I think the biggest problem I have with Planetside 2 is map design.

[EVILoHOMER]

After like a 12 hour play session today there has been lots of highs and lows, it feels very much like Planetside after the population left. You'll have a massive fight once every few hours but mostly it feels like down time and traveling hoping for your next big fight. Sadly this doesn't happen often enough and I feel like it's down to those small bases in between the big bases. A lot of the time you'll find yourself having to go back and save a point just because there is one person there. These events really spread the population out rather than focusing on the massive base battles we used to have in Planetside like all day and every day back in 2003.

I play TR so I'm not sure what the NC and Vanu are experiencing, however I reckon they're having a vastly different experience as on Indar they only have one front line, where we have two. I'm getting really fed up of seeing the TR being attacked by both NC and Vanu but they by and large leave each other alone. Really this is down to how the map encourages people to just go north and south rather than east and west. We even see this as the TR where all the major paths lead south where you cannot find anything going across.


All I have to say about Esamir is I tried going there once, it was like Silent Hill with all the fog so I have never been back........

Edit: I do have to say the massive TR tank rush earlier was amazing.

[Ritual]

Well Esamir is supposed to be closer to what they want. I think they even hinted that eventually they would like to redesign Indar to bring it closer to Esamir.

The good news is that any new continents we see, are going to have less and less hex regions/outposts. More closer to Esamir then Indar for sure. Or a happy medium.

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by Ritual

Well Esamir is supposed to be closer to what they want. I think they even hinted that eventually they would like to redesign Indar to bring it closer to Esamir.

The good news is that any new continents we see, are going to have less and less hex regions/outposts. More closer to Esamir then Indar for sure. Or a happy medium.

I'd prefer closer to the Indar side of things myself...

Esamir would be much better for an "edge Continent", with the North Eastern and South Western Warpgates leading back to a Faction's Sanctuary or Home Continent while the North Western one links to "central Continent" like Indar.

See figure five in this diagram I drew for another thread:


That said, we do need something other then "large homogeneous desert" in orange or blue...

[EVILoHOMER]

Until they get rid of the fog on Esamir I will not be going there because it just makes it unplayable. The game needs a weather system for that stuff like Planetside when you had those amazing sandstorms.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps58102f11.jpg


If they get the NC and Vanu to attack each other by having major roads that go east and west rather than all north towards the TR then the island will be acceptable. That and fog on Esamir are small fixes, I'm sure they have have tools like what you get in Cry Engine 2/3 where you can just do that in 2 mins.


We still don't have any urban warfare though, it's something we all wanted in Planetside, Core Combat wasn't the answer but the zip lines were fun. I was expecting some ruined cities or something but no nothing......

I'm hoping Amerish will be a more traditional Planetside type map... I'm hoping it'll just be Amerish lol. However at some point I really would like Urban warfare, just as long as they get rid of FF for it lol.

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by EVILoHOMER

If they get the NC and Vanu to attack each other by having major roads that go east and west rather than all north towards the TR then the island will be acceptable. That and fog on Esamir are small fixes, I'm sure they have have tools like what you get in Cry Engine 2/3 where you can just do that in 2 mins.

Originally Posted by EVILoHOMER

I'm hoping Amerish will be a more traditional Planetside type map... I'm hoping it'll just be Amerish lol. However at some point I really would like Urban warfare, just as long as they get rid of FF for it lol.

Well again, look at figure five on my diagram here, specifically the bottom square:


It's Esamir!
Esamir's unbalanced layout works for an "Edge Continent", an island where two Factions have direct Warpgate access while the third Gate leads to another, equally contestable map.

Indar, being relatively balanced (slight advantage to the North, but minimal) to be battled over from three sides, would make a perfect "Central Continent," but only if Continents Three and Four were laid out like Esamir and we got Sanctuaries as well...

Originally Posted by EVILoHOMER

We still don't have any urban warfare though, it's something we all wanted in Planetside, Core Combat wasn't the answer but the zip lines were fun. I was expecting some ruined cities or something but no nothing......

Indeed, I don't really see how Humanity could survive on Auraxis without any substantial housing...

Esamir and Northern Indar get a pass for being deserts, but still!

[Tatwi]

I have played Esimir for several hours with the fog turned off (which makes it have the same over all feel as Indar, only it actually *looks* cold. Quite the compliment coming from a Canadian, eh) and I prefer the overall design of Indar better, including the plethora of bases. In fact, I think there are some places on Indar that need another base and hex, such as the areas SW and NW of Quartz Ridge (one on the hill and another in the desert).

My only problem with Indar is that capture points at out outposts can be flipped by just one person. This makes them annoying as fuck, as we can all agree. Capturing these points should require a group of three people standing there. Not only does that stop a single player from annoying everyone else, it also makes flipping the points harder when under fire. And it doesn't really take anything away from folks who play 100% alone, because they can still hack all the terminals in the empty outposts and spawn camp anyone who happens to spawn there.

Esimir is nice for what it is, a more vehicle focused island, but I would not like for all maps to be the same as it.

[Mox]

As told numerous times before:
We need a lattice system
We need action adjusted xp gain for base captures
We need to get rid of foodholds and a return of sancs

[FortySe7en]

Originally Posted by Mox

As told numerous times before:
We need a lattice system
We need action adjusted xp gain for base captures
We need to get rid of foodholds and a return of sancs

No, we don't need a lattice system. The hex system works just fine. Most of the people in the recent 12v12 (or was it?) match were talking a long time about the hex system, and how it feels absolutely no different to us than a lattice system. Its just moving one point to another.

You need to wait until they implement lock out timers. Then, and only then will it force big fights and people to move forward.

Action adjusted XP does nothing. An infantry guy holding a point is going to get less XP than a medic running around and healing everyone in the fight, yet, both their jobs were just as important. There is no way to balance it, and its not a good idea at all.

I believe you meant footholds. Footholds, towers, same thing. They just need less of them, not get rid of them. And anyone who played planetside 1 for more than 30 minutes knows that a sanctuary is just same place for outfits to fight with themselves over where to go next while taking 2 hours to load up a galaxy. They don't need it. With the recent changes to experience and how you gain resources, warpgates work perfectly fine.

[fvdham]

Originally Posted by FortySe7en

You need to wait until they implement lock out timers. Then, and only then will it force big fights and people to move forward.

PlanetSide 1 did not need lock out timers.
Its ridiculous PlanetSide 2 would need it.

[Marinealver]

Originally Posted by fvdham

PlanetSide 1 did not need lock out timers.
Its ridiculous PlanetSide 2 would need it.

But Planetside 2 is ridiculous.

The world design the contenants and the bases are a fail.

[Timealude]

Originally Posted by FortySe7en

believe you meant footholds. Footholds, towers, same thing. They just need less of them, not get rid of them. And anyone who played planetside 1 for more than 30 minutes knows that a sanctuary is just same place for outfits to fight with themselves over where to go next while taking 2 hours to load up a galaxy. They don't need it. With the recent changes to experience and how you gain resources, warpgates work perfectly fine.

I know they are planning on doing the home continent thing, which will make for some interesting intercontinental warfare. That might solve alot of the people saying we need sancs back.

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by Timealude

I know they are planning on doing the home continent thing, which will make for some interesting intercontinental warfare. That might solve alot of the people saying we need sancs back.

Personally I don't think so, see figure one above.

We're probably going to end up with people camping their Warpgates, killing anyone stupid enough to come through.

[Timealude]

Originally Posted by Whiteagle

Personally I don't think so, see figure one above.

We're probably going to end up with people camping their Warpgates, killing anyone stupid enough to come through.

I think it would be harder to camp a warpgate once we are able to drive vehicles to the next continent. Imagine trying to camp a warpgate when an armor column come through. they could also make the warp gates go to certain continents like in ps1 before broadcast warp gates were around to help direct the fight on a global scale.

[Captain1nsaneo]

I'm currently thinking about choke points. Movement around the map in general is very difficult and time consuming unless you are airborne. The map really is split into 4 sections and it doesn't feel like something internally consistent. However, I wouldn't recommend massive changes until we get to see how it plays when there are only 2 factions on the cont due to intercontinental lattices coming into affect.

[Frotang]

I like the fog, its rather enjoyable killing red triangles with a phalanx turret lol