2 Years and Nothing Has Changed?

[chaos1428]

I originally wrote this to go on the PS forums, but I guess reserves cannot post there, so copy and paste ftw.

I remember for years I was following Planetsides every move, and I couldn't wait until this game came out. It was a good day indeed when I got into the exclusive beta. Planetside was so much fun. I continued to play through release. With my crew of about 15 people, we were an organized outfit. I've experienced Soloside, and I've done the whole totally organized Platoon. We had alot of fun, tons of war stories to talk about. We played right up until BFRs came out. Most people understand this though, and I don't have to explain why.

Then the reserves program comes out, what, a year later? Almost 2?
I was thinking, what the hell, maybe the game has changed some. To my suprise, it has changed very, VERY little. Not only has it hardly changed, but the SAME BUGS are still present. Invulnerable vehicles, BFRs out of sink, the Black Room bug from BETA! The bug list could go on, but you get the idea.

I find myself getting annoyed all over again and almost ready to put it down again. Not from dying. I don't mind getting killed. Its from the game seeming to do all that it can to make peoples gaming experience an uphill battle. The same old annoying crap.

You could easily take a look at other FPS's, and say, why don't I just play that? Planetside's big gimic is the huge battles, but from what I understand, those were pretty much non-existant until reserves came along.

PS is dying, but its not dead. Devs you have a perfect oportunity here do so something to save it. And thats the Reserves. People, like myself, come back after a while to try it out, and just go this is the same thing with all the same issues I quit for a year ago. And the off chance that tons of reserves are actually going to pick the game up after a year, not likely. Some might, but most will not when you can go play games with 3 times the content, 1/10 the bugs, for free.

There are a hundred very little, very easy things to impliment that any few of them would make this game 100% better.

For one. Get rid of the whole matrix thing. It doesn't work anymore. Just give people the ability to spawn anywhere they want on the map. I HATE the fact that I just feel trapped in a fight. I either have to stay there, and let the enemy farm me, and recall to sanc and then heart drop to the good battle thats just 2 bases over on the lattice. By the time I get to the sanc, its just too much hastle to do it. If you REALLY want to keep the matrix and don't want to give players freedom, then AT LEAST allow us to spawn and every adjacent base on the lattice.

Allow people to spawn on their squad leader. Hell, Allow that, and scrap AMSs, or allow both. Would give the scouting infiltraitor a major role in the game again. But AMS aside, just the ability to spawn on the squad leader would be a huge improvement.

If you are an engineer and you're in a vehicle, when your stopped, your vehicle should repair other nearby vehicles. If you're a medic, you should heal nearby players. If you have a transport or 2 man, ones an engy and ones a medic, you should heal people and repair vehicles. I would put money on the fact that you will see the Footzerg die down after that.

Since now Core Combat is just added to everyones account, stop making people have to go down there for all the benefits. There is no point to it now. Just make all bases have pain fields, shield, vehicled/weapon mods.

Lodestar needs to be changed. Why the hell doesn't this thing carry only 2? Make it like the mini-galaxy. 3-5 passengers, all with galaxy guns, no MAX capability, but give it SOMETHING.

Bases need some major refinement. Tunnels, boxes, crates, back door, blah blah. Not much you can do, but what you CAN do would make a huge difference. Give all bases those bunkers in front of both entances, hell maybe even one at the back door too. Make it so the only way in them, is through the CY or from inside the base itself. Put some EQ terms in there, and a Med term or 2, and an IFF lock and bam, you got yourself some useful bunkers. Giving people more options and the ability to "Dig-in" to bases alot more.

This list can go on and on. Planetside is not dead yet, but unless you do something to stir things up a bit, it will die. And I'm not talking about "Funny Hat Day", or Wild Wild Wild West events. Its neat, but not enough.

You can save Planetside. I'm not trying to tell you how to do your jobs devs, because god knows theres more going on behind the scenes, but the fact that almost nothing has changed in 2 years, is ridiculous. Honestly.

[Arkillion]

I can't agree more, i mean my opinion with Medical is that you could have a special ability other then reviving with "Adv Med"
Ever heard of Nanites? inject nanites into enemies as a cloaker, it'd own
*Cloaker* *Bzmm" Med App > Randomnoob

[chaos1428]

Exactly. Stuff like that. There are hundreds of good ideas that could be added to give this game an entirely new feel, and make it worth coming back for. As it stands now, its exactly the same game it was before, and I find myself logging off in annoyance from exactly the same old crap. Mostly because I just get sick of being trapped at a losing base.

Man, it sure would be nice if I could just spawn at the next base over and roll out some armor to help the base thats under attack, or go get some air cover, but no, I'm stuck. Alot of times, I'm thrilled that the enemy blows the gen, because now I can get the HELL outta the damn base!

I can understand to a point like WoW, or EQ and such doing things just to waste your time and make things take longer, but why Planetside? Why should I have to recall, go to the sanc, get in the HART, wait 5 mins, wait in the Que (because normally now there is one to get back to where I was) Drop outside the base I want to be at, walk all the way inside, grab a Vehicle, drive/fly all the way back to where I was before, eventually get killed because I'm the only putz who recalled, and be stuck in the base ALL OVER AGAIN!? I Suppose I COULD Matrix to that base, but usally by the time I DO all this, the base is already lost. Besides, it doesn't fix the annoyance. Its just like putting a band-aid on a broken leg.

Very very frusterating, and it happens all the time. This game will NEVER get a decent population of subs unless its stops TRYING to annoy the hell out of people.

[Mhute]

As someone who has joined the game recently I say I like planetside quite a bit. I'm no where near familiar with the bugs you talked about and I'm a bit unclear of this Matrix system you are referring to (though I'm sure what I'll say soon will touch on this issue) but I agree with some points and disagree with others.

BFRs are fine. I prefer playing as infantry so I simply get pasted but I've seen the rank 2 tanks hold their own against BFRs and reavers simply paste them. In all my battles I actually had the chance of seeing the rare type of infiltration suit user solo a BFR and win eventually. Who knows how much health that BFR had but it was obvious that its shields were up and I tried experimenting with infiltration suits against those things to know it's not easy to avoid detection once you start the attack.

I also like how bases can only be conquered if they are adjacent to other bases you captured or to a warp hub you sort of control. It adds some nice depth to strategy.

Lastly I wouldn't want to AMS to be removed because they certainly make soldiers even more valuable than MAXes and add additonal layers of depth to both strategic and tactical considerations.

Overall I feel the units are pretty well balanced where anyone can take on certain units very well while have some very glaring flaws against other units. This fosters an interdependency that makes Planetside feel like an MMOFPS instead of just an FPS. Also the sheer number of players that fight at the same time also helps in making it feel like an MMO.


Where I agree with you is everything else. Galaxies are too good compared to Lodestars. Medics and engineers need better flexibility and your idea would provide that as well as making ground tranport vehcles better than before. Also in the case of medics they need a few more abilities once you get the advanced cert. Ressing is simply not good enough on its own.

My own personal pet peeves are as you have mentioned the options of where yo can materialize are too limited. It fustrates me a lot when my or any faction has a ton of bases but we can only materialze into two nearby locations and any present AMS. It makes no sense especially when the base is captured which allows me to materialize to a location almost 10 minutes away on foot but I may have needed that ability much earlier.

My other pet peeve is the way the Magrider maneuvers and the way the Flail shoots. The range for the mouse sensitivity options to control the Magrider is lopsided to the point your only real option is to crank it al the way to the left. The Flail is just dumb on every concievable level. It's an artillery piece. That shoots a direct fire weapon :eek: The weapon itself can only aim vertically but the lowest you can aim can overshoot any vehicle except a BFR on level terrain. And possibly the final insult is that it has a wide area of effect when the attack hits but unlike other explosive weapons it appears the damage doesn't bleed through walls :huh:


While this doesn't bother me continuously as my pet peeves I think Planetside needs better maps. They aren't just bland they lack themes for strategic and tacitcal gameplay. It's pretty bad how quickly vehicles become useless the moment they enter water and a soldiers inability to swim is laughable. Let's not even get into the fact that every large body of water is really the black lagoon in disguise.


The last thing I will mention that I wish I could state on the forums is my idea for MAXes. They are pretty much powerful enough as it is but I feel their inability to do many things unarmored infantry can do takes a bit of the fun out of using them.


So I thought that MAXes should get one more additional bit of utility unique to each faction.

For the NC all MAX suits can be equipped with probes. THeir option is for either two probes that can't stealth and last 15 seconds each or for one stealth probe that can last 20 seconds.
Probes can be launched even if your shields are up.
Probes can be attacked by infantry but don't explode with splash damage.

If you have the targetting implant your probe can see stealth units.
If you have the implant that improves stealth ability the stealth probe can't be detected by anything except the naked eye when it moves.

To control a probe is easy as it can move left, right, up, down,forward and back. On top of that probes can strafe and accelerate or deccelerate in speed so you can see really far away targets and keep your probe on them.

The most seriouus drawback is that the camera for the probe works like the camera for the rocket from the rocket launcher. So you can't fight at all or move that well while controlling the probe. But you can switch views from between the probe and your suit in case you need to control your suit while the probe is out. If you change control from the probe to the suit the probe stays active until someone shoots it down or the timer expires causing it to self destruct.

The TR MAXes would be equipped with power loaders. Power loaders allow TR MAXes to push lift and pull objects within certain limits.
A single MAX could push or lift any soldier except for another MAX suit. If the soldier you lift is a teammate they can't attack but they can jump off you (allowing them to reach positions they may not have been able to without the boost). If the soldier you lift is an enemy player they can't attack or move until you let them go.
A single MAX can also push the smallest ground vehicles by themselves and can lift and put down spit fires anywhere that is outdoors and sensor posts anywhere.

Two MAXes is the minimum to push and pull the much larger ground vehicles and all air vehicles on the ground. But if there is room, up to four MAXes can work together to push a vehicle whether or not it is deployed or a wreckage.

If a wreckage is being pushed around its lifespan on the game increases after the first MAX(es) move it to another location. This lifespan increase only works for the first time it is moved around and that is it.

The only thing MAXes can't push, pull or lift are BFRs.

MAXes can push other MAXes but not lift or pull.


Last but not least are the VS.

Their MAXes would allow them to travel underwater. Oxygen would be lost but only at a much slower rate and wile the suit is moving. If the suit stops under water then Oxygen very slowly fills back up. Also their jets can be used underwater but only half as much fuel is used as normally. They can't fire underwater but they can track anything near them above and below water level as they could when above water as the do now in the game.

[Lonehunter]

I think someone just needs a hug. Seems like you're out to demolish PS. A lot has changed since release, and a lot more is on the way. No PS was NOT dead before reserves. Everytime I logged in there was at least two major fights. BFRs are no problem now. Only takes 1 person to take one down, maybe 2.


Edit: Everyone thinks their ideas are the best, that's not how it works, lol

[chaos1428]

I really don't want it to sound like I'm just trying to bash on PS, as it is not my intent. I just can't beleive how little has changed, and I want to see some changes. Not vaporware, which they are exceptional at, but actual changes and improvements.

And I am not complaining about BFRs at all. I'm saying I left when they came out because for me, it totally killed the game. Now they are a joke as I have solo'd them with my lightning :)

I also like how baes can only be conqoured if they are adjacent to another base on the lattice, hence the lattice system ;)

I love Planetside, and I always will, I just don't want to see it die. And hey, if the game was doing fine without reserves then great. I'm just repeating what I heard is all.

They get so close to perfection with the ideas they have. SOOOO close, and then, just when they almost have it, they scrap it, start over, and it sucks!


All the vehicles need to be revamped. Mainly, the vehicles who require more than one person to run. Tanks in particular. There is no reason that the tank driver shouldn't be able to run the turret as well. Makes the lightning obsolete? Yes, ok, then redesign it to what it should have been. Customizable. Give it a mech lab. Able to reduce armor for more power, instead of a turret give it rocket pods. Instead of the guns give it AA. Interchangeable guns would make that a very fun tank.

Why on earth is the Lib 3 man? Why can't the bomber, sit behind the the pilot, and remotely operate the tailgun (which should be, you know, ON the tail)? I mean, this is the future, right?

I just hate seeing this game fail, when it has so much potential.

[Lonehunter]

All the vehicles need to be revamped. Mainly, the vehicles who require more than one person to run. Tanks in particular. There is no reason that the tank driver shouldn't be able to run the turret as well. Makes the lightning obsolete? Yes, ok, then redesign it to what it should have been. Customizable. Give it a mech lab. Able to reduce armor for more power, instead of a turret give it rocket pods. Instead of the guns give it AA. Interchangeable guns would make that a very fun tank.

Why on earth is the Lib 3 man? Why can't the bomber, sit behind the the pilot, and remotely operate the tailgun (which should be, you know, ON the tail)? I mean, this is the future, right?


See there you go again, thinking your ideas will save the game, that thinking won't get you much pleasure in ANY game. The whole time you'll be thinking "Man if they only..."
One thing this game does have going is the tactical cooperative play, great outfits. I'd hate to see that torn apart by everyone just soloing in large groups, in one man vehicles.

[chaos1428]

Im not saying that MY ideas will save the game, I'm saying Ideas will save the game, I'm just throwing out suggestions. Hell I didn't even say these were my ideas :p

Sure, its a team game, but why should it ONLY be a team game. You see more Single-Man vehicles on the map than anything else.

Given the choice between vehicle/game improvements over funny hats? Not a difficult choice.

All vehicle changes or any other ideas aside, the ONLY thing that completely frusterates me to no end, is the endless stalemate battles where everyone is trapped in one base. Open up spawning options and this game will be 150% better in my opinion.

[Mhute]

Current pilot gunner/bomber symbiosis is fine. The game is better off enouraging some form of teamplay.

[chaos1428]

Thats your opinion. Its a whole lot of fun shooting at the tail off the Lib from the bubble in the back :rolleyes: Would be really nice if you could shoot at things directly behind you at the maximum height, being the future and all that.. 3 Man is just too many. 2 is good. However, this is only touching on a very small detail of the bigger picture.

[Mhute]

Well it certainly is dumb how limited weapon arcs are limited for certain craft. I an agree with that.

Now that I was thinking of that I just remembered another very silly thing which is our limited field of vision after we die or wait inside vehicles like the Galaxy. :rolleyes:

[Hamma]

Here is a list of items that have changed since release:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/ps/timeline.php

And it also needs to be updated a bit. Plenty has changed ;)

[Entra]

I'm still missing those new base designs that was promised years ago, hehe.

I can understand each point you're making Chaos. Sometimes the game does feel too slow. The whole weapon changing/arming really bugs me to death. Fighting can feel so clunky.

To me PS is a nice game to play every once in awhile. It gets too frustrating to play for extended periods.

[chaos1428]

Here is a list of items that have changed since release:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/ps/timeline.php

And it also needs to be updated a bit. Plenty has changed ;)


I look over that and I see
Minor tweak, minor tweak, bug fux bug fix
Merit added, minor tweak, bug fix. Minor tweak, funny hats......

Not really enough to bring players back.


In my opinion, games like CoD2 and BF2 have set the bar tactical shooters on the market today. They have the right balance of challenge, diffuculty, with ease of gameplay.

Unless PS follows suit, it will fall. And that would be a damn shame for a game that is so close to perfection.

[Mag-Mower]

Here is a list of items that have changed since release:

http://www.planetside-universe.com/ps/timeline.php

And it also needs to be updated a bit. Plenty has changed ;)


Wow, I didnt know we had that. Thats pretty cool.

[Hamma]

In my opinion, games like CoD2 and BF2 have set the bar tactical shooters on the market today. They have the right balance of challenge, diffuculty, with ease of gameplay.

Unless PS follows suit, it will fall. And that would be a damn shame for a game that is so close to perfection.
It isn't those games. There is a whole new set of issues when you get the amount of players PlanetSide has in one place on one server. Lag, Packet Size, etc are much more prominent with several hundred players rather than 16.

There is still no game out there that provides the scale of combat that PS does.

[chaos1428]

Well, for one thing, its 64, not 16. I am not talking about graphics or performance issues here. I'm talking about little extra things.

Being able to spawn anywhere would be enough to give the game a different twist, ending the 2 day stalemates. Its not just my idea, its not even a new idea. I'm simply suprised that nothing has changed to improve the game's "feel" rather than minor tweaks here and there.

[Hamma]

Well, for one thing, its 64, not 16.
Same difference. They are different animals, PS is what it is and it does that very well and is the only game that does it at all. It will never become MMO CS or MMO BF2.

[Mhute]

Not even Eve Online?

[chaos1428]

Uhg. Defend it all you like, its just not worth paying for.

I could post links to other MMOs patch list to prove how a dev team should update, but I won't.

You all keep paying, when reserves is over, and if theres more than before, then you were right, if not, well then, nobody wins.

If you think its perfectly fine, and PS is not in any danger, then by all means, defend it and tell everyone who has an idea, that the game is fine.

[Hamma]

Not even Eve Online?
Different game typel.

Uhg. Defend it all you like, its just not worth paying for.

I could post links to other MMOs patch list to prove how a dev team should update, but I won't.

You all keep paying, when reserves is over, and if theres more than before, then you were right, if not, well then, nobody wins.

If you think its perfectly fine, and PS is not in any danger, then by all means, defend it and tell everyone who has an idea, that the game is fine.
Never said it was perfect, but it will never be one of the games you mentioned. There are far to many technical issues and asside from that they didn't make it all that adaptable when they started.
Could they or can they ad more? Sure can. But you forget you can't add frilly little hats and new epic items in a game like PS. You have to add vehicles, buildings etc etc all of which dont go in all that easily. You have to consider load times, patch times, ping, latency etc etc. Many factors that aren't around in an RPG or something. Someday, i hope soon another MMOFPS will come along that will learn from all that PS has.

It is what it is, accept it for that or not. The choice is simple really ;) It's the only game of it's kind right now and it does that well. There is no other FPS out there that makes you feel the immersion of being one member in a large army fighting it out in your own corner of the planet.

[chaos1428]

Could they or can they ad more? Sure can. But you forget you can't add frilly little hats and new epic items in a game like PS. .


But they DID add frilly little hats. And sunglasses, and "Epic" armor :p

You DO have to add more vehicles and what not. SO far I've seen the Lib, which is poorly designed, the Lodestar which is a peice of crap, and the Vulture. Oh and the CC vehicles and those went over very well :p

How does allowing you to spawn anywhere on the map slow the game down? How does allowing people to spawn on the Squad Leader, or Spawn on CR5s, or even make it the new CR6 ability, slow the game down?

I'm not saying change the game to be like other games. What I am saying is some ideas from those games would be very easy to impliment, and WOULDN"T be taxing. Simple little things to make the game play better.

[Hamma]

imo things like that would make it even harder to defend a base :eek:

[Mag-Mower]

I dont know where to start. Planetside isnt broken, its you. You obviously dont like the way it plays, so go play an other FPS.

[chaos1428]

You must be right. There couldn't be anything wrong with PS. Thats why the population has steadily declined over 3 years, and thats why they released the reserves program. It's not a last ditch effort to desparately get people to play or anything. They just had some extra bandwidth sittin around and they wanted to soak it up somehow :rolleyes:


I'm just giving some suggestions, butyou just wanna think I'm attacking PS, and you don't want to see anything changed, then by all means, keep it the way it is, and attack me for my ideas.

[chaos1428]

imo things like that would make it even harder to defend a base :eek:

Spawning on squad leaders yes I can see your point, but seriously, what about making that the CR6 ability?

Spawning anywhere I don't see as a problem. In fact I think it will be better in the long term of base defense.

Ok, so you're at a base with a red alert. You got enemies coming inside every which way, but your team is holding them off fairly well. However, its only a matter of time (usually) before they break in and take the base. Now I, and alot of others would like to be able to get some armor out, an AMS, or some air cover to start pushing them back, but we can't, when the enemy owns the CY. So what to do? Well, I could hope I Matrixed at the right base, spawn over there, either by myself, or with an organized squad/outfit, come back with a handfull of vehicles, and get hosed by everything they have already there. I could recall, drop on the next base over, again, either alone, or with a few people, and have the same thing happen. Or I could try my luck getting a vehicle out at the red alert base, and prey I can survive past autodrive.

If everyone could just spawn at the next base over, you'd have a steady flow of guys still defending, and a nice steady flow of vehicles coming in to try and take back the CY. Intead, right now, if the gen/tubes go down, everyone at once goes to the next closest base, and comes back, and has to now has to fight its way IN to resecure.

It sucks being trapped in the base, having to either spawn at the red alert base and get farmed, at the random (hopefully close enough tower),the sanc, some AMS way over in BFE.

Or what about those friggin backhacks? You're having a good time duking it out with one empire, then you notice the someone hacking a base on the other end of the cont? We've all benn through that, countless times. Should I REALLY have to take a 20 minute drive over there? By the time anyone gets there, its too late, its hacked, and you're screwed. I don't have a plane, and if its pop-locked, I sure as hell am not recalling to HART in. Instead, you get a handfull of guys in planes head over there, one at a time, mostly disorganized, who do their best without any reinforcements.

If you opened it up to at least allow you to spawn anywhere on the map, or at the very least at any friendly base connected via lattice, it would allow faster response to backhacking, and in fact BETTER base defense. In fact, it would really help with going to a cont, and hacking empty bases. Because ANYONE on the cont can get to you right away, which is better for PS, than hacking empty bases I would think.

Having vehicles isn't just for getting from one end of the cont to the other. There would STILL be a need for vehicles, maybe even moreso.

Its like Instant Action, only smarter. :D

[WolfA4]

But they DID add frilly little hats. And sunglasses, and "Epic" armor :p

You DO have to add more vehicles and what not. SO far I've seen the Lib, which is poorly designed, the Lodestar which is a peice of crap, and the Vulture. Oh and the CC vehicles and those went over very well :p

How does allowing you to spawn anywhere on the map slow the game down? How does allowing people to spawn on the Squad Leader, or Spawn on CR5s, or even make it the new CR6 ability, slow the game down?

I'm not saying change the game to be like other games. What I am saying is some ideas from those games would be very easy to impliment, and WOULDN"T be taxing. Simple little things to make the game play better.
the lodestar is far from a piece of crap, it's a mobile repair and rearming station which lets your empire project it's vehicle power further away from a base enabling easier assualts and sieging of enemy bases.

[chaos1428]

I've seen a handful ever used for that purpose. I just see them used as kamikazes.

However, I stand corrected on the Lodestar. Not a total peice of crap, but still its just.....meh

[Lonehunter]

Being able to spawn everywhere would slow the game down a lot. People would be more inclined to not participate in the main battle, and go off on their own thing. Wich would mean more small skirmishes, and less big battles. This would eventually turn into a Unreal/Battlefield setting and 30 people on 30 people, but all playing on the same server.

Walking out the door of a base, and seeing four 150mm Vanguard Shells flying by me
My outfit flying a platoon of Reavers and cooperating with other platoons
Cloaking into a base where you see 5 people every 3 feet and blowing the Gen
Watching a group of Tanks mow down dozens of infantry to take over a Courtyard.
Charging into a base and having the best streak of your life by blasting through guys till your run out of ammo.


^Those^ moments are why the people who play PS like this game. If you don't then simply don't play. Yes more FPSs are very tactical, with very good team play. But in Planetside your team is an Army, and this is a War, not a skirmish.

Every online game can use improvements, and every online game suffered a loss when World of Warcraft came out.

Yes you are stating ideas, but this is not the place to do it over and over. The new Devs have been implementing more and more Player fed ideas lately, go to the official forums. Hey, maybe in a few months one of your ideas will be in game.

[WildEagle]

Gah, why do you people such large posts!!! It's so much to read if you haven't been on for a while.

[chaos1428]

Bleh

I see everyone is still in the "This is what I'm used to, so don't change anything" mode. Ok

Reserves can't post on the forums, and I'm not gonna resubscribe just to post :p

I do like this game, just not enough to pay for it anymore. Not enough has changed to justify the fee. Its the same old crap I got sick of and quit in the first place. And just about everyone I knew before are saying the same damn thing. I give it 3 months, and most of the reserves will have quit.

But whatever, I'm done. I tried to have a nice discussion, but all I get is "if you don't like it then quit" Blah blah