Planetside 2 Balance Pre-Beta Test List

[Synapse]

Perhaps this is silly but I'm compiling this post to contain all the things people are concerned about balance wise in PS2, and when I get to beta (PCgamer key locked and loaded) I'll be testing these.

This is a compilation of all the stuff we've been asking here and going "well no one knows until we get into beta." We're never going to know if we forget what we asked.

Results will probably go to SOE first not you (due to NDA) but if they are ok with it maybe I could publish results as well.

FAQ:
Q: What's the point of this?
A: Beta testers should be testing, this is as good as any way to get a list of stuff to try. Also, maybe I can contribute in a nice way here if I can be allowed to post results back to the forum (if NDA and SOE allows)

Q: How do I nominate something to be on this thread?
A: Either open your own thread about it and I'll notice it or post it here

Q: I have this awesome thing that's not in the game, but they should add it!
A: Great, it doesn't belong in my thread! Go post in ideas forum somewhere.

Q: How in the world can you objectively study this?
A: I wont be objective, and I wont have time to be scientific, but I will be data driven and as neutral as possible.

Q: I have a very complex question, help me answer it!
A: No. It has to be stated in one phrase/sentence and I reserve the right to only test what I feel is interesting

Q: I posted a 90 page super important thread and YOU MISSED THE IMPORTANT QUESTION I HAD.
A: Sorry, this list is only from the most recent 10 pages. Please post your one sentence question so I can add it if I like it.

The list:
-Territory System:
Time difference of surrounded hex hack vs back hack
vehicle spawn pads, how many are there, how densely packed?
Resources, do they move around or are they static?
Resources, do you feel any limitation when you lose a base or can you stack up tons?
Do some bases never see combat?
Do some bases have a lot of interior to fight over?
Is there city warfare on any continent?
Is there a mechanic to change empire and how long does it require.
Can spawns be destroyed or is it just resource denial to take a base?

-Category, ground vehicles:
# of shots to kill for each tank
tank strafe speed
Can a sunderer push things?
How much damage does running people over do?
Vehicle/vehicle collision damage
Front vs back, where is back and how much extra damage?
Is it better to take a tank gunner seat or bring a skyguard instead?
Is the lightning superior to faction tanks in speed, armor, or damage?
Which has more armor, sunderer, or galaxy, and which is faster?
Can you roll a ground vehicle without it exploding?
Can the magrider survive falls from greater height because of its hover ability?

-Category: Infantry Fights:
TTK for each class using a single gun,
AA Max TTK vs air
Wrong type max guns, TTK of AV vs infantry, or AI vs vehicle, etc
Can you swim?
Can you squad spawn in an enemy held base (SOI)?
Can you squad spawn a whole squad on one infiltrator?
Do MAX AI and AV guns fit the empire and balance? http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=42232
Basic light/assault rifles, how do they fall off with range (accuracy, etc)? http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=42225
Grief system, detailed mechanics
Autoheal and shield, mechanics
Snipers, do all rifles leave equal trails?
Is there muzzle climb from a single shot?
How far is the max range of a sniper rifle, as in if you fire it at a 45 degree angle does that bullet vanish or hit the ground a stupidly long way away
Can you avoid vision loss at night by increasing gamma?
How long does it take a knife to kill a heavy assault armor? From the back?

-Category: Air Vehicles
How much can you nick your vehicle on terrain without taking damage?
Can you land without taking damage?
How far off the continent can you fly?
Damage of collisions with people and other vehicles?
Liberator and Gal, TTK from anti-air vehicle, MAX, lightning
Can you outrun missiles?
Turn rate of each craft (sitting still/ full speed)
Autorepair, mechanics
Can you jump out of a vehicle and get back in to break missile lock?
Are aircraft affected by gravity and other physical forces in forward flight? Do they gain speed in a dive?
Can the pilot be shot inside the vehicle?

-Category: Physics general
Fall damage for various classes, how high is too high to live?
Debris, Is is deadly?
Debris, can you hide behind it?
Tree leaves and fences, do bullets go through them?
Explosions around corners, do you take any damage?
Clipping, what can you stand in? Can you clip through teammates?
AOE damage, how does it fall off with ranges?
Is there freelook/room for TrackIR?
Surfing, can you surf on a tank? On a galaxy?
Vehicle surfing, can it be done?
How long is day/night?
How long does it take to cross the continent in a plane?

Category: Outfits/Voice
Voice, How do you know who is talking?
Voice, is there a command channel?
Can you mute/ignore players easily?
Can you see what outfit enemies are from?


Some early results that might answer some questions, from E3 testing:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=42070

Outfit Names for Enemies, and Killboard ultradetail
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?p=742094

Resource Denial
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=43536

[DirtyBird]

I'm subscribing to your newsletter. :)

[kunzadar]

How long does it take to travel across the continent?

[Grimshad]

Can you take a base as one empire, swap over and take it back as another?

Can't do this. As far as I know there is a timer on switching factions.

[Vetto]

Can't do this. As far as I know there is a timer on switching factions. Just like there is on switching classes.

Didn't they also say there was a timer before the base could be captured again?

[kunzadar]

No there is a timer on one person switching teams. So if you log on as VS you have to wait like 30 min before switching to your tr character.

[GuyFawkes]

No there is a timer on one person switching teams. So if you log on as VS you have to wait like 30 min before switching to your tr character.

Last time I checked Bags' FAQ thread, I thought it was 1 empire per server?

[Crovus]

How long does it take to travel across the continent?

Traveling the width of the map it takes roughly 2-3min in a Reaver.

[Grimshad]

Last time I checked Bags' FAQ thread, I thought it was 1 empire per server?

No, you can play all empires, but there is a time limit before you can switch empire toons. So if you join the game as NC, then a timer starts and you have to wait X minutes/hours until you can switch to a TR or VS toon.

[Bags]

I haven't heard anything contradicting it... hell, Higby or storm said something along the lines of "locking one faction per server builds community".

[GhettoPrince]

All we've seen is a few hours of teams spawning on top of each other with every cert unlocked.

[Shadow Blades]

Does the in-game VoIP have a voice changer effect, or is it just your normal voice?

[IHateMMOs]

Will tanks and other ground vehicles have 3rd person view?

[Grimshad]

Will tanks and other ground vehicles have 3rd person view?

I want to know this too. I really hope not, but in the demos they seem to :\

[GuyFawkes]

I haven't heard anything contradicting it... hell, Higby or storm said something along the lines of "locking one faction per server builds community".

My point exactly , hope they stick with it. After bfr's and the balance pass , nothing brought more detriment to the game than allowing multiple factions per server.
Especially with the whole i-pad thing. '' Oh look , my side is backs to the wall , best log in and help out '' will just change to '' who's winning , I'll jump on that side'' . It happened before and will happen again . 50% nc in morning becomes 50% tr in evening .

[Synapse]

I'm pushing back on things a bit because I will have a long list of items. I want to limit myself to testing things we already know about, not things that might be or might not be.


Does the in-game VoIP have a voice changer effect, or is it just your normal voice?

This sounds suspiciously like a feature request to me. We haven't heard any voice changers in action and neither of the competing softwares (TS or ventrilo) use voice changers. I think you're safe to answer no to that without any testing at all.

I think I remember a video where they did travel by reaver across the continent which is why I didn't put it in. I believe its the one where TotalHalibut is interviewing Higby and they have a dev playing for them. That said I'll add this one, because of it's enduring popularity.

Will tanks and other ground vehicles have 3rd person view?
I'm testing things that we know area in the game...so far we even have a statement that you're not allowed to use 3rd person for air vehicles or infantry...why would you think it's different for tanks? We certainly havent heard that from any devs or seen it in gameplay and thats what I'd be looking for in order to put it on my list.

[Fafnir]

Storm confirmed that there is no swimming yet.

[Synapse]

My point exactly , hope they stick with it. After bfr's and the balance pass , nothing brought more detriment to the game than allowing multiple factions per server.
Especially with the whole i-pad thing. '' Oh look , my side is backs to the wall , best log in and help out '' will just change to '' who's winning , I'll jump on that side'' . It happened before and will happen again . 50% nc in morning becomes 50% tr in evening .

I'll update my line to be just figuring out what the mechanics are (block, or waiting) to switch.

[Synapse]

Storm confirmed that there is no swimming yet.

Yes, but by beta when I test these?

[Redshift]

How far is the max range of a sniper rifle, as in if you fire it at a 45 degree angle does that bullet vanish or hit the ground a stupidly long way away

[Synapse]

How far is the max range of a sniper rifle, as in if you fire it at a 45 degree angle does that bullet vanish or hit the ground a stupidly long way away

Good one. Added.

[Pepsi]

How far is the max range of a sniper rifle, as in if you fire it at a 45 degree angle does that bullet vanish or hit the ground a stupidly long way awayGonna see a lot of "Warp-to-warp" headshot clips. :D

Also besides outrunning missiles, I want to see if you can out-turn a missile.

[kaffis]

Do gunner seats in tanks ever get used? When they do, is it worth doing instead of having two separate one-man tanks?
Is the Lightning worth taking without the Skyguard turret?
Does the Sunderer make sense as a troop transport, or is the Galaxy always decidedly better?

[Satch]

I definatley hope they keep it 1 faction per server. I hate noobs who just jump on the winning side, ruins the game.

[Knightwyvern]

Margaret said on one of the E3 streams that currently there is one character per server, per account. You don't really need more, seeing as it's a F2P game.

When was it said there wouldn't be 3rd person for aircraft? I know there is not for infantry, but I've seen tons of 3rd person for ground and air vehicles, and I'm glad for it. Sometimes you need it to maneuver properly.

[Shadow Blades]

Will you be able to cook grendades(ie light the fuse and throw it so it detonates in mid-air)?

[Synapse]

Will you be able to cook grendades(ie light the fuse and throw it so it detonates in mid-air)?

This thread is only for _checking_ mechanics you've already seen or heard confirmed.

Added: Can you avoid vision loss at night by increasing gamma?

Do gunner seats in tanks ever get used? When they do, is it worth doing instead of having two separate one-man tanks?
Is the Lightning worth taking without the Skyguard turret?
Does the Sunderer make sense as a troop transport, or is the Galaxy always decidedly better?

Refined a bit, added:

Is it better to take a tank gunner seat or bring a skyguard instead?
Is the lightning superior to faction tanks in speed, armor, or damage?
Which has more armor, sunderer, or galaxy, and which is faster?

[Synapse]

Added:
Can you jump out of a vehicle and get back in to break missile lock?

[Reefpirate]

Resourcesw, do you feel any limitation when you lose a base or can you stack up tons?

From what I saw in the E3 vids, there is a limit to how many resources you can hoard. It looked like ~5000 of each resource, not including Auraxium. I think this is a good idea, so that you're more dependent on a steady influx of resources instead of just saving up a whole crap-tonne.

[Kayos]

From what I saw in the E3 vids, there is a limit to how many resources you can hoard. It looked like ~5000 of each resource, not including Auraxium. I think this is a good idea, so that you're more dependent on a steady influx of resources instead of just saving up a whole crap-tonne.

Why shouldn't you be able to save as much as you want?

[maradine]

To your aircraft section, you can add:


Are aircraft affected by gravity and other physical forces in forward flight? Do they gain speed in a dive and lose it in a climb?

[NEWSKIS]

I think this list is a really good idea, but almost everything in it so far is just asking for information and not really things to test in beta. More important things are balance of weapons both handheld and vehicle. As in how various guns and their customizations balance against each other. Also finding things that can be done in game that arent intended and harm gameplay. Just a few thoughts on what should be on that list.

[Zation]

Why shouldn't you be able to save as much as you want?

Imo because over time, if you could accumlate as much as you want, it would devalue the cost on pulling a vehicle and hence how you treat that vehicle.

It would also remove one of the major points that the devs have been talking about with the entire ressource system. Namely, the incentive to defend/take ressources you need or the ability deny the enemy the ressources they need.

[Kayos]

Imo because over time, if you could accumlate as much as you want, it would devalue the cost on pulling a vehicle and hence how you treat that vehicle.

It would also remove one of the major points that the devs have been talking about with the entire ressource system. Namely, the incentive to defend/take ressources you need or the ability deny the enemy the ressources they need.

Good point :)

[tomogaso]

Will the exp from beta carry on to the release?

[Synapse]

To your aircraft section, you can add:


Are aircraft affected by gravity and other physical forces in forward flight? Do they gain speed in a dive and lose it in a climb?


Added, but removed about losing speed in a climb. Modern aircraft are perfectly capable of acceleration in a vertical climb, I expect futuristic aircraft to be similar. I do want to know if you can gain speed in a dive though.

[Fafnir]

Are Liberators and Galaxies able to fly backwards?


This is a serious question. In theory VTOL aircrafts can hover backwards, also libbys and galaxies seem to handle more like helicopters.

[StrayZook]

Page 5 feels like a necro!

Hi, I'm new to Planetside so excuse any newbie remarks, but saw this thread last night and have come up with some tests that could be interesting.

- How fast can you go in a ground/air vehicle and still pick-up another player into a free slot.

- Can you roll ground vehicles onto their sides and roofs and still survive.

- How easy is it to re-right an upended ground vehicle, self or helped.

- Can you vehicle surf with a vehicle.

Not sure if any of this is already known. If these sound a little "Battlefield", you'd be correct :) After seeing the TB E3 vids and watching a fighter pilot massively fumble the keyboard and eject, then rescue it and his aircraft in a 5 second span...

[Kayos]

Page 5 feels like a necro!

Hi, I'm new to Planetside so excuse any newbie remarks, but saw this thread last night and have come up with some tests that could be interesting.

- How fast can you go in a ground/air vehicle and still pick-up another player into a free slot.

- Can you roll ground vehicles onto their sides and roofs and still survive.

- How easy is it to re-right an upended ground vehicle, self or helped.

- Can you vehicle surf with a vehicle.

Not sure if any of this is already known. If these sound a little "Battlefield", you'd be correct :) After seeing the TB E3 vids and watching a fighter pilot massively fumble the keyboard and eject, then rescue it and his aircraft in a 5 second span...

In some of the videos i saw a plane on it's side and it hadn't exploded. After the pilot got out it rolled over and then it did explode.

Also saw a guy surfing on a Gal in one of the videos. He got on top of it on the ground and stayed on top though out the flight. He jumped off when everyone else did the Gal drop.

[QuantumMechanic]

Is there a limit to how many vehicles/aircraft you can have at once? Or is there an auto-deconstructing system?

(in PS1 if you spawn a second vehicle, a few minutes later your first vehicle deconstructs. But now we are *paying* to spawn vehicles with our resources, so I'd hope we can keep however many we spawn)

[DarkChiron]

My main concern during the beta is going to be testing out all the various Infiltrator cloaks. It seems like there will be a great deal of side-grading for it, so it will be some work to make sure they are all equally viable (and that one isn't incredibly more useful than the others). Then there's concerns about sniper rifles doing enough damage for difficulty of hitting without being too strong. Also, will melee be effective enough to allow for sneaking around an enemy base and use it to not be spotted?

So many questions. So many things to try out. So many things to break.

[neonlazer]

Will the exp from beta carry on to the release?

No, that's an easy question. :D

[Synapse]

Page 5 feels like a necro!

Hi, I'm new to Planetside so excuse any newbie remarks, but saw this thread last night and have come up with some tests that could be interesting.

- How fast can you go in a ground/air vehicle and still pick-up another player into a free slot.

- Can you roll ground vehicles onto their sides and roofs and still survive.

- How easy is it to re-right an upended ground vehicle, self or helped.

- Can you vehicle surf with a vehicle.

Not sure if any of this is already known. If these sound a little "Battlefield", you'd be correct :) After seeing the TB E3 vids and watching a fighter pilot massively fumble the keyboard and eject, then rescue it and his aircraft in a 5 second span...

No problem I'm still planning on testing this when beta starts and sharing the results as broadly as I can.

I will add tests for ground vehicles (already have one for air) on how they handle falling over, etc.

You _CAN_ vehicle surf, and anyway thats in the list already.

The rest will be covered naturally, I think. Not even sure if ground vehicles can be rolled, honestly.

[Synapse]

My main concern during the beta is going to be testing out all the various Infiltrator cloaks. It seems like there will be a great deal of side-grading for it, so it will be some work to make sure they are all equally viable (and that one isn't incredibly more useful than the others). Then there's concerns about sniper rifles doing enough damage for difficulty of hitting without being too strong. Also, will melee be effective enough to allow for sneaking around an enemy base and use it to not be spotted?

So many questions. So many things to try out. So many things to break.

I will add questions about knife damage to the existing ones about sniper rifle damage at range. :)

[Kayos]

Not sure if this was mentioned or not yet but, - can a Magrider go off a cliff and survive because of it's hover capability or will it explode.

[Synapse]

Oooh so asking if the magrider basically gets reduced fall damage?

Very added.

[Revanmug]

another thread made me think of this.

if bullet penetration exist first...

Can you kill a pilote with a sniper or infantry bullet weapon? Thinking like aircraft that are surround by glass.

[Synapse]

another thread made me think of this.

if bullet penetration exist first...

Can you kill a pilote with a sniper or infantry bullet weapon? Thinking like aircraft that are surround by glass.

Dev team mentioned bullet penetration does not exist in planetside2, so all that remains is to see what things are transparent to bullets and what stops them. I'll add a test to see if you can shoot a pilot inside a vehicle.