Problems with PlanetSide 2 as I see them.

AMEN TO THAT
This guy (BuzzCutPsycho) knows what's up.

Though we have clearly had our differences in the past. I agree with Buzz wholeheartedly on this issue. Though we will go for a base resecure because no one else will usually do it, we won't stick around for it to go through once we've flipped the points and cleared out anyone who could flip it back, why would we? There is no bonus XP for the resecure, it promotes bad gameplay ethics. Everything about the KDR system in place in Planetside 2 promotes bad gameplay ethics. Planetside was unique in it's focus on team play, SOE really needs to bring back that specific element if they want this game to last the 13 years they expect it to.

Focus on the teamplay aspect of the game and fix these flaws.

My god, this may actually save this game.

/signed

/rereads original post twice, carefully

Buzz, you hit it out of the ballpark. Every single point is carefully thought out and explained in detailed fashion, and I agree with every single one of them -- particularly the instagib grenades (a proven fight-spoiler). Between this and Hamma's slightly-exasperated YouTube video, we may be actually able to get the devs' attention.

EDIT: Only minor quibble might be getting rid of windows entirely. Why not just slap impenetrable force fields over them? That preserves visibility for both sides (which is fun), but eliminates the vehicle/grenade spam problem.

This game is dead and buried already, we have few servers with medium populations

I think a lot of these problems would be solved by dramatically increasing infantry health. Infantry dies far too quickly and easily to absolutely everything, including other infantry.

If infantry health pools were 3-4x what they are today, vehicles would be far less effective at farming infantry, and infantry based AA options would be far more formidable.

Ghost capping - Solved by exponential equation, one person will take a literal year to cap a base by themselves, the more people you have the faster it goes.

Honestly its basic maths, it solves one problem and rewards group behaviour.

It is a good summary. I like how you start with stats/kdr. The lack of meta-game makes leveling the only meta-game, beyond just fighting for the sake of fighting. And kills are worth a lot of xp, especially during double xp. But I do farm kills, it is just what you do in PS2.

Anyways, if PS2 devs listen to you at least 50% of the way, PS2 could become good to great. As is, it will only fade into another failed title with die hards playing for a few years.

I don't think he's suggesting that all classes have access to things like C4. What I believe he's suggesting is that, like weapons, unlocking C4 on one class should unlock it for all classes that have access to it.

Also, Combat Medic already has access to C4.

Most people play videogames as an escape from the real world, including the "get ahead at all costs" mentality that permeates most of society. Then again, there are those who play videogames with that same mentality, because they're escaping their inability to do it in real life.

Strawman. I haven't seen anyone actually make that suggestion.

Actually, that would only encourage zerging. What's worse, it would further encourage zerg-capping of empty bases.

As someone already said, PLEASE listen to this guy; he knows what's up.

Agree 100% with KDR and deaths being tracked. Originally I played heavy assault and had fun shooting a few people and dying, just for the fun of it. Now I have to, as he said, resort to "cheesy" tactics to get loads of kills to get my KDR up so I don't look like a scrub. I don't want to farm endlessly in a Lightning / Reaver / MAX, I want to just have fun.

For once...I agree with a TR. Can we please keep this thread up, the devs really need to read what Buzz has suggested. It would really change the game in a good way.

Very nice post BuzzCut; I've gotta agree with it all except with one addendum to one area:

As a Liberator Pilot I must but Argue and Concur with this. The only Solo Effective AA is a Mosquito or Scythe; that cannot be denied, as the AA Maxes provide ample time to flee. However, by the same note, AA Maxes use Flak, which detonates leaving residue in the atmosphere when their proximity fuse detects something - Realistically that includes other flak. As things stand now, the game encourages Zerg Tactics, If 1 AA Max is good, 500 must be better! In Planetside 1 this was not an issue, the flak operated realistically, why can't it here? Pump up the damage, 2-4x - Allow individuals to be useful.


However, by the same note, there does need to be a Counter AA method - in the current mechanics, if you can't see the infantry shooting at you, you can't kill them, you can't even see their tracer fire - as it stands even now, 10 AA Maxes can take out fleets of hundreds, or thousands of planes with no effective counter.

Again, the irony of this thread is painful: at this moment in time, after a good fight was developing on the bridge at jc908, guess where Buzz was? Yup, not on the ground with the moving fight, but in a lib. Yeah, dude straight has no integrity.

TBH, I had only heard bad things about you from playing NC, but you clearly understand this game and the direction it should be heading in. You touched on ever single issue and provided decent if not perfect solutions.

Bravo, I hope this gets some dev attention.

I confess I skimmed but ill go over it again in detail. From what I saw everything seems reasonable. Biggest point is there isn't much recognition for objectives in an objective based game.

It's in no way a measure of individual skill and in my opinion, it's a massive problem with the game. Brink got it right. My main character shows 7.8 K/D but it's outdated and it's currently closer to 9 so I'm not crying about having a lousy K/D. My other HA only character on another server is above 3, IIRC. I'm the MAX in our platoon, easy to clock up that sort of K/D mincing infantry. My poor Engy who's with me when we crash a Bio Lab's K/D is lucky to push 0.5. His job isn't to kill, his job is to make sure I can keep killing. Hence the problem with K/D stats. It's a job that very few people want to do and even fewer that put their hand up will keep pushing when the bullets start flying by my ears. He bugs out, I die then he dies.

Playing a few hours on The Crown or any populated Bio Lab will quickly highlight how much of a problem it is. In order to capture one of these two when they're moderately defended, you need to push en masse and overwhelm the defenders. What invariably happens is the people who want to achieve the objective, push as a scattered mess and those that are scared to die because it'll hurt their K/D, hold back. You fracture your team which makes the attack a lot less effective and easy to repel. Kill the rushers then push the ******* back.

Over the double XP periods, the Crown is the place to grind certs. The amount of Infiltrators that take potshots at my MAX for me to lob a couple of AV's down their throat is astonishing. They would have been put to much better use actually *INFILTRATING*. Can't do that though, have to protect the K/D!

My solution to K/D, remove the D. I like to see how many kills I made, too.

+1

It needs to be repeated as often as possible that KDR is a waste and bad for the game. You can measure skill by looking at the players important stats (revives, kills, captures, repair, etc), and then look at their time spent playing the game. Deaths are meaningless.

That applies to everything in the game, not just AA. Try looking at the bigger picture. Five AA MAX's will kill your lone ESF. What a surprise. Five AA MAX's will not kill 5 ESF's. An individual AA MAX is incredibly weak. An individual ESF is incredibly powerful. AA is not ovepowered. Never in a million years. Unit for unit it cannot compete with the one thing it's meant to destroy. You will always need 2-3 times more AA MAX to beat ESF's. One ESF losing to 5 AA MAX's does not mean AA is overpowered. It means you were outnumbered and should stop flying around on your own.

Where you are right is that the root of the problem lies with everybody being able to do everything. This whole game is about spamming one thing or another. Everything is "overpowered" when there is a lot of it. That's why air is slowly strangling the life out of the game at the moment.

We really need an emoticon for a very deep sigh.

An excellent post. Every point valid. What annoys me is that every single one of them has been made before but has been poo-poo'd by the valiant keyboard warriors that haunt these forums.

It's all very well pointing out these issues but that doesn't excuse you from taking advantage of all them within this game. We are all responsible for our own choice on how we play and blaming the game for how we play is like blaming the fact our cars can go faster than the limit for speeding.

As for the KDR I am as guilty as anyone for it being the first thing I check on startup and the last thing before logging off however I totally agree with it being a massive benefit to team based games like this not displaying it at all. Of course there would be a hue and cry over it but it would be worth it.

Take note of all this SONY. You have the potential for a great game here but at present the problems are getting very close to ruining the fun side of it.

LOL that was a fun farm. Not once did he say he doesn't partake in these activities -- in fact a lot of his opinions are based on how silly easy it is to farm in the libs from his own experience.