So, I have been with PS2 since December of 2012. I have played the game semi-regularly for that whole time, taking a few breaks as I got burned out, but any way you cut it my playtime has been gradually decreasing over the past year. Between the Amerish update, and the infil update I had a really good run last night, and see my playtime going up. I was in the SE outlier of Melkala, and while defending the building (More on that in a moment), I ended up seeing a motion sensor on my radar. I noticed it was -behind- all of the defenders. I found the motion and blew it up but couldn't see the infil. I pulled out my secondary dark light and after a bit of searching found the infil (I actually needed the dark light to see him, and only found him because of luck he was very good at hiding, also I play on high graphics), but he got away. I swept the whole building, by necessity, for infils. Side note (Edit): I never got the name of the infil, but if you were playing at the SE Melkala outlier, around say, 7pm CST, and you were surrounded by HSTL guys, while crouched on a storage container on the east side of the room... whoever you were: good job on the infiltration and thank you for an interesting memory. Kudos dude. The fight ended some time later, but two things stuck out to be about that fight, that have stuck with me all night and into this morning: I had to sweep a building for infiltrators The building was designed in a way that made it fun to do so. I have long said that the game needed more things that raised the complexity. Actually finding it Necessary to go back and SWEEP THE BUILDING, with the darklight, to avoid those motion sensors giving away what we were doing and where we were, was just what I've been wanting to see. The game has not really been about anything like that in a long while. Using a tool, because it performed a function not tied to blowing up a tank or something, but just using it to Scan something... Really invested me in things. I had a specific goal and I had a tool, and I had an impact on things. This is what the game should be about, small, rewarding actions that on their own add up to people accomplishing a larger goal. Also in regards to the base: It was a building, that looked, like a building. I could have seen that place somewhere in a warehouse district somewhere. It felt more Real to me, so I was no yanked out of the experience by saying to myself: "Really, why would you put a control point, something that is supposed to control the systems to this base, over here". The paths were also unique enough that I could direct people to entrances and locations, because things were such that it was remarkably easy to do that. Going forward So there are a few things I would like to mention at the same time: Amerish and that whole thing with the darklight, that isn't perfect. The mechanics behind the darklight are sound, as are those mechanics with the cloak, but there really aren't any other counterplay things like that in the game. Most things involve violence, which is fine in a way. I think things -should- evolve beyond the much too simple puzzle of: Use bullets or explosives on man, kill man. Hacking, building, maintenance, obstructing, confining, teleporting, etc. etc. etc. are things that could be done by the classes, things that help people and encourage infiltration or similar activities and make defenses (Which are -really- easy in PS2 right now) more difficult, more rewarding, and most importantly: more FUN. Having to Counter moves that people perform that could cause a defense to crumble, that kind of move and countermove thing is the foundation of a really entertaining game. Also in regards to Amerish, base construction in the game has showed a gradual evolution over time. In the beginning there were a lot of disjointed buildings that weren't connected with much rhyme or reason. Then we had The bases start to get walled but were still kind of unbelievably in their construction ("Why is this building here, what purpose does this serve?" moments in other words). Then we had Esamir walls (And may we not mention that dark age of PS2 history again). Then we had some signs of things improving with glimpses of Hossin and Nexus. And finally we have Amerish, which shows insanely good warehouses, that are fun to fight in. That said, they are warehouses. I know there are a few bases that are supposed to have control rooms and whatnot, and as soon as I fight over that way I'll say something about them, but I see the next logical step in base design, being that those kinds of bases: command centers, office centers, etc. start coming into their own more and more to pad out the already impressive array of storage facilities that Auraxis has. So I know people have seen this a hundred times in the last few days, but: Color me impressed SOE, keep up the good work.
