource system, outfit captures, hossin and continental lattice

No. I quit playing around April or so because they kept pushing all their Roadmap stuff back again and again. I got bored with the game. I check back every so often to see if they've done anything that they said would be out months ago...and no, it's still all unscheduled. No recert token, no continent locking, no Hossin, none of the vast class changes.

I never had problems with performance in the first place....so this update did not change my opinion on the game.

I agree with most of what you say here but some other things I would do are as follows....

I think the big problem is SOE's everyone can do everything and pull everything at anytime philosophy. That needs to change the most IMHO.

Tanks should feel threatened by infantry just as they do in real life. Infantry are a serious threat to tanks in built up areas such as near outposts and bases. In the open field yes tanks should hold high order but not so near bases and outposts.Just as in real life.
Real anti-vehicle weapons like the Javelin can one hit kill most MBT's in any countries arsenal from very long ranges. However for game purposes this type thing don't work.As it stands it already takes 4-5 hits with the stock dumbfire rocket the heavy uses to take out a stock factions tank...that is to many IMHO. Problem is you are not getting "vaporized" as you say from one infantry player but by many spamming these weapons.

That is where my ideas below come into play to help stop AV rocket and vehicle spam we see..

1. They need to stop the anyone can pull anything anytime anywhere crap. They need to limit the bases where main tanks etc can be pulled from. They should only be able to be pulled from very large main bases and not small outposts as they can in game now.

2. They need to add specializations into the game. This way you need to choose a specialization and that is what you are locked into. Say you want to specialize AV duty with your heavy. Then as you gain certs you will only be able to pick say AV rockets etc but be locked out of using AA equipment. AI weapons will still be fully available. Same for say a sniper...you want to snipe from range...fine specialize in it but you get locked out of the CQC weapons like the SMG's etc. you wont need them as you wont be getting into CQC range of most other infantry...your job is long range sniping. Vehicle users are the same...you specialize in AV or AI or AA roles and get locked out of the other weapons that deal with the other roles.

That alone will deal with most of the AV rocket spam and vehicle spam we see. Also you can then buff up tank/vehicle survivability as the poster I quoted states as they wont have the AV rocket spam to deal with as much and the infantry wont have the vehicle spam we deal with that requires our AV rocket spam to deal with as now.

That and require tanks to have to have multiple people in them to be effective. So all tanks would require 2-3 people. MBTs like the Vanguard, Prowler and Magrider would be 3 people to be effective...a driver, a gunner for the main gun, and a secondary gunner for the top gun. Whereas the Lightning tank would have 2..a driver and a gunner. This also would promote teamwork and again help lessen the vehicle spam as more people would have to be in the tanks and that means less pulling their own. So again with less vehicles they can then buff their survivability against AV weapons a bit.

As it is the reasons for the rocket spam is that is the only defense against the vehicle spam we have in game now.

We've had some good numbers last Friday evening, so there is some hope.

Server seems just as dead as ever. People left from of lack of content. The bulk of people who left for performance reasons left back in december and have no idea there was an optimization patch.

Too little too late. SOE is paying the price for their laziness.