This is what PS2 is like to a new player

If the wrong people have their way, a lot of that complexity will be gone.

A lot of weapons, a lot of vehicles.

Hell, the landmass might even someday be shrunk in some creepy inevitable "bringing combatants closer together" scheme during life support days.

And we'd truly have a shooter clone.

This is spot on.

I usually play healers in MMOs, but find myself not wanting to heal in PS2 as spotters call out heals to be killed. Coming from WoW you'll find fewer and fewer PvP healers due to addons that show BG healers to be targeted. Battlefield at least got it right by giving medic duty to Assault, so any callouts they'll have to be looking down a barrel instead.

People don't want to play roles that gets them farmed.

If PS2 is about roles let players play them without having big red crosses on their heads. Also reviving in combat is a sure way to be shot dead or just be HE shelled to death. In BF, EQII and even WoW battle rezzes are instant. Heals, like engineers, are completely defenseless when doing their tool jobs, because there's no 3rd person view, too.

It's a MMO and 3rd person view exists for vehicles, let's have it for infantry too...especially when using heal/repair tools!

There is a night and day difference between the tier1 and the top tier medic gun. With the top tier you can practically raise people in under a second. Any medic gun below tier 3 is, in my opinion, not meant to be used to raise people when under fire. Which brings me to another point.

When somebody dies, it usually happens for a reason. Either he was careless or he bumped into an ambush spot. A great deal of medics run for the rezz disegarding completely enemy fire, vehicles overlooking the kill zone or their own safety. They only want to be there first to get the rezz, even if they die, it seems. The normal thing to do would be to check if the reason said person died is still active, and if not, then go for the rezz. Especially when people don't have maxed medic guns and rezzing takes ages and you get to rezz a peson in half health only to be killed along with the medic.

People need to realise that their allies will often die at unrezzable spots (aka at spots that will kill any medic attempting the rezz). If you can't safely do the rezz or make the area safe yourself, then don't attempt the rezz.

Also, despite popular belief, medics need to be among the top players in their squads. It's up to them to kill any remaining threats and get their teams up. Their job is not to run around with the white gun out. It's to ensure that any random deaths are corrected and any screw ups rectified.

You don't need 3rd person as a medic. Once you lock onto a healing or rezzing target, you can look anywhere and the lock won't break. It won't break even if a wall is between you two, as long as you're within the distance allowed by the upgrades of your medic gun.

You are not a healer. You are a combat medic, with equal emphasis on combat and medic.

PS: The only reason I would sacrifice myself to get somebody up is if he was in a MAX suit (since people become unrezzable after a minute dead).

1> Spawn camping. The moment you have a game where an unequal number of people can enter an area against you(not a 12v12 etc server), you have the issue of extreme zergs and a complete inability to play in that location. However that's part of the larger tactical worldview that is implied by this game. Join a squad and promote a more concentrated effort. If it's a massive number of tanks, try to get anti-vehicle support on a nearby ridge, or any number of potential counters. Fighting against an organized groups is difficult, but when another group can organize against them it gets really interesting. Be flexible between the inf. twitch reaction accuracy, vehicle/aircraft combat, and tactical forethought.

2> Can't really support that comment. I haven't seen anything that can't be accounted for by lag compensating systems within the game's calculations of player positions and projectiles.

3> Be sure you're not talking about being outnumbered. If you had an equal or greater number to counter it, especially if there is an equal amount of organization, it doesn't take many Heavy Assault default rocketeers backed by an engineer ammunition to take out as many tanks.

4> In any game with classes you have a crossover between meaningless class abilities and exclusive class abilities. In a team game where you want to promote communal inclusion, a degree of individual exclusivity is beneficial. If you're a Max and want health, it's not just a matter of dropping by a kiosk. You need nanite repair and some time or some engi help. If you're a Heavy and need health, you need to spend the resources on kits or the help of a medic. I value those team motivating factors of the game.

5> I would agree that the voice system needs work. Communication is such an important part of this type of game that it should be a higher priority.

6> The anti-inf. turret can be amazing at the right times in the right locations. Sustainable fire with some shielding. And you have the flexibility of getting AV turrets instead. As for medics, their weapons are really nice as well. Entering a conflict with the ability to revive many heavies and maxes in front of you can mean far greater success.

"Apparently I should have listened to all of my friends, who, when I tried to talk to them about Planetside 2, said that they weren't interested and that it didn't look very good."

Sure, pick the games that are more interesting to your friends. But don't point to them as an indication of your previous statements.

"My takeaway impression is one of a poorly optimized and buggy game that should have spent at least another year in design and development."

Optimization is a key issue, but even when using an old machine I can do nicely with lower settings. But few if any of your problems are "bugs."

you tried PS2. you did not like it. you came here and submitted your disgruntled newbie impressions.
thx.
can you please also comment on some awesome youtube videos that show people having the gaming experience of their lifes with this game? i'd like to have some more scientific proofs that show how and why this game sucks...

Yeah, I'm sure Battlefield has the map size, ability to layout strategies across multiple, large bases, with squads and platoons who work to achieve similar goals across vast maps with persistent fights...

I tried those other generic FPS shooters... they're far more simplistic in their overarching nature. And boring as hell.

Welcome to primarily a strategic FPS that requires thought before action... sadly, the CoD and BF kiddies don't know how to play a strategy game that has FPS mechanics which is what this game is. And if you play a medic class, you're freakin' right I'm gonna gun for you first... you have the unlimited ability to revive and heal soldiers time and time again without restriction or cost. As an unlimited medic, you are the biggest threat on the field.

And 3rd person view for infantry? Hell no. Planetside 2 already caters to "easy mode" players enough as it is.

Your complaints are valid, but they can be made for BF4, COD, etc.

Planetside 2 is a very good game...

when compared to the above. However, compare it to some of the older FPS, especially Planetside 1 and it's not good at all.

Planetside 2 is both a victim and sign of the times. Don't take it seriously and you will enjoy it a lot more, because that's how it was designed.

TL;DR So a summary of this is.

1. I hate admitting defeat and having to fall back
2. I have lag
3. Tanks are better than Infantry and this is somehow ridiculous
4. I cant have the jetpack, rez tool and rocket launcher all at the same time.
5. I cant talk to my friends in HD quality
6. There are counter balances to my class abilities.

Thankyou for your mindless negativity and for a post that has no point other than to dis, go back to CoD.

In 2013, if you are repeatedly camped, it is your fault; not the game's.

1) Remaining in a base where you are outnumbered, outgunned and just outside the door are numerous enemies is your choice. Being farmed/spawn camped implies that you attempted to leave several times and failed to get out but instead of adjusting your tactics you just bashed on like a fly on a windshield. I agree with some of the posters here that spawn rooms should have been designed as hard targets, ie underground and not susceptible to outside spam from vehicles, many of us have been saying this since tech test but its fallen on cotton wool stuffed ears.

2) Netcode can be a little flaky when its very busy but considering you may be facing 100+ enemies it is surprisingly good, definitely room for improvement though, i think that simply including a ping or netgraph display would help people diagnose whether in fact it is lag that got them killed or something else, again we have asked numerous times for this to no avail.

3) Infantry are not meant to be able to 'easilly' solo vehicles, however it is possible with good positioning and some skill even with the default rocket/missile launcher, takes practice sure.

4) You have access to all the classes and can change between them at will, if anything i think that we have far far to much choice there is no downside to specializing along a certain tree, i have always felt that for example those who specialize in vehicles should loose some infantry functionality.

5) Squads are simple to use a single keypress and you can join a pub, really not sure what you find difficult about this, regarding in game voice the main issue is most people have their gain turned up much much to high so it distorts their voice when broadcasting, takes only a few minutes and some communication with another squad member to remedy this.

6) I gotta disagree about the example you use here, the engineer turret whilst doing slightly less damage than your main weapon never runs out of ammo and gives you a free shield which if placed with consideration can prevent you getting insta-gibbed by tank shells for example. Medics are about the best class there is imo, medic guns rock over all empires, it does not take long at all to upgrade your medic tool to make revives faster. The fixed turrets are just fine mostly, only thing i think they need is slightly larger fire arcs, they can be fixed just fine whilst you are using them and the AV turret eats tanks faster than the tank can eat the turret (assuming you land your shots).

bah wrong new player thread.

"Strategic FPS"? All FPS games -- even WoW -- have objectives to complete to win. Maybe understanding how more games are played you will understand how similar FPS games are across the board.

Secondly, PS2 is a MMOFPS. MMO rules apply, and that is 3rd person viewing. If vehicles can have it, so can infantry -- so the medic/engineer playing their roles can see around them.

Now try to aim in 3rd person view for "skill", too.

There's no such thing as "MMO rules".

There's a difference between objective based FPS... and strategic based FPS games with objectives. Planetside 2 is as much a strategy game akin to Risk as it is a FPS shooter... and as the full strategic features such as resource management and Continent Lock come into play, it'll be even more reliant on the strategy side and those running around with the Call of Duty mindset will be decimated by those who properly manage their resources.

As for looking around, here's how a medic or engineer can see around them; turn around 360 degrees; between that and the mini map, you now know where every broke item is and every injured soldier is in your vicinity because icons tell you everything. Third person infantry would let you look around corners, on tops of roofs, in little nooks and crannies without putting yourself at risk to view them and that is just plain stupid for this type of game. Infantry do not need "eye in the sky" mechanics that tells them about every threat around every corner. Vehicles only have third person view because they are big, bulky, and often difficult for many players to maneuver in convoys without it... but personally, I don't think vehicles should have any 3rd person view at all. It's catering to the "easy mode" mindset of people who hate anything that presents any sort of challenge or learning curve.

And your opinion would be valid if folks couldn't even heal until their "tier 3" to begin with.

But since the game allows anyone to heal at level 0, your opinion is moot.

Well, it is a MMOFPS...

If they turn to be aware with a heal tool in hand it'll stop revving as the pointer no longer points to the body. So they have but two choices: revive to die or do nothing with some kiddo screaming they need to be revived.

Perhaps fixing the fixed focus to within range will help!

Normal thing to do is have the ability to look 360 while doing your job. It's like asking a surgeon to perform surgery only with a 90 degree view with no height adjustment.

Or since this is PS2, and a futuristic shooter, have a freaking ranged revive ability like MMORPGs have...



30 yards...30!

Oh, so not only do they have to be the top player of "the team" they also have to dodge the very things that got his buddies killed.

Yeah, that helicopter with HE rounds is going to be so easy to shoot down with a Assault rifle!!!

S.M.A.R.T.

Ah, reviving will break if the sight isn't on the body. You're confusing the healing from reviving mechanic.

Then you're not a healer and need to stick to playing a shooter. Healers have to do some tricky things to get folks back into the game and prevent a long run back.



P.S. WoW has a 30 yard rez range; Battlefield has instant touch revives. Take your pick, but both are more functional than being a sitting duck.

Well, a big thanks to the people that had something interesting to say, and a big lulz to the trolls and elitists who wasted their time.

To the first point, spawn camping, the problem isn't being defeated at a map location. The problem is that it's done in a completely BS way that removes player agency. It should not be possible to create "instant death zones". If the enemy faction defeats your faction with skill and numbers, then fine, but it should require skill and numbers instead of just parking a tank and holding down fire while waiting for the time to run down.

To the points about anti-vehicle features available, I was already aware of most of them. As I perhaps did a poor job of pointing out, none of this works for a new player because it's all stuck behind massive "cert" costs. From what I could see, it would take weeks of play to earn an effective anti-vehicle weapon like the guided rocket launcher or anti-vehicle turret. Which is kind of a problem when the game leans so much on vehicles. Consider how silly it would be to have a fantasy-MMOG which is balanced around sword and shield combat, but you only start with a sword and don't get a shield until you hit maximum level.

Level 1 rez tool works fine if the fight has moved on or if the location isn't under fire. Just make sure to stick around and heal him full after he gets up.



Revive grenades.

Single purpose lock on launchers are only 250 certs, which is about an hours worth of certs when you learn how to make them quickly. Maybe 3 hours for a new player.

Also if you're a decent shot, the default dumb fires are preferred, they hit much harder then the lock ons, and if you can take aim quickly, you can fire them much faster than lock ons too.

Huh, you do know PS2 combat medic is almost the exact same thing as the assault class of BF3/4? TR Medics has one of the most effective infantry weapon in the game being the TAR.

I have a hard time to understand how you are an "easy target." Sounds to me you have no clue what you are talking about. Wouldn't be surprising anyway.

First, top tier medical tool rezing is almost instant, over 4m range and heal to full. They also never root you in place. It's faster to let people die and rez them than to actually heal them. It's somewhat broken like that. I'm not even going to touch about rezing nades. Medics, in this game, cannot complain with the amount of impact they have with a max out tool. OP? Doubt it. UP? You are mad.

Second, wtf is 3th person view doing in here? Every class would use it for the increase FOV that occur. If you can't see anything when playing engineer or medic, I'm afraid you are just plain blind and 3th person view won't help you.

Generally if you have enough people to make a worthwhile defence, it does take skill and numbers to get to the point where the spawn is being camped that bad. As people have stated, tanks can't take and hold capture points. They used to in Beta. Then you would've had a valid complaint. THAT was the time when tanks really got out of hand.