SC Black Market - increase PS2 Revenue stream

My idea is simple and it kills two birds with one stone...

Create a Black-market, that allows players to purchase other factions weapons for station cash.

This would be a great way to increase revenue for PS2 and it would put to rest the endless crying that faction A's weapon X is too OP. If a player thinks weapon X is OP, then put your money where your mouth is and Buy it on the black market with SC.

This idea is not unprecedented in the Planetside Franchise, considering in PS1 you could loot the other factions weapons and use them.

This is also not a balance issue either, if weapon X is fine for one faction A to use, then it would be fine for a Faction B to use.

This is not a Pay 2 Win issue either, since these weapons are available free for all. However if you do not want to spend money to use this weapon, then you need to join the faction that supplies it....

So pay to remove faction identity even more ? ... Hmm I'm thinking the lack of diversity and faction traits is one of the many reason they are in the situation in the first place ..

So yeah why not ... Horse has bolted no point shutting the barn door now

What about this scenario:
X IS OP and now factions A, B and C use it.

I like a part of the concept though, would still be cool to buy stuff with a 50% increase in price from the blackmarket with SC AND certs.

Long answer: THAT would definetly put the game on top of the pay2win line, maybe not cross the line, but on top of it, i prefer the game not close to the line like it is now, thanks!

Short answer: NO.

Add a 3000 cert cost to it as well to make it fair to no subscribers and you got yourself a deal.

I would drop SC on that.

TR Minigun and VS Lancer on my NC heavy....yup

What the hell? Thats an entirely different thing to what youre suggesting.

Looting from PS1 was there as a last ditch effort for a player who just ran out of bullets. They have to take what they find, if they wanted to use it later then they had to make it to and deposit the weapon in a locker, and of course it actually requires someone to die.

You cant remove what isn't there.

It's a PS1 Jack Hammer Storm situation all over again. Lockers full of Jack Hammers.

No one ever looted a Beamer.

There needs to be limitations like vehicle based weapons but as far as infantry goes I feel this ideas is very good. And I say vehicle based off of ESF for instance as each aircraft have different features and capabilities. To give a Mossy a Vortek for instance would create quite a problem for balance as the Mossy has the smaller signature but weaker gun, switch that up with a better gun and you have OP in regards to air balance.

Black market in that case should also allow me to buy other empire's weapons with certs,albeit with like a 20% increase of the cost when sold to the soldiers of that empire.

I'm pretty sure that's heresy.

Needs to be though more, Why would I get a GD-7F if the serpent is 1/4 the price, how much would the orion cost, why would anyone get the cougar if the razor is 1/4 the price. The pricing system needs to be completely reworked.

Second problem is you removing faction identity, if you want to go play NS warrior then go play CoD or BF because this game is based on faction diversity and asymmetrical balance.

Third is that you can now make the perfect load out that kills everything in its path. Imaging a Vanguard with the Vulcan on top and the prowler main cannon. This point is mainly a vehicle problem because they're more asymmetrically balanced.

A better idea would be to implement a loot system, you can carry X amount of capacity and each weapon you pick up is worth X capacity, obviously the bigger the weapon the more space it takes up. Restrictions could be :
-You only loot the weapon the player was holding so you can't loot the Lancer of a heavy who had his orion out.
-No looting NS or your own faction gear, you could even tie in lore saying friendlies see people looting their old comrades bodies are often mistaken as enemies and shot on sight, top brass on your faction have made a rule that you cannot loot friendly gear due to the large spike of friendly fire incidents.
-Cannot loot max weapons, can't have a blue shift grinder max.
-Looting takes time set depending on the capacity the weapon it takes up, say you must stop over the body crouch and hold X key for X amount of time to loot, would say 2 seconds for pistols and 10 for launchers (not solid numbers)
-You cannot use different weapon classes, don't want no shotgun infiltrator running around. You may be allowed to use the weapon you just picked up if your class is capable of using it (maybe only for certain classes like infiltrator or LA where you constantly run out of ammo while flanking.)
-You cannot loot an item twice, like if some used his looted Orion you cannot loot said weapon again.
-Only able to loot once a corpse has despawned to remove realism issue like the player not having a weapon when he responded or moral issues like desecrating a corpse. (Say 10 sec after the corpse despawns, the weapon despawns) [sorry guys, you can't T-bag shot stab and desecrate that MLG 420 1337 PRO all at the same time].
-You only gain the weapon in your storage if you deposit it at a nearby sundie or drop off point.
-Add utility for sundies to have a drop off point (sundie owner, not current drive gains experience for deposit weapons say 5 xp for each weapon)
-Add storage cabinet for harraser and flash.
-5 seconds for you exclusively to claim the dropped weapon before it's a free for all (timer still counts down if your dead)
-Instant looting lock for killing someone who is looting (prevent people from killing you just for the weapon your looting.)
-Gain 25 xp for recovering a fallen friendly weapon.
-Every so BR gains you more weapon storage capacity.
-Redeploy will cause you to lose looted weapon so you must choose wisely when you want to use the weapon.
-Looted weapons must be hand equip by default so you don't accidentally equip the weapon. (Add option in setting to auto equip looted weapons.)

■Here's how SOE could earn money from it.
●F2P players get X amount of weapon storage capacity.
●1st time SC purchases allows you to store so you feel like you get rewarded for contributing to the game and remove those I don't want a membership but I've dumped $100+ dollars into the game issues.
●Like the 1st time SC purchase, make 1st time member also granting you 1 more permanent weapon slot that is the highest capacity.
●Every time you make a new transaction, you get temporary storage capacity depending on the size of purchase you made (any type of purchase that SOE gains money).
●Add the ability to temporary purchase storage slots similar to boost but do not take up a boost slot.
●Once you dump a certain amount of money, you gain more weapon storage capacity.
●Membership gains you temporary storage slots depending on the membership level.

Note : no numbers are set in stone. All player carry the same amount of capacity and is none upgradable to prevent P2W or making F2P feel cheated.

This could add a new source of revenue and encourage people to spend money on this game while not affecting combat. The benefits it adds is also encourages existing players to keep on supporting the game. Also this does not affect balance in anyway and there is no P2W argument as it does not gain you any combat advantages over an equally skilled player.

In PS1 it was referred to as looting the corpse. No need to set up taverns and trading posts (this isn't WOW). You kill someone then loot weapons for which you have purchased similar styled weapons and soe sets up a locker (which you could buy/rent for certs/sc).

If you want station cash by selling weapons in game that's never going to happen. Better to use your talents by getting a job instead of trying to make your game time a job that will pay for the station cash you want/need.

I gave a new system that could work in planetside 2, looting a corpse comes up with morale issues for sensitive people and will turn away the more people since this is a f2p and you can't simply loot a corpse, medics kill you and revives the dead person you looted, is he missing a weapon now?
I also think you misread, I didn't say trading and I know how PS1 looting system worked, I simply gave a suggestion to integrate it unto PS2 with as little flaws as possible and everything I say has to be taken as a grain of salt because nothing is set in stone.

I was also against the selling of other faction gear so I'm just going to take it as you misread my post.

NO, you could also loot weapons and store them. you could also hack enemy vehicles and use those as well. So like I said it is not unprecedented for one faction to be able to use another factions weapons and/or vehicles.

#1 Faction identity is over rated.
#2 Faction Identity is still preserved. only players willing to spend SC on the black market will have access to another empires weapons.
#3 PS1 didn't have an issue with faction traits and players could loot other factions weapons and store them and even hack their vehicles.

No, this needs to be SC only. IMO it is already way to easy to earn Certs for weapons, and if you allowed players to purchase via the black market with certs, Then they would just forgo spending SC on their factions weapons and simply spend it on the top of the class weapons, which may be in another faction.

Limiting this to SC only, will provide a solid revenue stream for PS2. I know I would easily drop an additional $50 in addition to my membership, so I could get my hands on a few other faction weapons...

Get the Orion and i have the 3 best heavy weapons in the game. GODHAMMER GOD SAW AND THE GODRION WOOOOTT

Did you even read what i wrote?

I did say you could steal weapons (vehicles dont come into this)

And unprecedented or not, paying for other factions weapons is going to remove the point of joining any faction.

Also;

Only being able to buy other factions weapons with SC automatically falls under pay to win.

- Pricing wouldn't be an issue, it is the black market, it will have its own pricing independent of a factions current market place, and I would expect that prices on the Black market are going to be higher, then what is available for factions on their own faction market place.
- Faction identity is not removed, faction identity still remains as is, those are the weapons that are available to that faction for both certs and SC (At a reduced price compared to the Black Market) Each faction will be specialized in their faction Identity.
- I do not believe there is the perfect load out. But I am also thinking the black market should be limited to infantry weapons, and include maxes or vehicles.

* while I like the idea of a loot system, because it closely resembles what we had in PS1, this system would put to great of a strain on the servers and is way to complicated to be implemented in the short or even mid term. The Black Market is something that I would think could be implemented fairly quickly and easily, since it is a matter of creating a new market place and Adjusting the color schemes on the weapons.