http://www.twitch.tv/planetside2/c/5395271 The start of Higby Pls is spent discussing ongoing base shield work. Having seen the broken arch spawn room and an amp station vehicle bay on live I have to say that I'm quite disappointed in the direction they are going. I agree that the shield rules needed to be simplified. The "If you can see through it you can shoot through it." is a step in the right direction. Aside from the bug mentioned regarding the "metallic environment mapping" being displayed on the shields (which made it to live) I don't think I can agree with the decision to make defenders blind from vehicle bays along with the general glare I'm stuck trying to squint through to see what's on the other side of the shields you are meant to see through. Regarding amp station and bio lab vehicle bays, there doesn't seem like there is much gameplay to be improved by making it impossible to see out of other than making it easier for light assaults to camp waiting to set off c4. As far as bio labs are concerned there aren't any objectives outside of the dome to defend (other than a few exceptions like a saurva generator). And if you've already retreated to using the base of the bio lab for cover (which is also quite terrible for maneuvering around inside anyways) you're likely already at a vehicle disadvantage. Bio labs need other design/mechanic improvements, but that's for another thread. For amp stations the base objectives are mostly out of the way from the vehicle courtyard and if you've retreated to inside the base wall you're again likely to be shorthanded on vehicles. Even worse if you are pushed back into the vehicle bay (also bad for maneuvering). Combined with the ongoing nerfing of AI potential of vehicles I don't like where this is heading at all. Are vehicles still intended to be "force multipliers" against infantry or just a counter to enemy vehicles to see who can field more AP until one side loses their armor? I'm not sure if a shield rule of "defenders can see out of, attackers can't see in, and neither can shoot through." has any room in the new design of shield simplicity. Perhaps the vehicle bays need to be changed over to the transparent rules, permitting small arms only, with a balance pass on the interior of the bays with infantry cover in mind. Shield glare/transparency is still not as good as I'd like it to be,especially for spawn rooms and depending on the day/night cycle. Old thread: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...are-is-an-awesome-feature-and-all-but.167427/ TL;DR Base shields are still not where they should be. Their transparency can still use improvement and I don't agree with double blind vehicle bays.
Nice post. Didn't read everything but the "blind vehicles" thing was bugging me the other day, so I've got to say I agree.
I think they could stand to make it so all shields can be seen through, but different textures signify which shield does which.
One bump for the workweek. Also reaffirming shield glare is completely over the top and a detriment to gameplay.
