What would you guys suggest to hold more players?

As the tittle says, what is your suggestion to make PlanetSide 2 more attractive to new players and avoid the boring status some of us already are in and others are almost in? You can share your opinion whenever you have an idea of something that could be a little detail but that you believe would make some difference here. Here I go:

-The guys who tell us "NOT FIGHTING LIKE TR" could be a bit more useful and tell us, for example, when a base turret is destroyed (when you're defending, of course). Little things like this would save some time of our squad/platoon leaders. Maybe they could also tell us when a satellite base is being taken from your empire, so it would have a faster response, making it a bit better to defense. All that plus some exp for defending bases, or course, as by now it doesn't matter that much;
-I believe they should have started the development of this game by focusing on real differences between factions. I already suggested it at PSU, but let me say it again without so many details like I did in PSU: we should be really different. Aside from MAXes and empire specific vehicles, I don't think we are too different. This is PlanetSide 2, the history could change a little bit of the first PlanetSide? As TR are supposed to be the "bad guys", why not make us a bit taller than others? If you want an explanation of how it would happen: super soldier project which resulted in a race formed by taller people than average humans. It would mean a bigger hit box, and then it could be compensated with more defense. Or whatever, I don't know how the hell they would make it balanced, but it would be nice. NC MAX could be ~10% taller than TR one, and ~30% taller than VS one. VS could use integrated-to-the-armor weapons, so they don't need to hold it, etc. Of course it would mean a way new game design so I'm not sure if it would be viable. Perhaps brand new cosmetic armors instead of the composite ones and the new MAX armors we received last week. PSU has some nice ideas that would fit every faction and we would be able to recognize enemies and friendlies in a better way (not only talking about strategically easier for noobs to stop TKing when there are an enemy and a friendly fighting too close, but also it would make us feel comfortable with what we choose - TR with high-tech military armor, NC with thick-and-heavy military armor (the squared things we already have - but improved -, linking to the idea that they are rebels and have no access to the TR technology which is more advanced because TR existed for longer time) and VS with their alien stuff (you're gonna drool when you see Lunaleska's art. You can check the link with her VS infiltrator design at the bottom of this post). Well, I know it would be really hard and some people would think it would be almost like developing a whole new game, but it doesn't cost me a cent to say that it would be damn nice;
-Way different voice macros (TR and NC are really similar. TR shouldn't have desperate screams like now, they should be way more aggressive - "you want some" is nothing badass, perhaps some "you're gonna taste my first, bastard" stuff). NC could keep the screams and desperate stuff (as they're rebels, they are all up to share their motivation and emotion to their mates), and VS could keep in this line, they seem to be calm and it's different from others;
-Tutorial when you're gonna play at the first time (and that can be accessed on the menu if you wanna see it again and again). There's a lot of people who was asking for this and we don't have such thing for the new players;
-New base designs. The towers and rooms we have right now are all the same thing;
-A single player version, maybe? lol

So, here is Lunaleska's VS Infiltrator as I said above:


That's it. Let's forget a little bit about "balance suggestion" and thing about the visual of the game and how players would feel.

dat butt

I don't think visuals will do anything. Visuals are great and all of the but gameplay ahead of graphics.

I've said all I can over the past months and unfortunately none of my suggestions are quick fixes, ie more continents, inter-continental strategy and command. I've seen it all work in ps1 and I know for me and many others that will increase 'stickability' in the way that fluff doesn't.

More complexity and diversity. (i.e anything that makes one player actually think and make plans before engaging a enemy base/group/whatever.)
Like a door that needs at least three infiltrators hacking it simultaneously in order to gain access to a biolab.

Most new players are F2P accounts. It would be nice to allow people to have a few customization choice. Give people the option to play around with their armor style, helmet and some of the colors. The first thing a new player notice is those amazing camos and gun only to realize that their 5$ to 10$ a piece.

Make the 100, 250 cert weapons free and available.
Give a little bit to your community and you'll make them loyal right from the get go.
Voice macros should be like in Return To Castle Wolfesntein. Complete and fun to use where people can find all sorts of quick key combinations
Have new players fight through a little single player scenario. It will give them time to adjust, learn the basics and such.

ehhh we dont need more people standing around fapping themselves

They need better locking VS for sure. There are lower population because of looks.

Then they need more spots for infantry only no maxxes. This is the most popular FPS style and if you want tons of players you need spots where these players can do there thing

Well, I just think that it would be pretty better to have different factions that could be also considered different races, but right now we all have the same silhouette and faces. But, yeah, of course I want gameplay before graphics. I'm just saying they could take a look on it for the future updates when they give us what we really need (comfort while playing to avoid being bored).

That would be really nice. One thing that makes the gameplay a bit boring after some hours is that you can cap bases really easy and then roll to another one. Nobody keep defending it, because there's no quick advantage to your own character. Strategically, yes, it's useful, but there are people who just wanna grind some certs and we can't say they're wrong. People who can't or don't wanna buy weapons have a hard job to get their stuff. If they do other things instead of grind certs, they'll be stuck.

That vanu looks great, except the high heels. Well, maybe she has her own unique way of infiltrating... not involving cloak.

Better designed bases which create more of a divide - outside for great vehicle battles as you try to move across the map, and inside for great infantry battles.

I don't know. Maybe look at the games that have lasted so long and engineer a game around what works instead of creating useless content. Just look at Counterstrike and why after all these years there is still a sizeable player base. Or look at Team Fortess and why that was and is played so much. One of the funnest maps ever in the FPS genre was _beach from RTCW. People still actually play this map and game because it is FUN. Can you say the same about PS2?

The actions of the player HAVE to matter. Right now, there's just really nothing to do that actually matters. The alerts are nice, but that won't be enough for most people. Most of the people that I have tried to get to play this game, either say they don't feel like they are helping the battle, or that their actions don't have any effect. They cannot find a long term reason to play this game. There just isn't really any "end game" content.

There's no reason to have any faction loyalty, you don't know why you are fighting for these teams, what their play styles are, etc. When you make a character you get thrown straight into the character creation screen, with nothing but a short paragraph to describe to you why they exist, or what they are. There needs to be faction introduction videos to help you make your choice. Something that explains a bit of the lore, playstyle, weapons, etc. Also maybe a "friend finder" feature that lets you find friends by email address (or even facebook/twitter profile) that you can access BEFORE you choose a server, but it needs to be available in game.

People like keeping scores, make a scoreboard of world caps and region caps.

More attractive to new players? Not hot-dropping them into combat before they even have a chance to check/adjust their key bindings.

Modern Gamers are ADHD-ridden hopeless cases of scrub. The solution is to join a military-styled outfit and use drilled squad tactics to engage god-mode planetside enjoyment. Unfortunately, casual players would be too turned off or offended by a leader being rude to them and demanding a high level of teamwork, and so they join their zergling outfits and ghost cap/zerg for a month before they get bored and leave.

Can i get a TLDR version of OP? That wall of text is painful.

1) Fixing performance so it doesn't run like garbage.
2) Less predatory business model.
3) Some actual real metagame with some new objective types.
4) Bases which can actually be defended without needing your entire empire present to actually make a working defense.
5) Better balance among the combined arms.
6 Less horrific grind for new players.
7) Put more effort into bug testing patches. People are getting tired of stuff getting constantly broken.
8) Better weapon balance. MAX guns, Shotguns, RL's. Lol.

And more I'll probably think of later.

But none of it is ever going to happen so who cares lol. SOE has made their money from the SC buyers, so they couldn't care less about retaining players at this point. Their answer to everything these days is to just throw top-dollar hats and weapons at everything.

Find a way to get new players into the action, and I mean the real action. Not the 'instant action' button's version that dumps you on top of an enemy outpost with a single friendly tank passing by a mile away.

New players simply can't find the action and just drive around the first base they see and think dead game and log. Hell, it can be hard enough now even when you're a veteran with a clue of how things really flow

Which of the titles you just mentioned have an 8x8 kilometer map with 2000 players on it?

The very scale of PS2 makes what works in quick little arena match FPS' impossible to pull off in a satisfying way, as we're seeing with poor defensive positions. PS2 by it's very nature can't really rely on how games in other shooters play out, simply because we're not dealing with maps designed for just 16 to 32 players with effective weapon ranges tuned in such a way that sniper rifles are the only accurate weapon over the same maximum distances we use SMGs in Planetside 2.

SOE is really just prodding around in the dark looking for something that works on PS2's scale. Until then, it's all experimental. The most we can really ask for is new base, tower, and outpost designs, and I mean brand new, built from scratch buildings.

Besides being just a better quality game I don't know.
(I mean base and interface design which frankly suck ***)

Oh and it takes to long to find a good fight if there are even any good fights.

I'm about to quit because I'm sick of instant death. (sniper, max, smg, shotgun, rocketpods, av turret, av weapon, tanks, harassers, etc.)
But that's me perhaps other people like this.