[RANT] I'm so >>SICK<< of infinite faction switching ruining our game experience

Just within the last 24 hours I witnessed two 4th faction mass exodus as one faction took the lead in alerts. One faction is having less success than another and 30% to 50% of their pop decides to switch sides, COMPLETELY ruining the fight on the continent and turning a challenging situation into an impossible R A P E!

On Connery twice I was on NC, which was less organized than TR, losing battles, and over the course of 20 minutes a 32%-36% imbalance turned into a 18% - 48% imbalance and remained until the continent locked.

THIS BEHAVIOR DESTROYS THE ENJOYMENT OF THE GAME unless you are one of those solo infiltrators who shoots me every time I try to use my mana turret.

And it's not entirely the players' faults, it's also THE DEVELOPERS FAULT because they couldn't use THE WELL PROVEN system of faction switch cooldown timers that existed in PS1.

If anyone here has a reddit account please paste this post there or otherwise try to sway the devs to make changes. This happens far too often and completely ruins the territory control portion of PS2.

As a single account NC fanatic, I dont understand this kind of behaviour, like its just so sad. lol.

Yah I noticed on Connery the faction that dominates always seems to really dominate. There's hardly any middle ground for good fights. The territorial map shows that. I'd like to see increased bonuses for factions under popped to be about double what they are.

Are you certain it's switching and not just abandonment?

Yep, it's lame. But, the only way they'll fix it if more people did it.

It's like having to crawl through 1000 miles if turd to see sunshine. So do it, faction switch.

I do it nonstop. Literally.

I'll switch between factions during the same fight just to farm depending on the situation because they allow me to. I switch about four times per multi hour session depending on the ebb and flow. I have zero faction loyalty. Until they offer a bonus that makes getting zerged worthwhile and/or they put an end to the fourth empire, I'm going to keep doing it.

About a year ago, the devs stated that pop drops like these were due to people logging off, not switching factions.

Personally, I like to switch to the least popped faction since there are usually more people to shoot at. I make exceptions when I'm trying to aurax a weapon or what not.

If you truly believe people are switching factions, I'd say check out this sites pop monitoring tool. You'll see it's usually log offs.

http://ps2.fisu.pw/activity/?world

I don't think it's people switching sides because it has no benefit - only thing you get from that is spawncamp fights where you can't get kills. When your faction has lower amount of players you get an exp boost and have more stuff to shoot that's why i almost always prefer to be outnumbered.

when i play i play everything, i avoid zergs, both ally and enemy, they aren't fun.

but if you're only playing one faction you aren't making the most of the game.

my playnight might go something like:
start as MCG TR heavy, switch to banshee mozzy, then maybe to pounder lockdown max or anchor AP prowler,
switch to VS, play lasher heavy, then PPA scythe, then maybe some blueshift max, or knife stalker (lumine edge ftw!),
then i might switch to my TR dedicated infil for some trap/amp fun,
then to my NC main for the remainder of the night.

4th factioning to be on the winning side sucks,
but removing the ability to switch factions would ruin the fun of those of us who enjoy making the most out of the game

You're in a very small minority. As soon as one team gets a good lead, the other populations just plummet, 9 times out of ten.

^ ^ ^ ^ This. When there aren't any good fights to be had I just log off and play something else that day. If there was at least a cert advantage to trying to hold off a 4:1 force more people would stick around for tough fights, and overall the game would be better for it. It's not just about getting beat either, as vastly out numbering your enemy has just as little appeal to me. But, too many kids these days don't want a challenge or a fair fight. Maybe Planetside 2 is really a big social experiment..... That's the only way so many things can be such a mess.

It's not switching. It's people quitting.

Get a grip. it's a game.

My main is Vanu and i dont switch to other faction after get all what i want on Vanu,this means weapons,upgrades for clases and upgrades for vehicles...

When I login, I see which faction are the underdogs then go with them*

If the faction I'm playing starts to really out number the opposition, I check who the current underdog is and switch to them.

I'd be pissed if I was stuck in a over pop faction and unable to switch.



*unless I'm playing with friends, then what ever faction they choose.

The Devs actually looked at the login/logoff stats for this a few years ago and found that the actual number of 4th factioners switching during an alert is minimal. There were more switches during the first 15 minutes of the alert than in the last half as well. They were actually surprised by the results. What actually is happening? Players losing an alert get discouraged and decide to end their play session early. This is especially apparent in the later night alerts.

While it might be different nowadays with more players having 2-3 alts that are sufficient BR's to have fun... I'm not sure it would be much different.

It's a similar issue with population. Some people don't even log in if their faction is 30% or below or decide to log into a different faction, both choices makes the issue worse. Those that are playing, tend to cut their sessions shorter because its more frustrating.