L2P! My K/D is higher than yours!

I once heard that one of the more *spec ops-y* outfits required their new recruits to have a 2.0 KDR or better.

I was super confused. Do they just farm the crown or TI Alloys all day? I mean, who does that?

Absolutely true. I've been running a suicide engie since the beginning. There's nothing more exhilerating than running through 50 players to drop tank mines on a Sundy and successfully get them off. Although it also takes like 30 tries to get there, and each of those deaths usually comes without a kill to get your KD back up. Being a C4 fairy is the same way, but eventually you get the tank that's an extreme menace and holding up your entire team's operations. My actions come with many deaths, but I've watched as their direct result is that our side can move away from defense and start out on offense. It's satisfying watching 300 players be able to move out because you killed off the right vehicle.

On the flip side, my friend is entirely caught up in thinking that KD matters. He only pulls max suits or infiltrators and hides in remote and nearly unpopulated bases. He would sit there diddling his thumbs until a player eventually showed up, kill them, and then move to a new base. He would get like 10 kills, and maybe 1 death, and then sign off for the day so he didn't mess up his KD. He never enjoyed the big battles that the game is all about. He also doesn't play now because he doesn't find the game enjoyable any longer, surprise surprise.

Ignoring KD has made this one of the best games I have ever played, because there's nothing more fun than failing a few times before you get that big pay off, or taking part in the huge engagements where death can lurk around any corner. Apparently having a high KD sucks all the enjoyment out of it and will kill this game's lifespan for you. I honestly think that if they wanted to keep new players around longer they would disable being able to see KD so that it's not even a part of the game. You do a lot of dying when you're new and it can get discouraging.

KDR doesn't mean **** when the whole game relies on some stupid *** system of situational advantages and disadvantages. Planetside isn't about skill, the game only is fun if you have the right equipment at the right time. Really corny imo.

K/D is fairly meaningless for a lot of people because they just cheese it up. Bail assualts getting kill streaks of 100 plus because they just jump out before dying.

Redeploy should have at LEAST a 30 second out of combat timer attached.

I do like knowing what my own K/D is, because while it is meaningless in terms of my performance relative to other players it gives me a good idea of how im doing relative to myself.

Would you mind dropping some names? Don't worry about the naming and shaming rule. There's only one mod, and he's probably busy on DCUO or EQ2 atm. (Or if you are really worried, PM me the names and I'll post them, I don't mind the occasional warning)

But it would be interesting to see these players defend themselves.

i think K/D does have an impact on player skill and ability as well - if i have to keep one person in a room to guard a control point, id rather keep the K/D 3+ guy in there vs the 0.3 guy

And if I had to choose a squad leader to make such a decision, I'd want a different one.

If the control point is so important that you need to leave a 3 KDR player in there, you'd want to leave more than one person. Why send one and rely on chance? If he gets a MAX on him he'll get instagibbed. Or a decent Infil will knife/SMG him in the back.

This game doesn't rely on kills for the sake of getting kills. It relies on getting them when it matters. Yesterday I pulled a .8 KDR because I was trying to keep a Generator in an AmpStation up. If it failed, the VS would have gotten a foothold. I pulled a Blockade sunder to park in front of the Gen to block fire so I could repair it (as well as another few Engies).

We probably died about 6 or 7 times and lost 3 sundies in the attempt, trashing my KDR for the evening. But my SPM was high, and I helped push the attackers out of the base and back to their warpgate from there. KDR never tells the whole story.

I dare anyone who thinks otherwise to debate that. Especially when killing someone means they're back with full ammo/consumables within 5-15s.

Gimme a motion spotter and a control point room that isn't just an empty square and unless the whole enemy team rushes with concussion grenades, ain't nobody getting out of there alive. Well, except a ScatMAX, unless I have a really good box to hide behind.

But this was me playing HA in super close quarters with AV grenades and a motion spotter backup. Even if it is just one guy on point with this setup, you'd expect that kind of thing to happen.

as an engi, i can stay solo on a control console n defend it all day against small squads of people solo, i was saying if you only had limited people to do so it want the "tougher" guys holding down the objectives

My KDR on my "freshest" character is 2+ , usually do 3.0 in a night or so these days.
Never play chicken, always go in close and nasty with people.

What kills me is ...
1 . reloading
2 . max:es
3 . random vehicle shot

I do shotties, smgs, rifles.. doesnt really matter to the score. It's usually the reload that is the biggest killer ^^

You missed the context of the post entirely. My score means nothing to me!

Unless the 3.0 comes from a Liberator cannon spammer, eh?

You'll eventually run out of ammo, medikits, and consumables. That's the point I was making. You could have a 10 KDR but eventually you'll be overwhelmed and have to start from scratch if you leave a sole person.

Personally I'll use an infiltrator and play the serial killer in some 80s horror flick.

I'm really curious to know how "idontcareaboutstatslol" guys would find any way to perform any action, if they wouldn't have effective killers around to clear their way.
As long as a stat doesn't have any interest for me, i just ignore it. I usually do not ask for it to be removed. Strange.

k/d matters to me. your spm, kpm, k/d are all lower than mine.

https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428059164951847633/stats

he got to 100k kills in 36 days. at your current rate, you'll do it in 150. his k/d is also better than yours. he was a player to fear, i'm sure in the same way I dread showing up against Recursion on Connery.

there are some amazing players in this game, who achieve their playstyles through numerous ways. you judging them with the same beat old topic isn't going to change that.

My motto for KDR has always been; more you die, more score you get. Lurking in corners and trying to get careful kills dont serve your empire.

There is no penalty for dying, no negative score. And you cannot permanently die in Auraxis anyway.

True, though if your entire team is elsewhere the enemy should be largely distracted and reclaiming the point shouldn't be too hard.

There's also ways to lessen the danger of the above. ADV. Shield Capacitor lessens the need for medkits slightly and Betelgeuse OP (or any ludicrously high DPM weapon, like the Gauss SAW).

It's not what you say in the OP. You literally say "K/D doesn't matter. People with higher K/D than me are still worse than me because they have lower SPM than me". This is literally what you said. No mention of how score / other stats don't matter to you.

Even if that were true, this is hardly something you should declare to the whole world.

I treat KDR as an own personal indicator how much am i improving and how my playstyle have changed overtime, but i don't get crazy about it.
My play sessions went from sitting on 0.2 - 0.3 KDR and dying A LOT struggling to kill anything at all, to 0.5 - 1 then 1-2 and these days at a good day i can get something between 5 - 28 (best one so far) using almost only medic with a little bit of MAX here and there if situation force me to.
Way higher KDR during my alerts then what i used to have tells me i have changed and improve and it does give some satisfaction.I know how to use my chosen gun effectively, i know bases and where to expect enemies, and my situation awareness is better by far then what it used to be.
I think KDR is only useful for a player himself (and only to some point) and not to everyone else since is a team based game and is just a simple number witch doesn't tell a whole lot.For example one medic with KDR as low as 0.3 may have a good influence in a battle if he revive a whole room with one revive granade but that won't show of in a simple kill death ratio number, he did a good job regardless.

Kdr is a great measurement when used in context.

A game that is 6v6 and has boundaries in size as well as limited choices in weapons has a kdr that reflects very well on skill.

There is a fundamental missing link when discussing kdr and the data is not tracked in a way that would let you say a particular stats set is reflective of a players skill.

To explain kdr is not tracked with the types of battles being fought. Ie

The number of points in the territory when the kill or death is recorded
The number of friendly players in the territory
The number of enemy players in the territory
The kdr of the opposing player in the same combat situation, number of points to take and players fighting.
Is it infantry vs infantry or vehicles vs infantry.

Let's use an example.
Billybobjoenc has a kdr of 4 but fights at one point bases where his side as the PPP advantage 90% of the time
Super troopers has a kdr of 2 but fights at 3 point bases with a pop disadvantage of 2:1

Who is then the better player?

This doesn't even take account support actions medics vs repair points held etc.