What are your thoughts on PlanetSide 2 now that you have played?

[Hamma]

So here it is, the thread we have all been waiting for..

You got into beta and have had some hands on time with PlanetSide 2. What are your thoughts? Have all your hopes and dreams been met or would you like to see much more?

Not in beta? Well I have this..

KRJJ-TZRJ-N6GE-CZR3-MG76

Be sure to come back and let us know what you think ;)

[EVILPIG]

Planetside 2 is probably 10% done content wise. Even in it's Beta state, the game ROCKS. Once you get organized the real fun begins. I see lone wolfs complaining. We run our Air Wing, Armor Team, Rapid Response Team and our Infantry squads all in concert communicating on our Teamspeak server. We coordinate and support each other and we get the job done.

[Janzani]

Hehee I got the beta key.. :D Where in the **** is the download link? *goes crazy with excitement and faints*

[EVILPIG]

Hehee I got the beta key.. :D Where in the **** is the download link? *goes crazy with excitement and faints*

www.planetside2.com/download

[Mordicant]

Well it's to the point where I am playing then the server shutdown pops up and I go holy hell is it already that time? Where did 5+ hours go.

That being said I really want more unlocks.

[Aaron]

Well, since Tech Test, the game has already gotten so much better. The devs are always listening to the community and changes are always being implemented based on the feedback they get. It's a true beta and it's being developed upon what we want. A game can only flourish with the type of interaction they have with us.

[Valcron]

The game is very simple- If you Love Call of Duty and Battlefield series you will love this game. If you LOVE planetside, you won't love this game- because it's NOT Planetside at all. It's fun to log on for a few minutes but gets terribly boring after a while. PS1 where are you?

[Higby]

The devs are always listening to the community and changes are always being implemented based on the feedback they get. It's a true beta and it's being developed upon what we want. A game can only flourish with the type of interaction they have with us.


Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

[Janzani]

www.planetside2.com/download

Thank you kind sir! The download button doesn't work though. Now begins another kind of waiting.. Refreshing the page and clicking the button. I'll go and make some coffee.

EDIT: Nevermind... Of course the download link is in the email they sent you and this one works just fine.. I'm such a fool.. I'll go play for a few days and come back to this topic with something constructive to share with all of you and not just off topic beta key excitement.. :D

[wasdie]

I'm enjoying it but it has a long way to go before it's ready for version 1.0.

I'm confident in the developer's ability to bring it all together. It's an extremely ambitious project with a very modern way of integrating their community with the decisions they are making. It's almost an experiment.

I've seen what happens to games when the community has too much of a say and I've seen what happens when the community is completely ignored. It's a fine line that SOE is walking but I'm liking the results so far.

[ArcGuard]

I'm having tons of fun.


I still think it was fun to watch people here dance around questions and trying to pretend they didn't have Beta knowledge.

I guess I'll always have the good old days...

[Valcron]

Higby, I appreciate the openness and your guys willing to listen. But the fact that you guys still use a class base system instead of an open system kills me.

- There's no inventory system at all
- AMS is gone, and you guys stated you won't be bringing it back in the design meeting.
- Hacking is missing but I'm sure it will be added
- Infiltrators are just terrible in their current state
- The feel of Planetside is pretty much missing, I feel it's just COD redone.
- The lack of vehicles is disconcerting, and the fact that I fun my own tank is just terrible
- The bases are shallow and the capture system isn't compelling. What happened to base walls?
- Base benefits? What is the point in owning any of these bases, they're not giving any benefits at all. Tech plants, amp stations, etc should give good benefits.

There are the big things for me.

[Haro]

I think the phrase "it's beta" sums it up for me. The game is obviously not complete, and my experiences with it have varied to a huge degree: at some times, it can be very frustrating (like the original was, at times) but there are other times where it is simply brilliant. It's very promising given how little of the game is properly implemented and balanced.

I look forward to continuing beta and seeing how much the game will grow, because I trust the devs based on what I've seen them do so far, and they've been very responsive for the most part. I also look forward to discussing the game on PSU, because the beta forums were giving me a bit of a headache.

[BorisBlade]

Its definitely improving, the new capture systems should help alot over the currently awful ffa ticket system. The infantry combat is pretty good, a bit too fast but still good. Aircraft seem to be pretty good as well with much better movement over ps1. The graphics are simply amazing, there is no knocking them. I find myself pausing to look at stuff all the time even months after i first got in.

The ground vehicle combat tho is flat out awful. Vehicles have no armor, so you die in seconds, large scale epic fights NEVER happen. You just die before vehicles can mass up and anytime they come in with big groups, they just get decimated in seconds. Its boring and sad to see. Drivers being gunners in the MBT's is terrible, they are boring and weak to keep em balanced for solo play. They move very badly with simple stop, fire til dead or target dies, move, and repeat. You dont get real vehicle movement. No one can do both at once very well so its boring to do and boring to see. Lame instant magical seat switching means you dont need that AA gunner, just switch and fire then switch back. Totally kills the need for teamwork in a game with 2k people, which makes no sense. It should be encouraged not discouraged. Instant in/out and more just make things cheap and uninteresting.

They need to bring back ps1 style vehicles with immersive mechanics such as fixed vehicle slots (no magical seat switching), drivers who dont gun (except for the lightning), and real armor (3x what it is now, minimum of 2x keeping in mind ps1 had 4x what these tanks have). Then we can finally get some epic vehicle fights again. I just dont get this obsession with making everything die so freaking fast. Its boring and means you dont get large scale epic fights which this game should do better than PS1 but currently cant even hold a candle to when it comes to that aspect.

[SeanNewBoy]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

One of the things i really appreciate about PS2 is the dev community involvment, but then i'm a bit spoiled after having played Star Trek Online. The devs there may not be able to help being controlled by companies that have not faith in them but they try and keep open lines of communication.


As for the game it gets better everytime i log on, you guys are doing a great job.:)

[texico]

What is that code about? Is that an open-access key to beta?

I didn't make much of an effort to enter Beta because I realized my laptop probably wasn't up to scratch when I entered PS1's free playtime and got lag, but that will change soon (hopefully in time for the game)!


I'm interested a lot in the changes. What did everyone make of the bigger changes from PS1? i.e the territory system, class system, Galaxy-AMS etc? What was the best change? what was the worst? That territory system looks like it's going to make some epic continent-level drama.


One of the things I was worried about was cross-continent battling and control of continents. Was only Indar available in beta btw? There might be a different dynamic once all the continents are playable at the same time. A big part of the tactical side of PS1 was the capturing and trading of continents which might be another change.

[Figment]

Will have to see what the hex system does, but for now what I see is massive logistical issues, the game being completely catered to massive size outfits or at the very least overzerging whatever resistance is present. Which is easy since the bases are too big to have the luxury of concentrating your efforts.

The specialty of certain highly organised, but small outfits being able to breach any given position with a swift concerted, precision strike effort is nullified by the fact you need to hold many points at once and even if you do hold those points it can be made pointless if you don't hold adjecent territory (even if you have firm control over the fast majority of the base, you will still lose it).

All in all, aside from the bad performance on a low end rig, I've not been having much fun so far. With a small outfit, it's pretty much impossible to make a difference unless you tower whore somewhere. Hence most spec ops teams that can't field more than 10 people at any given time have been very disappointed to say the least.

Tank combat is lame and incredibly shortlived due to the low TTK time and driver=gunner, making it pointless to bring a gunner. Travel times are very long due to lack of both fixed and mobile spawnpoints. Till the hex system at least the game has felt like one big "whack-a-mole", that made it impossible to coordinate.

The chat system is bogus, since anything that looks like broadcast, the only way to communicate with larger groups of players in the area, is actually a chat shared by ALL EMPIRES (/yell). >__>

Organization is therefore for now something only done within an outfit and up till now has been very arbitrary and mostly reactionary because - like in the PS1 beta - you could be attacked anywhere and thus no coherent fronts formed. Like then, the lack of coherent fronts and the lack of logistics means that fights are extremely shortlived. And if you lose, at least before they add more fixed spawnpoints to the outposts, you will be thrown back at least 7 hexes.

The Galaxy is unable to be used as a field spawnpoint unless you bring a zerg. People have to stay to guard the Galaxy and constantly repair it. Basically think "turret repair duty" after a base cap, forever, or your Galaxy will die. Apparently some people think that's fun or "organization"? I don't think so anyway.

Classes feel like straightjackets and don't allow a lot of creative combinations for creative attacks. Some bases can only be attacked with jet packs (no roads upward), but since medics don't have jetpacks, they can't follow in. Small teams and solists are especially hit hard by this because they can't compete with even slightly larger groups that can afford to bring medics. Especially 1337fits and smaller spec ops teams are hit very hard by the rigidity of the classes. Tbh, customization doesn't currently amount to more than changing the sight on your gun and gun type. Specialization is from my point of view pretty meaningless as everyone goes for the same low cost and high power options.

Specialising in mines for instance is bogus, because the bases are many times larger than a PS1 base, yet you get a 15th to a 20th of the amount of mines you could place in PS1. Meaning there's no way you can deny access to areas or setup effective CE'd zones with a few dedicated people.

Camping is also very common in this game with its low TTKs and for many, poor frame rate. Shields in place now don't actually stop people from camping.

Sneaky Ops are currently non-existent, partially because the certs aren't there, partially because there's very little you could do aside from killing and recon even if it was there. Ghosts on the other hand are overwhelmingly prevalent. If you enjoyed sneaking into a CC and capping it right under the noses of 20 nose-picking NC, TR or VS, forget it. The moment you come near a CC, it'll start flashing on everyone's interface.

Some bases can only be entered alternatively from Gal Drops by means of Teleporters. Fixed two-way travel teleporters that can't be killed and look exactly like a Spawntube, just with a firing squad waiting on either end by default. At least it's not plasma door spam, is it? :p

Spawn "generators" (Spawn Control Units) are placed in other buildings between 50 and 150m away and can typically only be reached by going outside. They take a lot of effort to kill (way too much for a small squad to do effectively), but at the same time, you get no warning when it's attacked, if it is destroyed you get no time to mount a secure session and basically if you're being attacked by a zerg and you're a small group, or there's a Liberator hovering over the base and you have to get outside, forget it. You're doomed.

End of fight.

Ends of fights often end well before they'd end in PS1, because there are no intermediate steps in a fight as the logistical support for that is just non-existent. It's not a matter of pushing people from the base to the CY, then passed the next hill and then to the next base, no, it's kill them once at your base and run them through their timed spawn on squad options, kill their gal and cap their one fixed spawns (auto-cap through base cap), then they're pretty much gone from your half of the map. It's always a long walk of 450-1000 meters to attack another point and that's just not doable. Galaxies are hardly maintained and even if they are they're at least 200+ meters away. Think trying to attack Nexus from beyond the hills with a footzerg.

Walls are also useless as everyone just drives around them. I've not seen a single base defense where walls were used to fire at opponents OUTSIDE of the walls. Not a single one (!).

It's currently very unlikely that you could win the continent, unless you have a huge pop advantage and suppress any ghosts continuously. We've done it on the EU2 server with NC when there were just around 40 people online, total.



All in all, the game has a lot to improve before I can give it even sufficient marks.

[raptorak]

I absolutely love this game, but I never played PS1 I'm afraid so I can imagine there are some things missing from the game that I would miss if I had.

Some things which slightly bother me:

1. I've been playing Tribes:Ascend for a while, a game that makes me rage because it is so dumbed down. When I saw the instant action button I was not pleased - I think "Instant Action" should be replaced by some kind of commander call-down where you can volunteer for a troop drop of some kind.

2. Assault rifles are cool, but could we have some kind of primary explosive weapon like a Spinfusor? :D Ok this isn't Tribes :P

3. Vehicle combat is a little lacking, I wish the game had more physics and ragdolls. The quads feel a little boxed into the ground, the planes should have some kind of Q/E roll function button rather than using the mouse to bank (maybe they do).

4. Some lack of physicality to the infantry. No chance of ragdolls? Blowing troops away with rocket launchers NEVER gets old. Imagine a huge explosion and the flying mess of ragdolls that could ensue with 1000 players - oh right, that is why they aren't in? :rofl:

5. I feel points capture too fast, maybe they should require more than one person there? There should be a warning if you are being capped.

6. Destructible auto defense turrets might be a good idea for some more important bases.

I'm sure I will think of more issues later :)

[Valcron]

Classes do feel like a straight jacket, it's the one thing I absolutely despise in this version of Planetside, it really is absolutely terrible. Higby and the development team already said they're not changing it which is really disapointing.

Also, the Auraxium time sink is ridiculous, you will be forced into buying weapons with real money. Auraxium takes a really long time to recover.

[AThreatToYou]

The flow of combat is so radically different from PS1 and other big shooters... it does not seem fun. I'm going to hold out on playing until the territory control system is finalized.

[Boone]

The game is very simple- If you Love Call of Duty and Battlefield series you will love this game. If you LOVE planetside, you won't love this game- because it's NOT Planetside at all. It's fun to log on for a few minutes but gets terribly boring after a while. PS1 where are you?


insightful

[raptorak]

Have to agree not a fan of the class system either - such a yawn worthy mechanic - whatever happened to good old fashioned customizable loadouts?

[Shogun]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

oh yes! it IS what we want! and thanks again for this great and new approach!
if planetside is as successful as it deserves, i am sure we will see this open and community-involving developement again. but higby and his team will stay the first who have dared to try this!

on topic:

the game feels great so far! there is a lot missing, but i am aware that this is early beta and things are in the pipeline.
the good old planetside feeling is somewhere in this game! found it some days ago, in a big battle where i was cleaning the sky with my max while a big tank column took the enemy base under fire and some engineers kept my my ammoreserve and armor high.

my main concern right now is the target recognition and the overall awareness. i never know where i am, i don´t even notice most enemys (and camo is not even in the game yet!!!) and due to the friendly-markers being so unreliable i never know if to shoot somebody or not.
and don´t ask me, where our squad is.

the visibility of most important things has to be revisited. squadmates onscreen, squadmates on map and targets/friendlies.

may sound negative, but since this is the only thing i don´t like in the game so far, it´s more of an award ;)

i assume engineers will get more toys, otherwise add this to the requests ;)
also, old requests stay alive... i will not drive a vanguard until i get the chance to have a dedicated gunner/driver setup! and it needs to be the standard setup. the standard as it is now may be a cert to please the lonewulfer kids who think they have to gun everything they bought.

[Aaron]

I have to agree with a lot of the concerns here. However, the devs are most likely reading it all as I speak. They're going to find a way to fix the these things.

The inventory system is something I brought up in one of my first threads in the official forums. The class system shocked me, but it is going to stay. Nonetheless, there's nothing saying an inventory can't make a comeback along side classes.

[ringring]

I'm liking it .... on the way to loving it! :p

I got a little despondant a few weeks ago. However, Smedley cheered me up no end with one little phase. He said that he agreed that (at the time) the game felt a little like BF on a larger map, he followed it up by saying that they don't want to make BF3MMO because they want to make the successor to planetside.

Fantastic!

Since then the devs have added a few patches which have really improved matters, and here I'm taking about the additional defences around Zurvan and the different capture mechanism. It may not be totally right yet but it has produced those intense extended battles that planetside was famous for.

Thank you - devs :)

Every other day there's a tweaks and additions as weapons are added in. I'm sure the devs are feeding stuff in slowly so they can assess balance issues.

My concern looking forward are in the developmewnt of additional continents. One continent will get old pretty quickly and the lateset hint was that there w0ould be only two for launch, which is bad news.

I look forward to multiple continents, with a sanctuary and without footholds (please) and with inter-continental strategy. When that's in we can call this the new planetside! :D

[goneglockin]

I got access to the beta the first day for vets. I think that was like a month ago.

I could only stand to play for a few hours the first week, a couple the second week- and I think it's been two weeks since I've even logged in at all.

The core gameplay is lacking. The game feels shallow and pointless. Smed says 90% of "stuff" isn't in... but what stuff is that? Is it stuff that's really going to change how the game plays and feels, or just fluff?

I don't believe him for a minute; especially if he's including all the pointless sidegrades and variants of equipment in his 90%...

Nope, to me, the core mechanics look mostly done and they are soooo uninteresting. So I've been playing Tribes: Ascend the last two weeks instead.

[OnexBigxHebrew]

The game is very simple- If you Love Call of Duty and Battlefield series you will love this game. If you LOVE planetside, you won't love this game- because it's NOT Planetside at all. It's fun to log on for a few minutes but gets terribly boring after a while. PS1 where are you?

How is the game in ANY way like call of duty? ADS? And frankly, the gameplay in BF3 outclasses this game in every way. (As it should - it doesn't have to sacrifice anything to be an MMO - not a gripe, just a fact).

Get off it. Call of Duty is a no-vehicle meth-head arena shooter.

Overall, my impression is that the game, on video, is insanely impressive in terms of scope and size.

Gameplay needs serious work. Vehicles, gunplay, everything, it's all slightly sub-par. I do, however, understand that this might not be possible to improve.

Also, incentives just aren't there. You get a big feeling of "What's it all for?". If I'm going to be putting up with half-baked gameplay, there has to be stronger MMO elements. All MMOs sacrifice gameplay for content. THere's a reason why elder scrolls online won't be anything like skyrim.

Part of the problem is with me - that I saw myself as more willing to spend the time online and get in with an outfit. Now that I've really shaken things out between school/work/fighting, I honestly can't see myself doing it - and for everyone not getting involved that way, the game is very hollow. The 15 minutes it takes for everyone to orgaize a galaxy drop is just too long for me. Again - my problem.

Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun, but the game has a way to go before I'm 'hooked'.

[Figment]

How is the game in ANY way like call of duty? ADS?

You misinterpreted him completely. He said CoD in combination with BF3.

Why? Because the base layout is very akin to a CoD map with a lot of small single or triple room buildings within a large map with BattleField style capture mechanics.

[RobUK]

I love the game and have had serious problems logging out and going to bed! I've been going in to work feeling half dead for the last 3 weeks. I look forward to the day when we can play the game for as long as we like, whenever we like.

For the last 9 years Planetside has always dominated my gaming time. Now Planetside 2 is doing the same thing. I'm one very happy gamer!

[typhaon]

It's awesome.

The amount of progress that has been made in just the short time from the tech test until now is impressive.

[JawsOfLife]

I just got into the beta 3 days ago and have only played about 4 hours total. Also keep in mind I never played PS1, so this is a perspective completely new to Planetside games.

First off, the way base balance/design is right now, there seem to be no large scale battles around bases. It's basically just an infantry race to cap the points. I spent very little of my time fighting in/around bases, there is not much point as it basically goes:
>Base captured
>Locked for 5 mins.
>Other faction comes in, decimates with air, recaptures
>Rinse and repeat.
Not terribly compelling, unfortunately. In fact, the only large battles I got into (it happened twice) were both infantry vs. tank battles. It was me and about 20 other infantrymen huddled behind one piece of shelter while the HA's in the group tried to pick off the 4-5 tanks that were besieging us. That honestly was the most fun I had during the play time.

I should also note I was going solo this whole time, which is not very fun. I did manage to run into a group of 2 Sunderers, 3 Magriders and a couple Lightnings while I was in a Lightning and we stormed a base at night, that was super fun as well.

Closing notes: Yes, performance is quite lacking at the moment but honestly I was impressed that my meager rig could run medium settings at 1080p. Server load is the most important factor in performance though. A full server will tank framerates regardless. The game looks very good, the lighting as everyone has noted is spectacular. There are of course rough patches (like top of building textures, many ground textures that are 2005-alicious even on High) and other problems but this is beta, and my experience was largely positive. Huge thanks to the dev team for being so open and I have complete faith that as they get feedback the bad balance and vanilla combat design of bases will come together to make a much better experience.

[OnexBigxHebrew]

You misinterpreted him completely. He said CoD in combination with BF3.

Why? Because the base layout is very akin to a CoD map with a lot of small single or triple room buildings within a large map with BattleField style capture mechanics.

Thanks, detective, but I don't think a "OMG its CoD and BF3, make PS1 into PS1!" Statement needs much interpretation. Move on.

[vVRedOctoberVv]

Overall, I'm really enjoying it. It's definitely the dominant source for my entertainment :) I played PlanetSide 1 enough to get a "feel" for it, and was really excited at what SoE wanted to do with the follow up. There were a few changes I wasn't really keen on, like solo MBTs, but seeing how things have been implemented across the board...

I really like it. I hope lots and lots of other people like it to and will make it successful for SoE. At present it's not perfect, has bugs, and various things that need tweaking, but the "overall" experience, the "gist" of the game... Very good. I'll be playing PlanetSide 2 for a very long time!

Thanks to all the developers for paying as much attention to people as they do, for sorting through the drivel, the whiney, the fan bois, trying to find the "gems" among the comments, and for putting as much work into their product as they must have.

[VaderShake]

I come to PlanetSide 2 primarily as a Battlefield player, but I have been gaming for over 30 years so I ahve played my fair share of MMO's and everything in between.

PS2 looks tremendously promising and plays like BF2142. Currently the beta is lacking the tools needed to stick close with your friends and squadmates which is my only real frustration with the beta thus far but I understand it's....well...a beta.

This is a game on a scale and scope I have dreamed of for years and I will do anything i can to help this thing come off.

[vVRedOctoberVv]

I just got into the beta 3 days ago and have only played about 4 hours total. Also keep in mind I never played PS1, so this is a perspective completely new to Planetside games.

First off, the way base balance/design is right now, there seem to be no large scale battles around bases. It's basically just an infantry race to cap the points. I spent very little of my time fighting in/around bases, there is not much point as it basically goes:
>Base captured
>Locked for 5 mins.
>Other faction comes in, decimates with air, recaptures
>Rinse and repeat.
Not terribly compelling, unfortunately. In fact, the only large battles I got into (it happened twice) were both infantry vs. tank battles. It was me and about 20 other infantrymen huddled behind one piece of shelter while the HA's in the group tried to pick off the 4-5 tanks that were besieging us. That honestly was the most fun I had during the play time.

I should also note I was going solo this whole time, which is not very fun. I did manage to run into a group of 2 Sunderers, 3 Magriders and a couple Lightnings while I was in a Lightning and we stormed a base at night, that was super fun as well.

Closing notes: Yes, performance is quite lacking at the moment but honestly I was impressed that my meager rig could run medium settings at 1080p. Server load is the most important factor in performance though. A full server will tank framerates regardless. The game looks very good, the lighting as everyone has noted is spectacular. There are of course rough patches (like top of building textures, many ground textures that are 2005-alicious even on High) and other problems but this is beta, and my experience was largely positive. Huge thanks to the dev team for being so open and I have complete faith that as they get feedback the bad balance and vanilla combat design of bases will come together to make a much better experience.

I had a lot of performance issues until the patch before last, and stability issues until the last one (I'm down to a crash per hour or two instead of every fifteen minutes). It's very playable, as things are optimised better along the way.

[Whiteknight]

Classes do feel like a straight jacket, it's the one thing I absolutely despise in this version of Planetside, it really is absolutely terrible. Higby and the development team already said they're not changing it which is really disapointing.
[/QUTOE]

I have to say that I Like the class system. It removed the 'universal soldier' aspect and makes teamwork Necessary. Not just easier, but it is nearly required. Yes, there will still be people who run off and manage to do really well alone, but they are still limited in what they can do alone. A balancing system, which I do like.

[QUOTE=Valcron;832131]
Also, the Auraxium time sink is ridiculous, you will be forced into buying weapons with real money. Auraxium takes a really long time to recover.

I agree with you here. The Aur sink time is extreme.... But that's what you get with F2P. The company needs (yes, needs) to make money off of the product that has been a cash sink during the entire development. The ability to pay for other weapons ( rather than spending many many hours in game) along with only being able to buy visual mods with cash, is how the will pay for the costs of previous production, future production, and maintaining the servers.

[oosik]

So here it is, the thread we have all been waiting for..

You got into beta and have had some hands on time with PlanetSide 2. What are your thoughts? Have all your hopes and dreams been met or would you like to see much more?

Not in beta? Well I have this..

KRJJ-TZRJ-N6GE-CZR3-MG76

Be sure to come back and let us know what you think ;)

Great game, and once we get more continents to fight over and are able to purchase stuff and cert out more options, it will get fantastic. First few times I found myself at The Crown battling upward from Zurvan with other TR and despite the early constant crashes, had a great time as a DC Max. I'd flank enemy infantry positions and cut down 3-4 before they knew what was happening.

Lots and lots of outposts (and different outposts) compared to PS1. Terrain (at least on Indar) is considerably more rugged than most PS1 continents and you have as infantry or max an incredible number of places for cover as you advance either in a base or out in the open. Bases are much more open but at the same time more spread out than PS1. Due to feedback the Dev team has been adding terminals, spawn points and flash terminals at many outlying bases, making them viable jumping off points for attacks into enemy held areas and viable defensive positions for organized outfits to slow down attacking forces.

The metagame has evolved considerably since the start of beta and continues to evolve. This week, for example, they added the hex adjacency requirement and new capture mechanics for Zurvan and Peris. It is refreshing to be part of a real beta that is actually evolving and getting better rather than just a demo beta. The Dev team responds intelligently to suggestions without going overboard and swinging one way too far, too fast.

One pet peeve of mine, however, is the TR pounder max. I don't ever use it because, frankly, it is pathetic. The mag capacity is too low for the bang you get, the speed is too slow, and the arc is so bad you can't shoot far enough to hit anything worthwhile. Until they correct it or change it, I'm using an M9 SKEP launcher with HA as my AV.

[Gammit10]

The premise, engine, day-night cycle, sound, and particle effects are great, but at the moment there is a lot of work needed for the meta (chess-like/map-moving) game. It currently feels like a shooting game slapped on a good engine with major ideas still needing to be implemented rather than tweaked.

With fast capture times, capture nodes that are exceptionally easy to access (with many out in the open), sprinting/ jet packs for infantry, few base walls, and a faster TTK, the game is more of a large whirlwind of captures and shooting than a strategy/tactics/shooter/vehicle game that PS1 was.

With the original, I can remember hour-long drawn-out fights, the name of all bases, etc. As of the current build base names are irrelevant, as the fight will quickly wrap-up at its current location and resume elsewhere within 5-10 minutes. I really do not see many hour-long fights occurring here. In this sense, it feels more like a very large UT3 with fast-paced decisions yet different capture areas.

As a medic, I am doing much more reviving than I am healing, which is more similar to my games with Battlefield 3 and very different from Planetside 1.

As of right now, it's a modern shooter with some PS-elements (80% modern shooter, 20% Planetside) rather than a re-take on Planetside with some modern mechanics. Some vets, including myself, were hoping more for a much different ratio. I played PS1 over Battlefield, UT, Call of Duty because of the differences.

What's worse is the large number of people in the beta who seem to prefer this, and that is frustrating. The entire game moves exceptionally fast and will likely be a great hit for the monster-energy-drink chugging crowd.

I'm not dogging the devs. If this game continues to play out this way, I will move on and wish them well. However, as of the current date, the game is disappointing to a long-time veteran. That being said, my hope is for continued MAJOR tweaks by the development team, who has been very communicative thus far.

[Kerafyrm]

Personally I think the game is great for being in beta and I also can't wait to see what the game looks like 3 years from now.

Also I think we need to give the devs a ton of credit for making so much effort to actually read their forums and give us feedback and also take our feedback. I haven't been anywhere else where the devs actually talked this much (or at all) on their forums, twitter or whatever. Devs being social=win.

[Figment]

Thanks, detective, but I don't think a "OMG its CoD and BF3, make PS1 into PS1!" Statement needs much interpretation. Move on.

You asked how it's like CoD, I tell you how and you get all butthurt. Nice.

[Sephirex]

The premise, engine, day-night cycle, sound, and particle effects are great, but at the moment there is a lot of work needed for the meta (chess-like/map-moving) game. It currently feels like a shooting game slapped on a good engine with major ideas still needing to be implemented rather than tweaked.

With fast capture times, capture nodes that are exceptionally easy to access (with many out in the open), sprinting/ jet packs for infantry, few base walls, and a faster TTK, the game is more of a large whirlwind of captures and shooting than a strategy/tactics/shooter/vehicle game that PS1 was.

With the original, I can remember hour-long drawn-out fights, the name of all bases, etc. As of the current build base names are irrelevant, as the fight will quickly wrap-up at its current location and resume elsewhere within 5-10 minutes. I really do not see many hour-long fights occurring here. In this sense, it feels more like a very large UT3 with fast-paced decisions yet different capture areas.

As a medic, I am doing much more reviving than I am healing, which is more similar to my games with Battlefield 3 and very different from Planetside 1.

As of right now, it's a modern shooter with some PS-elements (80% modern shooter, 20% Planetside) rather than a re-take on Planetside with some modern mechanics. Some vets, including myself, were hoping more for a much different ratio. I played PS1 over Battlefield, UT, Call of Duty because of the differences.

What's worse is the large number of people in the beta who seem to prefer this, and that is frustrating. The entire game moves exceptionally fast and will likely be a great hit for the monster-energy-drink chugging crowd.

I'm not dogging the devs. If this game continues to play out this way, I will move on and wish them well. However, as of the current date, the game is disappointing to a long-time veteran. That being said, my hope is for continued MAJOR tweaks by the development team, who has been very communicative thus far.

Was going to post my own opinion, but found someone had already posted all my thoughts on the matter for me.

So, uh.........^this

[Stardouser]

It's doing well, people are batshit insane about wanting cooldowns applied to everything instead of using resources.

And VS is engaging in a coordinated campaign of claiming their weapons are too weak when they are not.

[Bags]

It's pretty bad at the moment (yes I know it's beta) IMO.

Base fights are a random scramble, keeping a small squad of 5 people together is a hard task sometime because we keep getting different spawn points (and yes I have a squad beacon certed and use it).

Indoor combat is dominated by maxes because they have no timer and no cost and everyone has access to them.

Outdoor vehicle combat is pretty bad because all of the tanks are paper thin and shredded by any sort of air.

Galaxies are too weak unless you have like 6 engineers repairing it, then it becomes invulnerable. Galaxies are also still too rare to be an AMS filler.

Performance is still pretty bad, getting ~40 fps in no fight with my specs.

I hate indoor fighting at night because the indoors of facilities are pitch black despite having lights EVERYWHERE. Instead of illuminating anything, base lights just serve to blind you when contrasted with the dark of night. The novelty of night fighting wore off fast. They need to make light sources actually illuminate the indoors of buildings and the outside near the building.

Hate the class system. FOr something that is supposed to promote teamwork, I find it constantly limiting my ability to teamwork as heavy assault. I see an almost dead max my first instinct is to pull out my bank and rep him... nope. I see a dead teammate, my first instinct is to revive him... nope. I am not feeling the teamwork increase with this class system at all. Random people rarely drop ammo when asked, and rarely heal when asked. I do get revived a lot, I guess. All it does is force someone on my team of 6 friends to always be medic and engineer.

It's very beta, lol. I kinda lost interest in testing since GW2 came out because as of now PS2 is a larger, worse BF3.

[Sephirex]

It's very beta, lol. I kinda lost interest in testing since GW2 came out because as of now PS2 is a larger, worse BF3.

I'm am also having an unexpectedly good time with GW2. Not a title I was expecting much out of.

[Roidster]

personally, i friggen love it,i have been in since tech test,when i got the email on july 24th,i was dancing at my PC,as a 9 year vet,this game is great,cant wait till they start releasing more certifications ,and weapons to try out,my only grip,right now,is they dont support multi monitors,when you get into any vehicle,so i ground and pound every where

[Bags]

I'm am also having an unexpectedly good time with GW2. Not a title I was expecting much out of.

It's not my favorite, but it's like the one game my gf and I like in common (she hates modern shooters, so PS2 ain't gonna work) so I've been playing GW2 only the last week or so. A few of my PS2 buddies got it too, but they don't love Gw2 as much as she does heh.

Hopefully when they patch some new base mechanics into PS2 it will be worth playing again, but atm me and 7or 8 out of 10 of my friends are sitting PS2 out because it's just a boring zerg fest at the moment with short fights.

And performance is marginally better than it was in the tech test, I am still waiting for these optimizations. 20 fps on a 670???

[Tatwi]

I play it a lot, so I must like it. :)

Well, I dunno. There are things I like and things that are obviously integral to and will never change it that I don't like, but that's the case with any game. Things aren't balanced yet and a fair amount of content isn't in the game or finished yet, so on the whole an honest man can't say what it's going to be like at release. But that said, I really the vehicles, weapons, sounds, and visual style of the TR and I have a lot of when playing. The only thing I don't like about TR is the sounds that the mossy makes, very underwhelming afterburner sound - needs more low end punch!

I prefer the heavy assult class, because I'd rather use a rocket launcher and blow up vehicles than any of those other things that other classes have. Man I love that lock on rocket launcher, even though it misses more often than one would think.

At the moment my single biggest complaint is how awful it is to have the Galaxy as the only mobile spawn point. Even though it can take a lot damage, the reality is that once it's found the enemy will pile on it until it's destroyed. As a result, most times I die I can't spawn anywhere near the battle again unless the battle happens be right at a building we own. Pretty strange when they said that they wanted to lower down time rather than increase it. The game needs a cloaking AMS, because the AMS is all about maintaining the secret of where the spawn point is and that's some really great "player generated content".

I did forget to mention the most important thing: The game plays VERY POORLY on my 2.33GHz Core2 Quad / 1GB GDDR5 GTS450 / 6GB DDR2 667MHz RAM computer. I have to play at the lowest settings, even though the game barely uses my GPU, simply because the game is extremely CPU bound, just like Everquest II. Smed said that framerate is king and that they'll take frames per second over beauty, but that just is not happening. You NEED a Core i5/i7 processor to play the game at steady frame rates in busy locations. I can't go to busy locations, because my FPS drop to 0-15 with massive hitching and stuttering. As a result, I really can't group up with people, because unsurprisingly, people want to go to the big battles. :) I hope they fix this, because I have no intentions on upgrading my PC until 2015.

[mcargo]

Although the game runs LESS than spectacularly on my rig and still has MUCH work to be done i have already fallen in love with this game! YES its kinda like BF or CoD, and YEs I am a ps1 vet, but making the game the way they have was very wise imho. GoOd business descision as rathher than appealling to 10-20 thousand ps1 players, they can appeal to 10-20 MILLION other players too! Fights are gettign longer and longer as they continue to tweak the capture/ territory sytems respectively, and its really starting to feel like and actual war rather than quick small skirmishes you find in about EVERY OTHER GAME! I say keep up the good work devs. your headded in the right direction imo!:D

[Comet]

For being in beta the game is amazingly fun and I'll be playing it for a long time to come. I highly, highly recommend this game. Unbelievable.

Join an outfit and make friends, it's much more enjoyable that way.

[RoninOni]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

LOVED listening to your guys Dev Meeting Stream.... Do more of those! :D

As gamers, our best way to tell the suits what we want is with our wallets. For this reason I've begun a new policy of restricting my support to the developers that deserve it.

I've been telling everyone I know that Planetside will redefine the FPS genre

Also... it's prolly a good thing you shut off the servers at 10 or I'd be late to work every single day from passing out around 3-4 every... morning... lmao!

Game is amazing... can barely play much else (and none of them shooters)

EDIT: @Tatwi... uhm, I'm running on an i3 and pull 35-40 in combat on mostly medium settings (dropped shadows, effects and lighting to low. Textures, models & Characters to high) I do have a Radeon 6850 & 8GB ram though (of course, running Radeon means my CPU has to do all the PhysX too....)

[Crysander]

Heres my thoughts:

- Gameplay, while fast, is too fast (I believe the term is TTK?) - I too spend more time rezzing than I do healing and this should not be the case, medics should be preventative and not just the guy who slaps people on the rump, dusts em off and then throws them back into the bullet storm.

- Tanks have too little staying power. I can't TANK anything reliably, one rocket and I'm in the danger zone, two and Im borderline dead. This should only be the case on rear armour or with AT upgrades, not default HA weapons. Saying that - the TR AT MAXs are terrible, buffs seriously needed and I don't even play TR, had fun earlier today just facerolling on them in my VS Magrider, the regular infantry as waaaaay scarier.

- Not saying anything on base capture mechanics per se, as the current build is a placeholder. But the progression (while lots better after the last few days patching) is still scattershot - I too have never seen the walls used for defence, why bother when all the galaxies are landing on them/inside the base? I have however quite often seen ATTACKERS use the wall to rain down fire during an assault.

- While galaxy spawns are fun, the AMS should be brought back in the form of the Sunderer either as default or low tier CERT, with the Galaxy needing deep CERTing to have a spawn on it. Don't get me wrong, the idea is cool, its cool to swoop in and have a 'base' to spawn from during attack, but reduces the galaxies famous role as troop transport and severly reduces the need for armour columns/ground strategy in general. All pushing is done in the air with armour appearing less, and from my point of view, more often used for defence.

- More weapon variation to come, so no comment.

- Further Internal Game Teamwork aspects to come, so no comment.

- Dont like Instant Action as is, was the HART shuttle just not quick enough or something? Just have a 'HART Drop' Signup button instead, which targets the biggest hotspot for your faction and occurs every X minutes, people can wait a few minutes to spawn directly into the action - they can check their equipment and get squadded up. If they dont like it, then they can just spawn at the gate and get in a galaxy. Or as someone mentioned a 'Commander Reinforcements' button for perhaps outfit leaders/platoon leaders/squad leaders. You sign up and the next time one of these guys runs into trouble, they can click a button and -tada- 20 drop-pods for reinforcement.

- I too would prefer MBT to have the driver drive and gunners as second seats. But I can appreciate why this decision was made, even if I dont enjoy it as much.

- Overall game flow is better now with the new hex system In place, will have to see how the new hack and base mechanics work with this once implemented.

- Not enough Indoor elements, but with trench warfare (:O) rumoured for the next continent I shall keep my peace till we see the second continents offerings, as well as any further base changes to come -the last changes have certainly made the bases more interesting to fight for/against.

- I'm not the biggest fan of the class system, but again I can see why this was implemented so I'm not going retread swampy ground.

Despite all of these points, most times I still find myself enjoying the game. This is Beta Testing after all, and I can still see the potential on the horizon. I think as long as SOE listen seriously the what the PS1 vets (I'm not a vet - just a casual PS1 player) say, that despite what seems like most of the new players arguing the exact opposite, the game will be better for it. Of course not all their ideas are solid gold but still, I mean theyve been playing PS1 for what? EIGHT YEARS or something? That game has lasted this long because of those mechanics and their depths that kept the enjoyment and challenge strong. While I'm all for modernising some aspects (the class system, the resources, the vehicles, etc) having more depth from the original PS1 mechanics will leave your game to stand the test of time. Heed their warnings and listen to their advice SOE Devs, I very badly want this game to be the success I've imagined for the last few years!

From the perspective of a VS medic/engi/armour support role whose been playing for two weeks, Crysander out.

PS: My apologies for the massive text wall, I didn't start with this much in mind, and I could probably think up more >.>

Quick Edit with performance in mind: my computer is a year old, but was pretty damn good then, I've had a few occassions with stuttering, and only 2 random dcs the whole time. So I cant really comment other than to say, Its pretty damn good for me (but not for many others). The bandwidth usage is fantastic, I can play while my wife watches things, and even with our terrible british internet speed it causes no interuptions. (unlike LoL that W****S my connection)

[HeatLegend]

I'm so happy they lifted the NDA- I didnt like to browse the Beta-forums much, the interface and masses of posts just confused me haha. This is definitely a place I prefer to the discuss the game at.

The game is brilliant, rolling with the DD's I've played all different roles possible with all sorts of people in very organized manners.

The first few days (after I got in) all players had problems with the Framerate per Second. While alone it was up at 40-50; but when you were engaged in big combat while attacking or defending a base it would drop down to 12 and after a while even 5 fps. But the last couple of days I have been playing the big battles at over 20 fps with some exceptions- it usually stays at a stable 20-35 fps now- and they're not even done optimizing it yet.

Still playing with the Lowest graphics; I can play with medium but I'd rather be sure to have the best performance I can get rather than put the quality up one step. Game looks great.

[icepick]

So far I've only had time to lone wolf it for an hour or so here and there. :P LOVE it already though. What is here is already so compelling. It's crazy.

[CrystalViolet]

This latest patch has been a big step in the right direction. Yesterday I found myself having a lot of fun. Pushing the NC back to their warp gate on west 01 was probably a big part of that. ;)

[MrBloodworth]

It's doing well, people are batshit insane about wanting cooldowns applied to everything instead of using resources.


Perhaps because resources flow like water. Its not even a restriction right now.

[HeatLegend]

This latest patch has been a big step in the right direction. Yesterday I found myself having a lot of fun. Pushing the NC back to their warp gate on west 01 was probably a big part of that. ;)

FU ^^ We were like 2 hexes away from doing the same to you Vanu scum earlier that day but we had mercy and turned to the TR who were advancing in on our territory to the west! Then you foul beasts teamed up on us and drove us back to our beloved Warpgate.

[Exmortius]

for those who haven't played ps2 yet it doesn't disappoint. game absolutely kicks ass. currently AA was nerfed very hard and their is a ton of aircraft uncontested atm but devs are going to re-balance that. that is the only bad thing atm with combat. game is incredible at night time. there is also i should point out a ton of maxes cause they currently do not have timers and resource costs. dev team is doing a great job, looking forward to getting to esamir soon.

[Kaya]

While I am thoroughly enjoying beta, I would love to give some loose thoughts/impressions on PlanetSide 2 as a game.

Visually/Graphically I think it is superb. Absolutely next-gen stuff. The explosiveness accompanied by the subsequent sonic booms are fantastic and every fire fight is as thrilling as the next. I am a sucker for sci-fi and the environment work (futuristic NASA-like shuttle buildings/terrain/atmosphere) hits all the right nerves in a good way. Better than I had hoped for and a truckload of fun.

The character specialization and certification system is probably the most engaging part of the game for me - it keeps me wanting to play more so I can kill bad guys in more (and cooler) ways. The ability to add night vision scopes and such really adds a new layer to PlanetSide that wasn't there before. There is definitely a new depth/reason to leveling up those Battle Ranks now, and I love it.

And now for the real feedback...

The game mechanics are lacking.

I've only played a smidgeon of other FPS games like Battle Field but I can tell this new "A B C D E F" base capture point system has been lifted from other games. It doesn't feel like PlanetSide. For some reason piling into a room with 5 guys to capture point "A" is really not as fun for me as 1 REK hacker @ CC while 4 others cover him. The suspense, excitement, surprise, and reward of hacking is gone.

Maybe I don't quite understand the base capturing system fully, but a 5minute base lockdown does not satisfy the feeling of base "ownership". Currently, you will wage war for 20mins, hold down the points eventually, and then you own the base for 5mins before it all goes back again. The ability to use a Facility to stage operations is (ie Gal drops forming at Gunuku in PlanetSide 1) seems pointless when a) the base is temporary, b) vulnerable to enemy attack, and c) warpgates are sanctuary. I foresee all major operations coming from the Empire WG now instead of from bases themselves which.. is not conducive to using the Continent as a living breathing thing.

On a grander scale, I think there should be new and varied ways to capture bases other than the simple "A B C" capture point method. For outposts and towers this system is ok, but I would love to see some bases captured old school via 15min hack or even LLU to spice things up. I have played beta for 2 weeks and already the event of capturing a base is losing its appeal. It feels lightweight. Having a "time frame" to capture a base before the defending empire "defends" it is also really annoying. Why would Helm's Deep suddenly be immune to siege just because they've been holding it for 15mins? This is probably my biggest gripe because base capturing is the guiding force / purpose for action of PlanetSide as a game.

Spawning has changed significantly. One of the most defining moments for me in PlanetSide 1 were Galaxy drops, so having Galaxy's now be a spawn point is actually a pretty cool way to promote this event. But I miss that AMS. I miss AMS so much because it allowed for discreet and unique spawning locations in ways that are un-replicable with the Galaxy. Don't get me wrong, I think the Galaxy spawning is cool - but is there not room for both? I suspect the decision to remove PlanetSide 1's staple field-spawn truck (AMS) was well argued and discussed at SOE already.. but I miss it A LOT.

Two sour points I have to mention is the absence of inventory and the new "class" system. I really truely miss the ability to loot a corpse and salvage their remaining ammunition/medkits/glue so that I may continue Rambo-ing across the battle field. Currently, I will run out of ammo without any way to restock on the field. Surree I know engineers drop packs, but they are few and far between especially on open ground. I would really like to see dead corpses drop "some" ammunition. Gone are the days when I could destroy a VS rexo then steal his lasher from his bag and kill his friends with it! I'll have to live with things as they are I suppose.. sad face.

The class system, again, I think this is another design element lifted from other games. I suspect in a perfect PlanetSide 2 world a 12-man squad would comprise of: 2 medics, 2 engineers, 4 heavy assaults, 2maxes, 1 infiltrator, 1 light assault. You would have access to all the perks. But who does that? This isn't terrible but it does force people to play an "engineer" just to get ammo and you "have to" have atleast one guy play medic... I miss the flexibility of PS1 where everyone could do a little bit of everything. This is coming from a lonewolf so I guess these two points are particularly harder to swallow for me.

My final point has to do with hacking. I miss those global CR5 REK checks. I think hacking/jacking vehicles was one of the coolest twists in the game and for infiltrators their bread and butter. I'm not quite sure why it was removed but I think it is another game mechanic gone that almost simplifies the game too much.

TLDR: Awesome combat, gorgeous graphics, lacking game mechanics. PlanetSide is my favourite game of all time. Frankly I'm so glad to see it reborn for this generation - and I will be the first in line to buy it, but it doesn't feel like home. The game feels excessively streamlined for my reasons listed above. PlanetSide 1 struck that delicate balance of "the zerg dictates the fight but every soldier counts" (for ex. 1 infiltrator hacking a tower and as a result the entire empire gains a solid spawn and eventually takes the base). PlanetSide 2 is more of a mosh pit spectacle. I greatly appreciate the Beta, but I think some fine tuning to the systems is needed.

[Stardouser]

Perhaps because resources flow like water. Its not even a restriction right now.

I think the 750 resource cap is good, that's enough for 3 tanks and you're out. Though yes, resources seem to flow in to you too fast.

Though vehicle play is off. Tanks need less recoil and bullet drop, but at the same time, infantry need a wire guided AT rocket as a cheaper unlock and the default dumbfire AT rocket needs to fly a lot faster.

[RodenyC]

The premise, engine, day-night cycle, sound, and particle effects are great, but at the moment there is a lot of work needed for the meta (chess-like/map-moving) game. It currently feels like a shooting game slapped on a good engine with major ideas still needing to be implemented rather than tweaked.

With fast capture times, capture nodes that are exceptionally easy to access (with many out in the open), sprinting/ jet packs for infantry, few base walls, and a faster TTK, the game is more of a large whirlwind of captures and shooting than a strategy/tactics/shooter/vehicle game that PS1 was.

With the original, I can remember hour-long drawn-out fights, the name of all bases, etc. As of the current build base names are irrelevant, as the fight will quickly wrap-up at its current location and resume elsewhere within 5-10 minutes. I really do not see many hour-long fights occurring here. In this sense, it feels more like a very large UT3 with fast-paced decisions yet different capture areas.

As a medic, I am doing much more reviving than I am healing, which is more similar to my games with Battlefield 3 and very different from Planetside 1.

As of right now, it's a modern shooter with some PS-elements (80% modern shooter, 20% Planetside) rather than a re-take on Planetside with some modern mechanics. Some vets, including myself, were hoping more for a much different ratio. I played PS1 over Battlefield, UT, Call of Duty because of the differences.

What's worse is the large number of people in the beta who seem to prefer this, and that is frustrating. The entire game moves exceptionally fast and will likely be a great hit for the monster-energy-drink chugging crowd.

I'm not dogging the devs. If this game continues to play out this way, I will move on and wish them well. However, as of the current date, the game is disappointing to a long-time veteran. That being said, my hope is for continued MAJOR tweaks by the development team, who has been very communicative thus far.

This is how I feel.Battlefield Auraxis.

[Tialian]

The game is very simple- If you Love Call of Duty and Battlefield series you will love this game. If you LOVE planetside, you won't love this game- because it's NOT Planetside at all. It's fun to log on for a few minutes but gets terribly boring after a while. PS1 where are you?

This is exactly how I feel.

PlanetSide 2 is not much fun because it is so shallow.

The inventory system is vastly superior to classes because it provides a sense of immersion and the ability to create a soldier all your own. The certification system is also a must have, the Eve Online way of doing things takes away from a soldier needing to be specialized in only certain weapons/vehicles/tools at any one time.

Vehicle animations also add immersion into the game, the new vehicles themselves are pretty cool but there is no real sense of scale when a player just instantly gets in or out.

The world scale is also off. The world is huge but so are the bases, not to mention the buildings are so numerous and too close together. There isn't much incentive to pull a vehicle even for transportation purposes since getting into the fight is way too easy.

Contrary to popular belief, the sanctuary was nice to have as a default staging point with plenty of space to spread out the troops for a massive raid. This PS2 sanctuary warpgate system is cramped and crowded.

If you have a huge world but everyone keeps bumping elbows everywhere they go you lose the massive feel of the original PlanetSide.

[Exmortius]

more like badcompany.auraxis to be honest which is much better than battlefield.auraxis. but ya the grunt aspect does feel more like bc2 to me which imo was a great game. the game will stand more on it's own though once the crapton of certs and other various components get added in game. 3/4 of this game is not turned on yet in beta. lot of stuff is still in dev testing not pushed to the general population.

[Stardouser]

For people who want inventory, I'm sorry but that's not really appropriate. Grenades, for example, actually hurt people in this game, running around with 9 plus assault rifle wouldn't be right. That's just one example.

Vehicle animations are also not essential except in nostalgia. I personally want the game to immerse me in the war, not the minutiae of entering a vehicle.

[thegreekboy]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

So much this

[Tialian]

For people who want inventory, I'm sorry but that's not really appropriate. Grenades, for example, actually hurt people in this game, running around with 9 plus assault rifle wouldn't be right. That's just one example.

Vehicle animations are also not essential except in nostalgia. I personally want the game to immerse me in the war, not the minutiae of entering a vehicle.

Well gee, it is a beta and grenades can be modified. Just look at PS1, even after release the plasma thumper was really popular until they nerfed it into being worthless. In PS1 it takes two direct plasma hand grenade hits to kill an infantry, and that's if they don't do anything to heal themselves or avoid being hit (not to mention there is a delay between throwing each grenade). It is clear grenades in PS2 are powerful, but that doesn't mean they should be and/or can't be changed. You simply can't compare damage from PS1 to PS2 because thats part of the problem, the TTK is too fast in PS2.

Vehicle animations are part of the immersive element of PS1. Immersion doesn't just boil down to one thing, it is a combination of things that makes a player feel like they are actually there in the world:

Inventory
Vehicle animations
Transit time to fights
Massive world with no boundries
Stamina (not being able to have infinite sprint or infinite jumping)

They are things that bring realism to the game. At the end of the day it is still a game, but a game that is just a game with no elements that suck players into the world is not a memorable game that people will stick with for years.

Why do you think people jump ship every 6-12 months when a new BF/CoD is released? They don't feel any real connection to any of the previous games.

There are plenty of games out there that keep players around by just adding new carrots for players to chase without actually making their games fun (WoW and Diablo 3 comes to mind). For games that persist, expansion are the carrot, for shooting games it is also an expansion or a new version of the game.

PlanetSide never needed Core Combat, and certainly not BFRs. Its a game people play because of the tactical elements that make the player feel like they are the soldier, that as a soldier they are free to go anywhere and do anything in the world.

Guild Wars 2 has done a really good job of capturing this idea, PlanetSide is still king but I think GW2 has taken runner up.

[FortySe7en]

They have a LOT to do to improve this game.

While they have come a long way since July, there is still a lot that needs to be done. For one, snipers should be able to head shot. As much as I hate to say that because I hate when it happens to me, its stupid to have a perfectly lined up head shot only to realize that you can only take them down to 1 bar of health.

Right now if you play anything other than heavy or medic, you are silly. Personal shield is by far the best thing in the game right now, and the most overpowered. Having that extra shield allows you to basically clear an entire point by yourself, not to mention having a 100 round clip.

Their adjacency system is a bit whack too. But I assume they will fix that soon.

[SFJake]

Gotta be blunt.

Planetside 2 is not giving me fun. I never know where to be, never know where something truly is going on, feel like I'm missing out on actions, and feel like I'm not part of a group at all.

There are systems in the plan, I know, but right now, its not fun. I never played PS1, but I can say I wish leaders were actually leaders (mostly squad leaders, random people with no leading certs or whatever should not be leaders). And the game should have generals or whatever high-rank people that can vaguely direct the faction as a whole.

I recall PS1 had some form of ranks like that though I have no idea of the effect they had on gameplay.

The game needs focus. And people need to be part of something without joining some hardcore outfit with forced microphones (I'll never use a mic, damn it) or some such.

It just needs organization. Everytime I play these days I run around for 15 minutes, find nothing to do, no one seemingly working together, the map tells me nothing of whatever is going on, or what my faction is doing, and I leave before anything happens.

Thats PS2 now for me.

[Stardouser]

Well gee, it is a beta and grenades can be modified. Just look at PS1, even after release the plasma thumper was really popular until they nerfed it into being worthless. In PS1 it takes two direct plasma hand grenade hits to kill an infantry, and that's if they don't do anything to heal themselves or avoid being hit (not to mention there is a delay between throwing each grenade). It is clear grenades in PS2 are powerful, but that doesn't mean they should be and/or can't be changed. You simply can't compare damage from PS1 to PS2 because thats part of the problem, the TTK is too fast in PS2.

Vehicle animations are part of the immersive element of PS1. Immersion doesn't just boil down to one thing, it is a combination of things that makes a player feel like they are actually there in the world:

Inventory
Vehicle animations
Transit time to fights
Massive world with no boundries
Stamina (not being able to have infinite sprint or infinite jumping)

They are things that bring realism to the game. At the end of the day it is still a game, but a game that is just a game with no elements that suck players into the world is not a memorable game that people will stick with for years.

Why do you think people jump ship every 6-12 months when a new BF/CoD is released? They don't feel any real connection to any of the previous games.

There are plenty of games out there that keep players around by just adding new carrots for players to chase without actually making their games fun (WoW and Diablo 3 comes to mind). For games that persist, expansion are the carrot, for shooting games it is also an expansion or a new version of the game.

PlanetSide never needed Core Combat, and certainly not BFRs. Its a game people play because of the tactical elements that make the player feel like they are the soldier, that as a soldier they are free to go anywhere and do anything in the world.

Guild Wars 2 has done a really good job of capturing this idea, PlanetSide is still king but I think GW2 has taken runner up.

No, grenades should be powerful. Grenades shouldn't explode under your feet and magically not even penetrate your shield, AV weapons should not magically not hurt infantry as you would expect, etc. PS1's TTK was too high, that has never been in doubt for me. BF3 and CoD TTKs are way too low, PS2 seems to have it just right.

As for immersion I agree that it's a combination of things but I absolutely disagree on what you think are necessary inclusions. Stamina is most certainly something that has no place; especially since every game that does use stamina makes it way too restrictive, BF2 is a case in point.(though I will grant that this doesn't mean stamina cannot be done correctly, just like people oppose prone over dolphin diving which has been fixed in BF3, I suppose stamina could be done right too). And realism should always come only after fun is satisfied, and for many people, some realism aspects hurt fun.

As for PS2 not sucking people into it, that's only going to be true for PS1 vets who have self-trained over time to be unwilling to accept anything but inventory and animations. Someday a hardcore realism MMOFPS that would make even ArmA 2 look arcade might get made, (which is basically what we would have if every realism request was granted), but it will not be something that anything more than a small audience will play. And make no mistake, if you're asking for stamina, which is something even PS1 did not have (because it doesn't have sprinting. I'm not talking about jump stamina), then you're essentially asking that the game be even more realistic than PS1(realistic to the extent it CAN be realistic with future tech, of course).

The question you should be asking is not why people jump from the previous year's BF/CoD, but instead, why they jump from the previous CoD/BF and still go to the next CoD/BF. Though as always it's necessary to remember that CoD and BF are only superficially the same, that is, they both have aim down sight gameplay, for example. Neither of them uses extraneous realism like inventory and vehicle animations, that's definitely true, but again CoD and BF aren't the same thing.

[Hooah]

Ok this is what I would like to see in the game:
- Doors which the infiltrators can hack, making them important.
- Driver/gunner seat for the MBT
- Prone
- Beeing able to use more then one utility on your gun
- a defined front line / sabotaging behind enemy lines instead of being allowed to capture.
- assault rifle on the light assault class
- some sort of parachutes
- walls around a military installation
- a more aggressive jetpack (jango fett anyone?)

But I do enjoy the game! :) I would just love it alittle bit more if SOE added some of what I listed here.

[TheDAWinz]

Love the game

[Stardouser]

Ok this is what I would like to see in the game:
- Doors which the infiltrators can hack, making them important.
- Driver/gunner seat for the MBT
- Prone
- Beeing able to use more then one utility on your gun
- a defined front line / sabotaging behind enemy lines instead of being allowed to capture.
- assault rifle on the light assault class
- some sort of parachutes
- walls around a military installation
- a more aggressive jetpack (jango fett anyone?)

But I do enjoy the game! :) I would just love it alittle bit more if SOE added some of what I listed here.

Some of those things are incoming. You can use 2 utility slots on guns, there is no capping except when you have an adjacent hex(though sabotaging behind the lines,. I don't know what there will be for that), and there will be jetpack certs to change its performance. They're also playing with base design changes that I like, Zurvan is closer to walled than it ever has been.

[Blackwolf]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

I wish the people in the Beta Forums understood this.

So many long winded arguments about what is/isn't broken balance wise. Gonna vomit.

Glad NDA is lifted, means I can escape back to the world of the relatively sane!

Evilpig is right though. From the view point of the lone wolf, game is terrible. Getting into an organized squad does wonders for your general enjoyment of the game though.

Biggest problem at the moment is air superiority. GTA is broken and does little damage but the DEVs are taking small strides towards correcting it slowly and I agree with that approach. Most people who played PS1 can agree that the air vs ground was one of those major buttons that incited riots and no one ever agreed with anyone else over them. I hope it's possible to balance that aspect out as thoroughly as Snipers vs infantry were in PS1.

Other then that, VS weapons reportedly have place holder stats but work just fine as far as I'm concerned. The fears about MAX suits being ultimate death machines are totally unfounded, anyone can easily kill a MAX suit with LA with a well placed C4 charge. MAX suits are very vulnerable to HA LMGs and particularly their AV weapons. I suspect the most effective anti-MAX tactic would be firing a single rocket into their face, then switching to the LMG and unloading into them. That tactic provides the best chances of success 1 on 1 in a toe to toe confrontation. Otherwise hit the MAX from flanks whenever possible, and sprint away, force it to sprint to keep up.

Tanks are also fairly weak but certs have been unlocked to beef up their armor values. Haven't seen how these certs affect their survivability yet but I hope to soonish. Dedicated vehicle drivers and pilots will have plenty of certs to improve survivability and decrease the cost of repeatedly pulling their chosen equipment. Also don't get me wrong, as they are now tanks are pretty well balanced against infantry and are the supreme ground warfare vehicles. It takes a lot of effort to take one out single handedly, but multiple infantry engaging the same tank will probably win in the end which works out perfectly. Still superior numbers is not a liscense to do stupid stuff like stand out in the open, it still requires effort.

A recent patch has introduced the adjacency requirement for hacking hexes. Most bases/outposts will require adjacent friendly hexes before you can hack them, with a few facilities behind enemy lines being hackable with or without connection to friendly hexes. This has drastically improved the ground war from chaos to orderly expansion efforts similar to PS1, without the potential repetition.

LA is also incredibly fun. You'll die a lot given the weaker defense but when you get into your grove you feel awesome. You can scale mountains, vault yourself over walls and up to second story windows. Combining your maneuverability with the use of grenades and C4 allows for engagements against MAX suits, vehicles, and base turrets. Scaling cliffs and hitting the enemy from un defended directions gives the LA great ambush capability and skilled players will do far more damage using LA then they would using HA.

Which is not to say that HA will be crap. Heavy hitters will love the class for it's long range AV weaponry, and ability to clear rooms effectively. A 100 round clip ensures you have enough bullets to do your job. You have access to C4 but it's not needed since your RL does the same damage at range and you have 4 shots as opposed to 1 C4 charge.

[Stardouser]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

Your openness is indeed unprecedented. It puts DICE to a low down dirty crying shame with their top secrecy.

Though I have to ask, a lot of people would like to see two way dialogs before you implement changes. That is, instead of you passively reading feedback and then internally only deciding on a change, that you actually propose changes and receive reaction before you implement them.

[Helwyr]

Been in Beta since the Planetside Vets wave was let in. Overall, I'm still very excited about this after playing it, but there's still so much to add and possibilities of changes I can't yet say with certainty whether it will be awesome or not, but my expectation is that it will be.

The biggest issue for me and many others in Beta has been performance. I'm running the game on an older PC around the minimum requirements, and initially the game was essentially unplayable 0-9 FPS in big fights on low settings. However, they have made big improvements recently and now in those same fights I'm around 15-35 FPS... Not good, but I can at least participate. Smaller fights aren't a problem. I'm hoping the improvements keep coming and players like me can have a competitive FPS in big fights on the lowest settings.

Like others I'm also not a fan of the Class system, but I believe there's room within that system to create something good despite a bad foundation. Adding more flexibility and specialization at the same time like PS1 did before cert cap got raised too high.

Lots of stuff still just not available to testers, I played mostly as an Infiltrator in PS1, and the certs in PS2 to make an equivalent to a PS1 Infiltrator aren't available yet. (although they are visible in the cert tree).

Oh and yes the Developers on the whole have been good with listening and communicating. We got walls added to the AMP station base the other day.. ala more PS1 like :)

[Blackwolf]

Your openness is indeed unprecedented. It puts DICE to a low down dirty crying shame with their top secrecy.

Though I have to ask, a lot of people would like to see two way dialogs before you implement changes. That is, instead of you passively reading feedback and then internally only deciding on a change, that you actually propose changes and receive reaction before you implement them.

I don't think that is such a good idea honestly. It would breed encouragement for a flame war. It's happened often in PS1.

Their passive viewing is good enough, and will get them the results they want without encouraging screaming fits from people.

[Tialian]

Stamina is most certainly something that has no place; especially since every game that does use stamina makes it way too restrictive, BF2 is a case in point.(though I will grant that this doesn't mean stamina cannot be done correctly, just like people oppose prone over dolphin diving which has been fixed in BF3, I suppose stamina could be done right too). And realism should always come only after fun is satisfied, and for many people, some realism aspects hurt fun.

As for PS2 not sucking people into it, that's only going to be true for PS1 vets who have self-trained over time to be unwilling to accept anything but inventory and animations. Someday a hardcore realism MMOFPS that would make even ArmA 2 look arcade might get made, (which is basically what we would have if every realism request was granted), but it will not be something that anything more than a small audience will play. And make no mistake, if you're asking for stamina, which is something even PS1 did not have (because it doesn't have sprinting. I'm not talking about jump stamina), then you're essentially asking that the game be even more realistic than PS1(realistic to the extent it CAN be realistic with future tech, of course).

The question you should be asking is not why people jump from the previous year's BF/CoD, but instead, why they jump from the previous CoD/BF and still go to the next CoD/BF. Though as always it's necessary to remember that CoD and BF are only superficially the same, that is, they both have aim down sight gameplay, for example. Neither of them uses extraneous realism like inventory and vehicle animations, that's definitely true, but again CoD and BF aren't the same thing.

PS1 does have stamina and it was done right, as a resource. And PS1 did have sprinting, it was called surge. It was a great mechanic allowing people to run faster without weapons out for a limited amount of time and getting hit shortened this time.

People jump to new shooters because for one, the games are so bland and unimmersive that there is nothing to keep them playing (they've maxed out their carrot); and for two, there is an expectation that the sequel to a game will be like the current game but with notable improvements.

If Battlefield 4 turned out to be like WoW but with guns and tanks and 30 man gear grinding raids people would be scratching their heads, just like many people are scratching their heads right now that PS2 is going backwards going from a massive immersive tactical team based shooter to an arena style shallow bland arcade shooter with larger maps.

[Stardouser]

I don't think that is such a good idea honestly. It would breed encouragement for a flame war. It's happened often in PS1.

Their passive viewing is good enough, and will get them the results they want without encouraging screaming fits from people.


You're probably right...as I say they put DICE to shame and hell - Smedley has brainstormed about things 5 YEARS down the road(like space, and seamless intercontinental planets). What more could we ask than that?

PS1 does have stamina and it was done right, as a resource. And PS1 did have sprinting, it was called surge. It was a great mechanic allowing people to run faster without weapons out for a limited amount of time and getting hit shortened this time.

People jump to new shooters because for one, the games are so bland and unimmersive that there is nothing to keep them playing (they've maxed out their carrot); and for two, there is an expectation that the sequel to a game will be like the current game but with notable improvements.

If Battlefield 4 turned out to be like WoW but with guns and tanks and 30 man gear grinding raids people would be scratching their heads, just like many people are scratching their heads right now that PS2 is going backwards going from a massive immersive tactical team based shooter to an arena style shallow bland arcade shooter with larger maps.

That already happened with BF3. It didn't turn out to be like WoW, of course, but instead, like CoD with vehicles. Everything DICE does now, they talk about 'how will this affect the infantry combat', 'we have to think about the infantry'. I know a lot of people here don't believe there is a difference between pre-BC2 Battlefield games and CoD, but there is a huge difference to me. Pre-BC2 BF was about teamwork and larger maps, and post BC2-BF is about individual play, tunnel linearity and quickscoping montages on youtube.

[Serpent]

Well I must say... I'm really disappointed with how people have been talking about the beta. Some say it's just a beta and it's fine for what it is, but I"m seeing so many people just say how much like CoD combined with Battlefield is- I don't want that.

The more I see of video footage, the more I want it. The more people talk about it, the more worried I get...

[fvdham]

I get a little sad sometimes wheren I play PlanetSide 2.

In PlanetSide I used to make plans which base to attack next
and there were CR5's yelling wich base to attack next.
There was planning and coordination.

This does not happen in PlanetSide 2.
There is only zerg.

Problems in part due to:
- Bases not having names on the map.
- Chat window disappearing = Less yelling.
- Not yet a clear difference to me in tactical/strategic value of bases.
- No continental commander.

[Serpent]

^That's more about beta than anything else... you can't expect people to want to only win. Some people are going to be testing every single thing they can for bugs etc., just to improve the game. It's just not logical to say "aww mean PS1 is better damn this sucks im never playing this again :("

I know you're not saying that, but not everyone WANTS to win during the beta.

[Notser]

Generic

Positives

Art design is fantastic, really enjoying every aspect of the games art. Game looks fantastic and with the performance improvements it is definitely moving in the right direction.

Scale feels awesome, love seeing 10 galaxies with 20 aircraft all on my screen. I hope that gameplay/performance will allow for larger battles in the future. Currently we're really only fighting 50 v 50.

Ground Vehicles are great, enjoying the weight and look. Wish they weren't ants to air, but that is a balance issue right now. I'd challenge devs to take the strengths of the factional vehicles further to encourage different engagement strategies for each faction.

Negatives

Weapons have no identity, all feel very generic and have no depth to the recoil. I'd prefer weapons that are similar to CS or comparable to using a champion in a moba. Really need to have distinct handling.

Air is too powerful, too easy to play and do too much damage for the skill required to play. Either need to make them harder to use, cost more, and/or reduce the damage they do. I also disagree with the flight ceiling, currently there is really only ground to air engagements. Aircraft have to fly too low for anything else, I'd much rather have a higher ceiling to give players more variety in gameplay.

Map is TERRIBLE, I can't express how much I hate the entire structure of the bases, safezone warpgates, and spawn system. The map will always favor attack directions, you can't balance the map with the current warpgate setup. Much prefer having a sanc that allows for factions to attack out of all the warpgates rather than always fighting in a clusterfuck of 3 empires. Bases need real objectives rather than just running around a conquest map for 15 min until cap. Influence shouldn't change once a assault starts on a facility. Spawning should work better, squad spawn should be more effective but obviously easy to identify and take out. Need more information on spawning location in relationship to the map and control points rather than distance from players death.

Resources currently are insignificant to the gameplay. Players should earn the currency for weapons by participating in battles and having success through captures, kills, and support. Vehicles/loadouts have zero impact on the cost of a vehicle so baseline costs just as much as a vehicle that is supercharged with all the best weapons. I'd like to see certs that reduce the cost to compensate but obviously a player would have to spend their certs to reduce the cost rather than keep buffing the power of the vehicle.

Game is just too simplistic for a game that is expected to exist for a long time. You can't launch a fps that is this generic and succeed when there are 50 released each year.

[Crator]

^That's more about beta than anything else... you can't expect people to want to only win. Some people are going to be testing every single thing they can for bugs etc., just to improve the game. It's just not logical to say "aww mean PS1 is better damn this sucks im never playing this again :("

I know you're not saying that, but not everyone WANTS to win during the beta.

^^^ True, but we should not sit idle and say nothing. Giving our opinions right out the gate does matter. Especially since the devs are listening to what the community has to say.

[Sirisian]

I think some other people covered some of the major flaws in the current design regarding the class based system and resource models. I took a break after playing for 3 weeks and posting a lot of suggestions. Planning to jump in again this labor day maybe and check out the changes. (Was playing with a friend, but he stopped since he was getting bored I guess).

This is definitely a beta and feels like one. I love their quick iteration and content progression. If they could keep this content flowing into the game at this rate I think they'd have something with reworked systems. (I'm being vague since I posted everything on the beta forums). Overall though this game really had the engine behind it to be amazing if the designs (both gameplay and UI) can be worked out.

Also personally I feel whoever they have designing their weapons needs to open their mind to a pure CoF system to make the weapons distinct. The recoil system is totally destroying the weapon variety.

[MaxDamage]

It's very pretty.

It definitely seems more team oriented than its predecessor.

I like that.

Resource system is cool and makes sense.

I still can't think of a reason to play for more than 30minutes to an hour.

Extreme lack of vehicles.
I like long lists of things.
Lists impress me.
I remember looking at the range of vehicles + weapons including Empire specific variants in PS1 and being massively impressed; being able to access the enemy's equipment was also a thrill. Black and red vanguards and magriders etc.. marvellous.

When I talk about Planetside to my console playing pals they ask 'how many vehicle types' does it have.

I have to *cough* and say it's still in beta.

People like to be wow'd, but thankfully this is the age of YouTube (which really wasn't a presence when PS1 came out) and I can just link them to that video by TotalBiscuit which starts "Ladies and Gentlemen".

That may well be how he starts every video.

I like it, I can jump in it, but I'm not hooked.

I can't find my friends easily enough -
When they hit me up and say "join me/us in EU1" or "US 2" it'd be nice to have a location by a friends name.
I also don't understand why the social panel/friend thing isn't in a managable window on the screen instead of a fullscreen thing.

I can't find any setting to make the chat window stop disappearing which is really annoying..
There doesn't appear to be a chatwindow option to show a history of kills, like Planetside 1 and other games I'm accustomed to.

They stopped the minimap rotating which was a big help.. that was maddening. :P

This is relevant:

Problems in part due to:
- Bases not having names on the map.


Changes to the structure of capturing bases seem positive, it was far too chaotic before they introduced more robust frontlines.

No more insta-drop podding makes things .. trickier. :P
Not a complaint, now I have to spend more time thinking about where I want to go.
Less ridiculous.

Who do I have to kill to get a leopard print MAX unit?

[Shinjorai]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

I couldnt agree more. Ive been a gamer a lot of years and what i dont get it why more companies dont understand what you guys are doing now is what EVERY gaming company should be doing. If companies got more involved like youre doing then the finished product would be so much better i believe. So thanks Higby and to your entire team for doing such a great job. Much appreciated!

[Stanis]

The devs talk about a plan and longevity of the game.
They then quote the depth of the cert tree.
We have certifications and weapon unlocks to supposedly sidegrade our characters.


I disagree.
They can call it longevity. Lots of people want to be level 100 if that is there. So the game will always have another cert to unlock.

I call this a grind.
It's a grind because it's not depth. It's a timesink.
Auraxium having a real world value and being acquired based on empire performance being the biggest of them all. Timesink.

The medic has a cert tree that increases the capabilities of their heal and revive. Rate, Range, Heal on Revive. There is something similar for the engineer.
Yay. Go class abilities. You're a gimped <insert class> until you invest those 500 cert points to get an acceptable minimum.

What do I mean by acceptable? For YOU to be effective in that class slot when your outfit calls for squads to assemble rather than the guy that has certed in it.

We're straitjacketed into classes rather than a compromise between the free form certs and inventory of PS1 and a bit of intelligent design with armour, weapon and equipment slots and options that allow variety and individuality while working to eliminate or reduce abuse combos.

The weapons are not sidegrades and upgrades.
The Ps1 magrider is probably closest to the VPC + Saron. Yet it will cost something like 18000 auraxium to purchase those two guns.
There will be a dozen different <pick one: carbine|rifle|lmg|snipe> for each class. End result is there is about a dozen different looks and feels that you then need to upgrade again.
Give us carbine, rifle, lmg, bolt as the base gun and let us modify that.
All classes seem to get the shotguns. Yay. Once we find out what the 'best' metagame shotgun is you can expect everybody to have that fairly soon after.

The classes and weapons don't give each empire a unique feel.
They come across to me as look and feel on generic solutions. Every HA is the same as every HA. You just won't know what snazzy gimmick it's got up it's sleeve but you can bet on an LMG and AV of some sort. Boring. PITA when you need AV and haven't got one.
It'll say it again. Really generic. No difference between any class or vehicle of each faction.
Yes stats are different. They supposed to be different.
But we could all use the same stats and just have different graphics.
There is no uniqueness to each empire as we all have the same things.

Unique would be - VS having no air power and relying on an impressive G2A arsenal and teleporters ..
Hard to balance. Impossible to balance gameplay. But that's unique.
Instead we all get a gal. a fighter. an aa max. an aa gun. woohoo.
(Think blizzard starcraft balance .. a damn tough job amazing when done well).

Had some awesome battles that have felt amazing because of the size of combat. The first couple weeks of new unfamiliar have worn off.
The essentials of PS style gameplay - platoons, squads, outfits are only just about working so it's too hard to criticise them other than say it needs work.
And the devs are clearly working hard!

However, I see some decisions made in development best emphasised when people then say "its like CoD and BF3 had a love child. It's not PS".
The spirit of PS1 and intent is there. The game just isn't PS1

I think a lot more people played CoD and BF3 than Planetside over the years. Making it friendly for the mass market is thus a good thing.

It's PS2 and it's going to rock.

[dsi]

The biggest problem seems to be that they've lifted entire parts of the gameplay out of BF3 and transposed it onto PS2.

This isn't going to end well when BF4 releases and attracts back the crowd they've attracted by doing this.

[Blitzkri]

Ignore the solo killwhore commando wannabes who cry for a better K/D and make good with the teambased players who want to fight as a team.

No more buffing single player vehicles to take out multimanned vehicles.

Emphasis on teamwork, and the need to have a team. We do not want the super skilled 12 year old from COD mopping up an entire squad. 5>1 unless those 5 really suck ultra bad. If that is the case then too bad for those 5 guys for sucking really bad.

[Figment]

No more buffing single player vehicles to take out multimanned vehicles.

Yet multicrew vehicle are encouraged to be manned solo because they die so fast and the driver can drive off and be "super-effective".

Ignore the solo killwhore commando wannabes who cry for a better K/D and make good with the teambased players who want to fight as a team.

Emphasis on teamwork, and the need to have a team. We do not want the super skilled 12 year old from COD mopping up an entire squad. 5>1 unless those 5 really suck ultra bad. If that is the case then too bad for those 5 guys for sucking really bad.

Don't really get what you're trying to say with this. If one guy is a solo killwhore, then five guys should still best him no matter what system. Making the solo guy a complete walkover removes any remaining challenge based on personal skill from the five guys though and that's also really, really bad.

Dependency is great. Teamwork is great. But you can overshoot your mark. There's such a thing as overdependency, that's what we got in PS2 because the devs overshot their mark by miles in their attempts to at all costs prevent one man suiss knive armies by reducing them to stock niches.

Then with vehicles, which are more powerful and therefore SHOULD be niches, they do the exact opposite... Madness.

[Vladamyr]

The game is very simple- If you Love Call of Duty and Battlefield series you will love this game. If you LOVE planetside, you won't love this game- because it's NOT Planetside at all. It's fun to log on for a few minutes but gets terribly boring after a while. PS1 where are you?

This. The game feels like a BF3 clone. I loved PS1 and just can't find any enjoyment in PS2. The graphics are really well done but other than that the game has no depth.

[Missundaztood]

I've played PS2 with 'serious performance issues' since beta came out which has made it difficult to really experience the game as it stands in the correct manner.

But...

From what I've seen, if SOE can nail the FPS issues and optimize the game (it got lots better this evening for example), and also make it somehow a destination for lower end machine users they will be onto something very special!

[HungrySpirit]

the main issue I have is the lag in the game. the only force I can play is TR when I play NC or VS I get heavy lag.

[cryosin]

I love it. It has its issues but overall the game does what's advertised: 2k players all out warfare.

Flying in this game is like nothing that's ever been done before. You really feel like you are a pilot in an expansive world. Best way to describe it is like playing a flight sim, except all that crap below you is real people duking it out.

So ya, there are some issues and numerous bugs, but with the fine tuning and polishing up before open beta this game is going to rock.

Pros:
Graphics are gorgeous(I saw Ultra settings during tech test, it really looks amazing. Its disabled right now though).
Massive world
Massive battles
Teamwork emphasized
Great personal progression

Cons
Really buggy
Lack of "empire" progression
Sometimes laggy w/ people popping in and out(although others don't experience this as much as me, dunno why).
Things die a bit too fast
A few gimmicky abilities like lock-ons and C4, but none of it is far off from PS1 outside of the faster TTK.

This is basically the game I always wanted except tweaked to appeal to a wider audience. I can't complain too much, its still damn great fun to play. I would've obviously made a much different MMOFPS for myself, but SOE actually wants to make money so this is a much better idea, and we all want the game to succeed so we can enjoy it.

I really want this game to break through the mold and start a revolution. No game gets me as excited as PS2 and even with its flaws its still epic and amazing. I hope other people really give it a good run and learn the game before they drop it. It's got a surprisingly high learning curve, but is very rewarding afterwards.

[kamikazimunkey]

All these comments are really gearing me up to get into BETA and try it out for myself. I played PS1 for about a year and a half before hanging up the guns. BTW, I see more than a few people saying they aren't even logging in to the game anymore. If there is a way to donate your key to someone who would be interested in playing, don't hesitate to PM me!

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

It's pretty bad at the moment (yes I know it's beta) IMO.

Base fights are a random scramble, keeping a small squad of 5 people together is a hard task sometime because we keep getting different spawn points (and yes I have a squad beacon certed and use it).

Indoor combat is dominated by maxes because they have no timer and no cost and everyone has access to them.

Outdoor vehicle combat is pretty bad because all of the tanks are paper thin and shredded by any sort of air.

Galaxies are too weak unless you have like 6 engineers repairing it, then it becomes invulnerable. Galaxies are also still too rare to be an AMS filler.

Performance is still pretty bad, getting ~40 fps in no fight with my specs.

I hate indoor fighting at night because the indoors of facilities are pitch black despite having lights EVERYWHERE. Instead of illuminating anything, base lights just serve to blind you when contrasted with the dark of night. The novelty of night fighting wore off fast. They need to make light sources actually illuminate the indoors of buildings and the outside near the building.

Hate the class system. FOr something that is supposed to promote teamwork, I find it constantly limiting my ability to teamwork as heavy assault. I see an almost dead max my first instinct is to pull out my bank and rep him... nope. I see a dead teammate, my first instinct is to revive him... nope. I am not feeling the teamwork increase with this class system at all. Random people rarely drop ammo when asked, and rarely heal when asked. I do get revived a lot, I guess. All it does is force someone on my team of 6 friends to always be medic and engineer.

It's very beta, lol. I kinda lost interest in testing since GW2 came out because as of now PS2 is a larger, worse BF3.

Pretty much this^

[Grimster]

I think the game has super potential. Of course it is a beta and this is quite noticable. But most of the times it is great fun. I am lacking the proper methods to organise yourself without having to be in a outfit.

But all in all I think it will be super fun once it is finished and released. :)

[zzzornbringer]

hey, i'm new here. i havn't played yet actually but i'm really looking forward to planetside 2.

so, if someone got a spare key left, i would really appreciate getting it. :)

also, i'm currently in the firefall closed beta. the devs over there are also very communicative and actually change the game based on user feedback.

however, the pvp in firefall lacks quite a bit. i think it's more focused around cooperative open world stuff.

[stordito]

the game has SO MUCH POTENTIAL...
the core gameplay is there, the feeling is there...
peoples are discussing over capture mechanics, cert balancement, performance...hundreds of threads have been written about every aspect of the game,not because we have nothing better to do but because we really care to fulfill all that potential.

Those things are slowly improving each and every day thanks to the devs skills and their commitment to the community.

After 9 years of PS1 and no other rightfull contender in the MMOFPS market, Planetside 2 is not only the one and only MMOFPS to deliver the right formula again (at least it's almost there), but also a game that does push AGAIN the boundaries of what we knew was possible.
PS2 is not only probably the best looking-epic scale PC game this year, but also is able (NOW, just log on!) to mix AAA FPS gameplay with hundreds of players and no latency or weird "roll the dice" mechanics at all.

i'f i had to pick 3 thing i want to see in PS2 it's:
-the hacker coming back big time (certs are already planned, but locked).
-the capture mechanics and balancement to be fixed to increase the size of battles and life expectancy
-even more focus on logistics and support roles.

[HeatLegend]

the main issue I have is the lag in the game. the only force I can play is TR when I play NC or VS I get heavy lag.

You've got lag? I live in Sweden but play on US West and I have no lag whatsoever, the problem I have is the low Framerate- maybe that's what you meant?

[Blitzkri]

Give us everything from planetside 1, except sexy graphics. Then give us new weapons and variations :)
I would definately love to see how a cloaked AMS bubble will look, or a Cerb turret will work, perhaps mannable. (Mannable... that really a word? i dont think so.)
Everything that was Planetside 1 was working until BFR's and caves. I read once that you guys actually regretted the caves and cried after the BFR's.

I would enjoy seeing PS1 equipment, roles and cert trees in Planetside 2. This whole BF and COD garbage is garbage.

meh w/e... Im just dreaming i think. Im keeping my head up and hoping that you devs pull something out of a magic hat.

[Electrofreak]

Tell the world this. I think were doing something pretty unprescedented (and frankly a little of scary to a lot of people) with how open we've been and how closely we've worked with and integrated our community into this games development. Tell everyone it's what you want out of developers in the future and we (all of us gamers) may get it.

I've met a lot of people in the beta so far that seem worried that PS2 is going to launch in a couple weeks, pretty-much as-is.

I've explained to every one I can that this is NOT a marketing beta... this is a beta where we play, voice our opinions, and the developers respond. Those of us who have been in since the Tech Test have already seen you guys act on our concerns, so we just need to make sure the newcomers are aware, for sure.

[Rogin]

Many people here have the same issues with the game as me. These include forgettable base capture mechanics, short-lived battles, and no real incentive to form massive attack groups.

However, I also think that not enough people are pointing out what is right with the game right now. Note, that I am no PS1 vet, so if you are one, it may be different.

The gun-play is, in my opinion, solid. Aside from necessary tweaks to the Time to Kill stats, the guns feel strong, and confronting an enemy is a fast paced and intense affair. With the inclusion of some more types of guns and attachments, there will indeed be a great deal of customization to be had.

When a group DOES get together and pile-drive objectives, it is a very rewarding experience. Galaxy drops always give a rush of excitement, especially when you have a full load dropping into heavily defended territory. There are much needed changes to be made to territory capture, in terms of capture mechanics and where you can capture, etc. But we have a great foundation, and the devs have already made some changes for the better in this regard.

To the devs, my best advice is this. Planetside 2 is ALL about scale. It is all about massive battles that last for hours. In many ways, it's a number game.

You MUST give more incentives for coordination. It is imperative to the game's success. Small specs ops initiatives are okay to a point. But big armies and big battles MUST, MUST, MUST be the key fixture.

Lastly, my computer runs the game fine, and my rig isn't the beefiest out there. (good, but not crazy). And the game isn't even fully optimized. So if you're worried about being able to play, don't. It'll get ironed out. :D

[HenchAnt]

Summary:
PS2 looks good, feels good and is fun to play. Main issue is that it is very teamplay focused, but does not enough to help players find together.

Visuals:
As has been stated quite often, the world looks and feels great. There really is a sense of scale there, and the visuals are gorgeous. I also really like the faction design.

Performance:
By now, the game plays smooth on my computer most of the time (40+ frames, no lag) . I'm really surprised about that, given the number of players, the crispness and action of the gameplay and the great visuals. You did a great job there, really.

Infantry combat:
Infantry fighting is good. TTK is about right, gun handling feels nice. Being able to surprise people up close and taking them out quickly is fine. Gun accuracy on medium-long distance is more of an issue (but could be an NC thing) - currently its rather hard to take out infantry running in the open or using cover at 100+ meters. So it's comparably easy to get into close fire fights where death is then more sudden. This is something that could use a bit more tweaking.
Also, it's really nice that infantry combat is neither dominated by grenade spam nor snipers, but fought by grunts with assault rifles. I really like that a lot.

Vehicles:
I'm not driving vehicles that much. Survivability feels good, but then I tend to drive as engineer with other engineers. Personally, the tanks feel a bit ... light on the physics side, and I'm no fan of large bullet drop on modern tank main guns. But when I drive them, they are fun enough.

Classes:
I really like the infantry classes. They feel well defined, and all have their spot on the battlefield. Some feel more needed than others (medics and engineers feel more "must have" than infiltrators or light assault), but all are fun to play and valid choices.
Even if it's just starting out: So far, I like the class customization options and I'm really looking forward to more of them. I think the classes-with-customisation-slots system is quite superior to a mere inventory system. Both in keeping things balanced and in keeping them recognizable on the battlefield. It's now a lot easier to find a medic or engineer to help you out than it was in PS1. And thats a good thing.

Teamplay
What really astounds me is that playing as random and in outfit squads feels totally different. As random player, there appears always to be some class missing (no medic, no ammo, no AT, no AA), it's hard to go for objectives (even if they really need taking, soloing them often is not feasable, and getten 4-6 people to do that is a chore) and there's often the feeling to be stuck on the wrong side of the map. As a semi-organized squad (matching class selection, voice chat, sticking together), gameplay changes drastically. Not only is it a lot easier to stay in the fight (medics and squad beacons go a long way), but one also has quite some inpact on the evolution of the strategic situation. Taking hexes around contested bases, opening bridgeheads or just holding a heavily contested capture point - 6 guys in a team already do wonders.
What really could be easier is getting from "random player" to "teamplayer". Ok, a lot of that is players fault (like not using voice chat), but other things could be easier. Like for example being shown the squad of friends (for easier joining), seeing friends on the map and perhaps having a "instant action to friend" button. The social community aspect could be really improved on.

Capture mechanic and strategic gameplay:
I really like the capture mechanic, with Auraxium bases mattering most and surrouding hexes really having an impact on the fighting. (Nice example is Hvar, which is more often than not decided by who is holding Sandstone Gulch.) There is still some balancing needed (ghost hacking: annoying vs. backyard invasions: big fun), but things seem to be on a good way. Personally, I would like things to be more ... interconnected. Currently, there appears to be only "main bases" and "other hexes". So while you capture some hexes to get to the main bases, there's not really that much reason behind what you hexes capture or what main bases you go for. Usually it's simply the closest main base with most people from your faction. It would be cool if bases (and "other hexes") would have strategic benefits other than resource generation. Something like the tech plant advantages or cave modules of PS1.

The Grind:
Ok, the grind has only just started. And while I'm fine with levelling/paying to get some stuff, it really bugs me if it feels like one has to get something to properly play the game. I don't care all that much about the vehicle add-ons that are available, and not about most of the vehicle or infantry gun options. The basic stuff is good. It could be more tailored to your playstyle, and there's stuff I want to have, but I don't really feel preassured to do so. EXCEPT for Anti-Air. I think it's a really bad idea to "force" players to grind stuff to be able to fight a certain common vehicle type. Currently AA is a 12500 Auraxium feature for mechs, infantry, tanks and planes. People not having access to AA from the start just feels wrong.
On a side note: I really like concept of implants. Also, fashion items and XP/resource boosts feel like a good/fair/honest way to earn this F2P money to keep the game going.

[Shogun]

after playing some more, i still think the main problem of the game is the overall awareness and overview.

i don´t know where i am going, what i am doing and what my squad is up to or what the empire needs or where we are being ghosthacked.

this aspect needs a lot of love! why can´t we move while the map is open? was no problem in ps1 and helped a lot with navigating long distances!

the waypoints are not visible enough, i have to spin several times bwfore i notice my personal waypoint. also it needs to be visible at infinite range.

we need more information about what´s going on, to feel the scale. right now it feels more like any pointless arena shooter just with more players and a giant map.
the metagame needs to be more visible.

and it is very hard to identify friend or foe, or even notice soldiers that are standing in front of a wall or terminal. yesterday i stepped into a room filled with enemies of both factions, and they didn´t seem to notice that there were several enemies in this room.
and camos are not even in the game yet. with camos i wouldn´t see most enemies even when they are in stabbing range.

the other main flaw in the actual build are the support classes. this was always my main playstyle and i feel like i have nothing left to do. i cannot place automated defences, and the mana turret can only be used by me and not by other allies, which renders it useless.
ams is out, which was another pet of mine, and i can´t fly until the joystick support works. you get it. it´s all shooting in the face now, no real dedicated supporter roles are in the game except for reviver and max-repairer/ammo dispenser. that´s very sad.

i loved to carefully setup an undetected ams and deploy CE all around it, then sneak in as a cloaked hacker and plant viruses all over their equipment and hack their vehicles. all of this is impossible right now. hope a lot of this will make a return because planetside was not only about the shooting. approx.70% of my ps1 chars battlerank 38 xp came from support xp! and you know the support xp system was a late addon.

so planetside 2 has a long way to go, but the current build shows, that a proper ps2 is possible! the gunplay works, the scale works, just visibility and metagame have to improve a lot.

[Metalmoura]

I personally don't care for the single maned tanks, really enjoyed the dedicated driver and main gunner system. allowed for fast pace on the move tank battles. Cant wait for more infantry weapon unlocks and i really hope hacking comes back and becomes a bigger and more useful part of the game.

[Rivenshield]

The game is a visual feast. It looks and feels like a battlefield on an alien world. Everything has that slightly beat-up lived-in look.

The audio engineers have done a magnificent job as well. Distant booms and near-miss crackles create an immersive atmosphere.... except for the Phalanx turret, which sounds like a tennis ball mortar, and the TR chaingun, which sounds like someone beating a garbage can lid with a Whiffle bat. For the love of God I hope they cure these weapons of their audio ailments.

Gameplay is... well... like a regular FPS writ large, I'm sorry to say. You have two competing zergs running headlong into each other and the one with even a slight numerical advantage wins. Multiple choke points is fine. NONE is a disaster. Defense is impossible, offense is easy. There is no way for a small group with its act together to stop or even frustrate a larger one. This needs to be fixed, and I hope it will be.

Making spawn rooms invulnerable sucks. Take out those shields, make the tubes destructible, and let the carnage commence as it did of old. (That is *not* how you help the defenders. You help them by adding stuff to defend. Like, you know, walls and occasional choke points and stuff.) There are few things that produce more adrenaline than trying to shove an encroaching enemy frantically away from your tubes... and few things more gratifying than finally forcing your way in and gunning the enemy in his.

Optimization has come a long way even in the past two weeks. Day by day, in every way, we are getting better and better.

I remain cautiously optimistic, but we have a long we to go before we recreate the feeling of solidarity and brotherhood that made Planetside an experience to be treasured, not merely a time sink.

[MonsterBone]

Adjacency is not the answer. Today has been a huge zerg on the front lines which barely move.

[Crator]

So then? Some sort of complex lattice system? Won't we need more base objectives for that though?

[Hadrianswall]

So then? Some sort of complex lattice system? Won't we need more base objectives for that though?


a leaf out of one of the most strategic hex board games there is maybe ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_(board_game)

connect your warpgate with one or more enemy faction warpgates via hex .
this would push the battle all around the board as factions were blocked off and try and flank different ways around the map, would open up loads of strategy options , dummy attacks ect .
there woudl also need tobe some form or reward for completing it , but i think this needs tobe in regardless , a persistent world is no use if everything stays the same or there is no battle over , the war never has to end but a battle must come to a head somehow

[MaxDamage]

Starting to enjoy it a lot more now that people are coming out in more numbers, and more organised. VERY MUCH SO.

[Rolfski]

I did play PS1 but unfortunately I don't have a PS2 key because PS1 at the time couldn't persuade me into a subscription; too much downtime for my likings during my PS1 trial period.

I'm very excited for PS2 though as I watched tons of video's and read lots of comments. Wanna dive into this beta for sure so feel free to share a key if you have one left.


What I get out of all these comments and video's so far about PS2 in its current state:

PLUS
- Lots of potential, the contours of a top MMOFPS are there
- Pretty, especially during night and daylight transitions
- Solid gun play
- Sporadic epic moments when people do team up and work together
- Not pay to win
- Responsive devs
- Highly customizable

MINUS/NEEDS WORK
- Tools for teamwork and more focused, strategic game play
- Beta related: balances/optimization/bugs/unfinished content
- Steep learning curve
- Quick base switching/lack of accomplishment
- Capture related: Back hacking, adjacency system, capture system

DEBATABLE
- Class system
- Time to kill
- BF/COD to PS1 ratio
- Variation between factions

Please, correct me if I'm wrong, being only an enthusiastic outsider that hasn't managed to get in yet.

[Shogun]

There are ZERO logistics. Everything is fast paced, kill kill kill. Medics don't have the time to heal and engineers don't have the need to refill ammo, everyone is already dead, came back and fighting again. The game is lacking logistics entirely.

Yep, that´s the problem i was concerned about from the moment i saw the very first action gameplay. the fast pace and short time to kill are very bad for the support-roles.

[Typherian]

Its definitely improving, the new capture systems should help alot over the currently awful ffa ticket system. The infantry combat is pretty good, a bit too fast but still good. Aircraft seem to be pretty good as well with much better movement over ps1. The graphics are simply amazing, there is no knocking them. I find myself pausing to look at stuff all the time even months after i first got in.

The ground vehicle combat tho is flat out awful. Vehicles have no armor, so you die in seconds, large scale epic fights NEVER happen. You just die before vehicles can mass up and anytime they come in with big groups, they just get decimated in seconds. Its boring and sad to see. Drivers being gunners in the MBT's is terrible, they are boring and weak to keep em balanced for solo play. They move very badly with simple stop, fire til dead or target dies, move, and repeat. You dont get real vehicle movement. No one can do both at once very well so its boring to do and boring to see. Lame instant magical seat switching means you dont need that AA gunner, just switch and fire then switch back. Totally kills the need for teamwork in a game with 2k people, which makes no sense. It should be encouraged not discouraged. Instant in/out and more just make things cheap and uninteresting.

They need to bring back ps1 style vehicles with immersive mechanics such as fixed vehicle slots (no magical seat switching), drivers who dont gun (except for the lightning), and real armor (3x what it is now, minimum of 2x keeping in mind ps1 had 4x what these tanks have). Then we can finally get some epic vehicle fights again. I just dont get this obsession with making everything die so freaking fast. Its boring and means you dont get large scale epic fights which this game should do better than PS1 but currently cant even hold a candle to when it comes to that aspect.

All of this^

[Ascy]

Well, here's my impression after the first 4-5 hours:

First: the game looks great, mainly because of the art design. The buildings look authentic and the landscape is well made. Since I play on medium graphics settings I can't comment too much on the effects, but even at medium it's a beautiful game. Some textures are really low-res at the moment, but I think that's just a beta issue.
A problem I had was the lights inside the tech plant (?) during a night assault.
With that amount of backlighting it was extremely hard to identify enemies.

Second: The gameplay is solid and fun so far. I've been running around mostly as infantry, the weapons feel alright, even though I think that full auto fire is a bit too accurate - mostly people just empty their magazines instead of going semi auto and aimed shots. Perhaps this is due to the short engagement distances. (I come from Project Reality though, so my view on what these distances should be might be distorted)
Another factor is that I think a slower gameplay would benefit the "epic war"-aspect of the game. Right now it feels more like a fps with really really many guys, capping a base and running to the next and back again. Make battles over a base and the hacking take longer!

Third: The interface is too crowded. There are way too many markers on the screen for all the friendly guys in the proximity (through walls, nonetheless!).
Also the difference between platoon and squad members on the minimap is non-existent. It's hard to get in the right Galaxy with your squad if there are 4 green Gals on the minimap.
But again, that's a beta issue, so they'll likely introduce more options to customize this.

Fourth: I found PS2 to be a bit unfriendly to new players. I would love to have a training area where you can try out vehicles and planes without having the feeling that you hinder the progress of your empire. (also, it's damn hard to learn flying when you can't fly far enough without getting into a dogfight.)

Fifth: If I ever want to fly a plane, I need a joystick. ;)

Overall it has been quite enjoyable though, and it has awesome potential. I'm thrilled to see where the game is going during the beta phase!

[CrankyTRex]

First time commenter, newbie to Planetside here and thought I would add my two cents now that I've had a week or two to get familiar with the Beta.

I'm someone coming primarily from a Battlefield/Unreal Tournament background, and have been waiting to play a game like this since BF1942 first hooked me. I have, however, been sorely disappointed with newer iterations of those franchises.

Planetside 2 thus far seems to have a mix of great and terrible for me. I love the scale. I was absolutely giddy to find myself flying around with like 10 other fighters while a column of tanks rolled on underneath us, because you just don't see that kind of thing in other FPS games unless it is scripted.

It's taken me a few days but I think these are my three major issues with the game to date:

1. Learning curve is way too steep.
The problem I have most with playing this game is where am I? Where am I going? What point should I be capping? The big map is often too lacking in detail and I can't have it superimposed while I'm moving. The mini-map is too tight half the time and I can't tell where anything is. Since the map is huge, it's often difficult to find someone just to follow and emulate even to get started. The chat is usually devoid of people, and only the people interested in irritating others seem to use proximity voice.

Friend or foe identification is incredibly difficult. So many of the classes and vehicles look alike and their paint jobs are not usually visible at range. Also there's a bug that doesn't always display a friendly's name on mouse over, so you end up shooting them thinking they're an enemy. Really, it should be on all the time if you have line of sight to the person/vehicle.

The sound design also really hurts with that because I find a lot of stuff sounds like it is right next to me when it isn't (particularly aircraft that are way above the battlefield and MAXes jumping around), whereas regular weapon fire can sound a mile away and be one room over. Further, the only weapons that sound distinctly different are the Vanu ones, and some of the TR ones are frankly irritating to listen to. I think it's the MAX's chaingun.

I find myself constantly having to check my keybinds because of things like special abilities being "F" but the Galaxy deploy, for example, being "B". I also spent hours trying to figure out a way to bind roll and pitch controls for flying to the keyboard with no success.

2. Pacing never feels right

Either I find myself in a fight where everyone is dying almost instantly and respawning in some pitched battle to take or hold a facility, or we're all standing around just waiting for the tickets to finally cap the thing. They really need to rethink their capture systems, especially the one where you hold all the control points but you still lose the place because the opposing faction influence is too high.

Controlling a console should switch all the terminals at that spot over to your empire. Nothing is more irritating than holding an entire facility's consoles and still not being able to use any of the terminals until the thing finally switches over. If nothing else, this would make prioritizing and taking them more important. Right now, it does not seem to matter if you take Point A or B, which leads most people to find the center of the facility and just take that, while ignoring the outlying points.

If one of those points is a tank factory, which many of them are, it should be a priority to flip that before assaulting a the main structure. Right now it doesn't matter if you do or do not. There should also be medical bays and ammo dumps to take that will grant healing and re-arming bonuses/AoEs that would be priority targets both inside and outside facilities.

One thing I thought would be a nice change is if your re-spawn timers are specific to a given facility. It seems silly to be able to spawn a vehicle, then not be able to spawn one even back at the Warp Gate just because of the timer even though you have the resources, even more so if you get destroyed at the end of a battle such that you have to sit around waiting rather than pressing on. I think it would help place greater emphasis on capturing surrounding towers and such. If you have three of them, your pilots/drivers can be more effective because they can rotate spawning. It would still cut down on spam since the travel time is required, but also lets people play in the vehicle they want more often for longer.

3. Straying into BF3 unlock syndrome
Going back to #1 briefly, it took me far too long to realize that the "side-grades" had to be purchased from an entirely different place from Certs since some Certs also seem to be unlocks and/or are for weapons I don't have yet. That part of the UI needs an overhaul to make all of that more streamlined. All of the options should show up in the customization window, just as locked, and set as purchasable from right there.

But more importantly, one of the things that stopped me from buying BF3 was that simple, basic stuff required unlocks, and I hated that. Sights for every weapon. Flares/Missiles for aircraft. AA for ground troops. Those kind of things are not side-grades, they are basic options without which you can be severely restricted in your ability to contribute to the battle.

I especially do not like watching another Mosquito fly over a tank and destroy it with rocket pods or fire an AA missile at another aircraft while I am stuck with this nearly useless chaingun thing because I haven't earned enough Auraxium to buy anything yet.

I do want to see lots of things to unlock and switch between, but I don't want it to significantly restrict my combat ability. Different guns with various rates of fire and look and feel? Alternate costuming/camo? Love it. Make it cost as much as you want.

Having to unlock the ability to fire AA from a MAX or turn your fighter into an AtG machine? No thank you. That should be standard available stuff, the difference should just be in the actual weapons themselves.

I think the MAX flamethrower is the perfect example of a good side-grade unlock. You don't need it to do anything, but it will change how you play to use it.

Also, tangentially related to this, I feel like they should just fold the Engineer/Medic into the other classes entirely. Seems unnecessarily redundant to have them as separate classes in a game with this many unlocks and certs. It would be easier to just be able to choose between having one of those class skills and specializing in it.

[Malorn]

I've been playing PS2 for about two months and not even close to getting burned out on it. I love the game, and it's only going to get better!

A year ago we were all worrying about a few things like the class system, one-man tanks, no inventories, ect. Nearly all of those things have proven to be great decisions. There's still a few legitimate concerns of course, but by and large the game is great.

The improvements over the last few weeks have been huge, and the changes show they are in fact listening to player feedback and taking the game in the right direction.

I love PlanetSide 2, I'm impressed by the dev team, and I really look forward to it being even more awesome!

[Hamma]

Yep it's in now - it's done some interesting things to fights. Some great fights now at forward outposts.

[JHendy]

Also, incentives just aren't there. You get a big feeling of "What's it all for?". If I'm going to be putting up with half-baked gameplay, there has to be stronger MMO elements.

Yup yup. I'm sure there will be cont locks when the other two continents are in, though, which helps with that issue.

[EVILoHOMER]

The good;

- It's kept to the scope of the original and wasn't turned into some instanced small scale FPS.

The Bad;

- The shooting feels floaty, default mouse sensitivity is way too high.
- The vehicle handling sucks for both aircraft and ground vehicles.
- The base design sucks.
- No urban areas.
- The map design sucks, it makes traveling with ground vehicles far too annoying to the point you just get in an aircraft instead.
- I hate the class system, it feels far too restrictive, I want the old cert system back.
- The textures look like shit.
- The UI is a cluster fuck.
- The lighting is far too bright it drowns everything out.
- Fog means you cannot see in the distance which I hoped would have gone in this day and age.
- Too much HDR.
- Night time is too dark you cannot see anything other than moving upside down triangles..... why even bother with dark lighting then? Just make it lighter.
- Base capture is too fast
- Bases are too open they're hard to defend, especially as people leave, they tend to get recaptured.
- The sound design is horrible, the worst sound effects ever.
- No inventory
- No hacking
- No looting

etc etc.



It's just plain bad and the saddest thing is all my friends were excited for it, all got PC Gamer beta keys even though we were Planetside vets and we all got into the beta within a week of each other. None of us are left playing, instantly we all agreed, it feels nothing like Planetside.

[Mox]

The good;

- It's kept to the scope of the original and wasn't turned into some instanced small scale FPS.

The Bad;

- The shooting feels floaty, default mouse sensitivity is way too high.
- The vehicle handling sucks for both aircraft and ground vehicles.
- The base design sucks.
- No urban areas.
- The map design sucks, it makes traveling with ground vehicles far too annoying to the point you just get in an aircraft instead.
- I hate the class system, it feels far too restrictive, I want the old cert system back.
- The textures look like shit.
- The UI is a cluster fuck.
- The lighting is far too bright it drowns everything out.
- Fog means you cannot see in the distance which I hoped would have gone in this day and age.
- Too much HDR.
- Night time is too dark you cannot see anything other than moving upside down triangles..... why even bother with dark lighting then? Just make it lighter.
- Base capture is too fast
- Bases are too open they're hard to defend, especially as people leave, they tend to get recaptured.
- The sound design is horrible, the worst sound effects ever.
- No inventory
- No hacking
- No looting

etc etc.



It's just plain bad and the saddest thing is all my friends were excited for it, all got PC Gamer beta keys even though we were Planetside vets and we all got into the beta within a week of each other. None of us are left playing, instantly we all agreed, it feels nothing like Planetside.

I agree on everything, except "The Good":
If I remember the battles in the good old days (2003-2005) in PS1 and see the battles now in the beta, i would never say that this is the same scope of fight. PS2 feels like an ongoing small to medium scale skirmish. Even the map seems to be smaller.

=> There is a lot to do for SOE to make this one a ongoing success. I just hope they listen to their real fanbase and not to the new but loud fanboys from other shooters (BF/CoD/etc.). They will choose a new game after some months anyway.

[Kij]

I'll put a couple thoughts in here, if y'all don't mind.

I'm not a PS1 vet, so I don't have that to compare PS2 to. My FPS background is in Tribes 2 and most recently Blacklight Retribution, with some dabbling in some the CODs single player.

I don't really have that big of a problem with the class system. I'm quite pleased that I can say, "Today, I want to be a medic or engineer" and I don't have to unlock something first. And having the certs setup so that I can buy a different scope or some other thing I might want for my rifle is a nice motivator to keep plugging along to earn the cert points.

As far as the actual gameplay, I'm a little disappointed. Granted, you can ask anyone that knows me and they can say I've been hyping PS2 since I heard about it several months ago, so my hopes might have been up.

But, to me, my rifle doesn't seem very responsive. Even at close range, I don't actually feel like it's firing where I'm pointing it. Even when I do hit, I think I'd like to have an audio feedback saying that I hit on top of the redness added to the reticle.

It seems like it takes me forever to kill someone while I die very quickly. And then, hopefully I was died at the base I can respawn at, because having to travel on foot because the timer on the Flash is still ticking very quickly makes me feel like I don't want to keep playing.

Granted, part of the strategy of the game, as I have deduced is the logistics of getting a Galaxy setup near the action, but that doesn't happy with an outpost. When it happens with one of the bigger bases, the opposing faction focuses all fire on the Gal, resulting in spawning into a firefight.

I would like to see a different death animation. Sometimes I can't tell I just died until a second or two after the animation starts playing. Then again, I'd like to be able to survive a firefight. Right now, it seems like any firefight is a guaranteed death, with hopes of taking someone else down with me.

Anyway, I'm excited to keep exploring what PS2 has to offer. Hopefully I can either get better at staying alive or await a change by the devs in my survivability. Thanks for having me here. :-)

[Kij]

You know I would love to see a thread where all you non-PS1 vets could talk about what you guys would like to participate in this PS2 game. And all "vets" just stay out. It would be very helpful.

Hamma can you start and moderate it? ? Hell I know it would be next to impossible.

I'd contribute where I could. I hardly consider myself a hardcore FPS player.

[Crator]

The good;

- It's kept to the scope of the original and wasn't turned into some instanced small scale FPS.

This is on my "Kind of alright, but not really" list actually... Size does matter! (http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=47575)

[EVILoHOMER]

This is on my "Kind of alright, but not really" list actually... Size does matter! (http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=47575)

Travel in this game sucks, this map they have atm is so poorly designed that using a ground vehicle just isn't fun. In Planetside I could travel from base to base easily in a vehicle but in Planetside 2 it's just so hard atm so I jump in an aircraft...

Well that's when there are resources, which I hate because again they restrict me and half the time I end up just quitting because I cannot be bothered to run... why is that even in the game? A cool down timer is enough.

[CrankyTRex]

Yeah travel is annoying. I feel like I'm always lost because of how terrible the map functions are. I either want to have free ability to zoom the minimap, or preferably be able to have a semi-transparent overlay of the big map.

I'm also not thrilled with how if you die you can only respawn at facilities close to where you died or the warp gate. If you get in an aircraft and are flying around and get destroyed, that could be half the map away from where you started. For me it's usually far away from any kind of vehicle terminal so it involves spawning at some remote outpost and walking back to the action.

[Crator]

Travel in this game sucks, this map they have atm is so poorly designed that using a ground vehicle just isn't fun. In Planetside I could travel from base to base easily in a vehicle but in Planetside 2 it's just so hard atm so I jump in an aircraft...

Well that's when there are resources, which I hate because again they restrict me and half the time I end up just quitting because I cannot be bothered to run... why is that even in the game? A cool down timer is enough.

I agree completely. IMO, the resource system helps perpetuate the F2P model better.

[KamiGaijin]

Well, I just tried it out for the first time today. My thoughts after this 18 hour caffeine fest:

-The mouse controls are dreadful. I mean, absolute-Skyrim's-PC-port shit tier. Has anyone tried hopping in a turret at a tower or base? You couldn't hit a turtle in those things, because not only is their turning radius restricted, but you have to run your mouse about 10ft to turn it 15 degrees. Flying is also extremely non-responsive. To the point that if you see something emerge from the fog in front of you, it's probably too late to try and dodge it.

-The infantry combat and vehicle combat are pretty good I'd say, but as has been mentioned, the terrain makes driving a vehicle horrific.

-Balance wise, all the starter weapons I've tried seem perfect. Don't know about any of the unlocks because I haven't got them yet, but so far I'd say 2-thumps up

-And now for my final point. I saved this for last because whether or not this is addressed will determine if I lose the little faith in SOE I have left. They have harped and harped on how the game is not going to be pay2win. But before finishing up today, I was browsing through the unlocks, and what did I see? Exp and Resource boosters that can be bought with real money. More XP and resources mean better weapons and weapon upgrades. If you pay to get get an advantage on the field of battle that those who don't pay won't have, even if it is only for the time it takes us dirty filthy poor peasants to farm up; IT'S FUCKING PAY 2 WIN. Right now these XP and Resource implants are shown as "unavailable" but if I see them become available for Station Cash, I'm out.

[Crator]

-And now for my final point. I saved this for last because whether or not this is addressed will determine if I lose the little faith in SOE I have left. They have harped and harped on how the game is not going to be pay2win. But before finishing up today, I was browsing through the unlocks, and what did I see? Exp and Resource boosters that can be bought with real money. More XP and resources mean better weapons and weapon upgrades. If you pay to get get an advantage on the field of battle that those who don't pay won't have, even if it is only for the time it takes us dirty filthy poor peasant to farm up; IT'S FUCKING PAY 2 WIN.

The free-to-play model does allow for some freedoms to the developer to allow faster progression to paying customers, as long as it's still possible for non-paying players to gain these abilities by just playing the game.

EDIT: But yes, it could be debated about how the developer goes about implementing the faster progression rates vs. the normal progression rates.

[CrankyTRex]

The free-to-play model does allow for some freedoms to the developer to allow faster progression to paying customers, as long as it's still possible for non-paying players to gain these abilities by just playing the game.

EDIT: But yes, it could be debated about how the developer goes about implementing the faster progression rates vs. the normal progression rates.

I think it's just a matter of being extremely careful what is an unlock and what isn't. If you have stuff like the rocket pods and the flares and base-level AA in the store as unlocks, all of which grant someone a demonstrable advantage over other players, then it doesn't matter because it will be pay to win either way. The people who have the cash will be able to buy their way into those weapons while everyone else is stuck grinding it out for them.

The simplest way to avoid the problem is just to make the majority of changes the cosmetic stuff, but that's kind of the lazy way out. They have to make more unlocks like the MAX flamethrower, which is both a new gameplay option and yet not a direct advantage over someone who doesn't have it unlocked. It's the kind of thing people go "that's awesome, and I want one" not "that's unfair. I can't do that yet."

[Crator]

@CrankyTRex I'm inclined to agree with you. Especially since it does kind of look like a pay to win option when there's a SC --- symbol alongside an option which grants lock on to ground vehicle capabilities.... But, I supposed that could be changed and we're just seeing an incomplete shop representation in the UI and that weapon isn't meant to be bought with SC... IDK....

[Token MF]

I've read all the replies and it seems like the community is pretty damn awesome. It goes without saying that vehicular combat and base mechanics will be tweaked. Theres a lot of things that need fixing. The game is practically unplayable on my machine so I have my fingers crossed for massive optimizations.

Matt and the team have started something really great with PS2, but I implore them look at 2 things. Revisit the class system, and bring back that iconic PlanetSide CC tension.

At BR10 or maybe when we are paying members, we should get an inventory and the class restrictions should go into the background, they should just be unlock trees or something. To be completely frank with you guys, if you think that PS1 commandos did anything to hurt teamwork, you have misunderstood the game. They perhaps had a few too many cert points, meaningful choices such as choosing to spend those last points on combat engineering or adv hacking probably hit a sweet spot around BR17-20.

Also please bring back the AMS

[CrankyTRex]

Matt and the team have started something really great with PS2, but I implore them look at 2 things. Revisit the class system, and bring back that iconic PlanetSide CC tension.

I didn't play PS1, but I don't know why there is such a backlash against the class system. I find the Medic/Engy a little redundant and think those might be better suited to selectable equipment in the other classes, but otherwise I think it's a pretty solid structure and in keeping with most modern shooters.

[RSphil]

loving it. been part of some great fights and hope to see larger fights still. alot of things still need fixing ect but the over all experience is awesome.

cant wait to get more trigger time and fight for the NC.

[texico]

I didn't play PS1, but I don't know why there is such a backlash against the class system. I find the Medic/Engy a little redundant and think those might be better suited to selectable equipment in the other classes, but otherwise I think it's a pretty solid structure and in keeping with most modern shooters.


Because PS1's freeform inventory system was better (well I haven't played Beta so I can't say that myself, but the opinion was that a typical inventory system was better than a typical class system). It allowed for you to tailor your weapons, equipment, amount of ammo, etc. to exactly your play style, as well as allow for more obscure and interesting roles, something which you simply cannot do in the other big shooters. Classes shoehorn you into a predefined role that "somebody" has decided for you and take away the kind of organic decision making that PS1 had.

It's a kind of RPG element that was strongly in keeping with PS1's persistence theme too. It feels more real-life being able to make active decisions about what you carry on your persona into battle, along with your little quirks.


And nobody really cared about what's in keeping with other shooters. The main thing we're concerned about is what's best. As well as the awesome graphics/technical upgrade, most of the vets want PS2 to take all the amazing things about PS1 (that never made it big-time because of SOE's treatment) and make THEM the new staples and landmarks for mainstream shooters to copy, and along with persistent worlds, huge-scale battles and continent-level and inter-continent strategy, the flexible inventory system was one of those amazing things that done carefully and correctly can trump the standard class system.

[CrankyTRex]

Because PS1's freeform inventory system was better (well I haven't played Beta so I can't say that myself, but the opinion was that a typical inventory system was better than a typical class system). It allowed for you to tailor your weapons, equipment, amount of ammo, etc. to exactly your play style, as well as allow for more obscure and interesting roles, something which you simply cannot do in the other big shooters. Classes shoehorn you into a predefined role that "somebody" has decided for you and take away the kind of organic decision making that PS1 had.

It's a kind of RPG element that was strongly in keeping with PS1's persistence theme too. It feels more real-life being able to make active decisions about what you carry on your persona into battle, along with your little quirks.


Well like I said, other than the medic and the engineer stuff, I haven't felt terribly restricted in the Beta, particularly since I can swap out any time I'm near an ammo terminal and/or spawn with no penalty. If you had to pick the class when you created the character and were stuck with it, then I would probably agree with you on this one.

Right now certing additional equipment takes a lot longer than I would be willing to wait if it truly defined what I could do, especially since that's shared with the vehicle stuff. So if I had to choose say, certing into having a sniper rifle or certing into having a pilot's license, I would feel incredibly restricted.


And nobody really cared about what's in keeping with other shooters. The main thing we're concerned about is what's best. As well as the awesome graphics/technical upgrade, most of the vets want PS2 to take all the amazing things about PS1 (that never made it big-time because of SOE's treatment) and make THEM the new staples and landmarks for mainstream shooters to copy, and along with persistent worlds, huge-scale battles and continent-level and inter-continent strategy, the flexible inventory system was one of those amazing things that done carefully and correctly can trump the standard class system.

I agree that breaking the mold is always good, but there's also perfectly good reasons why certain things in modern shooters are the way they are. Having a class system reduces the learning curve and barrier to entry, if for no other reason than it gives people something familiar to work with.

I don't know if they're going to clean up the cert/upgrade interface some, but right now it's incredibly confusing. I think most new players would be absolutely overwhelmed trying to figure out how to just configure their character to do something simple like, be AT or sniper if there wasn't some kind of preset, which is all the class system really does thus far.

[Gatekeeper]

Hey all... long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I'm a PS1 vet, played it for years (from a month or so after release, till well after BFRs came on the scene) and I'd say that overall it was my favourite game of all time.

I've only played in the PS2 beta a little bit so far, because unfortunately it's almost unplayable on my PC, but these are my impressions so far:

The Good:

The bases and landscape are epic: the world is impressive and fun to explore.
The new outposts and expanded towers: seem like a fun break from the main bases and allow battles of various scales.
The scale: it remains impressive, even if it tends to feel slightly smaller than PS1.

The Bad:

TTK is way too fast: there's little point to shields or medics when you die almost at once whenever you're shot. And this also means you tend to spend much more time respawning and getting to the fights than you do actually fighting.

It's hard to tell what's going on: spotting enemies is difficult, and telling friend from foe is even harder. In a game where an instant of hesitation can mean death, this is a pretty major problem.

Essential tools need grinding or cash to unlock: MAX and infantry AA weapons should be unlocked by default. Being able to spawn a tank or a plane right from the start, but infantry not being able to defend themselves in the field from constant air attack is just crazy.

Tank drivers being gunners: this is just dumbing down, plain and simple. Requiring coordination for MBTs was one of my favourite features in PS1, and I've always felt that the way PS1 handled vehicles was hands-down better than every other shooter. Giving up on that just to appease fans of those weaker games is a terrible choice. Stand up for the strengths of PS1! Else what's the point of making PS2 in the first place?

Also the justification for MBTs working this way "players who spawn vehicles should get the kills from them" makes no sense - none of the other multi-player vehicles work that way. If gals, sundies and libs can give the big guns over to dedicated gunners - why can't tanks?

Dodgy base design: walls that defend the attackers instead of the defenders and teleporters that are unassailable kill-farms. Hopefully the devs are taking notice of criticism here, and are making changes already.


I won't list performance and overall balance as issues, because hopefully those will improve - but currently they seem pretty dreadful.

Overall, I'm dreadfully disappointed in this game right now. It's a beta, and performance issues are currently ruining the game for me, so hopefully it'll improve as we go along (and/or when I get a new rig) - but right now I'm worried.