Daily Certs for non-members vital for new players

Taking away the free 12 or so certs people got for logging in really punishes new players who need the certs to stand a competitive chance and any active player. Sometimes those 12 certs were what it took to get me to log on and play through terribad balance, lag, hitching, and other issues. Now it is pointless. This creates a bigger divide on the free to play players and pushes the game in the pay to win direction. Planetside 2 used to be good about finding a balance between the two, but now it has just gone too far. Those 12 certs a day really mean the difference between burning out or unlocking a new weapon and this destroys the new player experience.

I say these 12 certs were mostly psychological to be honest. It's really nice to have them, it feels bad not to have them, but objectivelly they don't mean much.

I started playing FTP directly after the game left beta - we didn't get passive certs then and to be honest, when that was brought in I kinda didn't like it. Seemed too handholdy and desperate, like SOE saying "OH THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU FOR PLAYING THE GAME - DON'T LEAVE! NEVER LEAVE!"

There is nothing fundamentally "pay2win" about the free certs coming or going.

The only bad part to the game is that it's play2win -- meaning you can accumulate significant advantages through playtime (vertical progression) rather than only unlocking new playstyles (lateral progression.) Things would be far more interesting if all new players started with a max-rank item in every slot so that all certs did was unlock new items, weapons, and vehicles. That way new players are on even footing, which is more fun for me and much more fun for them, and better PVP all around.

If you are really so interested in helping new players, then do this. In PS1, I would get to level 5-6 just by going into the the VR an trying different vehicles and weapons. Give players 50xp everytime they test a new weapon in the VR, and 100xp for each stage of the tutorial they complete for the first time. That would give 20-30 certs without setting foot into the actual game.

You need a reason to keep them coming back for more. The 12 certs may not be much but it was a decent carrot, then people log in and they see something and suddenly they've been online for hours when they only intended to login for some passive certs. Its all about retention, not just a quickie one time boost.

you really do want to get new players into the mindset that they want to stay and play the game.

that is psychological and thus the very reason this is a silly idea.

I just imagined someone took away from me all the passive daily Certs ive gathered in my one and a half year of playing. It must have summed up to thousands in this time.

When I was BR <20 the 12 Certs really meaned much to me. I was always looking forward to getting them and so I logged in with more positive feelings. They were also quite indispensable for my Character-Progression.

I say: Give the passive Bonus back to players with BR <30. removing them from experienced players feels okay.

With the amount of xp you can get now, for literally everything, the 12 certs don't mean much.

the thing is it really does for brand new players.

Does it really, though? They just need to be near a base and they rack up certs. XP is given out like candy, unlike 2 years ago.

The problem when you are new, especially with so many BR100 players around now is that you will die so often the frustration sets in. I'm all for giving new players some stuff to reduce that initial frustration.

Some really great ideas being tossed around. I especially like the idea

or some variation. Have them test the default empire specific weapons, add attachments (sight, compensator, etc). Next have them have to kill say 1 - (however many) appropriate targets depending upon the weapon equipped.

Here's another reason why the 12 cert login bonus is important: even dedicated players (like myself) don't always have time to play, sometimes weeks go by before I feel I can justify dropping a few hours to get serious and dive in. But the 12 certs keep me logging in and coming back, giving me a sense of connection and progression even if I can't spare the time to go blow stuff up. Every day I'm faced with a decision to play or not, and eventually of course I do. Without the cert bonus I have no reason to 'visit' as it were and am therefore not reminded of why I want to play. As the saying goes "out of sight out of mind." Without the incentive of certs I will see the game less, care less, and eventually forget it exists, putting my time into something else.

Well if it is for new players, then i suggest free certs then shut off after a certain BR.

Didn't for me when I started - why would it matter to new folk who start now?

because not everyone is like you.

The underlying issue here, of course, is that the economics of this game are completely ******** and broken. The default cert rate is complete garbage, and even with a subscription, as an 'average' player, it would take hundreds and hundreds of hours to unlock with certs even 1/3rd of the content for your playstyle. On top of that, the SC costs are absurd for most things.

Seriously, I think I've unlocked... ONE weapon with certs. I've used SC for a couple other rare things, mostly just weapons on sale, but I mostly just play with one or two guns per class, because the SC costs for the other guns are absurdly high, and the certs cost is unreasonable, especially at the rate certs flow in.

If SOE is already getting my money, why should I have to participate in the grind whatsoever?

nope, its helps for players with few characters - you can play one, and collecting passive certs for other character, once you will start playing other character - you will have nice starter capital, without such pain to upgrade med tool, etc..

You have to admit, it does indeed make a subscription look juicer. It adds value. I get 48 certs per day across three characters because I've been a subscriber since the beginning. I accept that if I were to cancel, I would get no free certs. It also makes purchasing something with SC a more tempting option, because you don't get a free 1000 cert weapon roughly every 3 months, and a free 250 cert weapon once a month.