Remove Capture the Flag, misc...

Capture the flag should be removed.

Esamir should have been never touched in the first place. Now so many sections of the map are a complete waste.
Get rid of capture zones with no bases. Shattered warpgate put traditional bases there including one in the forrest, great artwork going to waste.

I think at this point it's a pretty straightforward decision. Some like CTF, yes. Those that do find it imperfect and in need of tweaks. But really the vast majority just do not like it. Or they like it so little that they would be ok if others wanted it otherwise.

It's just a matter of dev cost.

Game ain't gonna get new players. A few advertising surges here and there. If they wanna stay up, getting some old players back will help with solvency. Get those annoying bugs fixed, get the servers stable... you don't want to chase off anyone that *might* come back. And then announce a big patch that removes CTF, puts the land bridge on Ti Alloys, and adds some biolabs to Esamir. BAM - surge of returning players.

I think it is fine in a base like bastion since it was considered untouchable, but it deff needs improvement. I completely avoid the flag bases and it breaks my heart that they ruined some of my favorite places to fight like split peaks and a few others.

That being said I am sure bastion was designed that way for a reason, an by changing the base you destroy the lore behind it with the significance of the name.

You guys talking about it needing its own bases it doesn't it is a poorly designed and implemented system. The system needs to be better in a way that incourages more play as opposed to just changing the play slightly. There are plenty of bases that are hardly used and just ran through where it could be implemented.

If they don't want to further develop the system they should use it in place of some generators. That way there development isn't wasted, bases are not ruined, it still adds a new element to the game, but with less impact.

If it is implemented as a generator make the flag a Floppy disc, Key card, or something like that to make it intuitive. You cack the terminal then deliver the codes/virus ect.

Something like this would be nice change, forcing a hack (which could take a minute to complete, could be reduced by certs to the infil class) to capture a base. Spawn a Device to bring to an adjacent tech base one lattice away. Something other than the monotonous zerg to A,B,C. The capture the flag mode is a good change from the current zerg but a bad implementation on how it is done. The bases are to close, Its clumsy and awkward, it leaves out vehicles (mostly) and the community as a whole wants it reworked or changed to bring something new to the battlespace.

Can they also revert every single map removal that happened? This is one of the few decisions that really confused me

Wrel and boys in an effort to combat fight stagnation and get pop more evenly spread out across the map destroyed almost all good bases in the game and biolabs, Esamir was f#cking obliterated

Don’t even get me started on construction, I was skeptical about it from the very beginning and thought too many of what little is left of resources was being put into it for something that really doesn’t add anything to the core gameplay except more frustration on those using it or going against it

Yeah after taking a long break and coming back I couldn't recognize the maps and bases. Instead of randomizing the latices every now and then to change the way maps are fought they just deleted bases and destroyed community favorites. Honestly I miss this game in beta / early release when it was a disaster but still so much fun.

THIS. Lattice is a factor in where people play but mostly it comes down to "is the base fun".

Base X is so awesome that everyone likes to play at it. Bases A, B, and C suck so nobody plays.

It introduces a "stale" problem that needs fixed or it becomes a long term problem. I get that.

So how does RPG fix it?

They introoduce a new base D! Maybe fun, maybe not, but let's give it a try! Wait, no? That's not what they do?
Ok, so they go rework bases A,B, or C right? Make those better so people want to play at them! No? They dont' do that either?

This is what they do: Delete or otherwise castrate base X.

Subterranian Nanite Analysis? All the Biolab satellites on Esamir. Ooh, remember NorthGate on Esamir with the dual foot bridges and the north/south sundy garages? What about the Ti Alloys / Crown bridge?

Every one of these was a "Base X". And they wrecked them.

Did people go play on bases A, B, and C then? Nope. Those bases still suck, nothing changed. They just picked a new "Base X" (that isn't as good as the one before) and they do that. Well some people did. Some people quit. EACH TIME

So now we have CTF - I swear it's like when Apple music inexplicably deletes some artist out of a mix playlist. Suddenly that whole playlist sucks and you just don't want it anymore. CTF did this. Deleted a bunch of our favorite "songs" off the playlist. Westpass is gone from the playlist now. Indar Ex. Crux.

Post from other thread, and I asked the mods to delete it.

The cap the flag system kind of sucks and never should have been implemented in a base like split peaks that was pretty much a fully utilized playground already. It is worse now and much less fun.

Some suggestions:

Revert split peaks

In other bases make it more of a tug of war or a footbal game when the flag drops. It doesn't reset but instead is played from the point where it is dropped after a certain amount of time. Enough time that people can identify the location, and maybe even get to it.

If you can randomize the goals in a way that that made sure bases were used in the entirety that would be great also.

I hope you can use some of this stuff and even if you can't revert split peaks.

i played this game from march 2013 up until january this year,
i've spent a small fortune on this game (i'm talking THOUSANDS of £, not even counting the near constant sub.)
i thought i would be playing PS2 until i die or it gets cancelled.

but then wrel came... and i've since quit (or atleast i'm on an indefinite hiatus)
and that is largely down to CTF making maps utterly unbearable.
i wasn't one of the players who can just camp a fight all night, i play the objective, i try to win alerts.
and when you are on a map like esamir sitting in your sunderer looking for a base to go to and all you have in any direction are uncappable CTF bases, uncappable containment sites and "construction bases"
you just think to yourself, why freaking bother?
you won't take any of it without a zerg, so i just log off.

reverting wrels CTF c%%p would be the biggest step to saving planetside 2.
he may be gone, but while CTF remains he will continue to bleed this game of its playerbase.

Wrel is gone man and the cheaters have taken over so you have to blame someone else now. So you are complaining that you can't take some bases with your armor zerg? You can take containment sites with a small number of players pretty easy, and while I don't like the CTF either you could use your armor zerg for cover. We all know that armor zergs are a problem too what you guys call fun which is armor zerging and farming spaws makes the game nanites for everyone else. You can't even push back against armor anymore since the sunday buff so CTF is them trying to develope there way out of the hole they created by giving in to you guys in the first place. So people can try to play the game instead of being a part of your farm. If I am off base here sorry, but that is how it read to me.

See you can contribute!

I agree with you, the bases should be reverted and a separate "game mode" that incorporates Ground Vehicles ( I feel like Air vehicles would be a little to OP for travel ) and team work between bases such as a tug of war or football would be more interesting than running flag from a to b 12 times. Having it randomly select a close friendly base to run it to would be nice because then no one would know where it has to go and you couldn't anticipate it. Once its in play you have to return the flag in order to overturn the cap attempt. Cap attempt could be started with a hack (another job for an Infil to do some back caping)

I think CTF has an absolute monstrous potential for the game. Thats why I suggested it for years.

The problem is execution.
First of all you finally add a new game mode that can alleviate the boredom of doing the same things at the same bases over and over again, and you make them standard for only select bases. They should have made these randomly assigned to bases every single time a continent is unlocked! That way one day you can play a king of the hill battle in a base and the next its a CTF one.

Secondly you want a system where both attacker and defender can play the CTF part of the game. That means that the defenders should be able to capture or recapture flags the attacker captures. Also one big thing with CTF is the “almost” moments where one side or the other almost loses or claims the flag. You want players to feel important being the flag carrier, defending the flag carrier, defending the flag, keeping routes open etc.

They could have done this for example by making the Sunderer the capture point for the flag and giving defenders the option to take flags from it by either destroying it or picking them up from the Sunderer. Some systems could be added to prevent griefing (say a flag carrier who just holds the flag but doesn’t score).

I’d also add changes to how flag captures capture a base. Instead of an instant “congrats here’s the base” they would simply start the capture timer if you have enough. Then the more flags you capture the faster it goes while the defenders are tasked with retaking flags to counter it.

You can also change what happens if flags are dropped to change how players act. A high-risk flag capture would mean that if the flag is dropped, the owners of the flag can return it to base by simply picking it up. A lower risk version would see the flag as an object with health that needs to be destroyed to return it and the most difficult one would require the flag owners to pick it up and bring it back to their own position.

You could also imagine a flag capture system where flags are simply capture points that need to be brought to a pedestal you control. The pedestal can be assigned (attackers have a few on the outskirts, defenders a few close to the center of the base). The alternative is that you need to access a terminal to turn a pedestal into your control before you can bring a flag there. You can even have a system where players buy a pedestal at an infantry terminal and can place it almost anywhere. Letting players control where they want to defend a flag once its captured.

Another version would see players swap flags around. A simple example: we have a green, blue and red flag but they are on the wrong pedestal. The attackers try to put the flags in the right order and each correct flag counts as a captured point, the defenders need to keep it scrambled and each flag on a wrong pedestal.

And another version requires the players to grab a flag, charge it up somewhere and then return it from the place they stole it to count it as a capture and start the timer.

Yet another version requires the teams to bring a flag, rather than steal it. This means that instead of stealing a flag and being pretty safe once you reach your frontline, you need to bring the flag to the pedestal that is likely under the opposing team’s control to score a capture. Preferably the pedestals are placed almost on top of the attacker/defender spawnpoints. With flags being visible on the map and minimap it means everyone can see the flag coming and it requires teamwork to get it through or to stop it.

Planetside 2 could sport some unique variations of CTF. The problem is that the execution was botched, not that CTF is a bad idea.