Borderline ready to quit, gimme some positives...

Planetside 2 is both ahead of its time in what it is trying to accomplish in this game, and woefully unprepared for how to handle what it wants to do.


I absolutely loved this game when it came out. The combat was wonderful, the combined land/air/infantry battles were amazing. I just sat glued in front of my screen for hours and hours and hours. Then I started seeing things I didn't like that went from annoying to slightly gamebreaking for me personally.

Dynamic Rendering (Tentatively solved? Connery-Miller/Indar Region new rendering?)
Bugs galore
Hacking hacking hacking
No purpose other than to attack/defend/...

I think Planetside 2 is going to set a precedent in the future for MMO FPS games. Epic warfare of this magnitude is very addicting, and given time, I think it will be extremely popular. However, I think they blundered in several ways that are probably not going to be recoverable due to how fickle gaming audiences are:

Early Release

No endgame of any sorts, whether fortifying bases, or what have you. Continent locks, what does that do other than restrict combat? That's not an endgame to me. Give us ownership in the game of something. We cap a base, we fortify it, get certs for doing so. Anything that would justify defending a place. The game is all about the certs certs certs...

I never really believed the people at first who time and time again said the game was still in Beta. The facts cannot be ignored though. Frequent crashes, bugs galore, no endgame, and the biggest thing that has been the nail in the coffin for me:

Farming everything out to the clientside for performance without any hacking protection whatsoever.
For the effort that has been put into this game, and it really does show in many respects, I just cannot understand how this far into the release, people can still run scripts they find online in under 30 seconds, and hack in about 20 different ways. People who are good at coding are having a field day with this game. If they can think of it, they can develop a hack for this game.

Clientside combat has also led to really bad encounters with the enemy. One shot on my screen and I'm dead. Shooting someone and they do not respond in the slightest until they are dead.

Shooting someone, they die, and then you die a second later.

I've been saying that this will all get ironed out in time, but at some point, I had to tell myself, why am I still around in this game? I'm playing based on hope that it will be better. The frustrations I have with the game are being ignored out of hope that it will get better.

The negatives at this time outweigh the positives for me. Seeing the Geistangel video today and seeing just how easy it is to get ahead in this game in a very dishonest way just really irks me.

Am I being too negative?

Well.. it's a game. Definitely.

They say they are working on it. And that is enough for me.
I love the idea behind the game. The game was great till the CULLING problem. When they get it fixed it will be great again.

Large battles were better in beta.

See you in April.

You are being too negative and probably a little burned out as well. I've been playing this game since August a little over 6 months and I still consider this more of an open beta and as far as I know SOE has really not done any substantiation advertising of this game. This game has a lot of growing to do, especially in regards to the addition of additional continents, which I have always thought was a mistake to introduce this game without atleast 5+ continents and a larger continent to continent strategic meta game like PS1, which would do wonders shifting the populations around on the maps and making them feel less stale over time.

My advice, take a week or more off and let that burn out fade a little and you will excited to play again..

Try doing crazy things. Join or make an outfit full of friends. I have a drifter + c4 + flash + smoke light assault and it is beautiful.

^ A positive

The developers are listening to the community's concerns and are fixing numerous issues. It takes a bit of time to implement the changes, but the playerbase is being listened to. Any game that pays attention to its community has a great chance of succeeding.

Dynamic Rendering has not been fixed as such but it has been made better is what I understand. Strictly speaking I don't see it as that great of a problem. It is just annoying but not game breaking.It could definitely be better but for the moment I am managing fine.

Bugs galore? I am not seeing it to be honest. For the size and scope of the game I am actually very impressed with the stability and the number of bugs. I am also impressed with the speed which SOE fixes big bugs. Of course that is just my experience so results may vary.

Hacking, hacking, hacking.
I am sorry but I am not seeing it. Sure I have seen people using exploits and the like (and reported it every time) but it is far from as rampant as some people decry. In all my time of playing I have seen 3 people that I could guarantee 100% was actually exploiting/hacking.

No purpose but attacking/defending.
I am sorry to say it but it is kinda hard to do anything else in a game about massive battles. The game is about the game itself. There are no big story or important overarching strategy. There are not some places more important to one faction than others. There is not a lot of purpose to put into it I am afraid. At some point I imaging we might get some but I must admit I don't have the imagination to think of a way to give purpose to the game. The hard truth I think is that this is not a game for everyone and in truth a lot of people are going to burn out on this lack of purpose. Then again people have been playing multiplayer fps of decades now and are still playing games that in their fundamental state are the same: Play a match -> win/lose -> play again. If that is not a formula that you can enjoy then perhaps this is not the game for you. If there is anything I have gotten from all this it is that this is a niche game.

The whole clientside thing.... yeah that is a problem.

I don't understand this fascination with "end-game". While some MMOs have end-games they invariably also focus on PvE with PvP being mostly a distraction or an entirely separate idea. however even in these games the PvP doesn't have an end game. it is just one fight followed by another, followed by another, followed by, followed by. In PS2 there is no PvE, only PvP and while there is not matches as such there is definitely a start and an end to the fighting and a feeling of elation when you "win" and a feeling of frustration when you loose. "No end-game" is a phrase that has no meaning in a game like this.

As you say: "In time it will be ironed out." (hopefully). If you are tired of the game I suppose that is one of the saving graces. If you don't like it now you can "always" return later. In time it will get better and your characters and stuff should still be here. At that time you can then return and try again. A comforting thought I think. For my part I am enjoying myself (though I do get worked up at times) and while I will not deny I may take some short breaks at times, I expect that this will be a title I will be returning to from time to time even then.

No other game offers what Planetside does.

Thanks for your very detailed feedback. Regarding the endgame, I divide games into match games, like Call of Duty/Killing Floor/ that type of game, and games that I guess I should just call... epic? MMORPG's, Minecraft (I know that example sounds cheesy, but as the game progresses, you still build up things even though your character does not improve), Eve Online (Character development in the midst of everything else that goes on there), Although this game has the epic feel to it, it is just so lacking right now. It's like it's a hybrid of a match game and an RPG, and just falls short on both of them. As far as character development, it's very shallow right now. If I like a class, there is only so much customization to it. I have 10K certs right now, and that's not even a fraction of what the Level 100's have. I can't spend them all on one class, which is kinda depressing. I want more utility with my class I choose, whatever it may be, and I'd love to have cert sinks in those classes that will strengthen my character.

If the game's intent is just to be expanded matchplay, then I guess that I'll have to live with it. It's not going to keep my interest though. Character building is a hallmark of any game that is not based on matchplay. From Minecraft to Farmville to Eve to WoW, games that have character building of some sort or another seem to fare a lot better in the longterm.

Maybe I'm just looking at things wrong and this game isn't for me then?

Why not just take a break and come back in a few weeks or a month or 2 OP ?

Why should we persuade you to stay?

Stop attention seeking and play something else for a while or actually quit.

It wasn't for attention, it was out of frustration, but you're right, I should just quit. Enjoy the game.

See thee

Play on Connery. I just played and it is improved greatly. Hope these effects reach my other servers soon.

If you haven't joined a good outfit. Please do so.
Also if your on a c@rptastic unpopulated server, move.
Once you do those things your enjoyment of PS2 will flurish.

As for your complaining about killing someone and dying a second later.
Most people are average. Average means a KD of 1. Nothing to be ashamed
of, however, it's not the games fault.

Has anyone else considered the idea that Arthur Fonzarelli may have been a WW2 combat vet, and that's why he was mean to Richie and the gang?

I heard about them testing render on some servers. Why are people getting upset about this?

They are testing it out, to see how it works before releasing it to everyone. I imagine this means that once they find a working solution it'll be in the Feb patch.

I would say you need to have a little more patience.

With the Geistangel video, watched that today: Yeah, thats pretty bad. I mean, I can't argue here. I hope that this kind of stuff gets fixed, and think we should object openly about it.

Not a surprise to me.. traditionally 'free 2 play' games were lower quality or unfinished, or test beds for games and engines that were not finished.

With the way PS2 plays, I consider it public beta. Of course it's 'free 2 play'

Just take a break for a couple of weeks if it gets frustrating....its good to do other things for a while and come back with some renewed patience...worked for me.....

Things will improve with this game, albeit slowly.....

it's free to play. just take a break.

I've been on Miller today to see rendering distance. My reaction ?
OMG I can see forever ... !