What's the real reason we can't use any gun?

[OctavianAXFive]

Alright I get that there's some balancing aspect (Infiltrators with shotguns).

But having played a lot of Battlefield, which seems to inspire a lot in this game (for better or worse), I have to say that relegating certain weapon types to a class is boring and, I think, unnecessary.

Why does the guy with the heaviest armor and most health get to carry the biggest and baddest guns?

Has anyone told game developers that carbines are shortened ARs designed for CQC and getting in and out of APCs?

Why would the shock trooper (LA) and engineer be stuck with "carbines" while only the medic gets the gun designated "AR."

How about I be the judge of what gun I want to use? A class's flavor ought to be based on their power/role, not their weapon. I guess that extends to the whole faction specific gun type argument as well but I'm pickin' one fight at a time here;)

I would elaborate more but people don't seem to respond well to my usual walls of text.

[Dragonskin]

What's the real reason we can't use any gun?

Because SOE decided to design Planetside 2 differently. No other reason really matters.

[OctavianAXFive]

First: Could you use any gun you wanted in PS1?

Second: Seriously though, I could ask the same question of DICE for the Battlefield franchise. Wouldn't it be easier to balance weapons if all of the classes were more or less on the same page in terms of firepower?

[Helwyr]

First: Could you use any gun you wanted in PS1?


Yes. Except for Infiltrators (pistols only) and Max suits you could use any weapon you've certed into including enemy faction weapons assuming you pick one up that was dropped by a dead enemy player.

[Neutral Calypso]

I can understand why Light Assaults are limited to carbines. Theoretically, it would be easier to handle a shorter barreled weapon while engaging in all their airborne acrobatics.

I do not understand why Engineers are limited to carbines though.
Nor do I understand why heavies cannot carry the assault rifles or carbines.

But eh, whatever.

It's just a game, you should really just relax. :D

[OctavianAXFive]

Well you know what they say, variety is the spice of life.

I'd really like to see more classes trotting around with different weapons. I really think it sucks when one class gets a gun that's just superior to anything any other class can dig up.

It might also encourage different play styles of each class if the guns had unique movement penalties associated with them.

[Figment]

First: Could you use any gun you wanted in PS1?

Aside from MAXes and Infiltrators, yes. Even if there wern't that many to choose from, each grunt suit (not counting spawning pyjamas that nobody sane used in combat), ie agile (think Medic class with free slots) and rexo suit (Heavy Assault class with free slots) could carry shotguns, rifles, flamethrowers, AV, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, or whatever else there was to fit in the main slots.

On top of that, you had one or two pistol slots, which could contain pistols, support tools or grenades.


In fact, you could use ANY combination of weapons and tools you could afford in terms of certification and then cramp in your inventory, because there were no classes, just customizable suits. You could even switch out weapons, which you can't now.

That meant you could carry an extra weapon in your backpack, though it would typically cost you around 50-75% of your ammo, medkits that sort of thing since anything you brought along would compete for the same inventory space. But you could be say rifleman, AV trooper, engineer and medic at once, though you would not be capable of sustaining all of those roles for a long period of time, due to ammo/glue/juice limitations.



Infils were limited to pistols and a single SMG (which was far crappier than the current SMG, think shotgun accuracy and extremely low damage per shot, in favour of a small, but bigger than pistol, clip). Infils typically carried one or two ammoboxes, a grenade, a hacking tool and a gun. Some infils carried a Command Uplink Device (CUD) or Medical Applicator or Teleport Pad (from a Router) instead of extra ammo.

Typically, as NC, I carried a shotgunstyle Mag-Scatter pistol (3-5 shots to kill, 2-3 second ttk, optimal range of 4-8m) with a total of 24 rounds (8 in clip, one box of 16 ammo).

Alternatively, I typically carried a REK and 4 ACEs, or 3 ACES and an EMP grenade. Rarely I carried a 30 grenades, typically EMP and plasma grenades (where you needed several plasma grenades for a kill, unless fighting another cloaker).

But you could act as a supply runner as well. MAXes and other infantry would sometimes carry ammo for one another and I frequently shared my ammo with people that were out of their own ammo. Today, people need an engineer to share ammo, although it's not so much sharing as spawning new ammo at will.


In other words, I was more restricted in what I could carry in PS1, but I was also more free to carry what I thought I would need than I am in PS2.



The two games couldn't be more different, tbh. They've completely inverted the freedom and restrictions.

[Mastachief]

First: Could you use any gun you wanted in PS1?

Second: Seriously though, I could ask the same question of DICE for the Battlefield franchise. Wouldn't it be easier to balance weapons if all of the classes were more or less on the same page in terms of firepower?

Infils could only use pistols and explosives.

Agile and rexo armour (Support(driver) and heavy) could use any weapon even looted enemy ones but only if you have the class of weapon certed Medium assualt(rifles/shotguns/underslung rifles) Heavy assault (signature HA), sniper, anti vehicle, special assualt(grenade launcher)

Every thing cost certs from a limited pool, so you couldnt do/use everything. Sadly SOE binned this limitation/specialisation for the shitty system where everybody can do everything at all times.

This is why there are so many snipers/maxes/av troops/tanks/esf's. This is one major reason that this game is so god dam broken.l