Returned after 5 years break, looks like not much has changed but the game feels much harder.

I've played the game since launch (don't remember if I participated in alpha or beta) for like half a year. I played as an infiltrator (CQB, useless sniper and semi-helpful DMR) to be able to pick fights I could win and not to feed enemies too much. The reason was in my terrible AMD CPU laptop that wasn't able to sustain more than 17-25 FPS.
Years passed, I bought a decent PC and a couple of days ago decided to check how the game is going right now. To my big surprise, the game hasn't changed much: same zerg rushes, same almost useless tanks and annoying aircrafts, killing infantry is still worthless (thanks to medics' revives), same domination of heavy assaults. I'm not saying it's bad: it has it's own charm =)
The problem I'm facing right now is that now it's much, I mean really MUCH harder to play for me. People never stand still, always strafe while running and I find myself spotted way too often. But what annoys me the most is how accurate people have become nowadays. I'm still decent at stealthing to enemy bases, flanking and sneaking behind the enemy lines. But now it doesn't work: I constantly get spotted and instakilled. I'm perfectly aware of recon darts, new sidearms and such stuff, but this is beyond me. Another problem is that I literally can't kill anyone in CQC: even if I sneak behind someone and open fire, it's still not a guarantee that I'll kill the target. It's quite an often situation when the "prey" turns around and kills me with a a couple headshots. I could assume that my aim sucks for precise headshots in CQC, but the amount of headshots I get is ridiculous and completely not fun to say the least. The only possible way for me to maintain roughly 1:1 K\D ratio is to return back to sniping people from a safe distance (which is pointless in current meta). In any other role I'm instagibbed without any serious chance to respond.

Also, what has happened to Phaseshift? The new version feels so uncomfortable and clunky compared to any BASR or SASR and it's really much harder to headshot moving people. The recoil is atrocious, muzzle velocity is slow and I actually have to aim in the neck to actually hit the head. Is the projectile's hitbox that much smaller than of regular rifles?

You seem to have described the experience of just about every new player (including when I was new). The game is brutal for beginners. Also, there are many players now who have years of experience with the current iteration of the game and chain headshots as a fight-winning strategy. Sounds like you are running stalker (or infill of some sort) and the cloak is not as effective as it used to be for all sorts of reasons.

You could try joining a decent outfit and running with squads and platoons. If you like stalking and being away from support the Blackhand can be a useful sidearm for longer range pistol kills.

As has already been mentioned, there is a certain proportion of the players who have been in the game for a long time. They have spent more time in the game and have been active more recently than you, OP. Current infantry gameplay revolves around consistent headshots with high DPS weapons.
As far as that is concerned I would like to draw your attention to the implant system which was not present at launch and which has been changed since its original implementation: every loadout can equip two implants. One of them, "Battle Hardened" reduces the amount your character's aim "flinches" when you take damage. Almost everyone who goes for headshots in close quarters has this implant equipped. You may want to give it a try. I myself don't use it, but that is only because I don't give a rats **** about being competitive in honest CQC.

Now for your aforementioned preferred class, the Infiltrator. Due to available weapon and cloak choices, the Infiltrator is now much more than the mere sniper or marksman that it was at launch. SMGs are available are available as primary CQC weapons to all classes, giving the Infiltrator the ability to engage much more effectively at close quarters than at launch. Also, the Nano-Armor Cloaking ability now passively grants 100 shield points and the universal utility item "Auxiliary Shield" grants an other 50, bringing the Infiltrator's maximum potential HP (before resistances like FLAK and nanoweave) to 1050 points, the same as other classes.
As for the stealth abilities in general, any experienced player can easily spot the glassy, glossy, transparent shape of a cloaked Infiltrator during daylight. Also, all primary weapons have access to the darklight attachment, which highlights cloaked Infiltrators in their faction colors. Anyone using that attachment can see you very clearly if they look in your general direction within... IDK... 15 meters or so?
Stealth isn't as effective as it used to be. Don't consider it to be an invisibility cloak. Treat it like camouflage, it can help hide you, but only when the enemy isn't looking at or for you.

Then there's the Phaseshift, my favorite sniping weapon. When you switch the fire mode, you get the one-hit-kill mode. Yes, it has an attrocious recoil, but that is the price we pay for having a weapon with infinite ammo, no bullet drop and the ability to kill in one shot. It is also one of the very few sniper weapons that can be used effectively with a suppressor - you can still squeeze 200m out of it. I never bother with the "semi auto mode", I only use it for stealthy headshots.
I also took a break from the game and I was very surprised when I noticed that I no longer had to charge the Phaseshift to kill with a single shot. I gladly accept the increased recoil as a price for no longer having to charge headshots, now it fires on click, not on release, that makes a huge difference.

You may have more questions, but on these three issues I suggest the following:
1. check out implants, see about "Battle Hardened"... And all the others too, just bear in mind that getting them is a gamble
2. If you're still into Infiltrators, consider all cloaking, suit and utility options for maximum survivability, I'm sure there are guides in the class subforum
3. The Phaseshift is a weapon which shines when used with subtlety, meaning cowardly sniping with a suppressor, I love it even more now

Finally, don't let the harsh gameplay discourage you, Planetside 2 is still the only game of its kind. Sure, there are people who you will simply not beat in CQC right now, but there is so much more to the game than just that. Also, decide for yourself where you fight, sometimes... Damnit, the postman just disrupted my train of thought. Anyway, welcome back.

Still got areas of the game I've not touched yet and still entertained enough to put up with the issues.

Sure I'll moan, sure I'll ***** but I'm still content for paying customers to farm

OP,

Consider you can now access the new continent of Koltyr where you can test freely all the weapons, implants and equipment and fight there with other players.

You will not get any XP/certs but neither your deaths/kills will be affected.

Given your long absence, you need to re-familiarize with the game and Koltyr is your playground. Use it.

There are no other grand-scale open-world MMOFPS games. While I don't relally like how the game is much closer to CoD and BF series rather than to ArmA or Squad series, the sheer scale of the battles alone outweights all the downsides... What really makes it not fus is that for years I trained myself to aim at torso in ArmA (more convenient kills, especially as marksman) and because of this I completely suck in any kind of CQC scenarios. What's more strange is that at ~100m-120m many light assaults and heavies are able to headshot me with their 2x-4x scopes in burst mode.

Hey man, I totally get you.
I only do headshots when I'm sniping, otherwise I go for body shots as I'm pretty much hardwired to do that from my real life training. But in Planetside 2, headshots really seem to be the way to go for successful CQC. So now we have two options, either we force ourselves to re-train ourselves to do headshots (which I will NOT do) or we find a way to work around it in order to have fun.

Maybe blaming my training for my inability to consistently score headshots is just an excuse, maybe I simply don't have the necessary reflexes, maybe I'm just too lazy to put in the effort to get better. I'm a lazy git and I'm not looking for a challenge or to improve my less-than-mad "skillz", I just want to have fun in Planetside 2.

I work around the headshot issue. Here's what I do: I play like a coward. I stack survivability, which means I use the Auxiliary Shield instead of explosives on many loadouts. I avoid CQC and try to flank enemies at medium range. I ignore CQC gameplay and play support classes for the objectives and XP instead of for the kills. When I am forced into CQC, I use shotguns. I use vehicles like a *****, one of my favorites is the Sunderer with ammo, FLAK and a Fury grenade launcher - a true XP mine. I only use my MAX unit for FLAK.

That's just my perspective, I just look for a casual, fun and easy way to play the game, while mostly avoiding infantry CQC, which may be somewhat weird 'cause I served as an infantry NCO. But the funny thing is, Planetside 2 has such a wide variety of gameplay scenarios that you can play it without actually engaging in infantry CQC. Anyhow, I just thought I'd give some insight on how I find enjoyment in Planetside 2 while working around how the game feels... well... "hard"

Similar solutions here: due to my age my reaction time aren't exactly top notch so I have two different set of loadouts:

-long to mid range:high magnification scopes, vertical grip, HVA and in general high dmg/low rof assault rifles, carbines and lmg (honestly lmg aren't the ideal tool for those engagements, even the ursa/tmg-50/saw family)

-short to mid range:x2 sights, laser, SPA, low dmg/high rof weapons ("bullet hoses") and most of all lighting fast reload

The load out dictates the gameplay:no cqc at all in the first setup (if forced I switch to the sidearm) and no long range engagement in the second setup

It kind of works if you have an idea about where you will fight.

The problem is that CQC is the only viable role in PS2: it's really hard to find a scenario when a bunch of marksmen and snipers could actually decide an outcome of a large battle. The reason is that medics can infinitely revive fallen comrades and even if you alone killed all the enemy group but medic survived, your efforts are kinda futile. I imagine that if DBG removes long-range infantry weapons from the game (sniper, battle and scout rifles), the balance won't change a lot. Thus CQC or close-range sniping (which I also suck at) is the only viable option to be useful in this game. As a sniper my certs\hour income is so f@cking low that farming 1000 certs for a new full-auto pistol (to compensate the lack of aim when i'm caught) would take me literally weeks.

For myself I've made a choice: i will try my best to improve and give a game a chance. But now I see one of the reasons why PS2 is not popular: most newcomers would rather return back to their cozy matchmaking in CS, Underwatch or Battlefront instead of eating **** from br120 veterans.

If you want to farm certs unless you are a cqc god the best way is play engineer or medic.

You forget vehicles! Learn the Harasser or for a large time investment (100s of hours) learn the ESF (empire specific fighter). Kill sunderers and keeping people from reaching the points is something they both can do well. If you really like infantry, then yes, go medic and stay close, but behind the front lines. You'll get lots of revives and be able to finish off people who just killed the guy you want to revive.

If you want to be sneaky with an infiltrator, go stalker infiltrator and go hunt isolated enemy snipers. Sneak to within 5m behind them and then headshot them while they are aiming at your team - or even knife them. Don't spot them and never uncloak until you are ready to attack (they can hear both uncloaking and spotting). They will not spot you if you circle 100m or so behind them and then close on their position (they can see you when you move, but it's hard for them at even 25m). However, be aware that Valkeries often run scouting radar (many vehicles can but usually only Valkeries do) and scouting radar spots you on the mini-map even when cloaked. Also, if you run, then infiltrator spotting darts/detectors can spot you too.

If you want to CQC, then you can always pull a Max, but be careful they attract C4 like flies and watch for tank mines.

Harder than 2013????

I played 2013 too, and no 2013 was much harder than now :/

2013 you need to hit the head hitbox to 100% to get head shot, now they clean it to 70%, Auto Aim (look at the Reaver, how he hit now, 2013 you will miss 90% of your shoots, now you hit 90% of your shoots)
2015 absolut infantery buff vs vihecles, din`t make it harder, it`s more easy now.
2013 PPA, look what is PPA now, just a jocke to 2013
2014 they implant coyotes for new Pilots, din`T make it harder, more easy to get kills.
2013,2014,2015,2016 lolpods nerf and nerf, it`s not like 2013, now you get hitet and still can runn.
2016 Hooverframe nerf, for ESF.
2016 hard buff to NSX weapon system, (it`s now the strongest), not like 2013 the strong VS systems XD


oh yes, locks, can turn 180 degrees since 2014 and do not fly in the mountain anymore

than the other nerfs, for Tanks, Sundy and the Weapons, exeb. ´Skyguard buff.


No, 2013 was much harder, but just more fun like now

oh vorgett, ya the Alert was 2013 harder than now XD
now you can ghostcap.
2013 only fights for alert, about biolaps, amp and techplants.


to time, you don`t need to cert some weapon, for gamplay, just cert NS system and you are fine in all situations

The game should bring fun, or at least a feeling of progression and accomplishment: invested ~800 certs I've been farming for a week into basic loadout, spent a couple of days in VR training and found myself in a situation where I'm constantly hunted by br120 pilots (on obviously max tuned aircrafts). Decided to play some CQB (got tired of sniping) and finished up with 3\19 k\d ratio. After a stressful day at work I get additional stress in game.No wonder newbies leave the game...

I've been playing since 2013 and I've been making characters and discarding characters since about 2015 in mockery of the "poor new player" affliction people talk go on about. I boast little but I am willing to doubt that I need to be BR50 or have a highly-tuned anything to stomp all over you, all the while under the visual indications of a low BR player.
How does that thought make you feel?

Now, however that feeling is, throw it away and look to your left and your right. The stock-faced allies on your sides are as equally likely to be in the same boat as you as they are exactly like myself. You're not a single-player protagonist so you don't have to throw yourself against the (game) world on your own. Nor do you have to feel like the world is against you in particular. You're just another grunt. Those players are just another grunt. I'm just another grunt.

You have to decide what accomplishment is because the game is just going to throw meaningless things at you otherwise.

What changed in those 5 years: Nanomesh was preventing high headshot multiplier weapons (sniper rifles) from getting one shot kills. They removed nanomesh protection from the head but kept the headshot multipliers on non sniper guns.

Net result: TTK for headshots is faster than (network latency + server latency + human reaction (250ms or so)). You are playing against veterans that are reeeeeaaally good at headshots.

Practice will increase your skills in a linear fashion. The headshot mechanic in the game will make your deadliness increase in an exponential faction.

You are dying faster because you suck and the game punishes you for it.

It's painful but you're just going to have to get better. It can be done.

I agree that close-medium range combat is where most Infantry gameplay is. Some other reasons for the loss of the sniper game are as follows:
1) Vehicles dominant the spaces between bases. Without Infantry spread out and running around in the spaces between bases, there just isn't a long distance game that matters.
2) (as you noted) Players stopped standing still and instead do the anti-sniper shuffle. This makes Sniping much harder even in those cases where it can be done.
3) Lattice compressed all battlefronts, which makes flanking much slower unless you use a vehicle to travel.
4) Map Knowledge by players over years of player means they know and can check the best Sniping spots. This is the same reason why players can find and kill Sunderers so well. If players were using something like random Maps, they wouldn't have the knowledge to check and shut down the best hiding spots.

For many players, "Harder" in a PvP game usually means difficulty for them to do well vs. other players. Which makes it relative to the player. So while YOU may have found 2013 harder, other players may have found 2013 easier.

I definitely found 2013 easier. But I can appreciate that you found it harder.

An experienced vet starting a new Character isn't the same experience or degree of difficulty as a New Player. When I created 4 alts and wanted to level them up, I did it on stock ESFs. That's not really something a New Player could do.

I do appreciate that you're saying expensive Loadouts aren't essential and don't make the huge impact many new players thing they do, and I agree with you on that.

Halved mouse sensitivity by a lot (from 1200 DPI to 800) , then lowered ADS and scoped sensitivity from 0.75 to 0.4 and finally it became much easier to land headshots from medium to long range with 6x-8x scope. Still have huge problems with CQC: very often I die literally instantly from a short burst into my head. Before each game session I spend around 10-15 minutes in VR practicing headshots with SMG, pistol and Phaseshift but I'm still get rekt in CQC.

Part of the problem is that hit detection is client side (hits & movement register on their computer and are then sent to the server and finally to your computer to tell you that you were hit) so if they lag, then they will hit you before you see their shots, but the hits will still kill you. You would think that this would hurt them more than you, but because download speed is always faster than upload speed, it actually helps them. They will receive information about you faster than you receive information about them. It's usually only milliseconds in difference, but in CQC milliseconds make all the difference. This is a big problem on Connery with massive numbers of Asians playing with VPNs.

Same trouble in ARMA3 and hhosting laggers, to say nothing sneaky scripters that don't go on full rampage, but rather use maphacks and wallhacks instead of aimbots and godmode.

I found a solution for myself: BATTLE RIFLE!!! It has everything I need for close and midrange assassination:

1. it's silent even without suppressor
2. it's accuarate
3. it has 20 bullets in mag, and you need 2-4 shots to kill a target
4. the spread is really easy to control, recoil is minimal (after BASRs)

I like Eidolon way more than Nyx because I can afford myself missing more and in ~70m engagements the TTK feels equal. And can't wait for new Battle Rifles arrivan to Auraxis.
Have a plan to get Nanoweave 5 and cert Nano-armor cloak to full for CQC.

One of the [many] good things of PS2 is that you have so many combined options to build your play-style, so good luck with the Battle Rifles

Don't forget to read http://iridar.net/battle-rifles/ : you will find there lots of info about Battle Rifles and different weapon setup.