Acquiring Araxium guns: I give up.

Finishing the Light Machine Gun directive for the GodSAW has been one of my long term goals since late 2021 (3 years ago). I'm going to complete it once I get the Araxium for the EM6 here in a couple months if I had estimate.

After that I'm never hunting for an axarium gun again.

If I want to get a feel for a gun and have an opinion about it I'm only going to take it to gold, and move on with it.
1160 kills with 5 guns is ridiculous. It really should be 250 Kills for Araxium. I can't just get 1160 kills in under a month like I've seen some players do and brag about. With the future of the game uncertain at present I'm even more discouraged to try to grind another infantry based weapon directive. With how long it takes me, I'm going to either lose interest in the game, get too old, or the game is going to shutdown by the time I finish the directives that I want to complete

Along my journey I've used the Promise, EM6, EM1, GuassSAW, and LA1 Anchor. I would have happier if I was able to use the GuassSAW the entire way through getting 5,800 kills getting 5 araxium medals for it to get the GodSAW than use 4 other weapons I don't really care for.

Continuing onto directives as a whole. I have no hope in completing some because the requirements are simply unreasonable.

Like, 2000 Heavy Weapon Assists for the Heavy Assault class or 100 Trident Captures on Oshur after the map changed so Tridents were spread further apart making trident fights less common.

i know the feeling, the grind is way to high. been after certain TR guns that are Araxium. been doing that since 2013, still do not have one....why? the player numbers are no longer in the game.

Having auraxed more than 100 weapons on my main, it's not that hard.

I suspect neither of them are on a server that has a decent pop.

I've done all the infantry and weapons directives multiple times, even auraxed the flare gun, deep freeze and various other meme guns. Used to take me less than a week start to finish. I have to agree that with the current pop, it does take a bit longer, but nothing over a month, even the launchers can be done in 2-3 weeks if you approach it correctly.

Even the most ridiculous ones like the javelin have been completed by people. I agree some are unreasonable like the rocket launchers, javelin, oshur since everyone logs off when they see it, but considering that they've all been completed by at least a few people, would it be fair to change them at this point?

But really the fact it took you more than 3 years to do one of the easiest directives, and you're not even done really shows it's a you problem. 250 kills for an auraxium is absurd. You can literally get that in a single fight, even with current pop. Even auraxiums can still be done in a day. People have been asking for more medals past auraxium, it's not rare for people to have 10k, 20k, even over 100k on some guns.

If you or anyone needs help with directive weapons, you can dm me your discord and I'll try to share some tips with you. Seriously most aren't that hard, and that's comming from a guy that's done them all multiple times.

How many hours do you play a week? That seems nuts you can do it in 1 week. I think 24 hours playtime would be the average time to unlock one.

I don't count how much I play weekly but usually it takes 10-15h to aurax a weapon, that's about 3 sessions. On a good day I can drop it to 6-8h, really depends on pop and the fights.

Back when we had more players I could go as low as 3h.

Took me as a non directive hunter in my 50's with failing eyesight since 2012. It's a great gun for all the slagging off it gets. I love it.

I'm happy for those that can accidentally arax an NC gun while falling over a rock on their TR. The rest of us just need time and perseverance hehe

Hang in there kitten

the problem for me was always that i would use the weapons that i liked and not the weapons i didn't.
so after over a decade of playing i had tens of thousands of kills in each weapon category
but only one or two weapons auraxiumed in those categories (often with enough kills to auraxium them several times)

imho auraxiums would be far better if you could just use whatever weapon that you wanted in each category
so for example you get 7000 kills total, split between your favourite LMGs congrats you get Godsaw.
(its currently 5800 split between 5, so i think 7000 using any LMGs you want would be fair)
an LMG auraxium would come naturally if you just keep using your favourite LMGs.

i don't play anymore but if we can make auraxium an attractive thing for people
to keep playing the game and aim for then that would be great.

with the current "you must get 1160 kills with 5 different weapons in the category" system
by the time i quit i only had 3 auraxium weapons (Brawler, Godsaw and Fortuna) on my most played of 9 characters
despite having 60,000 kills with the character, and i had to consciously grind to get those auraxiums,
it wasn't natural fun progression, it was forcing myself to use weapons i wasn't a fan of for thousands of kills.

I gotta disagree, the whole point is to force people to try new playstyles and to purchase weapons. Otherwise everyone would just stick to the defaults and never try anything else.

And although it sucks to aurax some weapons, other weapons can be a pleasant surprise. There's a lot of weapons I would have never revisited had I not been grinding directives multiple times, and I have to say the concept regarding directives is great.

Player numbers could be a factor right now, but I'm on Emerald, and I play in the evenings during prime time when everyone is on. If I was on Connery however it would be a different story.

Yeah, it is a me problem. Missions are my primary income for certs. I complete the infantry ones, and ignore and squad or vehicle based ones. During my 2-4 hour play sessions I don't just log in for the day to make progress on gun kills. It would be inefficient for me to ignore the missions outright just to grind weapon directives cause I wouldn't be making certs as fast. I still need them for implant packs to get the last of the implants.

Maybe then I can disregard missions, and the cert grind I've been doing for so long to pew pew and grind.

I like what the directive system encourages, too; its good game design. The devs got all these different guns to balance, across 3 different factions. If they primarily want to use data they gather from player weapon usage to make decisions to change guns, this is a good system for them.

How a weapon performs in different situations, and its behavior either in recoil, weapon modes, gimmicks/quirks is enough for me to try another weapon. I personally don't really need to directive system to nudge me to try new guns. If the gun itself can sell itself something that can be useful to me, or make itself unique I'll buy and use it.

Even without the directive system, if there is a gun that is taking the spotlight, and no one is trying anything new, the devs can, you know, balance the gun itself, or others in its class to keep them all competitive against each other so everything can be used more equally.

Auraxiums and ASP are very unhealthy for the game.

When I most enjoyed this game, I entirely ignored those tasks. I simply played what I enjoyed and had fun. When I enjoyed it, I also bought some camos cosmetics...

After much playtime I did think about obtaining Auraxiums, for example most recently I tried Heavy Assault directive and finished it.... But it was so painful I actually stopped playing after. My organism developed some repulsion towards this game right after.

And it's not just me but even a squad leader I know. They obtained max level and ASP and jokingly said afterwards, ok now I can finally quit this game, but they did quit the game lol. Mainly because it feels lifeless, soulless nowadays and therefore pointless, it's just not it anymore, but your organism also develops something comparable to an allergic reaction.... grinding is not healthy period. You play a game to have fun, not be in pain.
Also currently the game's source of income appears to built upon exploitation of certain individuals who are prone to addictive behaviors you could say.... Once those realize they are being exploited, your income is gone, and the game is unplayable from many angles for the ordinary person.

There is a lot of cleaning up if anything.... Most recently I played on Miller and described it as the most hideous server I have ever played on. The meta is hideous. So, without leadership this game has no life, no soul, but at the same time with leadership the meta is painful and it was engineered by last dev teams, no coincidence.

I'm the complete opposite, I ignore the missions and just focus on kills, and I make way more certs that way, most of the missions are completed passively anyway.

If you want I might be able to help.

On the contrary I think it's a great thing, and necessary for the game. The main issue is that they need to continually add/refresh these things so there's always something to work on. And they also need to cater to all levels of players.

I think asp should be infinite, I think there should be even more seasonal/event directives, I think there should be a directive for directives (aurax 5 or 6 directive weps) and I think we need medals for 10k, 50k, and 100k + a gold version of the weapon. Progression is what keeps a lot of players hooked on the game.

I also think there should be mini directives for people who don't grind as fast. Perhaps use ai to recommend or even generate player specific directives based on playstyle.

There should be a way to track short time and long term directives.

As for those who don't care about directives, they can just choose to ignore them.

I believe, many years ago the game would give you a free gun based on the class you most played. The "tactical" versions of the default guns. And it gave a warm feeling, it was a nice welcoming.
So, yeah that's a good idea of getting a simple reward based on your playstyle. Like that gold version or whatnot after being here long term.


Progression is definitely exciting, but I wouldn't say it keeps you in the game. I started off as a construction player and I just loved unlocking new structures and making my way through it. Each time I got a new structure I was inspecting it like a gem
But the cert economy got decimated right now, we are swimming in certs like never before.
Obtaining certs took much longer before.
I believe I was level 50 when I obtained all structures. So, I completed my role at level 50. (it was the role I chose and specialized in)

ASP on the other hand is a turbo grind. It invokes a feeling that that is what you need to complete your class, your role, but realistically it is a trap, you don't need it.
And level 100, and restarting progress is a whole another grind compared to just 50.
Implants added on top. There are some exclusive Implants that shape your class, and you need to dump at least 15,000 certs to gain at least 1 random exclusive implant.
So, it's all a trap, it's to invoke an urge and it's unhealthy. And on many newcomers, it could have a repulsive effect because it could invoke a feeling that they arrived too late. That they're going to stand no chance against these players. That the goal is out of their reach...
One way or another, it is extremely repulsive.


Ok anyways, when I completed my role at level 50 I started playing the real game. Because construction specifically needed it all unlocked. And it had its moments, but it was pretty bad. I definitely didn't regret it, better cert investment than tanks or aircraft which were even worse... The game simply sucked lol.
Hundreds of flaws. And because I put so much time and effort into the role I stuck with it and attempted to figure out ways to make it work. Level 50 was a big investment.
What also kept me in the game were the beautiful visuals, I just loved to stick around and watch, whether it was the sunset or battle.
It was the only free game which could handle stable performance on an 8 by 8 km map with hundreds of players and graphics comparable to newest triple A games that arrived years after. Game was unbelievable and full of potential. Compare that to other free games at that time, such as TF2.

But nowadays the game's 10x worse, the flaws are now up to the 1000s, not 100s. For example, even the visuals that kept me in the game are no longer in reach, graphics and performance got annihilated, forced to use low graphics which are not healthy either. Players nowadays count milliseconds so low is even the meta. You cannot enjoy the visuals no more. And altogether it doesn't feel like game has potential anymore but rather waiting for an imminent collapse.

Basically, there were many things that'd keep one in the game. It's complicated.
Like yeah sure the grind can keep you in the game, when the game sucks, sure. And that's basically what the developers betted on. It's not going to grow anymore and it's to milk the last bits of money from long term users, before it collapses. That's the plan and then say, oh well, the game held on for very long and we are proud of it.
It wasn't hard to fix many of the flaws but now it appears impossible.

I always thought I was the only one that remembered this and idk why they removed it. They used to give new players a mini survey and based on the answers they would suggest a playstyle and give you a free weapon for that class. Unfortunately the free weapons for ha sucked (em1, rhino, i forget the vs one) but thankfully you could also just pick a different playstyle instead and get the free weapon for that, and that's how I got my first free scattmax. Really wish they brought that back in a slightly improved manner.

Agree 100%. They made so many currencies, destroyed the value of everything, made a bunch worthless, and the only reason I have no certs even on my main is cuz I just dump everything into implants only to get 10000000000 copies of regenerate and I'm still stuck with 4 exceptionals not unlocked even after dumping insane amounts of certs and iso recyclers. The game's just been going downhill and definitely isn't as fun as before. I wish they made everything better and added better progression, but yeah like you say now the grind is what keeps many players going. Even I think it might be why they refuse to merge servers, so people are forced to restart the grind again which takes insanely long even for great players to do on all 4 factions.

I came up with a better idea. What if after reaching like level 15, the player receives an option to choose a free exceptional and class specific Implant? Via survey or whatnot.
Implants are a missed opportunity to help new players. And giving such an opportunity would make them feel more welcome, as without it as I said earlier, it feels as if you arrived too late and you're going to stand no chance against these high level players, feel left out.

But let's start off by asking this question: How did you first get into this game, what kept you in there? The cert income was very low, so you didn't have comfort to choose to your liking, and ultimatly you chose something to specialize in and work your way up with your favorite roles. Personally, I chose Construction as my specialization. What I liked about it was that I could support my teammates in a unique and creative way. I liked supporting but for some reason didn't enjoy engineer or medic. Possibly it might have been because I felt like it was missing something, it was limited.

Implants are a perfect addition to Planeside 2 because it allows you to shape your role based on your own playstyle, which ultimately allows you to specialize in it, give you more options.
But the devs chose to make the Implants that impact your class brutally expensive and for exceptional implants, near impossible to receive unless you only focus on grinding ISO for days and up to months.

Destroying the cert economy was not prosperous. The tutorials which force you to complete tasks for each class are silly, because the player must have interest in it first and foremost, otherwise they don't care, and try complete it by force, which is frustrating.

I have an idea. What if members are allowed the option to purchase the auraxium weapons bundle (like the one on pts) that would cost anywhere from 10,001(membership required) certs to 30,000 certs? That way players can grind other weapons, like the platinum versions, while making progress towards unlocking all the ARX weapons with the proposed method I suggested. Win for the devs since they'll get more subs.

I don't shy away from grinds (multiple COD games with the final weapon camo/being level 1000) but the grind for Araxium weapons is a bit nuts. These days, if you're just a casual player with what I suppose one would consider an ordinary life with a job, etc, it will take an ungodly amount of time to get one. And that's if you only grind for one specific Araxium item. I'm not saying it should be easy, but I think requirements need to be decreased.

The way I've always seen it is that aurax infantry weapons exist to confer specific reward and advantage to the playstyles and players who detract from the spirit of a combined arms MMOFPS