Should anything really be 1000 certs?

no there is a conversion from Certs to SC if you want. but you only get 1 SC for 1000 certs.

If you want to pay nothing, then it's entirely reasonable that it will take you 30+ hours to reach 1000 certs.

If it's just about weapons - then I'd suggest spending a bit this coming friday on their triple cash day. You'll effectively be able to get a new weapon for less than $3.

If it's about certs for skills - then I'd suggest buying a 7-day 50% XP boost. This will cost less than $2 and will give you an extra 12-15 certs per hour.

I had no idea you could do that, but on the other hand I can understand the low conversion rate.

Honest question; where is that?

Uuh, how'd you work that math out? 1000:1 seems a bit steep when a new gun costs 700 SmedCreds or 1000 Certs......

But they still get to play a game which has cost millions in production for free?

If they would have had to pay the price for a regular console game title for it, they could buy around 10 infantry weapons for that money. If they wait for them to be on specials, bundles or triple SC offers, even 20 to 30. I'd call that enough novelty for a while.

Once again, this argues nothing. It's like you're saying I'm wrong, but then not saying I'm wrong about anything. You're like a spin doctor without an agenda.

Dont forget, you can pay a subscription that gives you nothing.. a piddling 5% SC a month, an a tiny % exp boost... thats it.
ON TOP OF THAT you get to pay full price for everything in the shop. whether its your choice or not is irrelevant its simple facts that it is a rip off. I had to cancel my sub because I finally realized it is just insulting.

And you're just using a dialectic method to maintain your argument. But go ahead. It's you who has a problem with something, not me.

F2P allows you access to the game for free and as its mostly sidegrades your experience should be similar to others. I think there was an interview with a dev that stated they like the F2P approach as free players are getting something and at the same time providing "content" in the form of another enemy for other players. The other items i think are luxuries afforded by those that are supporting the game in a monetary context.

I don't think its too much to ask really. With people having PC's with high end graphics cards etc which cost a fair bit of cash i don't see how throwing up $80 (australian price) for some station cash to get those things you want. I mean when you think about it alot of people put $80 into a paid game and don't stand at EB games complaining about the cost when they go to pick it up. Chuck half that into station cash you support the game and future progress and you get a few of those luxury items (decimator etc) whilst killing and gaining certs to get others. I like it as it is and i don't think its overpriced... well not the free portion, the paid portion seems about right to me.

You're not spose to be buying those 1000 point certs until you've got all the cheap ones you want, they're just there as a cert dump so people still have stuff to buy in several years, the difference between the top level and the one below it is minimal enough that it doesn't really matter

....how the heck do people know when these days are coming up ahead of time?! Do you think you could link us where it says this on the SOE site or what not?

There was/is ABSOLUTELY NO reason why SOE couldn't put a $60 price tag on Planetside, make weapons/tools lvl unlocks like in CoD/BF, and have an entirely cosmetic shop like GW2. At least that way I wouldn't label them as money grabbing somethings, but as things stand, I can't support a business whose greed is so apparent that they might as well say "We can't lower cert prices because we want money out of your pocket". Personally, I feel insulted by this business practice and will never support them.

Deal with it.

Servers were bought, a game developed. Development and support staff need to be paid, there are ongoing costs for server hosting, server bandwidth, server power, server maintenance, etc.

SoE obviously want you to pay, because the game wasn't free to design, develop or run.

If you think buying a gun which is unlocked forever in a computer game for a few dollars is bad value then wait til you get into the real world! I cant even come close to buy a single night's worth of entertainment for the price of a gun in PS2, especially when you consider double or triple SC events.


It's all down to convinience.

Least hassle: Buy SC at normal price and buy the gun at normal price - most expensive.
Most hassle: Unlock purely via cert points.

The in-between: Buy on SC sale days and/or buy weapon when it is on sale. If you buy SC during a triple SC event and then wait until the gun is on sale it costs next to nothing.

According to current trends, everything should be 1000 certs. Oh hey, we had an intern take one of the default weapons and spend 15 minutes changing a few values! This "new" gun is very marginally better at long range while being almost imperceptively worse up close! Because we nudged the bullet velocity number up by 15% and lowered the rate of fire number by 10%. That'll be 1000 certs/$7.

There are some weapons that change up the game and offer new/interesting mechanics. I'll gladly buy a shotgun, or breaker rockets, or a dalton, or even the lasher. What I won't pick up is a new assault rifle that's almost exactly the same as my old assault rifle, right down to the same model. You cannot possibly interest me by tweaking a few numbers.

The only 1,000-cert unlocks that bother me are the AA options. I can get planes basically for free, but to shoot at planes effectively I need 1,000 certs to unlock something like the AA flak gun for the Lightning. That doesn't seem right. Why is air power a basic resource while anti-air measures are a major purchase?

Very, berry good point. At least that.

Not to mention, that despite being ANTI-air (meaning they should KILL air), they're only meant to scare off aircraft, not destroy them... Anti-anything isn't meant to just scare off what it's targeted at.

As long as ESFs are so effective against ground targets, people will rather use anti-ground weaponry on their ESFs, instead of the AA options...

ESFs are supposed to fight other aircraft, no do the job of the Liberator.

I do not understand the thought process for some of the people at SOE...

Yeah, 1,000 is way too much for the average gamer. The game's fun factor tapers off long before enough content can be unlocked to keep things fresh, which makes grinding certs even more tedious. A re-cert feature would breathe new life into players looking to try other aspects of the game. Who knows, they just might find something they really like and keep playing. With the grind being long as ****, it's blatant the goal is hoping players get frustrated enough to spend money. The goal should be players spending money because they're having fun and want to support the game, not to end/avoid frustration.

If all air has run away, is there an air problem anymore?

Personally I get kills as a HA AA. I admit I had to adapt once flares became more commonplace. I now spend almost as much time getting pilots to blow their flares as attacking, but none the less it leaves me able to fire off rockets when their only defense is to bug out.