Hello everybody, Im currently playing on woodman and yesterday the devs decided to test a new Spawn System on our Server. http://i.imgur.com/Ysqqks6.png?1 Rule 1 : Spawnroom turns off once 50:50 pop Rule 2 : U can spawn on all sundies at the continent Rule 3 : Squaddies can no longer deploy on the facility nearest to their leader but sundie or gal. Despite Rule 2 and the fact that this nija test patch kinda ruined the spawn becon I have to ask my self if I dont wanna switch to Bugfield 4. Due to the fact that defenders (if that system really hit the live server ) will not be able to bring platoons as one into the battle fights espeacially in large ficilities will not grow as big as they used to and that is honestly one of the only things that make Planetside2 unique. From my perspective as platoonleader I have to say that random are already really hard to motivate to leave their tanks to redeploy and if they will no get restricted by the game to do so this is really dumb. Sadly this game doesnt live from people who spend lots of hours and even days in this game it lives from the huge amount of casuals that bring the numbers into the game most of these people are already overwhelmed with the current spawnsystem that has almost no rules but they will get frustrated when SOE will really bring this spawn nonsense live. This is just my opinion on this topic pls tell what u think about that and I wanted to ask if this happened on your server too. Hope to get some feedback. PS: will erase grammar and spelling mistakes later gotta eat now.
I feel like it's hitting the exact opposite side of the equation, tbh. It should hit sunderers/gals at 50:50, not defensive spawns Otherwise this seems like it favors attackers.
I wish they'd stop pi**ing around with the spawn system (and other things). We don't want artificial restrictions. The WHOLE POINT of PS2 is the sandbox element. If I wanted controlled spawns and rules I'd play BF or something else. Also, as people are saying, this change can only aid attackers. Defenders should ALWAYS be able to spawn at a facility (unless the CPU is down). They own the facility - spawing there is the defenders advantage. Jesus. For SOE to even be trying this more than a year after release just beggars belief.
Squads should ALWAYS be able to spawn on squad leaders. ALWAYS - no exceptions. It's as if SOE is trying to weaken organised play and turn PS2 into a large lone-wolf, free for all, unorganised BF4 style game.
After about three hours with this on Briggs-Indar last night, with NC at 52% popcap (VS and TR and 22% and 23% respectively) the Sunderer spawn change pretty much ended either lowpop's factions from being able to make any offensive gains since NC could stall almost any battle or quickly bring to bear about half again-to-double the numbers should anyone think to pull a deployable Sunderer.
I'm glad they're willing to experiment with this. I want to see how it works first before I say yes/no to it though.
I'm of two minds on this: The spawn system will affect a Ton of the game, and considering they seem to want to limit downtime (hence redeploy, hotspots) especally for Lonewolves, then these kind of changes will help them. The other problem though, is that One thing that we need in the game is a Form of Logistics, such as getting your troops to where you need them, and if you make Spawnpoints too easy to get to from anywhere, then you make transport vehicles pointless. So far I'm not a fan of the current spawn changes, I see why they are doing them, but there is still things that lack a bit too much. Personaly what I would prefer is something like this: Solo Players (IE lone wolves) have a diffrent spawn location selection then Groups. When you are running solo Any AMS in a close to equal fight you can spawn there. Pop balance for equal fights would be +-2% or so between 2 to 3 empires if your empire is the higher pop. Some examples: 31% VS 34% TR 32% NC. 35% VS 31%TR 4%NC. Last example would let TR and NC spawns show but not VS These Spawns will still show up if you are close by (1-2 hexes) much like the no expement system, as it is intended to get people far way to a fight, not Force close people to run These Front line spawn locations will be say 3-5 options, which will populate with up to 3 from the current content and the rest will come from other contenents. Spawn Options from other contents will be based on If the contenents have a Que, so to try and limit giving people spawn options that they cant get to because they have to wait, Or at minimum give them an indication right on the option that it could have a wait Now some ideas with the Logistics side. People who exit Transport vehicles give a better share of XP from any action they perform to the Pilot/ Owner of the vehicle. By any Action I mean ANY XP GAIN. This would mean they would get XP for their passangers getting kills, Revives, Heals, Repairs, Etc, even Capture experence. Capture experence share could stack up to what the pilot or driver would get if they were in the Hex, but would not Stack with a capture XP if they themselves are there at the same time, so no double dipping Intention is to reward someone who is Running around Transporting people to the Front lines. Squads/ Especally Squad leaders, need more Rewards for Commanding, especally commanding well. As it currently stands being a squad leader is nothing more then a Mobile spawn point. Squad leaders need more tools that give a benifit to not only them ( a good leader tends to get less reward then his members because he shouldnt be in the front) but give a reason to be in a larger squad. Some benifits could be the old Shared XP from PS1, where squad members would give x% of their earned XP to other members who are close enough. Perhaps have new loadout ideas for Squad leading. Expanded on a bit further down. I know I'm kind of going off from spawn changes with this part, but really I think this is something that should be looked at, since part of the reason of spawn changes is there tends to be more of a benifit to solo then group up unless you in a well orginized group. If we could expand on the squads so that people are more oftain going to group, even if it isnt Highly orginized, then it could benifit the game as a whole. Anyways here are some quick Squad/ Platoon leader Ideas, sort of writing this as if they were patch notes: Returing Command Experence. Squad/ Platoon leaders now Earn Command Experence while leading a squad. The XP is given from Squad members actions as well as Capture's or defences of Bases/points. XP bonus scales on size of squad/platoon Command experence goes into unlocking new Loadouts/ Certable options in the new Leadership Trees Command XP is given to all Squad leaders on Contnent captures ( IE contnent locking) so long as they have been on the content for X minutes and have participated (have earned XP outside of warpgate) New Side Loadouts for Squad/Platoon leading. These Loadouts are seperate from your class loadout so changing class has no direct effect on the Leadership loadout. Leadership loadouts can be changed at Any time, without visiting a Terminal, However there is a Timer between switches. This timer could be possibly lowered though Cert trees, or reset if using a Terminal. Leadership abilitys can be purchased with Certs in a new Leadership Cert tree. There are some Teirs to the tree that are unlocked as you increase leadership Level, ether by new Abilitys, or Upgrades to abilitys. Due to the Leadership Level requierments, the Cert costs will be lower then normal. Leadership Loadouts will have 3-4 Slots for abilitys, classified as followes Command: Abilitys that directly Help in the commanding of Troops, such as Target marking, Objective marking, Battles plans Utility: Abilities such as Squad spawn, Spawn beacon, more as I think of them Support: Abilities such as Quick reinforce, Last Stand, Take Cover Stratigic: Abilities such as Orbital Strike Call, Reinforcement request, Supply drop. Slots/ Extra Loadouts Unlock as Leadership Level increases. Leadership Abilities: Utility Squad Spawn: Default ability allows squad memebers to always spawn at the nearest spawn to the squad leader. If in a Platoon, the closest spawn location of the squads leader and the Platoon leader will be given Spawn Beacon: Lets the Squad/ Platoon leader deploy a Spawn beacon. This will be on a slightly lower timer then it is now, due to being a choice of having it or not. Similer function to Squad spawns, but Universal respawn timer (IE timer resets on use of ether beacon, so no hopping from one to another). Platoon Beacons will have diffrent effects to be more visible, and have a longer spawning timer Command Target Marking:Squad leaders with this ability will cause anyone spotted by a squad member to show up on everyones Map, no matter the distance. If the Spotter has Advanced Targeting, then the Health information will also appear. Platoon leaders with this ability will allow this to be shared between squads. If the squad / Platoon leader Spots a Target, It will blink on the Hud/Map of their respective groups as it is used by the leaders to call targets to shoot to help coordinate fire Objective Marking: Allowed the Marking of specific Objectives to be done, such as repairing vehicle, Turrets, to Defending an area ( think Mission system ideas). Members performing these actions will reward more Command XP to the Leaders, and they themselves will recieve an xp bonus Battle Plans:An Upgrade to the Waypoint system. This allows for Auto updating of Waypoints defending on Actions. Such as Once a Base is capture or Lost, the waypoint will auto update to new locations, as well as a geneal order. Example: Quartz ridge is captured, so the waypoint auto updates to Indar Excivation. When it switches the Squad/Platoon gets a Onscreen message saying "Attack Indar Excivation" when it is updated. The amount of these that can be qued is 2 at the start but can be certed up to be more, and incude an "If" option incase a battles goes a diffrent way Support Quick Reinforce: Allows The Squad leader lower the Respawn timer of the squad/platoon for a short period. This will have a rather large cooldown. It is intended for use in a Quick suicide push, and will allow almost instant respawning at certain locations (halves respawn time on Deployed AMS, Hard point respawns almost instant) Last Stand: When Activated, All squad members within X meters will take reduced Damage for X seconds. While active no Healing effects (beyond revive) can be used. Long cooldown Take Cover: Similer to Last Stand, However this only effects Explosives, and to a larger effect and time compaired to last stand. Normal fire (direct hits) will not be reduced, no will healing effects be blocked. Mid range cooldown Stratigic Orbital Strike request:When used, allows for an Orbital Strike to be called in the area for X minutes. Oribital strikes will not give an Xp reward beyond command xp for the leader. This ability will have a LONGGGG cooldown, and will block other Orbital strikes in the Hex for a period of time. Note this will allow ANYONE to use an orbital strike, not just your squad. Reinforcement request: When used Your Current location now shows up as a reinforcement spawn location on the Map. Anyone can use your base as a spawn location so long as your Faction lower population then the Highest Population (IE if your at 45% to 55%, it will show as a spawn location untill it gets to 51% to 49%). Supply Drop:When used, the Leader can get a Supply crate/ Ground Transport vehicle, to spawn near the Drop indicator (similer to the Smoke system). Small timer. Supply Crate can be used by any faction and allow them to restock their current class, as it at a terminal, but they can not switch classes. Has a limited number of uses Ground Transport will spawn light Transport vehicles, such as a Flash/ Harraser/ Sunderer. These would be base models of the vehicles (IE Sundere could not turn into an ams) and their weapons would spawn with no ammunition. Intended to help get your forces around without replacing a normal vehicle terminal. Trying to balance these ideas around being a Support that beinifts a group of people far more then a single person, as well as limit the potential of being used to just get Certs for 1 person without others.
