Planetside 2 Removing my favorite aspect of PS1

Wakken · 2012-01-22, 06:05 PM

First of all, I hope im not beating the dead horse too much. I know there has been several topics on the matter, but as this is more of a question/feedback thread I thought I'd make a new one for it.

My favorite part of Planetside 1... being able to customize your character how you wanted, and play it as you wanted. Aka no "classes".

I loved playing as a cloaker and putting out a few mines/turrets where me and my outfit thought the invasion would take place. But seeing as Planetside 2 hammer this feature to the ground and adds classes instead, what good will that bring? Will it still be as fun as in Planetside 1? That to me, the cert system, is one of the unique things of planetside, that made it stand out of other shooters.

As I've understood it, they added the "class" system because of possible overpowered combinations. Like... jetpacking up to a hard accessible area and putting down turrets. But would that really be OP? Too me that feels more like tactical advantage. And he still have to trade points to be able to do that combination. He has to spend points to get a jetpack, he has to spend points to get the turrets right?

Or maybe, have a system that adds more like requirements. For example:

A cloaker/any soldier can put down basic mines and turrets, but to get the more heavier and meaty stuff, you have to be a engineer. Or... Maybe a standard soldier can have simple medic equipment. But specialized medic will have much more advanced equipment to heal faster.

I just hate to my favorite feature in planetside to be hammered down in planetside 2. That is the freedom of your character and the freedom of certs. To be able to customize my character to fit my play style. It worked perfectly fine in PS1, why change something that made Ps1 so special and different from other shooters. Feels like Planetside 2 is like Battlefield 3/CoD mix but a much larger scale. Not sure if I like that...

What good will come from "classes"?

NCLynx · 2012-01-22, 06:19 PM

You can still customize quite a bit. Before the battle ranks allowed you to have so many cert points that you could do w/e you wanted, you essentially chose a role (class) back then as well. Not that huge of a change.

Zhane · 2012-01-22, 06:27 PM

I don't mind things being a little more specialized. Every veteran player being able to do everything and do it well just ended up making things very generic.

Personally I'm looking to fill a support role - not medic, but the driver/scout/supply guy. That'll probably mean engineer so I can place deployables once I've delivered my troops, I'm guessing.

HawkEye · 2012-01-22, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by NCLynx

You can still customize quite a bit. Before the battle ranks allowed you to have so many cert points that you could do w/e you wanted, you essentially chose a role (class) back then as well. Not that huge of a change.

This. Don't understand why people are complaining about what is planned for PS2 when they have not even played it yet.

SKYeXile · 2012-01-22, 06:56 PM

They having classes most likely because things are easier to balance. with each classes having its own pool of weapons and possible armour and certs, its easy to buff of nerf that than to change a single weapon, then have it spiral out of control depending on what armour they were wearing with what implants.

For example can you imagine if a scout in TF2 could use a minigun?...hrm yea.

Figment · 2012-01-22, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by NCLynx

You can still customize quite a bit. Before the battle ranks allowed you to have so many cert points that you could do w/e you wanted, you essentially chose a role (class) back then as well. Not that huge of a change.

More or less, with the nuanciation that within the limitations of a PS1 suit, you were not restricted in defining what exactly this 'class' entails. PS2 defines the classes much more beyond your basic suit as it has already split up these suits (in comparison to PS1) to fit more specific roles. Basically you had five 'classes' in PS1, one of five suit types: standard/infil/agile/rexo/MAX. Within these classes you can fit in the inventory whatever weapons and tools you have access to and you can use inherent traits (for instance, advanced hacking) on each "class" as long as you carried the correct tool. In fact, aside from the MAX, the only limitation on what you could use was your slot, but this didn't prevent you from switching gear from inventory in order to use it. The new system sounds like it does do just that.

So I wouldn't say it's the same thing, in fact, it's a pretty big change.

In PS2, as I understand it now, there may be more suits/classes, but there are more rules to the suits as they exclude the use of certain tools, even if you have the certs and the inventory or holster space on your character.

So there is quite a significant difference: basically your character seems to be becoming more schizofrenic as one moment it can, the next it can't do certain stuff.

Whether that's a good thing depends on the rest of the gameplay context, but it's definitely more like BF/CoD and other generic shooters (and dare I say, RPGs) than it is traditional PlanetSide sandbox.

CuddlyChud · 2012-01-22, 07:00 PM

You are beating a dead horse btw.

Personally, i'm fine with classes. Maybe its because I'm used to FPS's with classes. But I wasn't a huge fan of the cert system. I hated the fact that I had to constantly recert whenever I felt like doing something different. I think the class system is good in that it will let me do different roles during one play session. I guess the class system would suck if you had found the 1 perfect combination of certs that you played 100% of the time in PS1, but otherwise I'm glad for the change.

The cert system was ok for making me look forward to my next BR, and limiting what I could do at once, but a class system could do that as well.

And from a balance perspective I'm sure its much easier to balance items with classes. As a PVP game, balance is probably the most important thing above all else.

Figment · 2012-01-22, 07:03 PM

Ehr... I'm not sure if it is easier to balance say... (random number) 8 classes while people can set their own different shield generation recharge speed vs max shield strength AND each class having access or being limited to different/certain set of weapons, opposed to four set infantry suits and MAXes, with the same weapons. >.>

To me it sounds more complex to manage a balance. Doesn't mean it can't be done, but if it was so easy, you honestly think there'd be whining in WoW about classes?

CuddlyChud · 2012-01-22, 07:05 PM

Well I mean, the Lasher 2.0 might not have been as big a deal if only 1 class could equip it. If everyone went HA class, you'd have no medics/support.

Figment · 2012-01-22, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by CuddlyChud

Well I mean, the Lasher 2.0 might not have been as big a deal if only 1 class could equip it. If everyone went HA class, you'd have no medics/support.

The Lasher 2.0 or any other version wouldn't have been an issue had it been properly field tested before implemented.

For instance, a test focused around indoor combat, rather than ES tanks... *looks at Voidrage*

Wakken · 2012-01-22, 07:12 PM

Thank you Figment for explaining a bit further.

Maybe this is not a huge deal for some of you, but for me it is. I had my best moments in PS1 because of the freedom of your character. Thats the reason I played planetside instead of other shooters. I rarely played in any other suit than the infil suit. Maybe a few times when I drove the AMS.

I placed down mines/turrets as a cloaker, I killed people as a cloaker, I hacked as a cloaker, almost everything I did was as a cloaker. I'd hate PS2 to go too much to the generic side of shooters. Stick with your guns, make PS2 more like PS1 that we love so much.

I'd hate to see my experience being ruined because of details.

Wakken · 2012-01-22, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by CuddlyChud

You are beating a dead horse btw.

Figured as much, but I thought I'd give my feedback anyways

VioletZero · 2012-01-22, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by SKYeXile

They having classes most likely because things are easier to balance. with each classes having its own pool of weapons and possible armour and certs, its easy to buff of nerf that than to change a single weapon, then have it spiral out of control depending on what armour they were wearing with what implants.

For example can you imagine if a scout in TF2 could use a minigun?...hrm yea.

If a scout had a minigun, he'd suck. Because you're slowed to a crawl every time he needed to fire.

Now, a Scout with a mine launcher or an invisibility watch...*shiver*

Figment · 2012-01-22, 07:26 PM

That said, I personally felt BR20 was about as much freedom as one should give a character. The entire concept of BR40 ruined the game in terms of character specialisms. A lot of people had a lot of different characters which you could also see as a "class" on its own:

Some people had characters set up as infils (like me) and apparently Wakken. While others focused on medics, engineering, HA/piloting, etc. They had often created very specific characters to support their outfit in certain roles.

In that respect, having the ability to change class in PS2 replaces the need for alternate characters really as it is more advantageous to develop all skills on the same character (unless of course offline training allows that on multiple characters, in which case you could train multiple things at once, but would have to switch characters till you'd get it trained on your main). Eventually though, as every skill is unlockable, a single character will be a bit like a BR40: changing classes "characters" at will in a very short time span will change the type of player you're up against, which makes planning harder and they'll be able to do a lot of things.

Btw, I'm just not sure whether there were some cert limitations in place still. If so then at least there would still be a need for alternate characters and some limitation in what a player can do over the course of a few deaths and respawns.

Warborn · 2012-01-22, 07:42 PM

You seem to think that classes mean you won't have the capacity to create new memorable moments in this game. I don't see any reason to think that's the case. Maybe you won't be able to drop turrets and mines while invisible anymore, but who's to say the new function infiltrators will have won't be even more enjoyable? In short, I'd not worry about it. It's a new game. Time for new gameplay experiences.