First there was grid. Then there was this lattice made out of the grids. Now there are distinct lattice lines.... however, the original grid is still behind that... Why? It looks bad and clutters up the display, and serves ABSOLUTELY NO MEANING. I will personally play with these filters on; Seeing where ally/enemy populations are is vital. Then finally, there is the eye melting mode; Quite simply, the grid needs to be removed completely. They no longer have any meaning, and in fact, they are misleading. They give the impression that because your territory is neighboring an enemy territory, you can attack them, when this is not true at all. The sole role for the grid in its current state, is to show ally/enemy activity. A new, simple, obvious way of showing where players are is necessary. The current system has always been too complex/hidden, and makes it hard for new players. Good.
agreed, leaving the hexes in makes things look way too cluttered. It's just unnecessary. The lattice connections are all that's needed.
Yeah, but what purpose does the grid serve in that? Absolutely nothing. It would be much clearer without it. You pretty much NEED ally/enemy activity showing. Imagine a new player asking you "what is the grid for?", how would you answer?
I suppose the hexgrid shows where one base ends and the other starts. I think it would be better to just have an OPTION to turn the grid off completely.
Bases end where the walls of the base ends. The only reason for the hex grid was adjacency links. There is already an option "Grid" in the filters. We don't need two grids ^_^
Ally/Enemy activity actually uses the grid, as it shows the activity in the general area (they aren't necessarily all on the facility) The screenshot I showed, I agree the grid is pointless. I would probably use that map for general use though; I would look at hotspots (the explosions) and see activity if I mouse over the contested bases since you won't need to deal with backcapping any more. The hex grid is actually one of the Planetside 2 visual themes though (look near the logo on the top of the forum page, for example, and the way the launcher has sort of interlinking hexes as the border dividers), which might be why it's been held onto.
The grid also show the weight of each facility when it comes to territory, which is important for alerts.
I think the only purpose of the grid is to determine how many hexes each facility is worth for continent alerts. Of course, this is stupid, and each type of facility should contribute a fixed % instead of that one small outpost contributing more than a bio lab/amp station/tech plant.
And why would we do that? It's only confusing to you because you're used to the old system, if you started playing after the new lattice was implemented you wouldn't have any issue.
Now the facilities have had their satellites split into smaller bases, they actually contribute to less physical 'territory' than most of the normal bases now on the test server maps. In terms of weighting for alerts though, I don't even think it currently has a 1:1 ratio with the area of land controlled but uses some obscure formulae. There's a rough weighting from knowing the important bases have bigger icons though.
Still it is used for looking at allied/enemy activity. If the hexes were removed how could you tell if there were enemy platoons or enemy squads in a region if there were in fact no regions? Like you said a new mechanic would have to be put in place to tell where players are. Also, how would region chat work for that matter? Like another poster said. I think maybe just another map filter that allows turning off the region borders may be more beneficial. I will keep the region borders turned on so I can better pinpoint enemy encampments.
