[Suggestion] Alerts: Some changes are needed

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Locke, Jul 5, 2013.

  1. Locke

    I would like to suggest some changes to the alert system. The first change that I believe should happen is that the capture all of "X facility type to win" alerts should be removed.

    My reasons are as follows:

    • As soon as these alerts happen all other territorial gains are rendered meaningless. Even threats to continent locks are ignored. This makes the "day to day" strategic game play feel pointless as it is instantly disrupted by an alert starting. It's not uncommon to see a "victorious" faction with 2 victory condition facilities and almost nothing else left at the end of an alert.
    • By focusing the entire faction population of a continent on one facility the game play is becoming really very unsatisfying. Attacking a biolab with more than a hundred people inside is under most circumstances not a good fight but as a platoon leader you are almost left with no choice but to commit to it as people "want to win the alert". At some facilities on Indar the lattice system actually makes this much worse by massively limiting the directions you can approach from which is creating a meat grinder at these 2 or 3 entrances (this is also a general issue that needs addressing with the lattice system)
    • When a faction fails to take a facility due to the extreme numbers facing them they may move their forces elsewhere. This leaves those same 100+ people who were defending with nothing to do but ghost cap all the way to the nearest facility.
    • When these alerts cross continents the faction with the greatest server population will win almost every time. This hugely contributes to "participation apathy" among less populated factions.
    If there are going to be facility based alerts in the game it should include either 2 facility types or all of the facilities on a continent. This would serve as a much better balance as it would create a risk vs reward issue as to where you choose to position your troops as well as creating a series of smaller battles in the territories controlling the lattice links to these bases. If you put all your troops in one place then you may lose elsewhere.



    The second change I would like to suggest is that alerts should be reduced in frequency for the following reasons:
    • At present they happen so often that many regular players are becoming totally indifferent to them.
    • If you reduce the frequency down it will make them more interesting as there will be greater prestige involved in winning them. This will encourage a more competitive outfit scene as at present many outfits dont take them seriously anymore so dont bother to mobilise for them.
    • It makes dominant factions slightly less attractive to new players by reducing the free XP. When you can play Vanu on one server and receive 40 certs for nothing every few hours why would you make your character on another server where they are underpopulated?

    As a side note there needs to be big improvement in the UI system for alerts. At present if you are in the middle of a fight it's easy to not even notice that an alert has ended or even that you received some certification points from it. At least display a message in the chat window saying how much experience you earned from taking part for each faction when they win or draw.