New Patch

[Arthell]

I know there hasnt been much talk about the new patch yet since nobody has had much of a chance to play it, but im concerned about one of the main changes. Armor.

We all knew there were going to be a ton of MAXs, mainly AI MAXs, running around after the wipe, but when the patch notes said you would need AV weapons to kill things such as MAXs, Tanks, etc. they werent kidding.

I joined a squad and hooked up with another squad to start taking bases. NC werent present on the continent, TR had 2/3 of the bases while we had 1/3. By the end of an hour we only had two bases left.

The very first TR attack was composed of a group of infantry and AI MAX who hot-dropped over the base. The infantry died almost immediatly, but the MAX made it to the CC room, killing a number of infantry on the way up. We finally killed him after 2 infantry and 1 of our AI MAXs pounded on him for awhile.

A few minutes later infantry and MAXs started showing up again. Infantry were were taken down on both sides, but the MAXs would never die. They would only die if they met another MAX, and since they were all AI it would take atleast 3 clips to kill the other.

Fed up by not even being able to dent a MAX, I, including half of my squad, ditched our most costly cert and grabbed a MAX suit. Only then did we actually start to fight back. I ran straight into a group of TR to see how much punishment a VS MAX could take before it went down. I didnt die until 3 infantry, 1 AI MAX, a sunderer, and a wall turret were all shooting at me. The real kicker is that just before i charged in 2 infantry were attacking me. They both emptied a clip (i just stood there) and in the end i had taken 49 armor points of damage. I killed them in seconds.

Our 1st base fell and i spawned at our second base. There were already enemy MAXs fighting inside. I knew we could fight off the guys at our base, but i also knew we would be swarmed by TR MAXs in minutes, so our two squads just recalled to the sanctuary.


This is my first experience since the patch. Im going to see what its like more tomorrow, but my first reaction is that infatry fighting grunts are obsolete. I know PS is suppose to be about teamwork, but with this patch it just looks more like an EQ with guns. You cant kill armor X if you have gun Y, only gun Z can kill armor X. If you meet someone you dont have the weapon for, run or die.

Edit : Posting here rather than the beta boards as i want to get other players views on how they think the armor issue is.

[simba]

oh man that suxx!!!!!!! :mad: :scared: :tear:

[Knuckles]

From the build notes:

Best absorption (deflection)
============================
AMS
Magrider
Prowler
Vanguard
Sunderer

Medium absorption (deflection)
==============================
Deliverer
Galaxy
Lightning

Lightest absorption (deflection)
================================
ANT
Enforcer
Marauder
MAX
Reaver
Thresher

No absorption (deflection)
==========================
Basilisk
Harasser
Mosquito
Wraith


If You think MAX:s are tough - just wait til the tanks start rolling in. :scared:

[Led]

I love it how they made the gauss rifle into a really crappy cycler with less accuracy and a smaller magazine. NC were getting rode over on oshur tonight. Without a way to take out their chaingunners and cycler users at range, we stood no chance in close quarters. Unless we swarmed and gangbanged them, and stole their weapons.

I was considering trying out vanu, but hell, we ARE the vanu now! :p

[Hamma]

Its all psychological, i doubt they would gimp it that bad. Being TR and getting leveled in seconds by a gauss, I would argue otherwise :lol:

[Delirare]

its because things arent even yet. once people get a few levels you'll see people who have the AV cert. AV weapons easily tear maxes up :)

[Joker]

The first post is very negative, but IMO it sounds like a good thing that MAXes are more resistant to small arms fire. Surely this will greater encourage the use of anti-vehicle infantry weapons and AV MAXes within squads.

Now, instead of only needing a couple of AI MAXes and maybe a coupla guys with AV weapons for use against vehicles, squads and outfits will need to include elements that are proficient in destroying enemy MAXes. This furthers the whole idea of Rock/Paper/Scissors.

Example: If you attack (or defend) a base with infantry only, you can expect to get taken out by enemy AI MAXes and enemy vehicles without much trouble. In order to combat this, you will need to outfit more of your soldiers with AV weapons, you will want some Main Battle Tanks or maybe some Reavers, and you will need some guys in AV MAX suits. Of course, your opposition will need to counter this in turn, with their own anti-vehicle and anti-air elements.

Hopefully soon we will see sqauds composed of many different types of troops, using specialised firepower and vehicles in intelligent ways to take out the opposition. As Delirare suggested, once people have built up more certs, battlefield tactics should really start to take off.

[Agent]

Ya know, when I first got a chance to test Planet-Side I thought it would make sense if MAXs were more of a vehicle than a person. I was supprised how a few infantry could really hurt you as a MAX. I haven't played it yet but to me it seems to make more sense, since MAXs were really supposed to be vehicles.

This also relates to my question, what is better as an anti-MAX if you are in a MAX? Would you use AI MAX on another MAX or would you use AV MAX on another MAX?

[Camping Carl]

I pretty much guessed this would happen, and that the devs would swing things too far the other way. This is a bit more than I was expecting tho.

And arthell, was anybody using AV weapons against the max suits?

[Navaron]

Max's are about right now. Before, I would try and jump them, and land a couple of nades on them, but now I just crouch and slip past through the trees - or I grab a AV weapon offa dead guy. I like it.

[Seer]

I'm with Navaron. I like being afraid and vulnerable.

[Sindustry]

It's the only way to go!

[Hellsfire123]

Im just curious how u stayed connected long enough to see an enemy. Since the patch i cant stay connected for longer then 3-4 minutes.

[Diego]

I personally love the fact that MAX's are really hard to kill. This means you need a good Outfit or group to be in, to last long at all. I went solo for a while (When I was in BETA) and then decided to quit. MAX's are fine how they are, I agree with Navaron...

I worked hard to get over the whole 'Woah this game owns!' phase so I know what to do one I get the retail. I'm over that stage so I think I'm done playing for now.

I do have one question, when exactly is the whipe taking place? I thought it was Midnight between Wednesday & Thursday, was it? And to clearify some things, the whipe is just starting the character off at squre one, or deleting it as a whole and requiring you to remake a character???

[Fire_Monkey]

Well, sounds like they need to tone the MAX down a little bit. It's not really supposed to be a vehicle, but half vehicle/half infantry. kinda thing. If you look at the walls of a vangaurd, they are a lot thicker than the armor of a max. If it's slightly toned down, I believe that this will be ok, because as joker said, this will encourage more specialized units in a squad.

[�io]

The thing i'd like to see is a slight decrease on the assault cost.

MAX or Tank cert = 3 pts

AV, Special or Heavy assault = 5 or 6

=/

[Matuse]

It isn't just a matter of a MAX not being able to carry the same amount of armor as a tank, they also are highly unlikely to be made of the same stuff.

Tank armor can be WAY stronger by volumne than MAX armor can, because it has so much more engine power to be able to move with it.

If it takes 2 people, another MAX, and a wall turret to bring down a MAX with any speed, that really sounds too strong.

[Arthell]

Hellsfire123, i loaded the game with Mediaum graphics and my computer crashed the second i went into the VR training (twice) until i was able to look at the ground and change my graphics to low. :p After that i crashed twice in the battlefield.

Like i said, i know MAXs are suppose to be like tanks and i completely agree with that, but not being able to kill a MAX with a squad of infantry IMO is downright bad. I dont like games like EQ and DAoC very much because they force you to do things for certain situations. I dont want to be forced into buying an AV cert, and if i dont i will die everytime a MAX gets near me. Before the patch i was able to kill a TR AI MAX with a couple clips (20ish hits) from the Lasher, but now its just a waste of ammo.

Another part is that getting kills in a MAX is extremely easy. An AI MAX still has a much better chance of killing someone that has AV weapons since a MAX can take a beating if my escapade told me anything. A MAX cert only costs 2-3 points while an AV cert costs 5, and the MAX still has the advantage. You need multiple people with AV weapons to effectively take them down, so why would people waste more certs when they could just go MAX?

http://www.angelfire.com/crazy/pics_1/index3

Seeing this come up in the kill window was normal. Through the whole two hours we fought i didnt once see that guy die, yet i seen his kill messages all the time. Actually, it was rare to see normal kill messages (grunt ones). As you can see from the chat, i was getting pretty PO'd right about now. Our squad had changed to MAXs (hence the 'need an engi' part) but we were at our last base. I didnt stay to see the end, like alot of people, but i would bet a pretty penny TR locked down that continent.

[Vash]

I dunno Led, I didnt notice too much of a difference at range. It seems I did miss a few more shots than I would've normally, but it's kinda hard to tell when shooting through all those weird little trees.

Close combat did seem even harder with it though... like they went overboard with crosshair bloom on the move. Going full auto with the gauss now makes it barely more effective than the jackhammer. Gotta be careful with burst-fire now :scared:

[Arthell]

Note that this is just my guestimating since i cant keep track of the numbers, but this is what i gathered after a couple hours of standing around dumbfounded as people butchered me. :D

Flechete Shotgun does 20-30 damage with AP at point-blank range.

The Cycler does about 10-15 damage per second with AP.

The Striker and/or the Decimator do 200 damage. Im not sure what one it was, but in all cases i still had enough time to kill the infantry shooting at me 3 times over before they got 3 rockets off and had to reload/drop the weapon. End case is you have to have 2-3 AV people per MAX.

Knives do nothing. (old news)

Pistols do nothing. (I think I had to be hit 3 times before taking a point of damage)

There were also a couple assault rifles that didnt do damage to me until they hit multiple times, although im not sure what they were.

And so far in-game about 70% of infantry are MAXs from what i could see. The only other infantry were infiltration, a couple engineers and some grunts.

[1024]

Wait, first of all, most important question:

HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET INTO THE SERVER???

[Dharkbayne]

This is BEFORE The megapatch, sry, kinda big

http://www.dodstudios.net/uploads/uploads/PSScreenShotfixedkewl.jpg

[Venoxile]

that is fucked up, no one fucking quote that, too massive of a pic, christ. Geezus that was like 10 guys in a row, what did they all have, suppressors??

[FliggenMan]

Look, to me it just sounds like yer not sticking with yer squad, because most AV weapons and Special assault weapons can take MAX units pretty well, especially the decimator.
MAX units are great indoors, because nobody can flank them or confuse them, it's just whoever has the most firepower wins. The decimator I've heard is ideal for dealing with them. It'd also be very funny if you weren't using AP rounds, which i hope u are.
Outdoors, it's tougher though, but still very possible.



:rolleyes:

[stahl]

I think part of it also is that a lot of the n00bs that just got in today don't switch to AP ammo for MAXs. I could certainly notice the different between standard and AP when taking on a MAX, although not as much as before the mega patch.