[igster]

PS2 Mechanics are excellent generally. And the graphics are amazing. But the gameplay really does need to be there. F2P will fail if it offers no gameplay hook to keep people coming back. F2P will be a 3 month Blast with a game and then move on to other things because it is boring and there is no depth to the gameplay.

The biggest hindrance to the meta game is not in my opinion the lattice... it is more the map. It's very difficult to ascertain the status of any base my looking what is on the map..

Take a look at the map...What do you know? influence. nme population. That is all. It is so clunky. Resources.. they are just numbers... meh... really can't get excited about seeing numbers..

Quick Scan of the map.. are any bases under threat.... ER.. NO IDEA TBH.. THERE ARE NME THERE BUT I KNOW NOTHING ELSE ABOUT THE BASE OVER THERE
Is there any friendlies there defending it? NO IDEA.
What is the progress if the cap? NOT A SCOOBY DOO CLUE.
How long ago was it taken? DONT KNOW AND BY NOW I DONT CARE
Is anyone reacting to it? NOT A CLUE - I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO IS ON THE SERVER ANYMORE
I cant see this stuff so i don't care. It flips.. we just go flip it back. Zerg Zerg. Rubbish meta game.

Reminds me of the saying
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
"If a base is assaulted in PS2 and noone is around to see it, would it have been a great fight?"
There are so many gameplay opportunities being missed right now and great fights that just don't happen because noone has the information to react and make the great fights. Organised squads take a base and no-one really responds because the opposition just don't know about the moves being made. A well oiled squad go and take a big base and no-one cares because the decent opposition are busy zerging away on the other side of the map or on the other continent.
The only intelligence information you ever get on the map is if there is a dirty great big tank zerg and it shows up on your map.

PS1 on the other hand.
We had the Tools to detect the plays of the opposition : The MAP.
Hawkeye CR5s and vets spotting a base being capped.
Spotting a generator going down
Spotting a tower being flipped
Spotting a base being drained
Spotting a block of blue/red on tactical radar.

Right.. they are moving in on base X..
Who is there? Oh it's UMVS/DT/Wawawawhatagreatbigscrote/phychophonics lot/TrX/Outcasters/Azure Twilight/BRTD..
Is anyone responding.
Lets respond..... Let the games begin.... organise a response.
We need this .. we need that.. get an AMS... get a gal.. get a tank.. pull this do that....organise.
Gal drop to flip a base..
Gal drop to secure a base last minute

I cannot say it enough.. this was the gold dust of Planetside 1.
We had teams who specialised in Special operations and resecuring and would hate to zerg.
Resecuring a base with 1 second left on the cap.
Gal dropping a base and stopping a massive zerg in it's tracks.
Flipping a base.
Prepping a base for a heroic capture against the odds without being spotted.

This was the meta game at it's finest.
All death match games lose their novelty... planetside had terrible mechanics but this meta game kept them playing and coming back for a long time.

The Twitch shooter crowd will lap it up once they actually see what effect it has on how they play together and understand it.. Marry this depth with twitch fps mechanic and you will be playing for years and years... This is what the veterans are crying out for.

Oh and make the bases able to be defended by squad sized teams. Kush has it right. The bases are actually Death Match maps where you can be attacked from any angle at any time.

Back to basics. Even as simple as being able to list the approaches makes teamwork possible. There are too many approaches to each of the objectives in the bases. Back Door, VBay, Air Term, Maindoor, CC resulted in a small squad being able to put up an effective defence against the odds.
A small squad could lock down a base so that they could call out incomings and react while keeping a strong defence. Great teamwork could result. Therefore you had to step up and work well to beat the defence.

I don't even know how to describe all the approaches to strategic objectives in this game. Most of them end up being outdoors with multiple ways to attack them resulting in a squad having little or no chance of being able to defend other than to overwhelm the opposition with superior numbers.