Outfits and The Meat Grinder

Since Lattice was implemented I feel the game has become monotonous and players are encouraged to play solo instead of work together .
In SOE's effort to appeal to the COD fans, outfits have suffered the most, almost ruining the most rewarding part of the game. The outfit which I am part of has last a large player base, Platoon leaders are pointless, and squad leaders have a hard time lost in the chaos. Its sometimes more fun to lone wolf it these days . ..

How has Lattice affected Your Outfit?

If all of us who are lattice fans were such COD fans, don't you think we'd be playing COD instead of PS2? I stopped playing COD a while ago in favour of BF3. I don't play much BF3 anymore, in favour of PS2. I don't have anything against any of these games, but I just wanted a different experience. Comparing any form of PS2, be it lattice or hex, to COD is ridiculous.

I shall now proceed to mock you for your idiotic claim that SOE is catering to a group who plays a game that consists of small maps, no vehicles, timed battles, and limited team size. You sir, are a fool of the highest standards. A gerbil can put more thought and care into a complaint than you. Furthermore, you wouldn't know tactics if it slapped you in the face. Begone!

More micro, less macro. Squad/platoon leading is less about where we are going to fight, and more about how we are going to fight. Organized groups have always had a place on battlefields of all sizes, you just need to find a role to play. Sticking together as a squad is more important in large battles than small ones

Have your squad grab some MAXs and support them with engineers and medics to take or defend a point or generator. Set up a full squad of AA/AV and destroy all enemy vehicles at a choke point. Gal drop behind enemy lines onto a point to cause chaos on the front lines and force the enemy to fall back to deal with you. Even something as simple as dedicating half a squad to destroying enemy sunderers and spawn beacons on a base defense can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

By working together as a coordinated squad in a large battle you can accomplish far more than 12 random individuals trickling into a point trying to solo everything ever could.

Where did this 'COD fans' stuff come from? If there's been any group that has promoted the lattice it's been the ex-S1 players who are the mortal enemy of COD and in fact any other fish you care to mention, excluding the VS naturally.

The pro-hex side needed a label to use, that would be insulting yet succinct, so that they could just throw out one quick Acronym, fit '-side 2' onto it, and be able to repeat it ad nauseam. Hence, compare people to COD players, means they are all unintelligent mongoloids, drooling into their keyboards because they are too stupid to formulate strategy. I mean, no it doesn't make sense... but don't ever let facts get in the way of a good point.

But yeah: Since the lattice my outfit has had a noticeable increase in activity. More people have been playing, for longer periods of time, and having more fun acting together in stuff. The lag has been greater sometimes, but honestly I haven't heard as many complaints about it, as things are more hectic and fun for most of the folks I play with.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, our small outfit has been loving the Lattice. Certainly not perfect, and we await further optimization and implementation of other meta elements, but we love it.

learned a new word today. gerbil

PS1 had lattice. And PS1 was a total CoD clone. Right?

EDIT: Again...f*ckit...0_o Browser flipped out on me when I was posting this....to lazy to fix I guess haha

I really dont get this PS2-turning-into-COD whine. COD has a totally different game play and focus. Is it because you cant formulate a proper critique of PS2 and then just call it "COD-like"? Its tiring, just like the MMORPG carebears always bad mouthing WoW.

Not everyone is completely on-board with the lettuce in IR, but it really does allow us to shine. Contrary to popular (or, at the very least, a very vocal minority) belief, larger and longer-lasting battles allow for tactics and organization to shine. Sometimes things turn into a grinder, but battles are a lot more than zerg v. zerg. Insofar as the lettuce encourages zerging, it's because outfits haven't learned to adapt to the new playstyle yet.

There are many things you can do within a tactically proficient outfit to break a stalemate. If a battle is happening between bases, you can fly over in a galaxy and put pressure on their point. Since there are actually pitched battles with lines now, flanking is a lot more effective. It now makes sense to secure tactically advantageous spots between bases.

The stereotype of COD is a mindless twitch shooter where individual skill reigns supreme. The bigger the battle gets, the less COD like it gets.

The lettuce just needs to be balanced. Some of the bases are too defensible, which means you can spend multiple hours fighting in the same three link area. That kinda sucks.

sounds more like an outfit failure on the OP's part. Our outfit has no problems adjusting to lattice fights. Our platoon and squad leaders are just as effective as before.

Real gamers adapt and overcome, the rest come to the forums and cry about it.

Wow five words to ruin a post , I should have posted this when I had more time to think this through ...
I know how hard Ps1 players worked to get this change in place. And I agree emphasis has been put on micro side of squad management.

I made the COD comment because, 48+ people in less than 50 sq meters is a free for all , and it feels just like COD 4. The game feels way more sessional than it did before .
To that grub at the top read the question, this wasn't a complaint I want to know how others feel about lattice and outfits.

Lattice is there to aid solo play, so players know where the fight is and offers more variety than the crown. I've just found it to be limiting by rather forcing too many people into one condensed spot at a time
All up outfits feel less important and less cohesive ,

Richard Gere likes gerbils I hear.

Yes, these days I much prefer lonewolfing Indar, and so far it has been great... its the outfits own fault, they where given complete freedom at game launch, it was their duty to enrich the experience of planetside 2, instead they went for ghostcapping, KOS lists, and generally abusing everybody, so they have now pretty much what they deserve.... cant wait to have lattice on the other two continents...

How cohesive an outfit is has nothing to do with lattice or hex. Outfit cohesiveness is determined by command structure with layers of communication (TeamSpeak organization helps a lot here), and discipline. I've found outfits contributing in battles to be just as effective as before.

If an outfit has focused more on tactics than strategy throughout it's lifespan, then they are even more impactful now than before. This is because the lattice has made tactics more important than strategy, which is how any FPS should be. In an FPS, strategy is fun for maybe 1 out of every 12 players. Tactics are fun for 11 out of 12 players.

Even though it's made tactics more important, it certainly hasn't GOTTEN RID of strategy either.

I completely agree. In a small engagement, individual skill reigns supreme as a single person can take and hold an objective. In a large engagement, a single player will be hard pressed to dislodge an organized squad from an objective.

The lattice in its current form is a huge improvement from the hex system. Lots more fun and more interesting battles. But there is definitely room for improvement. Off the top of my head, two bases I would like to see changed are Scarred Mesa Skydock and Sandstone Gulch.

Scarred Mesa Skydock is infamous for being the single most defensible base in the game, by far. The only way onto the base is via a single jumppad or via gal drop, and its location high above a relatively flat plateau means the defenders can see and destroy armor and aircraft from the limits of render distance. The sole jump pad to the east of the base is extremely close to the base itself and the flat terrain means sunderers can't hide even if they survived the exposed drive to the base. Once the defenders reach 3-4+ squad size, they can easily hold off 3-5x their numbers simply by camping the single jump pad and having sufficient anti-air. A second jump pad, perhaps on the north side of the base, would go miles towards improving the battle flow for this base.

For the SW warpgate, the bridge between Indar Bay Point and Sandstone Gulch is a deathtrap, probably the worst chokepoint on Indar now. And yet this is the only practical way* for the SW warpgate to take Hvar Tech Plant. Due to the terrain, the bridge is the only way to bring land vehicles to Sandstone Gulch. Yet, the bridge is overlooked on the west by Sandstone Gulch and the east by the SE Hvar Garrison. Even if you manage to get across the bridge and capture Sandstone Gulch (whose spawn is pretty much right next to [A] point), you then have to run uphill to exit Sandstone Gulch and attack Hvar Tower. Meanwhile your vehicles crossing the bridge are still getting hit from Hvar SE garrison (no vehicle terminal at Sandstone Gulch).

*The only other way to push to Hvar is by capturing Allatum Biolab and then pushing back west to Hvar SE garrison. By comparison, the North warpgate doesn't have a major chokepoint to get to their tech plant, and the SE warpgate has 2 paths to their tech plant.

Just like COD 4? Where's the kill streaks that reward individual play? Not here because team play is rewarded instead.

In COD I can't form a squad and then expand that to a platoon. Can't heal teammates with a medic. Can't resupply teammates with an Engineer. No keeping a MAX repaired and in fighting condition. No air transportation (Galaxies). No tanks. No mobile fixed spawn points (Sunderers). No buggies. I can't drive in troops or tanks or planes from another point on the map outside of the "50 sq meters battle" from a flank. There's no waypoints to coordinate between teammates letting them know which objective to take or where to rally. There aren't fights in between bases to be able to take a new base. There are no BASES (COD maps everyone is in the bases fighting in circles)! This list goes on and on..... forever.

We jump on your COD comparison because the only thing you mention hurting your outfit is that it feels more like COD.

Nerf bio-labs. There is NO point to them anymore except who brings the most numbers and MAX rushes the best.