Weekly Development Activities

[Strygun]

http://www.planetside-universe.com/index.php?newsid=896

[ChewyLSB]

That proximity squad thing sounds interesting, it should help aspiring CR's. I'm just hoping I don't get flooded with them, as I solo mostly...

[Sonic625]

I hope that if you have it on solo you wont get these!!!!

[Wraithlord]

I wonder if all the previous kills/hacks/veh kills/medic/repair stuff will go on there, or if we will have to earn it all

[Nalar]

I wonder if all the previous kills/hacks/veh kills/medic/repair stuff will go on there, or if we will have to earn it all

Im thinking that you will have to earn it with stuff that you do from the next patch forward. That's why they said that they will implement data tracking. Im pretty sure that the only merit you will get without having to earn it through stuff you do after the next patch will be the "one year service" award.

[Lartnev]

I wonder if all the previous kills/hacks/veh kills/medic/repair stuff will go on there, or if we will have to earn it all

Put it this way, how will they know?

Kills and hacks are quite easy, but that ****** the commendations to those activities. Basically, they're gonna get the tracking in, and then everyone starts off from the same place. The exception will be the veteran medal (or whatever they've called it) which you get if you've played Planetside for over a year.

[EarlyDawn]

I'm annoyed that we won't actually be able to get commendations in the initial Merit Commendation release. Don't release a half-assed version of it, get the whole thing done and ready to ship at once.

Phantasm looks cool. Waiting on more Battle Island info.

[BadAsh]

"A new feature is being implemented called Proximity Squad formation. This feature will simplify the squad formation process by sending an invite to un-squadded players within a certain radius of the player who initiates the command."

If you get these rapid spam invites while "solo" this is going to suck. I'd like this if only players in "looking for squad" status got invites.

Also, while near the subject, I'd not mind seeing a change to inviting that would notify the inviter that the person he invited is "solo" and not bother the solo player. It never fails that when you solo you still get several squad invites with that lame modal acceptance box that you have to dismiss to get rid of. Then comes the interrogation of why you don't want to squad with some ramdom n00b. A SOLO selection should mean you don't and can't spam or bother me. It's already bad enough that my squad preferance is not remembered to the next gaming session and I have to reselect it every time.

Players in your Outfit and or in your "buddies" list should be exempt from this SOLO squad invite block. So your friends can invite you but others can't...

[Incompetent]

The Map screen will now feature an overlay grid, dividing the map into sectors that can be easily identified and communicated. A soldier's grid location will be shown in the proximity radar. THANK YOU GOD!!!

[KIAsan]

Geeze what a pile of crap. Ok, the map references are cool, but give me a break on the rest of this junk.

I mean, come on. "Merit Commendations"???? I can see it now, look at me, I have earned my merit badge!!!! If I wanted merit badges, I would be in the boy scouts. And whats with the Meritorious Serives BS??? They are rewarding us for being a paying customer for a year??? Jeeze, do they really think folks will keep their subscriptions just to get this award?

And what's this crap about Proximity Squad Invites. I get enough frigging spam now. I DON'T NEED more spam from clueless idiots who want to form squads. I can see it now, major tower battle, then bam, 10 invites in a row with the spam window popping up to distract you each time. If they put this garbage in game, they need to fix the squad invite window so the user can set it to SOLO and have it ignore any invites. That way, instead of ME having to click off each squad invite, that SL would get a simple message stating that player x is playing solo. Now that is a fix I would love to see.

[EarlyDawn]

Merit Commendations aren't just for show. If you want the Elite Abilities (Beyond Battle Rank 20) when they come out, you'll have to have invested the approperate time into the respective commendation to give your character access. Such abilities that have already been announced are

- Full barrel rolling ability for pilots
- Air-to-air missles for the mosquito
- Countermeasures for aircraft (Counter-Counter measures are also in the works)
- Second pistol slot for Infiltrators.

[Yerster]

A new feature is being implemented called Proximity Squad formation. This feature will simplify the squad formation process by sending an invite to un-squadded players within a certain radius of the player who initiates the command.

i hope thay make it so you can turn this off so you dont get spamed with squad invites if you do not wont to.

[jsloan31]

Such abilities that have already been announced are

- Full barrel rolling ability for pilots
- Air-to-air missles for the mosquito
- Countermeasures for aircraft (Counter-Counter measures are also in the works)
- Second pistol slot for Infiltrators.

Oh, freaking awesome!

[BUGGER]

NO one said this, but I really like the second chat window. Yes it will block another section of the screen, but alteast you can be more oroganized by squad/platoon/outfit chats and just normal hillbillie chat. I really like that option.

[Onizuka-GTO]

It doesn't say anything about bug fixes, and balancing impliments.

i wonder why?

[Cryptica]

I cant wait for merit commendations to come out. I think it'll be a good way to show everyone just how much you fucking pwn with a bolt-driver/reaver/jackhammer/AMP/knife. Hell ye-ah.

[Electrofreak]

I will personally salute the first person that gets a medal for most enemy kills with a knife.

I wonder what the skill improvement will be for that? /me imagines the knife being replaced with a sword
:eek:

[Lartnev]

It doesn't say anything about bug fixes, and balancing impliments.

i wonder why?

The Dev Team is currently in the process of analyzing the status of Version 2.7 :)

[KIAsan]

It's a road to disaster IMO. We will be creating classes of individuals that have abilities a noob doesn't posses. Imagine two mossy pilots. 1 new, 1 with barrel roll ability. Now, what chance does the new pilot have against the one with special abilities. Even with exactly the same skills, the guy with the special abilities has the edge. Good fun for the veterans, lousy for the newer folks.

Yeah, I can see lots of good times until you start getting a lot of vets with special abilities, then I see lots of frustration on the part of new players. Steps along these lines WILL lead to a game of two classes, vets and those who won't have a chance in hell of ever making it to become a vet. It took me a while to get BR20. I can't imagine how much longer it would have taken if I faced veterans who had abilities that I couldn't counter. As frustrating as that long climb to BR20 was, I can't imagine how much more frustrating it could be if this system was live. Frustrating enough to cause someone to quit PS? That's the danger we face. We are a small enough community as is, we don't need to take steps that limit what few new players we get in the game.

[Lartnev]

We'll see. I see the inclusion of Air to Air missiles as a more unbalancing aspect than barrel rolls. But nothing is certain yet. I know what you're saying, the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker, but Planetside isn't about 1v1, it's about teamwork and so what this could do, is force the weak to team up to take down the strong until they themselves become strong.

[TheN00b]

What sets Planetside apart from other MMO's, besides its MMOFPSness, is that a BR1 player can compete in a battle with a BR20 player, assuming that they have the same weapon. I won't go any deeper into this, as it has been said time and time again, but this should not be changed. Ever. I din't know why the Devs think that this will be good, but they're wrong: This will absolutely screw over new players.

[Lartnev]

But like all other MMOs, and many other FPS games, players work best in a team. It shouldn't be one player vs the world. It should be a squad vs the world, and in the squad you have the mixture of veterancy and certifications required to do so. A BR1 (technically there wouldn't be any BR1s but it's for the sake of argument) can help a squad as the squad helps them.

[TheN00b]

I'm aware of that. However, I feel that the structure of the BR1=BR20 system is perfect. If I've just joined the game, I don't want to have to be dragged up by my higher level friends: I want to be able to make it on my own, and share the load equally with my teammates. If I'm unable to combat higher-level opponents, I'd basically just have to sit back and let my squaddies do all the work, because I'd be killed instantly. Does that sound like fun?

[BadAsh]

I'm aware of that. However, I feel that the structure of the BR1=BR20 system is perfect. If I've just joined the game, I don't want to have to be dragged up by my higher level friends: I want to be able to make it on my own, and share the load equally with my teammates. If I'm unable to combat higher-level opponents, I'd basically just have to sit back and let my squaddies do all the work, because I'd be killed instantly. Does that sound like fun?

I have to agree with this line of logic. The PS game play success equation has always been higher lever = more versatility, but not more raw power. These new concepts for BR20+ elite abilities seem to introduce the raw power aspect and not follow the golden rule of added versatility. This is a mistake IMHO.

It�s a matter of balance. Just think back to the last time something lame happened to you in the game because of an imbalance. Remember surgile quad shots with the Jack? Or the Lasher bugs that made it the premier HA for a time? If your opponent has an unfair advantage it�s NOT fun to have a fight with them. Player skill, tactics, and teamwork should be the factors to determine the outcome of a battle not �elite� abilities rewarded to the players who have had accounts the longest (and thus attained BR20+, etc.).

[EarlyDawn]

The thing is that the Elite Abilities are just as atainable by noobs as by Vets. They just have to put the time into the accompanying cert(s).

[TheN00b]

Thanks for the support, Ash. And good point, Early. It always makes me laugh when some n00b tells me that, because a guy is CR5, we should listen tohim :rolleyes: . I mean, look at FraudulentBob!

[Poopy_Pants]

Maybe at first. But take the barrel roll ability. Once lots of folks with air...recieve this ability. It will be much harder for a N00b to get the air to air kills required for the ability.

Eventually it will become impossible to achieve certain abilities like the barrel roll.

[EarlyDawn]

I'm not going to try and debate that one because it's self-defeating.

[Lartnev]

Maybe at first. But take the barrel roll ability. Once lots of folks with air...recieve this ability. It will be much harder for a N00b to get the air to air kills required for the ability.

That's assuming that to get the barrel roll you must get air to air kills. It may be a correct assumption, but it might also be a case of just getting into a mosquito x hundred times, or spending x amount of time in one.

[SilverLord]

That's assuming that to get the barrel roll you must get air to air kills. It may be a correct assumption, but it might also be a case of just getting into a mosquito x hundred times, or spending x amount of time in one.
I don't think that the barrel roll will hurt aircraft as much as air-to-air mosq missiles will, that is terrible and that plane is even cheaper in certs than the reaver, that spells disaster to me.

[Hamma]

I'm happy about the grid system, been hoping for that one for a while.

[321]

Can't wait for the shoulder pad it's going to look really sexy on me.

[Vis Armata]

An AMS will probably last, oh, 5 minutes once the grid system is in place.

Combine this with /loc and we have a winner.

[Lartnev]

Depends on how far apart the gridlines are.

As for the air to air missile thing, I mentioned that here on in another post. It won't be a bad thing if all pilots get countermeasures. But it depends on whether they see the light of day or not.