[Rant] The new SMGs are AMAZING (but...)

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by HAXTIME, Nov 19, 2017.

  1. HAXTIME

    Summary:
    • Weapon-design in PS2 is dreadful, for the most part
    • New SMGs are glorious
    • Many old weapons seem even more horrendous in comparison
    • What do
    The new stuff

    So the new empire-specific SMGs have been on the Test Server for a little while now, you too can hop on and give them a try. These weapons are amazing. Not counting some of the latest NSX weapons, they represent an entirely new level of quality:
    • Amazing aesthetics, feel, and handling
    • Solid take on empire-specific aspects and features
    • High-quality design standards


    :eek:


    Legacy weapons

    Now here's the thing. My biggest (and kind of only) issue with Planetside 2, right from the beginning, for 5 years now, has been the quality of weapons (or the lack of quality, more like). It has been, for the most part, dreadful: designs look amateur and repetitive, power and impact are akin to nerf guns, sound effects are on the level that I could create in my own-made synthesizer app in 5 minutes, and so on, you name it.

    Of course, there are a few gems here-and-there, we've got to see increasingly great stuff, the NSX series especially raised the bar considerably, but overall weapon design is still worse than that many leading FPS games from more than a decade ago!

    These new SMGs are different though, and they put a huge emphasis on the rest of the choices:
    1. Just hop onto the test server
    2. Shoot the dummy targets with them for 5 minutes, get an overall feel of how they work
    3. Try a few skins, attachments, customize them to fit your style
    And now equip the 1st or 2nd generation SMGs (Cyclone, Armistice, Sirius). I don't know what you think, but it just feels awkward. No, I feel awkward. The gap between these is abysmal.

    For me, deciding on a "favourite gun" always started from how it feels: is it a solid choice with good impact, solid look, and nice handling? Or is it a simple makeshift bullet-spitter that looks as if it was hacked together by entry-level pirates in 5 minutes in the Sahara? Or better yet: is it a plastic toy gun? :rolleyes:


    Conclusion

    Now that players get a real taste of what good weapon design can be, many legacy alternatives will look very weak and dull in comparison.

    I'm wondering what the next step for Planetside 2 is, in the area of weapon design:
    • Are we going to see redesigns of atrocities like the TRAC-5 and the like?
    • Or, are we going to continue seeing two distinct worlds of quality? Are we simply going to tolerate the rest?
    • Up x 4
  2. Corporate Thug

    I think these new SMGs are a bad idea. Too much damage, why even bother using carbines or assault rifles with these in the game? I primarily play VS and think that their new SMG will be OP in comparison given it's ROF.

    Instead of new SMGs I would have much preferred a new continent while we still have some pop left, or a new empire specific vehicle.

    I'm happy with all the weapons that we have in the game currently and don't think that we need more. A good portion of the player base just Auraxiums most weapons and don't ever really use them after, though I don't think that will be the case with these new SMGs, but that says to me that we have enough good weapons that players can choose their favorites for each situation. Why give us these swiss army knife SMGs? Player retention is much more important that making a few bucks from weapon sales, or even marketing which this game really lacks in my humble opinion.
    • Up x 2
  3. FateJH

    To be honest, I'm not certain if I like the designs of the new SMGs at all.
    • Up x 2
  4. Campagne

    Hmm. I don't want these SMGs to be introduced in their current iteration.

    NC gets ~200/500 #7 with a small magazine, and is seemingly a direct upgrade to the existing AC-X11 for all classes.

    TR gets a point & click adventure game version of the Cyclone, which features an interesting and unique attachment.

    VS gets a fully-intentional no-skill spam cannon which requires no aim whatsoever, while still maintaining super DPS.

    Exactly why would any of these be considered "balanced," even just compared to their own factions? NC's SMG's design is lazy, uninteresting, and extremely predictable. TR's SMG has the exact same issues as the Gatekeeper did; Super easy to use with really solid DPS. I guess they didn't learn from history. VS' SMG as pointed out by the video literally doesn't even require the reticle to be over an enemy. There is nothing else to say.

    And on top of it all, the TR's SMG is stepping into NC territory and the VS' is overlapping with TR's!! Why can't we just have nice things for once?

    At least they look nice. Probably gonna get lots of sales I'm sure. :rolleyes:
  5. CMDante

    TR one looks like absolute ****.

    Death to side magazines
  6. Corezer

    the old models are functional as bases, but yeah they need to be gone over again for details. details are the key, get the curves right, really make the rails sharp, make sense of what's going in/coming out where, etc.
    • Up x 1
  7. Liewec123

    i can see why they're pretty damn OP,
    this game is F2P for the vast majority, and to make money they usually just pump out another NS cross-faction thing.
    these are the first faction specific toys we've had in a long time, 3 weapons instead of 1 cross-faction one.
    that means 3 times the resources, its a significant investment for them so they need it to sell.
    that means they need it to be OP.

    but as someone who plays this game i do agree that they are all way over the top.
    NC infils pretty much having gauss saws,
    TR LAs jumping around with the mother of all oneshot CQC weapons (1,5k burst damage)
    VS hipfiring people to death from 30m with their ingame hitbox hack :p

    THOUGH we all need to remember, this is PTS,
    we've seen plenty of OP things on PTS that have even been balanced or simply shelved.
    • Up x 3
  8. TerminalT6

    Does the VS hitbox hack prevent you from firing close to objects? it increases the size of the projectile, meaning the corner of a wall could theoretically eat all your shots if you don't peek far enough.

    Still OP tho, imo
  9. CaptCran

    TR weapon at 600rpm??? That's not their trait..... :( Very disappointing.
  10. LegendarySalmonSnake

    TR infiltrator doesn't grip the magazine. FFS devs!

    More like release it OP, realize their "mistake" then nerf it after an adequate amount of time. :p
    • Up x 1
  11. Pelojian



    don't worry, EQ2 learned this skill from PS2 and PS2 learned 'standard, CE, ultra $$$ CE edition' skill from EQ2.

    so you can commiserate with EQ2 players.

    i dunno what to think about the shotgun part of the new ES TR smg though, shotguns in this game have been pretty bad for a long time in CQC compared to other weapons.
    • Up x 1
  12. FLHuk

    Anyone that's played this game for a while knows exactly what this coming week is going to be like.....

    I shall be in a tank ill they're down tuned :D
  13. Icehole1999

    Well, they'll leave them OP as Hell until they make a comfortable margin from the sales. Then they'll "realize" that the weapons aren't balanced and nerf the **** out of them. If the price is comparable to what we're being charged for weapons now I'll probably buy one just because I need a new toy to miss the bad guys with.