ReachCast Episode 42 CQ - For those of you who still don’t have an outfit, why?

[ReachCast]

This weeks question is ...

For those of you who still don’t have an outfit, why?

as always if you would like to call or email in your answer below is that info

Email us at [email protected]
Call us at (415)787-3224

[Rahabib]

my reasons:


time commitment. For what little time I have to play these days, I don't want to feel forced to be online constantly, or end up relegated to never have any input. This especially goes for outfits that have internal ranks that promote those who have more free time than others.
ranks. since I brought it up, its annoying to me to have someone "pull rank" so that you end up never doing what you want to do. When you deviate, even slightly, even though you are still supporting the team, it can be annoying to be yelled out because you didn't "all go heavy" when you are getting sniped to death and wanted to counter snipe (actually happend to me). I am all for utilizing tactics, but you have to let the players perform the roles they are best at. Don't ask a QB to play Safety.
military mindset. Listen, I didn't join the military for a reason. You probably didn't either. So why then are we pretending this is a real military simulation. I come from a competitive gaming background, and I treat the game like a sport, yes with captains, set positions, etc. However, the treatment of players and officers in some outfits like they are in a real army is a little silly.
too macro. many outfits seem to play very "macro" and expect an entire platoon to follow one order, which takes out some of the fun of "micro" squad engagements. Some outfits do this right, but only a few I have pub joined do it right.
Slower pace. I can go where the action is the minute I see it happen, which is much faster than waiting for squad points, waiting for galaxies, waiting for tank columns to line up perfectly, etc. Its also annoying when you are making a good run and then ordered to "redeploy."
Until MLG comes out, its a pub game. Your actions really don't mean anything in any grand scheme. Not really a knock against outfits, its just that the game really doesn't have a component that requires teams.


I am sure not all outfits are like this. Many will not have all of the points I have listed, but most will have at least a few of these points. I have had a few "tryouts" when PS2 was in beta, when the game was taken way more serious then it is now, so maybe there are some good clans that are more about skill and tactics than social structure and behavior. I am not opposed to outfits at all, I have run my own successful gaming clan for years, and so I see the value in it. I am also interested in MLG, but it seems all the good competitive clans/outfits require more than the 4-8 hours a week I generally put in. So until then I lone wolf it.

since this topic has come up before, I know this is where every outfit posts how they are not like this.

[Fedr]

Because I got kicked out of my old outfit, Waterson Holmes

[OctavianAXFive]

my reasons:


time commitment. For what little time I have to play these days, I don't want to feel forced to be online constantly, or end up relegated to never have any input. This especially goes for outfits that have internal ranks that promote those who have more free time than others.
ranks. since I brought it up, its annoying to me to have someone "pull rank" so that you end up never doing what you want to do. When you deviate, even slightly, even though you are still supporting the team, it can be annoying to be yelled out because you didn't "all go heavy" when you are getting sniped to death and wanted to counter snipe (actually happend to me). I am all for utilizing tactics, but you have to let the players perform the roles they are best at. Don't ask a QB to play Safety.
military mindset. Listen, I didn't join the military for a reason. You probably didn't either. So why then are we pretending this is a real military simulation. I come from a competitive gaming background, and I treat the game like a sport, yes with captains, set positions, etc. However, the treatment of players and officers in some outfits like they are in a real army is a little silly.
too macro. many outfits seem to play very "macro" and expect an entire platoon to follow one order, which takes out some of the fun of "micro" squad engagements. Some outfits do this right, but only a few I have pub joined do it right.
Slower pace. I can go where the action is the minute I see it happen, which is much faster than waiting for squad points, waiting for galaxies, waiting for tank columns to line up perfectly, etc. Its also annoying when you are making a good run and then ordered to "redeploy."
Until MLG comes out, its a pub game. Your actions really don't mean anything in any grand scheme. Not really a knock against outfits, its just that the game really doesn't have a component that requires teams.


I am sure not all outfits are like this. Many will not have all of the points I have listed, but most will have at least a few of these points. I have had a few "tryouts" when PS2 was in beta, when the game was taken way more serious then it is now, so maybe there are some good clans that are more about skill and tactics than social structure and behavior. I am not opposed to outfits at all, I have run my own successful gaming clan for years, and so I see the value in it. I am also interested in MLG, but it seems all the good competitive clans/outfits require more than the 4-8 hours a week I generally put in. So until then I lone wolf it.

since this topic has come up before, I know this is where every outfit posts how they are not like this.

Nailed it. I'm in the same boat except for the last point about Pubs.

I'd also add that I started playing as TR and by design I'm a bit stuck. Not that I don't like the TR, I chose them because I simply liked their guns the most (though it was a tough call between TR and VS).

That means all outfits I look for are pretty much by default TR because that's who I picked up first and that's where all my purchases have been. (also my muscle memories for recoil patterns are tied to TR weapons by now)

Lastly I'm a bit stuck in my time zone (EST) so my pool of candidates is somewhat smaller than it could be. If I get more free time in the future I'd have a better field of possible candidates.

[LayZ]

military mindset. Listen, I didn't join the military for a reason. You probably didn't either. So why then are we pretending this is a real military simulation. I come from a competitive gaming background, and I treat the game like a sport, yes with captains, set positions, etc. However, the treatment of players and officers in some outfits like they are in a real army is a little silly.


Heh, I served in the US Army for several years and I find it amusing when civilians who never even took JROTC in high school try to come off like they're in the real military in this game. Some of these guys couldn't make it through MEPS (the initial inprocessing station).

Then there are the guys who say ummmm or ahhh more often than actual commands on teamspeak than try to make a decision. Or can't decide what they want to do (pull MAXes.....oh no, now pull tanks to kill this one guy). But the guy was in the outfit much longer than you and kissed enough ass so any effort to help or correct is futile.

That and time commitments as well. I don't get on till about 8:30-9 PM CST most cases and I'm not dealing with high ping to play on a west coast server.

[Hamma]

I couldn't imagine not having an outfit! I guess I was lucky though I joined mine when I first started gaming online and have been on the same team since. So long that I am now the leader :lol:

[Gatekeeper]

my reasons:


time commitment. For what little time I have to play these days, I don't want to feel forced to be online constantly, or end up relegated to never have any input. This especially goes for outfits that have internal ranks that promote those who have more free time than others.
ranks. since I brought it up, its annoying to me to have someone "pull rank" so that you end up never doing what you want to do. When you deviate, even slightly, even though you are still supporting the team, it can be annoying to be yelled out because you didn't "all go heavy" when you are getting sniped to death and wanted to counter snipe (actually happend to me). I am all for utilizing tactics, but you have to let the players perform the roles they are best at. Don't ask a QB to play Safety.
military mindset. Listen, I didn't join the military for a reason. You probably didn't either. So why then are we pretending this is a real military simulation. I come from a competitive gaming background, and I treat the game like a sport, yes with captains, set positions, etc. However, the treatment of players and officers in some outfits like they are in a real army is a little silly.
too macro. many outfits seem to play very "macro" and expect an entire platoon to follow one order, which takes out some of the fun of "micro" squad engagements. Some outfits do this right, but only a few I have pub joined do it right.
Slower pace. I can go where the action is the minute I see it happen, which is much faster than waiting for squad points, waiting for galaxies, waiting for tank columns to line up perfectly, etc. Its also annoying when you are making a good run and then ordered to "redeploy."
Until MLG comes out, its a pub game. Your actions really don't mean anything in any grand scheme. Not really a knock against outfits, its just that the game really doesn't have a component that requires teams.


I am sure not all outfits are like this. Many will not have all of the points I have listed, but most will have at least a few of these points. I have had a few "tryouts" when PS2 was in beta, when the game was taken way more serious then it is now, so maybe there are some good clans that are more about skill and tactics than social structure and behavior. I am not opposed to outfits at all, I have run my own successful gaming clan for years, and so I see the value in it. I am also interested in MLG, but it seems all the good competitive clans/outfits require more than the 4-8 hours a week I generally put in. So until then I lone wolf it.

since this topic has come up before, I know this is where every outfit posts how they are not like this.

Excellent post, the things you describe there were exactly what put me off outfit-oriented play in PS1 and the reason I've never joined a PS2 outfit.

Mind you, I am getting bored of lone-wolfing - especially since most of my friends have now stopped playing the game. So it's possible I might give an outfit a go, despite my reservations.

[Hamma]

Well, not outfits are that way :)

[Rahabib]

I forgot one last point. Until server transfer tokens are released, it really limits your choices. I don't really want to start over a new character after 7 months of grind.

[Assist]

This weeks question is ...

For those of you who still don’t have an outfit, why?

as always if you would like to call or email in your answer below is that info

Email us at [email protected]
Call us at (415)787-3224

I don't find that I need one.

It'd be different if my goal in the game was to login and take a base, or take a continent. But taking bases happens far too often to be a real goal for me, and taking continents doesn't have any meaningful impact on the game.

My goal in the game is to get as many kills as I can while I'm in game. I don't feel like I would get that many more kills if I were in an outfit.

[Kalee J]

I am of two minds here. First I am in an outfit on my primary character, Kalee. However, I also play solo on my secondary character that almost sees as much play time.

The reason is I like to keep options open for my play time. Some times I want to do what Assist does and just try to get as many kills as possible. That is what my secondary NC character is for. And her K/D is over twice what my main's K/D is. She will likely never be in an outfit because I mandate that she's in a never ending search for the next big fight and pays little to no heed to the continental or global state of Auraxis.

However, I enjoy the PS2 unique aspect of continental warfare. So I enjoy playing in an outfit to achieve directed, territory based goals. At the end of the day it's PS2's (and PS1 before it) unique MMO persistent nature that will keep me here for years to come. So I invest more time there.

Effectively, I want to have my cake and eat it too.

[Slackermagee]

At least on Waterson, many of the great outfits run squads that pubs can join. So there's no pressure to always be available when you can join whatever you fancy. Being in a large enough outfit (VDRS) we get kinda the same feel.

Though I imagine at least one person is out there singing to himself.

Aaaaaand of course I can't get it to just start playing at ~50s when the 'lone wolf don't run with the clan' bit starts.

[KaskaMatej]

I have an outfit and if I didn't have it, I would stop playing PS2 all together and uninstall it.

[bpostal]

I have an outfit and if I didn't have it, I would stop playing PS2 all together and uninstall it.

Yep, without my outfit I would have quit this game months ago.

[Palerion]

I agree with Rahabib.

For me, I just don't like dealing with people who take everything too seriously. I'm pretty laid back about everything, and, honestly, you can cap those points as many times as you want, the swing of power will just go back and forth.

[OCNSethy]

Its not so much the people (we are all pretty chilaxed on Briggs), its the time & committment factor.

I have a young family and I often start playing late at night for a couple of hours, if at all. I have had a few invites from outfits when playing and for the most part they are fun.

But Im the kind of guy that feels if I join a team / clan / outfit I need to make a solid committment to that team and given my time constraints, I can not. I would feel as if I am letting them down or being unreliable.

Thats not the team / outfit's fault, that my self imposed constraint.

Then there is the "how to I want to spend my two hours of me-time" issue. Sometime I just want to snipe, other times Im happy to roam around with the pubbies and zerg, other times I just want to repair stuff. I dont think it would be fair to my outfit to say, "Look, I know you want me to x but really, I just want to do y"

Anyway, TL/DR.. Its not an issue with outfits or their structure, its more to do with how I want to spend my time in game, with the small amount of free time I have.

[Rahabib]

hmmm...

Just listened to the reachcast show, apparently we are all just too lazy to look up clans. Nevermind the fact, I replied on a forum that has a clan recruitment forum that I have personally posted on several forums looking for clans that fit my criteria and got little to no response. I have run my own clan and have been on several clans for games that had a purpose to be in a clan. Finding a decent clan in other games isnt hard, in this game, I find that most clans just have more issues than competitive games.

In game lookup? How is that any better than using a forum? Sure there are tons of outfits out there, but this game does everything in its power to find a clan for you very difficult. First, your character is limited to faction, so lets find an outfit that matches your faction. Next, you cannot transfer servers, so ok lets find an outfit that is your faction and on your server - hmm list is getting smaller. Now, lets look for outfits that are not run by military wannabes, thats our faction and on our server. List is getting pretty tiny. Now lets look for outfits that play when I am online, after 7pm PST, and do not have an overall time commitment for special ops nights. Ok thats pretty much everyone now. Yes I have read the forums here and on the official forums. MOST OUTFITS claim to be military tactic clans - that eliminates 90% of the clans right there.

Also, I would prefer to try out for outfits to see if they are actually team oriented or just a group of people, because if its just a group of people I can just pub join a squad and get the exact same thing.

For those outfits out there that want to recruit, I am still available for PSeharmony courtship:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=55358

Its been there for a while, but it seems most outfits post but dont read the forums.

[bpostal]

Did you ever try out GOTR Rahabib? Even if you have to start afresh (minus any NS weaponry you've purchased), they're a good group of laid back folks and a solid outfit that's been around since Planetside.

[OCNSethy]

hmmm...

Just listened to the reachcast show, apparently we are all just too lazy to look up clans.... [snip].

Well, thats dissappointing.

To be honest, I wasnt sure what I was expecting but that reply was high on my expectations.

Ive lone wolfed and zerged most of the time with this game. I guess I can wait some more for the right oportunity to arise.

[Sonny]

I held out on joining an outfit for a long time, due mostly to the time commitment I thought would be expected and the lack of time I had available for playing the game, but also echoing many of Rahabib's concerns.

I did find after time though that exclusively lone wolfing it is pretty boring. I was constantly getting owned by full enemy squads and outfits. So, I recently joined the biggest NC outfit on the server and I find PS 2 is more fun. There's little strategic brilliance going on from the leaders but at least the platoons are full and all generally head to the same base at the same time, and you are never hellishly outnumbered to the point where you want to rage quit from the fight. And that's all I want from my 30 minute - 1 hour play sessions.

Also, nobody really knows me in the outfit, so no one cares if I want to go lone wolf instead. So I guess my point is, even as a lone wolf with no time, I now thing it's better to be part of an out/zergfit than nothing at all. There's no time commitment and no one cares about you, but you're playing platoon-level PS 2, so it's still more fun regardless. But there you go, just my opinion :).