how to make this game more FTP friendly.

I think players could host games, but that was only 1 option. What I do know is that we had a full game - all 40+ mechs, all weapons, load-outs etc. with online support for 5 years for $20. Costs have not increased from $20 to the $5k plus it would cost now to get the entire PS2 game. Something has to give.

you also couldn't play that game for free. PS2 is pretty much setup to be playable by everyone and than a small percentage of people pays a little bit and an even smaller percentage pays more and an even smaller percentage pays a lot.
the system becomes a lot more muddy if you pay upfront and afterwards like in modern "Tripple A" Games, but Planetside is in concept and implementation rather fair.

Um, no.

Cosmetics aside, You can get the entire PS2 game for free. All of it. The whole thing. Free. $0.

PS2 is fair, but most FTP MMOs are not. Further, I have yet to find an AAA game that is fair compared to the games I was used to play.

See my prior post, but except for exceptional implants, which are next to impossible to get free, you're right. Still certed out kit does, in fact, give large advantages and that imbalance was never an issue with the games I used to play.

DBG has the balance right imho....

Being a FTP game, you got my foot in the door. After 3 months of mooching I decided to be a paying customer. I haven't regretted it yet.

TBH, I play this game for the challenge, competition, comradeship and Esprit de Corps.

Everything else is a pleasant surprise.

***Disclaimer PS4user= Started mooching (playing) Oct 2017,***

I have literally 10 friends who have put this game down because they didn't like the slow cert gain or they were getting their *** kicked in the beginning... but only 2 of those friends would have actually put money into the game... so one out of five people regularly paying for items/membership in the game. I occasionally put money into the game but membership is too expensive to just keep on.

It's not the certs in this game that cause an imbalance.

It's the headshot mechanics. A linear increase in skill results in an exponential increase in lethality. Even when new players get the drop on someone, their opponent will spin and cut them down. It's so bad that they assume the other player has better certed weapons or is possibly hacking.

Being well certed just means you can do more "stuff". G2A lockon for the heavy is the best example of this. It's something fairly basic, but also something that new players simply cannot do.

Even that tend to not be really true, since they change the alert reward now i win decal, helmet, vehicule custom part...
I think they do a lot already for free players ( even if i'm mad at them for not dropping me a single rare implant or even specific implant after spending so many cert in it...)

I don't know about that,for instance max flak armor can protect from even two anti-personnel land mines, while 1 will OHK a noob and that's a big deal for noobs who don't have sweeper implant to spot them out. Max nano weave makes is very hard for a noob to get kills in a fight also - because of the headshot mechanic you pointed out. Max stealth on aircraft is another big deal and the list goes on and on.