We've had Lattice for about three days and the gloss is already wearing off

Lattice removes all the strategic depth from the game. War isn't two armies just smashing head on in to each other; it's about outsmarting and outmaneuvering your opponent, hitting them where they least expect, breaking through and hitting their flank, etc. This just isn't possible anymore with the lattice.

For me, the game is just boring now. They dumbed it down in order to give people pre-made battles. This might be fine for your average mlg/cod yoloswag teenage gamers, but it's just too simple now for people like me.

Hopefully a new MMOFPS comes out soon (WW2 online remake? Battlefield MMO?) because planetside just isn't for me anymore.

I play on Mattherson and what you describe is definitely not my experience. Alerts on Esamir often seen VS and TR slamming into each other at Jaeger's First and Jaeger's Crossing. VS were also dealing with the NC at Mani Bio Lab, Aurora Materials, and Apex Genetics.

You're doing something wrong.

Alerts make the hex system shine, because they do what everyone said was lacking in the system: they gave every territory value.

I'm having fun on Indar but I have caught myself a few times thinking "oh god now back to excavation site", on Hex system I do not recall any repetitive moments.

I am just undecided at this point.

Too many links, and also, lattice with such.. uhm.. open plan... (nicely put?) base designs is a strange concept...

It's kinda like: Here, run through this open field, into this open field, to fight for that open field, so you can progress into that open field. But don't worry! If you lose that open field, you can win one of many other open fields.

For the majority of the alert that's typically what happens. It makes it shine in the last 15-30 minutes sure. But let's humor that scenario too. If it takes an Alert to make the hex fun, then what does that say about the hex? When the lattice is always action packed glorious fights, how could I go back to the borefest of the hex design?

The bases weren't designed well to begin with. But that's a different topic all together. And if it takes an artificial motivation to make the hex fun then somethings wrong with the hex. The lattice has what hex alerts have, except all the time. So again lattice still ends up on top in that regard.

Giving the lattice another go now as NC on miller.

It basically involves moving along the rush lane in a zerg of 50+ tanks crushing the TR who get in our way. No decent fights. No alternative path to take. Only one possible objective.

Boring, boring, boring.

And I never once got bored before lattice and I've been playing since beta.

You can't go much more artificial than the static lanes of the lattice. It's not a notion of motivation but of obligation.

I do think that strategic value to territories would be actually organic motivations. "I'm gonna get this tech plant because it lets me run around in a big tank!" We need more such things.
It's creating gameplay( large fights) to unlock more gameplay while making people not feel patronized.

It says nothing about the hex system. It just highlights the lack of value of most territories. The lattice suffers from this, too. It's just that, now, you have no choice but to fight through any given territory. It's now something that you have to do because you have no other choice, not something you want to do because it benefits your faction.

That's going to wear thin fairly quickly, I think.

It's definitely not "always".

Strategic territory value or not, lattice just serves the game's niche better.

I will agree that strategic value is something desperately needed though. Tech Plants don't seem that important atm because PS2 is an infantry game right now. When a big fight happens, vehicles become useless EXP wagons. And I think we can both agree the amp station and bio lab benefits are pretty crappy to begin with.

That's an opinion. So far every night of outfit ops have included plenty of glorious fights in the lattice. With hex we had some boring ops before, where fights only picked up at the final few territories of an enemy warpgate. Occasionally you'd get good fights out there, but the likelihood of that happening was less than ideal.

I'm not in love with lattice, but every stupid lattice thread fails to make any suggestions for alternatives, so the "lolghostcapper" crowd can spam its nonsense.

How to fix ghost capping: after you cap a base, it's locked to your empire for 1 hour, so nobody can ghost cap it away from you.

There. Ghost capping is dead. Do we still need the lattice?

You had that situation just tonight, with the lattice. I suspect, however, that you blame that on the cowardly VS and NC leaving Indar to go play on Esamir for the Alert, and not the lattice.

And just about every good fight you could possibly have. You honestly think locking the former occupants of a facility out of it for a full hour, even if there's a good fight going on, is an acceptable solution to ghost capping? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face...

Nope.

Because owning people like you was so much fun.

Now I dont even notice you anymore.

But when I defeated someone in a less crouded battle,

who failed to stop my attempt to take a base or that of my few buddys,

you knew that your INABILITY to kill us all made you lose.

Not numbers.

It broke your mind buddy.

By the way im actually "ghostcapping" 10% of my ingame-time.

To me this means im doing this "alone", like "a ghost".

But im most rarely truly alone. There are always a few defenders who indulge in epic duels with me, or epic, small battles.

You windfall.

Everything important over lattice composed in this few words.

This cannot be true, as if it were we wouldn't be having this conversation.
PS2's niche is clearly one that contains at least two sub niches: tactics and strategic players.
I consider myself the later and I have played the game for 35 hours since launch.

it's a disservice to the game to ignore one of the two sub population.
The better system would be one that can improve both level of plays.

And for that, a completed hex system is the best known option.

Yes.
And I believe they have even less value in the lattice context as any advantage they could give is overshadowed by the fact its "just one more step" of the path, which itself is overshadowed by the fact facilities open up a choice of paths.

Just check my signature.
There have been many suggestion of alternatives, even more to prevent "ghost capping" and most of them very easy to implement.
People just stopped mentioning that as the core goal of the lattice is focusing fights so it's more important to explain how the hex can be improved to attain those same goals without losing gameplay layers.

I originally liked the alerts but I'm not so sure anymore since fighting for territory is the worst tactic you can do during alerts, with the best tactic being aggressive capping, it just pushes the system I dislike into a system that I loathe, constant traveling and waiting.

All tactics are pretty meaningless until the last 30 minutes or so cause all ur progress can be pretty much reset in the game by the other two empires in around 20-30 minutes. Besides the side that gets the bulk of both enemy armies on their borders ends up last every single time. Only the last 5-10 minutes are exciting cause all sides are aggressively fighting for that one last base that still has a chance to flip to their side.

There will be no meaningful tactics in this game as long as you don't fight an equal sized foe. Unless you considering stalling a loss or winning against undermanned faction tactical. All success in tactics is completely based on the aspect that you don't have to fight against both sides simultaneously.

Where does the lattice stop this from happening? It doesn't. In fact, the lattice allows for more strategy. Strategy is the act of planning ahead and considering all the moves your opponent could make. Under hex the opponents plan was go around your resistance and if you give chase splinter up and take outlying bases with no resistance. Under lattice you now have to actually think ahead. Your enemy can come from certain angles and so can you but a smart leader can use the idiocy of a blind zerg against them, hitting them in the back or maybe attacking from a base that isn't connected by the lattice. That's an actual flanking maneuver. Retreating and scattering around your attacker is not flanking. Its cowardice and fear of conflict in a game all about conflict on an epic scale. So, no lattice doesn't get rid of these tactics it makes them much more important and gives them real meaning.

That's an other debate but I think it is due to how definitive the end of the alert is: The XP reward is only given in the end.
Some decisions we make in those cases would be stupid in other contexts: "let hem cap the tech plant it won''t finish before the end, but let's get the bullwark!"

A solution could be to divide the xp rewards in four parts to be given every 30 minutes. With the actual winner decided at the end.
Actually, I'd like that kind of mechanic to occur 24/7 to give value to territory too, experiment if it incentivize defense.

The problem most factions have is that they 1) punch too deeply into enemy territory, 2) get in between the other two factions, or 3) expand too much, too soon.

With the first error, a large chunk of the faction usually ends up getting "stuck" at a major facility near an enemy warpgate. They're either oblivious to the enemy circling around and retaking that other territory because there's a large fight at the current base, or they just don't give a damn.

The second error is just dumb. Thankfully, it's also fairly uncommon.

The third error is an error because it makes the faction a target for the other two factions way too early on in the Alert.