Planetside 2 is suffering from an identity crisis! Here's why!

When you start seeing them give away crates of cosmetics and selling keys in the depot, run for the goddamn hills....

I wish they'd just remove all that cheap *** looking plastic halloween mask ******** headgear they released on the first few months and leave only those awesome sci fi helmets they started making a while ago, but I guess it's too late for that now. They shouldn't have been released on the first place. Oh well, at least they realized their mistake and put some real effort on the new armor designs.

What you want to get across I understand but it won't do you any good because you can't have your cake and eat it too.

You can be serious all you want but money has to be used to pay for workers and updates you don't get something free. The devs can keep adding weapons and crap but in the end that doesn't pay the bills if it did it would have been just that.

Further more if you throw subscriptions into this than the major thing you would and will complain about are population numbers being low.

Oh no, I understand why they sell cosmetics. They just went an absolutely lazy way of doing it that only benefited them in the short run, and ruined the game's tone in the long run. Here's a few things that they could do as cosmetics.


1. Different iron sights or sights. Honestly the sights in this game are pretty okay, but they 're so bland. Look at blacklight retribution if you want to know what I'm talking about. Maybe have a kill counter on the sight or something cool like that, just to entertain the player. I know for a fact that I would buy a different sight for like 200 SC.

2. Decals that don't look cheesy and like crap. Maybe take a few of the good looking (not ugly rainbow or crap like that) existing ones, put them on the right or left of the upper chest part instead of the shoulders, and make them look a bit more worn down. Nothing looks more stupid in this game than an NC with worn down armor but a fresh BRIGHT Rainbow decal on his shoulder.

3. Reskin guns. Seriously, everyone wants to look unique. Huge complaint has been how the guns all look alike! Make some cool looking gun reskins. Hell, add a different muzzle flash style and or sound. Maybe an experimental prototype gun variants (statistically same as other guns that can be bought with certs). I'm thinking prototype energy sorta opened up ones for VS, Tactical covert ops guns for the TR, and experiemental railgun types for NC.

4. Different Armor pieces for Character. I don't know, make it so I can see my pistol strapped to my armor, cool little components, that sorta thing. Just don't overprice the individual components. Makes me look unique, and yet not have any gameplay impact. Most importantly, fits with tone you set in the Alpha and Beta images, and CGI trailer.

5. Custom hud looks. Remember how the VS HUD looked like in the CGI trailer? Yeah, sell huds like that (less intrusive on vision though)! Seriously, since you won't let us use 3rd party programs on your game to customize our hud, SELL IT TO US. I want a bad *** TR HUD, sorta styled like how the inside of a mosquito looks like, except ON MY FACE!. Just make sure you don't make minimal ones that have a clear advantage. Hell, make the current one minimal looking, and the other ones just a wee bit less practical BUT WAY MORE BADASS.

6. Extra components for the Vehicles. Make my vehicle have opened up compartments maybe... Maybe add actual armor to the sides and stuff. The current stuff is pretty much good, but maybe a bit more practical and rugged looking.

There. Aside from 6 and 2 are ways to make existing stuff better, 4 is more of a individual component idea instead of entire set of compound armor, and 5, 3, and 1 are completely new! This is how the game could have been less crappy rainbow decals and lumifiber, and more badass epic future war!

^ See the post up above where I replied to this issue ^

I'm still confused with the aesthetics of this game.

Mostly, I think SOE realizes the mistake. The waves of initial cosmetics sort of made their game look ridiculous... and it isn't a game that advertises itself as ridiculous.

Sure - a lot were purchased, but I bet the main reason was more because they were the only things you could purchase and people just wanted to look different. If the early cosmetics had been more like the recent stuff, I'm sure they would've sold just as well.


I wish there were more/better visuals tied to your character's rank and what you've cert'd into.

I agree with OP 100%. The game now looks like a joke. And most of the joke elements, underlights, gold and chrome trim, gaudy camos, aren't even professionally made.

Unfortunately, they've sold this rubbish now, so Pandora's box is opened, I'm afraid, and we all just have to live with it.

I hate this picture... It doesn't properly promote the game, it just makes it look like a toy shooter for kids...

Seeing the game in its current state, I think it might actually be a toy shooter for kids.

First thing i saw from Planetside and what made me play the game was a kick-*** Trailer on TV and not the picture and they are still making and showing new Trailers that still want make me play this game. Dont see the problem.

The game does have a confused identity but it has nothing to do with camos and such it has to do with 'what's it all about'.

I am totally with you on this one.

PS2 is torn between taking itself seriously, like BF3 / ARMA, etc... but plays like an arcade shooter, like TF2, Borderlands, etc...
It's an arcade shooter dressed in a mil-sim costume.

I wish they'd change the art style to be more impressionistic, like TF2 or Borderlands.
That way you'd know it's an arcade shooter just by looking at it.
(This would justify, in players minds, the ridiculous in-game scenarios we currently see.)

If they want PS2 to be more taken more seriously like BF3, ARMA, etc... then some serious game design changes have to be made.
(Remove drop pods, fix weapon imbalance, fix incredibly short TTK, change woeful CSHD to SSHD, etc, etc...)

When I first read the OP I thought 'why is this a big deal'. The more I think about it though, the more I think it's an excellent point.'

It's undoubtedly caused by commercial drive to get players to spend cash quickly on a long list of junk, but it's a shame it couldn't have been done whilst staying true to the core values of the Planetside legacy. The game has become a bit of a mish-mash in both style and content/gameplay.

But I guess it's too late to go back to basics. It is one of the main reasons the game doesn't have the same 'attachment factor' that PS1 had, and is sadly losing it's MMO feel more and more. It's just a shooter.

Agreed, something must be done, but what? I don`t think SOE is interested in option where you can turn off camos.

Nice!! I really like that idea actually, Faravid. Not only would it be very simple to have a Cosmetics On/Off switch in the Settings, for those players who don't like the silliness, but there'd be a net performance gain for that player as well.

It would be a nice idea to be able to turn off these silly cosmetics.
It's always hard for me to resist teamkilling those clowns with ridiculous hats.

So you're basically saying it's OK for the game to be a total **** as long as it is F2P? I wish this game wasn't F2P then.

Hectic slide show action in low gfx details and everyone wearing colourfull mess camos so that I can't tell friend from foe by their outfit, what else could I want.

Are you srs?

All BF series tells us is that orange has to be on the left hand when the gun holds the right hand and supports crippled player by levitating.


PS2 is also an MMO of sorts - lots of different players will be here and they have different personalities. Nothing wrong offering them some arrogant camos for $5 to allow them some eye candy.