I really enjoy playing Planetside 2

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by synkrotron, Dec 7, 2020.

  1. synkrotron

    But I ain't very good.

    I'm sixty now. I've been playing computer games since my dad got a Binatone Pong game back in the early seventies.

    Eventually I settled into FPS games having played the original DOOM for a time. I just preferred that style of game. Before that it was mainly platformers like Jill of the Jungle or Duke Nukem, and I enjoyed those too, but once I started playing DOOM that was it, I was hooked.

    I also enjoy playing the Gran Turismo stuff, but haven't done that for a while. I'm even worse at driving games than I am at shoot 'em ups.

    For a time I played the original Counter Strike, but, yeah, you guessed it... I was hopeless at that, too.

    I gave up FPS games for a time as I was getting really into Gran Turismo, but the guys who I used to race with online were into other games, one such game being Battlefield 3. So they convinced me to get that for the Playstation 3.

    It was probably the worse gaming experience I had ever had, in terms of being able to hold my own and make headway. I remember having something like a K/D of 0.01 and, yes, I had died a hundred times before I managed to get my first kill. But I still enjoyed playing with the guys I raced with and I would always play some kind of support role and hop along in someone's tank. But, eventually, they got bored and I didn't enjoy the game enough to continue playing it on my own.

    But I really wanted to try some more first person online shooter game and in September 2013 I discovered Planetside 2.

    I started free to play, to begin with, just to see what it was like. I was blown away by the size and scale of the game, having as many as 400 players battling away at some base on Indar. Totally amazing.

    I met up with some guys, virtually speaking, and they asked me to first joint a squad of theirs and after playing together a couple of times I joined their outfit.

    We had some good times.

    I was still rubbish when it came to facing up to the enemy in a one on one gun fight, so I spent time developing my engineer and medic certs so that I could support the team as best I could.

    Then I tried my hand at sniping. I tried that in BF3 and I just didn't get it. It was too manic and in the end I gave up. But I found that I really enjoyed the role of sniping, especially long distance stuff, in Planetside 2.

    Then one day one of the team suggested I have a go in a MAX suit. Now, that was fun... Once I had developed the different weapons I literally had a blast and, for the first time, I was able to have fun "on point" by joining in with the shooty stuff instead of the support stuff.

    And so, seven years on and I am still playing Planetside 2, although not as regularly as I once did. Although the outfit I am in is still in existence, I haven't seen any of the other guys online for probably five or more years.

    I am now not so interested in working with squads or joining another outfit. I just can't guarantee putting in the time to be of use. I sometimes don't pick up the game for months on end.

    So I am what you may call a "lone wolf."

    I have six characters, all NC, five on Cobalt on one on Emerald. I don't bother with the Emerald character any more. It isn't practical. I was curious what it would be like playing on another server. But my connection wasn't that great, obviously, hence why I no longer log on to that server.

    My main character is currently at 69 days of play time and is at Battle Rank 100, still. I'm nearly up to 101 but I am not that bothered at reaching the maximum BR.

    My four alternate characters are currently at BR 41/42 and I generally play them one after the other and keep them at the same BR. It's what I like to do.

    For each of those characters I have a different "meta game." so for one I may not care so much about keeping a high-ish KDR. Two characters I play in a "careful" fashion, if you like. So they have (or used to have) quite high KDR. Again, it is just a meta game for those two characters. Then one character I like to use MAX a lot with.

    for my oldest BR100 character I do what ever I like, and will even accept squad requests if I feel like being stuck in the middle of all the chaos.

    Oh, I should add, I never pull a vehicle or aircraft. I had tried and tried, in VR, but I am more terrible at that kind of stuff than I am at one to one fights. At a push, I may pull a Flash, but it's rare. So I am one of those players who has to rely on where the spawn tubes take me, and I may sometimes get as close as I can and then walk. Unless I am in a squad, of course. Then I will jump in the everyone else, if there is room.

    Still with me? Sorry, it is a bit long...

    Anyway, the reason for the post is, I suppose, the usual boring old team kill rant. And it is at this point that many will no doubt be saying, "oh, here we go..."

    Why do a very small majority of players decide that because someone isn't rushing to the point at all times requires to be assassinated?

    I had a great weekend. I had had a bad weekend, in other ways, so I decided to lose myself in Planetside 2 for most of Saturday and Sunday. I would pull a character, play to the end of an alert, then, once done, pull the next character and wait for the next alert.

    But, tonight, I decided to play some more, which I don't normally do in the week. I played one alert and, once that was out of the way, I pulled another character and waited for the next alert, which I thought was going to take ages because it was relatively quiet tonight.

    I was on Indar, at a base where the spawn room roof can be spammed quite heavily by tank missiles. There were a lot of tanks, and the base was pretty much over-run to be honest. So I set up to play a bit of whack a mole from within the spawn room.

    Yes, I know, a much reviled activity, sitting in the spawn room. I know I won't get any sympathy at all for that.

    But, for the most part, I normally at least get onto the roof or a spawn room, or move a little bit out, at least. It's only when I know that we are simply not going to prevail, unless someone decides to organise a Galaxy drop or something. And there was no real squad or outfit activity going on, as best I could tell.

    Then came the head shot.

    I asked the question, "why." The player at least didn't ignore me and replied, "there is nothing worse that a sniper stuck in the spawn room."

    I get that. I really do. But I play the game how I do because I am pretty rubbish at it. I get that no battle is won from the spawn room. But I do the best that I can to support the fight, even if it is only sniping the enemy from behind a shield from time to time.

    If there is a load of aircraft outside I will always pull a Burster MAX to try to put them off. Or I'll pull a Heavy with the Phoenix in order to get tanks to pull back. It's rare that I get a kill doing those activities but it does help the guys that are good at capping the point to get out and do that without being farmed.

    Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to play Planetside 2? Is it right that I should be harassed in such a fashion just because I am not very get at rushing the point?

    Getting deliberately team killed is rare, but still disappointing when it happens.

    As I have said above, I still get a lot of enjoyment out of this game, I really do.

    Tonight, I was at one base, it was empty, so I thought I'd make a nuisance of myself and go and ghost cap it. While I was there I hacked a terminal and placed a Bouncing Betty at the doorway. I heard the tell tale sound of the enemy infil cloak and could hear its approach. But it entered via another stairway and so missed the BB mines I had laid. I thought, "oh well... next time." but then threw caution to the wind and lowered my cloak so that I could try to get a surprise kill with my Underboss. Amazingly, I managed to pull it off. I normally fluff it, even in those surprise situations.

    I also had some great close shaves... I was at the back of Palisade and all hell was breaking lose. NC were attacking. I was a less than useful infiltrator with a Stalker cloak on. I sometimes go to the point in that role but it was hectic and, at one point, the VS made a sudden storm at the back of the facility. I was crouched down for maximum invisibility and was being passed by VS to the left and right of me... A Harasser come right up behind me and I thought, "this is me done for," and it stopped dead and actually went to one side of me for some reason. I laughed, and hit the deploy button... I had seen enough haha!

    But that is a part of the joy of this game, for me... I sometimes like to crouch there, on the periphery, watching everyone do their stuff. It is most fascinating. The cacophony of sound with all the shooting and ordnance exploding everywhere, or an Orbital Strike with be called down. Or a Bastion heads on in and causes havoc.

    So, in the end, although I do find it most annoying to be team killed by certain self righteous individuals who don't like you playing the game your way, I will carry on playing Planetside 2, and will do for some time to come, I am sure.

    Thank you for getting this far

    cheers

    andy
    • Up x 5
  2. ican'taim

    Stories like this are always nice to hear. :)
    • Up x 1
  3. InexoraVC

    >>Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to play Planetside 2? Is it right that I should be harassed in such a fashion just because I am not very get at rushing the point?

    Just play the game like YOU want. Don't listen to those who tell you to do this and that (unless you're in a squad).

    Nice to read such a stories !
    • Up x 2
  4. JustGotSuspended

    Yeah I've had some outfits come after me to tk me with half a platoon for no reason, and yet I get branded toxic. Just play the game the way you have fun, and record/report anyone who is harassing you, ignore the drama and all.
    • Up x 2
  5. synkrotron

    Thank you very much, Peeps :)

    And, yes, I agree, if I ever do play in a squad then I take directions from the leader and never go AWOL. If I do decide I no longer want to play in the squad I am in I send a message to the whole squad, thanking them for having me along for the ride.
  6. synkrotron

    I thought I'd create a new character today...

    This is for a totally new play style for me.

    I am currently running as a Heavy for now.

    No Spawn Room Warrior with this character haha! I'm going all out, straight to the Point, regardless. And, yes, it is fun even though I'm dying lots. K/D is currently 0.67 :D

    Lot's of 1v1 stuff and I realise that my straffing skills are somewhat limited. And I realise that at some point I'm going to have to start using them Certs to improve my ability to last a little bit longer. At this point I've stuck with the default weapon and I've not even bothered with any sights yet. I'm not sure sights would even help that much at close quarters.

    As I earn more Certs I'll probably develop both the Engy and the Medic so that I can help in other ways.
  7. Eternaloptimist

    What a great story OP. I am much the same, although PS2 is actually the only game I play now after Aces High (the WW1 flying fps) stopped being avialable. I play every chance I get and I have three toons, one of each faction, on both EU servers to maximise my chance of finding good fights and play around with as many weapons as I can. They are all in the BR60-79 range.

    I too find judgemental arbiters of how I should play annoying although I haven´t had a TK experience from one in a long time now. I have,however been TK´d with a knife by someone who wanted my sniping spot and once by someone who didn´t want to wait in the queue while I was pulling a vehicle. I also spend a bit of time moving around trying to avoid TKing allies who just decide my firing position is so good they´ll just come and stand in front of me to use it themselves. Or maybe they are just that brand of player oblivious to the concept of team play.

    The mentor squads are the only ones I stay in and I have been surprised to find my leadership directives going up quite a lot as I inadvertently end up squad or platoon leader (presumably by just hanging in there longer than most others). I say surprised because I am by nature a lone wolf so I don´t keep track of these things other than to follow the waypoints set by my squad or platoon leaders, when they are not obviously pointless or downright suicidal.

    Like you, I often don´t react quickly enough in CQC although it is very satisfying when I win. I find it better to run with a big crowd in these scenarios and use a quick reload weapon like a carbine or AR (or an auto shotgun for panic spraying). I do like medium range combat with BR, Vandal and the new burst ARs, plus the occasional sniper rifle. Unfortunately for me the other side seems to have access to these same weapons!

    For infiltrating, my current choice is an auto scout rifle, easy to use with both close- and medium range application. My pistol choice is the Pilot (see above re: auto shotty/panic spraying!).

    I only play infantry and my one regret is being more or less helpless in the face of armour, except when with a bunch of other infantry so that we can combine our AT power.
    • Up x 2
  8. OneShadowWarrior

    A really great post!

    Alas you bring back fawn memories of Doom, Grand Turismo, the very games they drew me in, I played Halo on Xbox to completion, something I rarely did with any game and then I tried Planetside 18 years ago and I was hooked.

    These young kids are way to obsessed with kill/death ratios and winning. Winning at the cost of others. Once I uninstalled Discord, no longer ran with squads or listened to kids whine or complain about how they died, because in real life there is no respawn. The game became fun again.

    It is and will be the Soloist at heart that plays the game for what it is meant for, to have fun. I don’t know where Rogue Planet thinks that Outfits Sqauds are the keys to the game. The real essence is in the immersion and that is with our character. Whatever class you decide to play.

    I am glad to see posts like this.

    Best Regards,
    • Up x 1
  9. JustGotSuspended


    Yeah it's good to realize the heavy is a bit more complex than "press F to win".

    A few tips would be to cert into adrenaline shield, and also to run flak armor and assimilate + symbiote, especially if you're running aggressive loadouts (ofc, if you're new and not spending dbg, it might be tricky to do this).

    Also, a reminder that your weapons are high capacity, but have slower ttk and longer reloads than everyone else. So don't reload unless you need to, make sure you aim for the head, and don't think because you have 407 extra health you can engage other classes without any problems. You'll die extremely quickly even with the shield. Movement, positioning is extremely important.

    Also, each time you activate your shield, you get a movement speed decrease, and you drain 43 from your shield just to activate it. So don't activate your shield unless you need to, and try not to switch it on/off multiple times in quick succession.

    Also, if you're running medkits (which you should), keep in mind there's a movement penalty upon injecting yourself, which can be avoided if you manage to jump and inject your medkit while in the air.

    Finally, get yourself a reliable pistol. Commissioner/underboss/pilot with laser should be your go-to. Use it to turn the tables in cqc, because pistols have much faster ttk and reloads than other weapons, especially lmgs, and the ones I listed will kill your target in 1-2 headshots. And don't bother using anything other than deci as your rocket launcher.
    • Up x 1
  10. InexoraVC

    Curious fact: I use no more Lasher or Pistols in my HA secondary weapon slot. Only Hunter QCX with explosive bolts. Found it extremely useful against armor and Maxes combined with launcher.
    Good advices above to "don't reload unless you need to" and "aim for the head, and don't think because you have 407 extra health you can engage other classes without any problems. You'll die extremely quickly even with the shield. Movement, positioning is extremely important"

    I'll resume "don't be too tanky" :))
    • Up x 1
  11. synkrotron


    Thank you :)

    And thank you for your insights and tips.

    Having played a couple of alerts last night, and one just now, I need to understand more how the Heavy works and the guns he has to hand. Perhaps I need a more "cheesy" weapon to use.

    cheers

    andy
  12. synkrotron

    Thank you :)

    18 years... Yeah, that's a long time. I can only assume that I missed out on the earlier version of Planetside because I wasn't looking for anything like that at the time.

    I did play Quake II for a time. And then when QIII came out, I totally fell out of love with online first person shooters. I was like a rabbit caught in the headlights the day I first tried that game and I didn't try another online FPS game until Battlefield 3.

    I must admit that I can sometimes get a bit lost in the whole KDR thing myself. I am trying to NOT do that for my latest character, but it is hard. I ended up going long distance sniper for a time last night just to get my session KDR back up to 0.5

    Well, squad play is definitely a thing with PS2 and I think it works really well, for those who want it. But not everyone wants or needs it. Unfortunately, the rewards for squad play are much higher than those for lone wolf type players.

    cheers

    andy :)
  13. synkrotron

    Yes, Press F to Win certainly doesn't work for me haha!

    I'll have a look at those, thanks :)

    As it happens, I decided to cough up some dosh to DBG. So I will see what that does for me over the next twelve months. It looks like members get handed 500 DB cash once a month. But it doesn't seem to go very far, to be honest, and I perhaps need to be careful how I spend that. Some items may be better bought with Certs...

    It may just be that I am playing the wrong class. There seems such a lot to remember, and in the heat of battle.

    I was hoping not to have to cert up the MAX class for this character, but as a Heavy I am proving to be pretty useless at holding a captured point. I may be able to bring down a single player but, if that player knows what they are doing then I more often than not die.

    I already have quite some experience as a MAX and even though they, too, can be brought down quite easily, I can usually get at least one kill and make a bit of a nuisance of myself.

    I may even be better off holding a point while playing infil with Stalker cloak. That way I could at least move out of the way while the enemy re-capture the point and then if they leave the area I can move back in again to re-take the point. Sounds like a bit of a cop out, in a way, but at least I am hopefully taking one or more players away from other duties, especially on bases that have multiple points.


    I already have the Underboss so, yes, I must remember to add that to each of my loadouts. I keep forgetting to do that. I bought the Underboss with game cash back when I started playing so it is available for any new character I create.

    Decimator... Okay, I think I have that, too. Thanks for the tip.

    Are the auto lock-on launchers not that good? Or not as good in certain situations?


    cheers, and thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

    andy
  14. synkrotron


    Thanks :)

    What is being "too tanky?"
  15. InexoraVC

    Imagine that you're a tank! Imagine how tank acts on battlefield.
    Don't do that :)
    • Up x 1
  16. synkrotron


    Ah, right, I think I understand.

    Don't be a tank, but, not meaning, literally, in an actual tank. Is that right?

    I'm not sure I'd ever have the skills to do that, to be honest.

    Mind you, I did have a good session earlier. I managed 27 kills altogether and died 20 times, so that is a slight improvement. But not too tanky, I hope.

    15 of those kills were by way of Bouncing Betty land mines. Which surprised me really, because that must be the highest amount of BB kills I have had in a day, ever. But for some reason the enemy kept walking blindly into them, some even did it twice in the same place. Eight of those kills came eight times in a row at one point.

    So, perhaps that is a bit tanky... I dunno...

    But while I am sucking big time in close quarters, and getting caught out by ESF's and armour, I need something to keep in interesting for me. I got a bit fed up in this morning's session, where I died 25 times and only managed a paltry 9 kills. And was probably revived a good few times, so the death count could have been higher.

    Another bit of good news for me, I think, is, I managed a total of five Underboss kills having caught a few out by surprise. But I definitely died more than that by not quite pulling it off and revealing myself to a have dozen enemy infantry units.

    I had a bash with the Decimator too. Can't say how much better it was for me, personally, but I did manage to help destroy a couple of vehicles with it. I fancy trying it out on a MAX...


    Right, I've got to go and earn a few more Certs!
  17. JustGotSuspended


    As a general rule, the only items you should buy with DBC are exclusive weapons/bundles, NS weapons and cosmetics. I would unlock anything else with certs. The membership is a great way to boost xp gains and make more certs anyways, so I would avoid investing DBC into weapons, especially ones that aren't NS (can't be used cross-faction.

    There's no such thing as playing the wrong class, you simply have less experience playing some classes than others. Any class/playstyle can be learned given the fair amount of practice. I would say heavy is one of the hardest classes to master, but I can be extremely fun once you develop some good skills with it. It's often easy to see that one heavy relentlessly mowing down rooms full of enemies while remaining unscratched, and thing to yourself "wow, that looks like an OP class to play". Ofc, we both know that's not true. But keep playing, practice, implement one or 2 tips at a time, and try to improve. If you use recursion stat-tracker, you can get some good indications of how you're doing, with some cool mods.

    Being able to kill one person before dying is a great start, and shows you're useful to your faction. As you get better, you'll start lasting longer and amassing more kills.

    Yes, do that, and remember to switch to it during cqc engagements. It's a 2hk if you land headshots, definitely something to fear, and has much faster ttk than primaries.

    The pilot also has the potential to 1hk in one burst (landing all headshots), and is a bit more forgiving than the underboss, if you have trouble aiming for the head.

    basically if you want to kill things, the decimator is the only way to go. Lock-ons have short range, long acquire times, low damage and can be easily dodged/outran, which means if somehow you manage to get a lock before the dude kills you or runs away, there's a 60/40 chance that your shot will actually miss, AND you'll never have the damage output to actually kill something, even if that shot lands.

    Decimator takes some getting used to, but it'll 1hk non-composite esfs, flashes, deal enough damage to actually kill tanks/maxes.

    Also the decimator is the only launcher that's a against 1hk infantry, which means you can also use it as a last ditch effort if you're in a pinch. I currently always run the Kraken, which is just the auraxium variant of the decimator, and there's basically no situation where I would rather have anything else. It does exactly what a launcher should do - reliably provides a huge burst of alpha damage.

    Don't even bother playing around with the other launchers unless you're in a highly coordinated squad and the leader asks you to all pull lock-ons/lancers/whatever.

    Finally, you might wanna go on youtube and check out cyrious gamming advanced heavy assault training. Keep us updated on how you do, good luck!
    • Up x 1
  18. Johannes Kaiser

    Depends, if you have a squad nearby who kill the enemy who just killed you, by all means be tanky. :) (Especially if there is a medic who'll get you up anyway.)
    But for solo players it is really not a recommended move, fully agree.
    • Up x 1
  19. JustGotSuspended

    Idk I would do my best to use the squad as a distraction while I flank for easy kills. People tend to focus on groups, and most completely switch off their brains once something starts to shoot at them. For example, if your squad is on the balcony of a tech plant, you can be the guy that flanks the stairs of the main entry, so you get to shoot all the backs of the dudes trying to shoot your squad.

    Also, remember to protect your medics. Medics are most vulnerable when they're reviving, so that's why I wouldn't encourage dying thinking they'll be able to revive you. Cuz you'll be screwed if they can't!:(

    In general, the best way to get kills in planetside is to be smart, fast and stealthy. It's not the MAX that's the most dangerous class, it's the infiltrator. The harasser is the best vehicle, not the mbt. So I would recommend to avoid being tanky, even if you have ally support. I some situations it may be necessary, but even MAXes with a dozen engineers repairing them can die in a split second.

    And then ofc, if you play solo, you'll never really have the option to be tanky at all.
    • Up x 2
  20. Johannes Kaiser

    All of that is true. I have just made the experience that for some reason enemies like to focus me down first in any given group, unless it is physically not possible to. So I decided to own that and draw the fire while my comrades light up the people shooting me. Works pretty well.
    • Up x 2