Casual/Solo Type Player ... Could PS be for me?

[Drake_Zane]

I've played years of EQ. Loving it. But now my life is so busy, I can't see myself playing more than an hour or two at a time (maybe 3-4 times per week). Knowing my time limitations, I was thinking I had better take a soloist role.

Am I right, should I stick to a stealth type soloist role?

Can I play any character type even though my time is limited?

Should I not even give PS a try?

Any other tips for my play style?

Thanks!

[IDgaf]

The game is enjoyable in single player, but to get the best out of having a regular group of people to hook up with is necessary IMO.

I suggest you keep checking the forums and, when the ingame voice option is used more (it's not used as much as it should be atm), then get it.

Until then you probably won't have a very rewarding experience.

[scottyg]

I honestly would say u can enjoy the game either solo or in groups. Right now i am only playing like an hour a night, sometimes 2 but not the next night, and so on lol

anyway im in a really good outfit and even though soloing can be fun here and there the real fun is with a group, unless ur a infiltrator type.

the thing is, when u enter the game, its not like you gotta walk around for 30 mins finding a squad. some people do but when i get on i just write lfs in outfit window, and boom, squad, i hoop on hart shuttle and drop where my squad is, fight for an hour or 2, and leave,

simple as that, i dont worry to much about xp right now, i am just trying to have fun, and have fun i do

lately the soloing role has been popular, but thats for xp, purposes not fun. Soloing isnt fun in my opinion, and u still get lots of xp with squads

anyway thats my 2 cents. get the game, its like a super FPS, very fun, though not to RP like

[beavis88]

This game is totally fine for solo players I think. I would, however, stay away from vehicle certifications like Sunderer, Deliverer, galaxy, etc where you're essentially "driving the bus" -- much easier to pick up and log off if you're not serving as transport for 10 people.

Other than that, almost any certifications can be used very effectively by solo players IMHO.

If you don't already know, you can "sell back" a certification every 24 hours (and pick up another), so don't be afraid to experiment with different configurations. Trying weapons/vehicles in VR training is *NOT* even close to the same as using them "live".

[Franchize]

Though you can go solo in this game, it is nothing like EQ, or many of the other MMOG's out there. You will not really enjoy the full experience of the game. I would also say unless you enjoy dying countless hundreds of times, you will soon get frustrated as a solo player.

In this game however you will find it much easier to find a group. There are no xp penalties for grouping with individuals who have a significanlty higher Battle Rank than you. There are still some snobs out there who will only invite people of high battle ranks, but if you have some useful skills you will be highly sought after. These skills include, Engineering, Hacking, Transport Vehcile certs and to a lesser extent Medic. If you have any of these certs you will find it very easy to get into a good squad.

As you may already know, being in a group is a good way to get xp as well. You will receive xp for kills scored by any member in the squad. This amount is less than if you actually made the kill solo, but your squad will always get more kills than you would alone.

I hope this was helpful.

[kerosene31]

You can solo in this game! It is true! I generally have very little time to play during the week (hour or two but with interruptions) so I usually don't bother getting into a squad.

The only thing you need to do is arrange your own transportaiton. You can wait for the Hart shuttle, or get a vehicle cert early. If you are going to solo, Reaver is a decent way to go. It is a single seat vehicle anyway, so you don't really need a squad. In the beta, I gt my cert in the Wraith which will get you in the fight quickly enough. You can also just go Max and run to the battle. In run mode, it doesn't take too long.

As for capping bases, just look on your map and go to where the action is. Find a big battle and just join in.

The disadvantages are that you don't get the teamwork that goes into attacking. Things like repairs, medics, transportation, etc.

[Tryndamere]

Soloing can be great fun in PS. I solo 80% of the time, usually unless some RL friends are on.

I am a sniper, and with my engineering skill (to repair my armor, and vehicle/when if I'm with buddies who can drive) and my regen implant, I am very survivable.

Being a lone sniper helping out in battles can be a lot of fun. I try to take out the heavy weapons guys in the back of the lines usually to support our troop advances, or if defending, I try to flank the enemy to get a nice vantage point to rain my death.

Soloing can rock, but I do prefer playing with buddies.

[gonnagetyou]

I frequently play solo. Sometimes a squad can hamper my style of play. I play more of a support role as a Engineer and playing solo allows me to move to wherever I see there is some need for my particular skills.

Playing with a squad is also fun, but I usually reserve that for days when I feel like playing a MAX or just regular grunt.

The great thing about Planetside is the different roles you can create for yourself. It allows you to play however you want to and it really doesn't take that long to jump into some action when you learn to read the map.

[Kaikou]

Hmm..well in my opinion...

Currently XP favors solo players. If you're solo, you make about 10 times the XP you would in a full squad for a single kill...

If I had played solo from beginning to now, just from kills alone I would have made about 210,000 XP (this is excluding all base cap XP) and if I had been playing only in squads since the beginning till now, I'd only have made about 19,000 XP, again, excluding base caps as well as other squad member kills, because I'm trying to show how the XP system hurts people who participate in squads and make a lot of kills.

I guess it all depends on preference, I personally can't stand PS more than 10 minutes or so going solo, even if I make bad XP, its a whole lot more fun participating in squads.

[Tryndamere]

That xp comparison isn't exactly fair.

Assuming you make an average number of kills, your squad members will also be making kills, thereby giving you XP. You should also survive for longer periods of time due to their support. That time spent in the battle is time when XP is racking up.

[ColdbringeR]

Here's the main certs you want Drake_Zane, if you're looking to be a prefessional soloist...

Infiltration Exosuit
Wraith
Hacking
Advanced Hacking
Anti-Infantry MAX armor

This way you can...

Zip on into a base (in a covert manner), hack the control console, hack an equipment terminal, change armor to MAX, return to the control console, blast anything that enters.

With this setup your odds of actually capturing a base on your own are quite decent. At least compared to just about any other method...

You could also get advanced engineer certification and place turrets and mines near entrances as well, but that will leave the control console undefended for a small period of time.

This method can get you good XP as well, if you can manage to predict which bases are going to be hotspots, and be ready to hack them before things get wild...

[Onizuka]

When I first started playing, i played more with squads. But now i find i actually enjoy it more playing solo, but just being in the same place as my friends.

[Kaikou]

well just for comparison...

The last 3 days I've only been playing in squads, no solo whatsoever, and I made 3 bars towards 16 in those 3 days...

Today, for about 2 or 3 hours I played solo, and am 1 bar away from 16. That means I made 7 bars today in those 2-3 hours, more than twice as much XP made in those 3 days in a squad.

How I managed to keep interest for 2-3 hours is beyond me...guess the battles on cyssor were pretty good...But it is still fun to play in squads. It all depends on if you want to have lots of fun, or make lots of XP.

[Hertston]

The only thing I'd advise is actually not to pick a "stealth" role for solo-ing. It's far from the best choice IMHO.. you will only find yourself trying to do things that someone else(s) has already done/is doing, or something pretty pointless. An "assassin" role would be OK (if a little tedious, with nothing to mix it with), I guess but hacker is not a good solo choice. Remember that the game has been out a while now, and an awful lot of even non-hackers have the skill.

You'll get a lot more out of a medic/engineer support type, combat engineer, pilot or just plain grunt (head to the sound of the guns - or the flames on the map anyway :p ). You can play any style from the off, really, except uber-grunt. You need a bit of XP to get both heavy weapons and re-inforced armor, but that won't take you long.

A regular group is certainly not necessary, or woth your time constraints even desirable IMHO. One thing to make clear is the distinction between "outfit" and "squad" in PS. An "outfit" is a permanent group (you can belong to only one on each server), best equated to the traditional clan or squad. A "squad", while often made up of folks in the same outfit, is a temporary arrangement. You can always find a squad to play in (if you want to - it's not essential) in-game, and although as you might expect quality will vary.. you can get teamplay without commitment if that suits your lifestyle.