Weapon customization a bit meager?

[Memeotis]

There's plenty of options, sure, but to me it feels kinda stupid that there has to be a choice between laser dot, suppressor, or foregrip.

I think Brink had a great system where you would, if I remember correctly, pick between types of magazines (standard, quick reload, extended, or drum), front attachment (suppressor, flash suppressor, laser dot, or flashlight), optics, and then finally attachments like foregrip, bipod, grenade launcher and something that would make your swap your weapons faster.

Some of these I know are not in Brink and have been stolen from BF3, but you get the idea. This would not in any way unbalance the game, but simply give players more dimensions with which to tune their weapons to their playstyle.

[Aractain]

If you can have a gripod, a underbarrel launcher (Shotgun?!?) and a lasersight/flashlight combo why WOULDN'T you have them all? To create good gameplay it makes more sense to split them up so you choose the one you want most (and different people have different opinions = variety!).

[Memeotis]

If you can have a gripod, a underbarrel launcher (Shotgun?!?) and a lasersight/flashlight combo why WOULDN'T you have them all? To create good gameplay it makes more sense to split them up so you choose the one you want most (and different people have different opinions = variety!).

Because there is still sufficient trade-offs between things like silencer vs. laser-dot, or foregrip vs. underslung, or standard mag vs. extended mag. To ask players to choose between underslung or silencer is way too restrictive.

[Immigrant]

I agree with Memeotis, you should choose optics for optics tradeoff, front attachment for front attachment (flashlight or silencer i.e., usefulness would depend on situation and time of day), magazine for magazine (more capacity or faster reload i.e.) etc following the same logic.

Also all weapons for certain class (i.e. different carbines for LA) look the same/very similar to me.

[Aractain]

If there was more options then I would probably agree, like suppressor, laser, bayonet, flashlight, and long barrel for the front with grenade launcher, forgrip (or bipod if prone is added), shotgun, cattleprod, and heartbeat sensor/motion tracker for the under.
Otherwise you get 2 or 3 choices per slot and thats a bit meh.

[bigcracker]

I say you can have all your mod upgrade also if they bring a downside to using them all.

[LZachariah]

You do not have to choose between the attachments. You have 3-4 attachment slots that include the underslung portion of your weapon, what you want for a sight, and other items. What you have to choose is the "Certification" for that weapon; Range, Damage, Accuracy, Additional Stabilization, etc.

Given your topic on this thread, I kind of get the impression you haven't been watching... ANY of the videos, wherein you clearly see that the weapon wielder has a sight and also a silencer, or a sight and also a foregrip...

~Zachariah

[Xyntech]

We've seen a lot of the customization system, but so far we don't have 100% solid info on what some of the tradeoffs will be. One thing we do know is that you can have multiple different modifications on different slots on both weapons and vehicles. We have have to choose between some options, but a lot can be mixed and matched as long as they take up different slots.

Also, they haven't finished the customization options. They will doubtless add more options before release, and even more post launch. So even if we only have a few options per slot at the start of closed beta, I doubt it will stay that way.

[wasdie]

I'm sure there will be more and more upgrades and customizations as time goes on. Right now I'm thinking they have the weapon and attachment sets they are targeting for the launch of the game all set up and are focusing on polishing and balancing them.

They need to have a pretty comprehensive set of these things in the game before they start the beta.

[Canaris]

focusing on making Gucci gear is something better suited to be handled after all the game play features and content is finalised and finished no?

[Kriegson]

There also appears to be a number of weapon variants that are available to provide modified weapons, possibly without certs or cheaper ways to obtain certain builds that to cert and purchase every bit for yourself.

I imagine with pre-set variants there could be a few implications. They are likely there for testing certain builds for one thing, but also might be incentivized in some way to appeal to some as a simple on stop purchase as opposed to certing and buying every last mod you want.

A way to get people to purchase more things from the shop overall:A stock weapon and whatever mods you want in the long run, but in the short term a pretty well customized pre-set that fits your tastes.

[Xyntech]

I'm sure there will be more and more upgrades and customizations as time goes on. Right now I'm thinking they have the weapon and attachment sets they are targeting for the launch of the game all set up and are focusing on polishing and balancing them.

They need to have a pretty comprehensive set of these things in the game before they start the beta.

We haven't even seen stuff like Shotguns and Heavy Assault guns yet (HA is because of animations of course). I think they will focus on getting some of those in for beta more than a bunch of new customization options.

I definitely think that they will want to have a good amount of options for each customization by the time beta starts, but even 3 options per slot would be acceptable for testing purposes. They will be adding new modifications post launch, so I think it would be reasonable that they slowly keep adding them pre-launch as well.

[ArmedZealot]

It's better than what was in Planetside 1, which had nothing in terms of customization.

[GreatMazinkaise]

Back in my day we didn't have your fancy customizations and your meaningless alphabet soup weapon variants. We had an empire-specific assault rifle and shared the dubiously useful rifle/grenade combo that was the Punisher and the formidable Sweeper, the only weapon capable of going toe to toe with a R-EXO/Shield HA user. That's all we had, and we were glad to have it.

You young whippersnappers should feel lucky that you even get to put weapon mods on your guns and that you have access to ten different meaningless letter/number versions of a Cycler. /oldmanrant

As an aside, I get why you guys like ADS so much (it looks 20% cooler with the new sights), even if it's a terrible game mechanic.

[captainkapautz]

You do not have to choose between the attachments. You have 3-4 attachment slots that include the underslung portion of your weapon, what you want for a sight, and other items. What you have to choose is the "Certification" for that weapon; Range, Damage, Accuracy, Additional Stabilization, etc.

Given your topic on this thread, I kind of get the impression you haven't been watching... ANY of the videos, wherein you clearly see that the weapon wielder has a sight and also a silencer, or a sight and also a foregrip...

~Zachariah

No, I'm pretty sure he is right and you are wrong.

Atm you have Optics/Utility/Camo/Cert, wherein Utility is everything from laser, light and foregrip to underslung weapons, all of which are exclusive.

So no suppressor and foregrip or underslung weapon and laser with the current system.


OT: Agree with a Brink-like system with pros and cons for every mod.

[Memeotis]

You do not have to choose between the attachments. You have 3-4 attachment slots that include the underslung portion of your weapon, what you want for a sight, and other items. What you have to choose is the "Certification" for that weapon; Range, Damage, Accuracy, Additional Stabilization, etc.

Given your topic on this thread, I kind of get the impression you haven't been watching... ANY of the videos, wherein you clearly see that the weapon wielder has a sight and also a silencer, or a sight and also a foregrip...

~Zachariah

There's optics, utility, tint and certification. All I'm saying is that the utility category should instead be split up into 3 groups: front attachment (silencer, flash suppressor, heavy barrel, laser dot, flashlight), bottom attachment (foregrip, bipod, speed-sling, grenade launcher) and magazine attachment (standard, extended, drum, quick-reload). Perhaps it could even be split into 4 categories called side attachment for laser dot and flashlight, etc.

[Cuross]

Back in my day we didn't have your fancy customizations and your meaningless alphabet soup weapon variants. We had an empire-specific assault rifle and shared the dubiously useful rifle/grenade combo that was the Punisher and the formidable Sweeper, the only weapon capable of going toe to toe with a R-EXO/Shield HA user. That's all we had, and we were glad to have it.

You young whippersnappers should feel lucky that you even get to put weapon mods on your guns and that you have access to ten different meaningless letter/number versions of a Cycler. /oldmanrant

Lawl :)

I don't really care much for the customization since I can't imagine how useful any of them would truly be aside from optics. I mean, I can't imagine much more than a 10-15% difference in effectiveness (with the exception of the suppressor maybe blocking out your dot from a minimap). All for the sake of the game balancing itself from the two year vet and the two hour greenie. While I like the flavor that these offer, until is otherwise proven in the Beta, I'm actually perfectly happy with it the way it is currently :P

And on an aside, so far as I know, military weapons now come equipped with some sort of flash hider built into the barrel, sound suppressors have a tendency to reduce 'flash' and/or have an additional flash hider built in. Besides, as far as silence and flash hiding weapons, VS should be the standard in that since they don't have to deal with the exploding gasses in the barrel that causes it. But that's okay, we forgive you because we have lasers :groovy:

[kaffis]

I'm pretty sure you're asking for the system the game already uses. Multiple slots for weapon customizations, right? That's the way the game works already.

[Memeotis]

I'm pretty sure you're asking for the system the game already uses. Multiple slots for weapon customizations, right? That's the way the game works already.

I hope so, but in the footage that was streamed by TB it's 4 slot which are optics, utility (foregrip, silencer, laser dot etc all in one), tint and then certs.

[Haro]

I hope so, but in the footage that was streamed by TB it's 4 slot which are optics, utility (foregrip, silencer, laser dot etc all in one), tint and then certs.

I saw a TR running a cycler with red dot, laser, and I believe a silencer, so yes, I believe that we do actually have multiple attachments at once.

[captainkapautz]

I saw a TR running a cycler with red dot, laser, and I believe a silencer, so yes, I believe that we do actually have multiple attachments at once.

Just reddot and laser, no suppressor.

[Sirisian]

You do not have to choose between the attachments. You have 3-4 attachment slots that include the underslung portion of your weapon, what you want for a sight, and other items. What you have to choose is the "Certification" for that weapon; Range, Damage, Accuracy, Additional Stabilization, etc.
Yeah this is basically what I came here to say, but I wanted to argue that it's a flawed system. In one of the videos Higby mentioned it doesn't cost resources to use any of your certs. I think this concept is going to hold their design back. That is they have a resource system in the game, yet they aren't using it for any in game customization. Using the slot based system to limit customization isn't the way they should have gone.

Really just like people choose to use resources to equip a grenade players should use resources to configure their loadouts. Allow people to configure loadouts for different purposes and limit it based on how much the player wants to use their own resources. Honestly if someone isn't using a tank they should be given the choice to upgrade their max or their AV weapon with as many non-exclusive upgrades as they want. That level of customization to be able to decide and configure things to a certain play style while incorporating the resource system is really what would make things amazing for myself.

[Gonzo]

I think some customizations should be controlled, to better preserve the distinctions between classes.

A lot of you are citing Brink's weapon customization, but remember that game had no weapon restrictions between classes, while PS2 does.

Take magazine customization for example. Right now in PS2, if you want a high-capacity/drum mag on your gun, you have to play HA. But if you are now able to customize that, you could have drum mag's on any class with an AR.
Engineers, LAs, Medics could all have similar firepower to a HA, which would be brutal on the class balance. In order to preserve class roles and interactions, some customization has to be sacrificed.

[captainkapautz]

I think some customizations should be controlled, to better preserve the distinctions between classes.

A lot of you are citing Brink's weapon customization, but remember that game had no weapon restrictions between classes, while PS2 does.

Take magazine customization for example. Right now in PS2, if you want a high-capacity/drum mag on your gun, you have to play HA. But if you are now able to customize that, you could have drum mag's on any class with an AR.
Engineers, LAs, Medics could all have similar firepower to a HA, which would be brutal on the class balance. In order to preserve class roles and interactions, some customization has to be sacrificed.

Every class gets highcap mags, HA just has more ammo to start with, because of the drum.