Can anyone still stomach this game anymore?

[Death2All]

Perhaps I'm just being my usual pessimistic self, but I logged on today for the first time in a few weeks...Well actually logged on and PLAYED for the first time in weeks. Every other time the fight was way too shitty for VS and I didn't even bother to continue playing. Never the less, I logged on and needless to say I regret doing it. The game was just that bad.

I couldn't stand how every fight ended abruptly with the gen being blown, the absurd amounts of grenades, Special Assault Spam, MAXes, vehicle camping and generally lame playstyles the the majority of players I encountered resulted in using.

It's not surprise to me that a game that has been dying for years and the only few remaining people in the population play like douchebags. It's just the extent and consistency that they play like that bothers me.

The issue itself isn't the lack of updates, game breaking mechanics or poor design, it's the community. There's so much senseless, self righteous "FOR THAAA EMPIREEE!!!!" behavior that it's sickening. Playing to win is one thing, but when it totally sacrifices everyone else's in enjoyment in an UNWINABLE game that's when it becomes an issue.

I'm just sort of ranting here so none of this will make a lot of sense, but I suppose the point of this thread is as the title reads, does anyone still have fun in this game? I'm asking this for people on both sides of the spectrum. The ones who are more adamant on "winning" and base capture or the ones more like myself who play more for the sake of just shooting at people.

On a general basis, would you say you actually have fun in Planetside in its current state?

[Crator]

I don't play the VS that much, more NC, and don't have that bad of a time. The pops do get low sometimes but it's fun to defend what ya' got.

[Effective]

It's alright if you have competent friends to play with and even then it's still difficult to play, since "winning" is very important to some people. Otherwise I play Quake:Live, Starcraft, CS/TF2.

[Graywolves]

I was just playing today and it was awesome.

Blowing the generator and tubes has always been a key factor in taking a base.

I never liked the grenade spam but I've only seen it in stalemates recently.

[BorisBlade]

None of those things you mentioned were lame, try talkin about maelstrom spam or radiator spam or phoenixes if you want lame. With several hundred players you get grenade spam even with PS only allowing you limited and slower grenade usage than most any other game out there. Vehicle campin is not lame, its smart. You cant hold a door with infantry, you need vehicles. Thats legit. Havin said that, VS cant camp doors anywhere nearly as well as NC or TR since the mag is crap for infantry versus the one shot aoe spam of tank shells.

You can always play other FPS'es, and doin so would prob be good cause then you'd realize that those games are 100x cheaper in every way than anything in ps.

I for one still play PS and love it. I avoid CoD and its awful gameplay like the plague, but i do play some BF, but PS gets played a million times more than any BF game or any other FPS for that matter.

[Accuser]

I've never really liked the troop combat in PS1 anyway... no "scope down" movement speed reduction plus weapon bloom that doesn't punish movement gives a lot of motivation for Taliban-style ADADAD crap that feels ridiculous compared to other shooters and realistic shooting styles. I mean, physically moving left and right to put someone in your sniper sights instead of just moving the rifle -feels-so-wrong-

tl;dr
Do what I do: Recruit a friend to gun and/or drive and get your Magrider on.

[Zulthus]

I completely agree. The only reason I still have a sub is because of my outfit. Really fun group of people to play the game with. If I was not in an outfit, I would have left over a year ago. The other reason I'm still subbed is for a beta invite... ;)

[DviddLeff]

I was with an outfit mate in a mag last night on Cery; 18 kills in it and am currently one kill away from getting MAX buster gold... would have had it last night but the bridge between Nerravik and Sedna was too far to get kills reliably.

[Raymac]

Every time I log on, I still have a great time, even on days like today where I got my ass kicked. Some days are better than others, like anything, but I think the game is alive and well.

If your idea of fun is an Interfarm stalemate that lasts until the base runs out of NTUs, well those get old for me, so after awhile I'll start pushing towards the gen just to change the scenery.

[dachlatte]

The issue itself isn't the lack of updates, game breaking mechanics or poor design, it's the community. There's so much senseless, self righteous "FOR THAAA EMPIREEE!!!!" behavior that it's sickening. Playing to win is one thing, but when it totally sacrifices everyone else's in enjoyment in an UNWINABLE game that's when it becomes an issue.

i know exactly what you mean and i agree completly.
a couple of days ago i tried to mix things up a bit. in order to to that i suggested we sack 2 bases so we could have a nice farm.
the result was a lot of hate coming my way (sry for trying to create a fun situation) and me logging to TR.

[Azren]

Well VS is full of morons, so that's what you get for playing as one. I should know, since I play as one also. The only way to have fun as a VS is to join a good outfit who actually knows what's up. If you go with the herd, you will not have a good time.

[Tycho]

I recently returned to PS. If you are playing solo then you will probably not enjoy the game. I try to start or join a squad every time I play. I always have fun once I start working with a group. I teamed up with Praetorian Guard on NC a couple of weeks ago and had the best time. They worked well together and had a great time playing. I have gotten a couple of my friends to return to the game as well. Its all about who your playing the game with.

Sometimes I get frustrated playing PS but then I just switch to BFBC2.

[Sirisian]

I play as VS exclusively and had fun during the 45 days free even though I only played like 3 days. The game is enjoyable if you find a nitch. I like using the front nose gun on the liberator for instance and bombing things.

There's a lot of things I'd change though since I found a bunch of things boring to do. As someone else mentioned find a squad or group of people to play with. It makes the game more enjoyable.

[Firefly]

Winning is fun for me.

Considering that a majority of my adult life has been spent wearing a uniform and carrying a weapon, I understand the concept of warfare as: find what crushes the enemy's morale and do it so they don't want to fight. Then do it some more. And if you find a dead little fucker, do it again. Keep doing it. I also understand the value of overwhelming firepower and brute force. So I keep doing that, too. I die a lot, but I accomplish my goals a lot. In Planetside, these concepts are applicable especially if you want to win. So they are done, and they are done a lot. Like I said, winning is fun for me.

[BorisBlade]

Now what I will agree with are the dumb asses on VS who refuse to rid a race from the continent.... or other just completely stupid shit.

After playin VS last night, you see they dont do it on purpose (atleast durin that evenin). Its the double team thats being put down on them thats the problem. VS had zero conts, only the bases on cery, thats it. There were tons of other targets for both empires, but despite every time VS would kick one empire off and work on the other, that empire would not go to any other cont and actually try to capture territory but would instead always come back again and again and again. Keeping VS in the middle everytime and causin pure frustration.

And dont give me the "there was no fight anywhere else!" thats a load of crap, if you as tr or nc go cap the other factions conts, they will show up and give you a fight. I'm all for fightin whatever ya want, but after gettin kicked off several times in a row, stop bein an ass and tryin to double team the one faction with no conts. Grow some balls and go get some conts elsewhere. We were first playin tr and got tired of the idiocy of attackin vs so we switched to vs to give em a hand. Its like I always say: "If you cant talk your retarded TR friends into playin smart, shoot em!" Plus playin like idiots and a-holes is not my idea of fun either.

[Graywolves]

Well as TR last night it looked like the VS and NC were both just fighting the TR.

Pretty sure we were sanc locked by morning.

[Death2All]

I was just playing today and it was awesome.

Blowing the generator and tubes has always been a key factor in taking a base.

I never liked the grenade spam but I've only seen it in stalemates recently.

Blowing the gen and tubes has always been a key factor. However, blowing the gen was always looked down upon. It was kind of the "bitch" way out of a base. When you used to do that people would scold you for it. It was the very last thing you did if you were fighting over a base for HOURS.

That concept has been washed away and it's become so common that no one cares anymore. It's so consistent that it's desensitized everybody to the point of not caring. Personally, I'm always against blowing the generator, I thought it was a lame concept added to end the fight quickly but sometimes it's legitimate. If a cloaker sneaks in and blows the gen during a stalemate to help his team push in and the enemy team can't get it up, then they deserve to lose that base. Doing that or perhaps blowing the gen far away from the battle to take away the enemies tech is the only other time I feel it's legitimate to blow the gen.

I rarely, if ever see them blown with this consensus however. The basic mentality is a force will show up and INSTANTLY go for the gen. Completely ignoring the CC or tubes and end the fight as quickly as possible. That's extraordinarily lame. In most cases the defending team is outpopped, that's what makes it so easy for the team to blow the gen. When it's a large fight with an even percentage of players when it actually calls for legitimately blowing the gen, they can't because the defenders have to be so adamant on defending the gen.

Perhaps tactics are changing. They always have been throughout the game's entirety. My only problem is that it's become such a dumbed down borefest that it makes it hard to get any enjoyment out of the game. I'm sure I contradict myself a lot saying sometimes it's fair to blow the gen but not when it's against me, but I think there should be a certain moral code people follow just for the sake of the game not sucking ass.


Vehicle campin is not lame, its smart. You cant hold a door with infantry, you need vehicles.


I don't have a direct problem with any of the issues I mentioned (besides maybe gen blowing), I said that it was the "extent and consistency" that bothered. Having a tank camp a door so keep people from pushing out is a normal strategy which I have no problem with, so long as the enemy force is actually pushing in. Too many times have I been at a base or tower only to see on the radar legions of MBTs, Lighting, Reavers, Mossies, BFRs and Libs all pointed at the door and not a single red dot on the ground. What the hell? Is it REALLY that fun to stare a doorway hoping that a person will open the door and by luck with all the other tanks shooting you might get the kill? Well I can't go an judge people's playstyles, but maybe to some it is...


I completely agree. The only reason I still have a sub is because of my outfit. Really fun group of people to play the game with. If I was not in an outfit, I would have left over a year ago. The other reason I'm still subbed is for a beta invite... ;)


I recently returned to PS. If you are playing solo then you will probably not enjoy the game. I try to start or join a squad every time I play. I always have fun once I start working with a group.


It's alright if you have competent friends to play with and even then it's still difficult to play, since "winning" is very important to some people. Otherwise I play Quake:Live, Starcraft, CS/TF2.

In this game's current state, I completely agree. You need a group to play with. There was a time you could solo in this game but that is no more. There are far too many cheap tactics that have become the norm to warrant playing solo.


Winning is fun for me.

Considering that a majority of my adult life has been spent wearing a uniform and carrying a weapon, I understand the concept of warfare as: find what crushes the enemy's morale and do it so they don't want to fight. Then do it some more. And if you find a dead little fucker, do it again. Keep doing it. I also understand the value of overwhelming firepower and brute force. So I keep doing that, too. I die a lot, but I accomplish my goals a lot. In Planetside, these concepts are applicable especially if you want to win. So they are done, and they are done a lot. Like I said, winning is fun for me.

The only issue I have with this is that there is no end goal in Planetside. There's no ultimate reward for winning. In fact, the game is unwinnable. Even if you were capture every base, tower continent and cavern, you'd get nothing. People are ultimately pushing toward a goal with no meaning at the sacrifice of everyone else's enjoyment.

On the other hand, people such as yourself (and I'm not saying that in a condescending way mind you) enjoy winning. Perhaps capturing bases and having the map colored in your favor in enjoyable to you.

So this thread is pointless. People will play how they want to play regardless of what you tell them. Some people play for the enjoyment of others and some for themselves.

[Crator]

Totally agree about the gen blowing on above post. You solo a base, tubes go down and put some CE out. Then guard the CC. Always take out tubes but never the gen. Gen is very last resort needed. Of course unless you're trying to break a link to a cave, mod, or tech benefit.

For one, when you take out the gen the NTUs get drained from the base faster. This can be bad if the NTUs are too low and no one brought an ANT. Another thing about taking out the gen is your empire's adv. hackers can't hack the base terms to get out equipment and vehicles needed. Two really good reasons to only take out the gen when absolutely necessary.

Tubes might be questionable to take out if you know there's a lot more of your empire in the base then the enemy. If you want to have some fun, and get more XP for base cap, keep the tubes up. Killing tubes in towers has always been considered lame.

[Firefly]

The only issue I have with this is that there is no end goal in Planetside. There's no ultimate reward for winning. In fact, the game is unwinnable. Even if you were capture every base, tower continent and cavern, you'd get nothing. People are ultimately pushing toward a goal with no meaning at the sacrifice of everyone else's enjoyment.

On the other hand, people such as yourself (and I'm not saying that in a condescending way mind you) enjoy winning. Perhaps capturing bases and having the map colored in your favor in enjoyable to you.

So this thread is pointless. People will play how they want to play regardless of what you tell them. Some people play for the enjoyment of others and some for themselves.
My end goal is to Sanc-lock someone. My end-goal is to take as much terrain as possible and set my empire up in a position to hold it. My end-goal is, most chiefly and most supremely, to share in virtual combat with my outfit mates and have a good time. I do that by seeking to win or, failing that, inflict as much neckbeard nerdrage-inducing hate and misery as possible.

[Effective]

Ultimately D2A, you can't blame the players for abusing every single tactic they get there hands on regardless of how lame it may or may not be. Simply because it's SOE's fault for not attempting to set up the mechanics in a way that's not only balanced, but fun for ALL SIDES.

Considering the general mindset of the majority of the playerbase, I have no problem playing like a complete douchebag against those players, basically using exploits to gain an advantage over them since I know they're going to end the fight as quickly as possible, though there are some exploits I don't touch. It would be kind of fun to be able to 2 shot every single infantry I see in the game with any weapon.

[Graywolves]

It's not hard to defend and repair the generator, ask the NC on Hossin this morning. We dropped the gen multiple times and in the end we needed the base to go neutrol to get to the CC and hold a hack.

I kinda feel bad for the VS though, Lasher needed the nerf five years ago, but not as badly as it got. I'd almost say I'd rather have the old lasher back but I don't, then again I don't fight VS much, NC's been the biggest threat last few days.


But you need to accept the game "died" long ago, we're practically playing a post-apocalypse RPG. I still have fun with it though and there are things here and there that get me bothered but Planetside 2 is around the corner.

[Raymac]

For one, when you take out the gen the NTUs get drained from the base faster. This can be bad if the NTUs are too low and no one brought an ANT. Another thing about taking out the gen is your empire's adv. hackers can't hack the base terms to get out equipment and vehicles needed. Two really good reasons to only take out the gen when absolutely necessary.


This.

Take a Bio Lab for example. You can basically drop the gen as soon as you take the courtyard, but I rarely see that happen. In fact, more often than not, I see my own empire TKing anyone and everyone that would attack the gen. On the other hand, if I've been banging my head against an Interfarm long enough, I'll start attacking the gen myself, if only to force the enemy to defend it.

Yeah, some tactics can get frustrating, but frustrating tactics are a part of nearly any game. Hell I remember that damn slide kick by M Bison in Street Fighter 2, and there's been frustrating things in every pvp game since. I can almost guarantee there will be frustrating tactics in PS2. It's still a video game, so the honor system will count for jack shit.

[Accuser]

I hope Firefly plays VS a lot on PS2. There will be a lot less "Let's make this one battle last forever while the third empire takes territory." and a lot more "Cap this fast and blitzkrieg to the next before the other Empire beats us there."

As a vehicle-lover, I think you troops should either hold the gen or roll armor from the next base to try to retake the CY. If you fail at both, the base should change hands.

[Avirau]

Playing solo in Planetside gets old after a few weeks, I consider outfit gameplay an essential part of the experience. That said, I don't have any issue with the things you listed as complaints... I'm not sure what you're trying to say with the whole "self righteous" part. It's a video game.

I only play VS and I love it. There are a number of really well organized outfits that are fun to play with. I also have zero issue with blowing a gen. It's an offensive strategy like any other, and it can be prevented with proper defense. I'd rather keep moving on to new bases and new fights than sitting in a CY waiting for the zerg to push through the front door with me.

[Crator]

I also have zero issue with blowing a gen. It's an offensive strategy like any other, and it can be prevented with proper defense. I'd rather keep moving on to new bases and new fights than sitting in a CY waiting for the zerg to push through the front door with me.

Ah, so you're one of those that takes the gen out and moves on right away to the next base, which sometimes requires you wait until the previous base you just left to be under your empire's control. So while you are at the base your empire has no link to the hacked base gets saved by the enemy and you can't hack the base you went to anyways.

[HawkEye]

The amount of thumper/plasma spam these days is absurd. During the good old days in PS when pop locks were normal, there was never as much spam as there is now. There is also a lot of plasma/Pshield/JH users these days Also, the amount of MAXes is out of hand.

My complaint about the gen killers is that they don't let the fight develop and go straight for gen even with 3x the pop of the defenders. This causes lame fights and people to log. Router exploits near the gen piss me off a lot as well.

[Death2All]

The amount of thumper/plasma spam these days is absurd. During the good old days in PS when pop locks were normal, there was never as much spam as there is now. There is also a lot of plasma/Pshield/JH users these days Also, the amount of MAXes is out of hand.

My complaint about the gen killers is that they don't let the fight develop and go straight for gen even with 3x the pop of the defenders. This causes lame fights and people to log. Router exploits near the gen piss me off a lot as well.

That's my main problem with the game. Everyone is in a hurry to "Win" or capture a base. They don't take any time to let the fight play out.

But again as Firefly said, for some people that's their ultimate goal...Unfortunately.

[Avirau]

Ah, so you're one of those that takes the gen out and moves on right away to the next base, which sometimes requires you wait until the previous base you just left to be under your empire's control. So while you are at the base your empire has no link to the hacked base gets saved by the enemy and you can't hack the base you went to anyways.

Umm, no, I never said anything of the sort. If I blow a gen, I hold the gen or the CC until the base is captured. Under no circumstances will I leave a base before it's captured. My entire outfit functions the same way. What you said doesn't even make sense; what's the point of just blowing gens and moving on without finishing the job? Might as well not fight at all. It's not like blowing gens is particularly fun. Taking a base is fun.

[Graywolves]

Terran Republic: Loyalty until Death!

I like faction pride alot, the game revolves around faction conquest, it only makes sense.

[HawkEye]

Umm, no, I never said anything of the sort. If I blow a gen, I hold the gen or the CC until the base is captured. Under no circumstances will I leave a base before it's captured. My entire outfit functions the same way. What you said doesn't even make sense; what's the point of just blowing gens and moving on without finishing the job? Might as well not fight at all. It's not like blowing gens is particularly fun. Taking a base is fun.


I have been a part of resecures of many bases this way. Xelas to Azeban on Amerish comes to mins here. The gen goes down, they put a hack on the base and then the vast majority of people move to the next base and hit the gen and/or tubes before they have a link. After we resecure and get the gen up and farm for a few minutes the gen goes back down.

What irks most people is that even though the attacking empire out numbers the defenders by a lot they go straight for the gen and don't even try to hack cc/get tubes.

[Tigersmith]

I play about every day after work and I have fun every time. Recently yes maxes are out of control. I have been using all deci Inv lately. stupid. kill 3 maxes? Here comes 10 more haha. Gg

[Sentrosi]

I try to get on every night and play wherever the big battle is.
Have to admit though its tough to find a fight when the TR are being kicked out of every continent like we seemed to be last night around 9pm EST.

Tigersmith, I gotta hook up with you guys more. The other night was just a lot of fun.

[Crator]

Pft, last night sucked for all I think. It was the old 3-way lock down on NW Ishundar.

[Crator]

:) I've been around, in and out. Just started talking on these forums though...

[Furret]

I don't see what everyone's problem with it is.

The gen is basically a second CC as far as tactics go, you have to defend both or you'll lose the base. I've never been pissed when the other empire blows our gen and we can't spawn anymore, probably because I'm always on offense.

I have no idea why, but I just don't see a purpose in defending a base that's going to be lost anyway.

[Firefly]

I have no idea why, but I just don't see a purpose in defending a base that's going to be lost anyway.
Because you might actually win. I've been in some pretty incredible battles that revolved around a well-defended base. Fully half of those times, I was a defender. Fully half of those times, I was an aggressor. Sometimes we lost the base after a stiff defense, and sometimes we never managed to get completely in.

Recently I partook in a fight, 31 July 2011 through the wee-hours of the morning into 01 August 2011, at Faro on Cyssor that included, after about four hours of fighting (I shit you not), three separate runs on the generator and about an hour spent trying to infiltrate into the gen. We dropped that generator twice, and still couldn't crack the base. They had an overwhelming response complete with repair teams. It was bad-ass. That was a great fucking fight. NC did a great job that night.

[Furret]

NC did a great job.

I'm gonna have to call bullshit on this part right here.

The NC are a bunch of dumbfucks who wouldn't know the difference between an apple and a green pepper if the even dumber CR5's didn't tell them to zerg it.

I suppose it's possible organized outfits were behind it, but the NC are still fuckheads.

Anyway, I defended Vidar today for about an hour, and just ended up getting pissed off at retards who would watch me rez a MAX and then stand in the doorway so we couldn't get back inside as we both got shot at.

Maybe I need more patience, but for now I'm staying in my caves.

[Krowe]

I'm gonna have to call bullshit on this part right here.

The NC are a bunch of dumbfucks who wouldn't know the difference between an apple and a green pepper if the even dumber CR5's didn't tell them to zerg it.

I suppose it's possible organized outfits were behind it, but the NC are still fuckheads.

I smell mad.

[Crator]

^^^ So much animosity

[Hamma]

Easy there Furret.. :lol:

[Sentrosi]

Some great fighting over the last couple of nights. Glad to be a part of it, even if the rest of my outfit is playing virtual legos on a Minecraft server.


Yes, I called YOU guys out.

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

I've always been confused as to why people don't want to fight in a game about fighting. Most people left in the game just look for the quickest way to end the fight.

Back in the day on Emerald, the VS always used a lot of Maxes, but excessive plasma spam and gen drops weren't that common. Raising BR to 23 and making unimax a cert (buy 2 get 3rd free) saw a big jump in Max use on all empires. Then came the Markov merge... gen drops and plasma were now starting to be a great annoyance. Finally Werner joined and you couldn't go anywhere without seeing the green stuff :(