Reality check -- playing PS1 for the past three days

[Rivenshield]

It's been a blast, and can only get better throughout July. Old friends, old names, recollections of epic struggles with new ones to fight. And it forced a number of game design issues upon me afresh -- ones we've been arguing about in exhaustive detail for months. It made me see them clearly through fresh experience, rather than through the looking-glass of nostalgia....

1) Fuck BFR's. Fuck them in the ear. I'd forgotten how badly I hate them. They have mobility, overwhelming firepower, and are impossibly freaking hard to kill. Ditto on the Galaxy gunship. Nothing that just sits there and farms you while you repeatedly throw everything you have at it should be in a first person shooter. They're game breakers.

2) It is exasperatingly difficult to get gunners, even when you broadcast hey, Raider loading up at the front door, hop in and ride in style... and then spam WE NEED A GUNNER! at the line of foot zergers streaming past you and out the front gate. I still think single-manned armor is an iffy idea, but..... I understand it much better now, and I am much more willing to give it the college try than I was a week ago.

3) The new system of forgiving grief will be a blessing -- particularly those of us who can't do twitchy-combat for beans and largely rely on grenade launchers and Pounder MAXes. It's hard to shoot around or above people when they are strafing back and forth in front of you like a congo line on a caffeine high.

4) Whatever resource system they come up with needs to be simple and comprehensible, because I can't understand what mods give you access to which base features *now,* and I was there when they introduced most of it. It's a tangled mess that grew almost organically over the several years I played, and seems to have gotten more complex after I left.

5) The time to kill with handheld weapons against other infantry in PS1 seems to be just right. I can't imagine it being worse, what with the vast new territory we have to cover and the gigantic bases we'll have to fight in. 'Spawn, run for a full minute, AHH I'M BEING SHOT AT DODGE SHOOT BLARGH respawn' being replaced by 'spawn, run for TWO minutes, DIE INSTANTLY' is not much of an improvement no matter how nice the graphics are.

6) The TTK for most ground vehicles is far too long. I remember the Decimator before it got nerfed, and it was a good anti-armor weapon. Now it's an armor-annoyance weapon that I haven't scored a single kill with in three days. We need something we can carry around and definitively thump enemy vehicles with, as it was of old. Even some kind of dedicated anti-tank mine would be nice -- something that goes off like a squib if a soldier or light vehicle runs over it, but blows half of the health off a Vanguard.

7) I still get completely disoriented and run around for fruitless frustrating minutes trying to find things like the vehicle pad or the gen room. These new big giant bases better have a user-friendly map you can bring up in your HUD, with everything clearly labeled.

8) I'd forgotten how much fun being a cloaker was. It put a great big grin on my face. And I found myself thinking, yes, I would LOVE to pack a sniper rifle and cloak while I position myself. Not being able to take the thing out while I'm cloaked would be fine with me. I imagined it from my own POV -- a bunch of goddam Vanu cloakers running around with ray-gun sniper rifles, say -- and how I would feel about that... and figured, hey. As long as I can see them while they're SHOOTING at me, that's gravy. It adds spice and zest and more sneaky challenges to the thing. I predict there are going to be whole mass duels between the new sniper class and their wholly-cloaked counterparts that are out there trying to kill them, and they will be delightfully nerve-wracking.

9) Despite my grousing about their foot-zerging habits, my beloved TR is much as I remember it. They demonstrably lay more mines, pull more AMS's, do more ANT runs, and fix/heal/help each other more than our enemies do. If we can preserve that Psychotic Combat Engineer corporate culture when we transition to PS2, I'll be well content.

Anyone else been playing, rediscovering old loves and ancient frustrations, and pondered what they portend for PS2? And of our hopes and fears for it?

[AThreatToYou]

Uh, #1... BFRs were nerfed into oblivion. They are worthless now. Their only use is that they have regenerating shielding.

[Razicator]

Decis are OP as hell against a MAX unit. Making them more powerfu would destroy maxes completely, not that they're already useless except for the AA one.

[Effective]

Originally Posted by Razicator

Decis are OP as hell against a MAX unit. Making them more powerfu would destroy maxes completely, not that they're already useless except for the AA one.

I disagree, the decimator is hardly OP against maxs unless you're playing defensively, and even then it's still meh.

Every max in the game has a faster ttk vs. rexo, then a decimator vs. a max.

Originally Posted by DerFurst

TR with their MCGs get a definite advantage over VS and NC who actually have to consider where they're shooting.

The MCG is a jack of all trades weapon and the only area it has an advantage vs the other 2 HA is in medium-long range fights.

[RedKnights]

1) Yea one competent soldier can take down a BFR regardless of how well it's piloted, they're more than balanced now. Same goes for the GG, it's a huge target, very easy to pick off.

2) I hear you, I immediately understood why they did it.

6) Do not shoot the Decimator at vehicles, use the lancer/Stryker

But I agree, it's super nice to see some of those massive battles again!

[AThreatToYou]

I'm fairly certain in PlanetSide 1, the damages of everything versus everything can be hard-coded to where a decimator's damage won't change vs a MAX unit even if they buff its damage versus all vehicles. And MAXs are hardly underpowered, but decis don't need to do more damage to them, that is for sure.

That kind of direct-balance tweaking might be necessary for PlanetSide 2.

[BuzzCutPsycho]

All it's done is reminded me why I quit so many years ago. Bring on PS2 because the big piece of shit known as PS1 needs to be put down.

Remember it for what it was, not what it is.

[Rivenshield]

Originally Posted by BuzzCutPsycho

All it's done is reminded me why I quit so many years ago.

That's funny. I swore I coulda seen you out there the night before last....

[BuzzCutPsycho]

Originally Posted by Rivenshield

That's funny. I swore I coulda seen you out there the night before last....

Well no shit?

How else would I have been able to play it and therefore be reminded of why I quit had I not actually logged in and played again?

[JHendy]

Originally Posted by BuzzCutPsycho

All it's done is reminded me why I quit so many years ago. Bring on PS2 because the big piece of shit known as PS1 needs to be put down.

Remember it for what it was, not what it is.

Oh fuck off...

[BuzzCutPsycho]

Originally Posted by JHendy

Oh fuck off...

u mad?

[Kurtz]

I was discerning enough to not bother installing.

I feel like you all are attending a big funeral. These are your eulogies. I'm totally guessing but PS1 to be put down when PS2 goes live.

[BuzzCutPsycho]

Originally Posted by Kurtz

I was discerning enough to not bother installing.

I feel like you all are attending a big funeral. These are your eulogies. I'm totally guessing but PS1 to be put down when PS2 goes live.

Yeah... to make matters worse it's a funeral that I simply can't even be assed to bomb!

[RageMasterUK]

Gunner BFRs are fairly balanced these days, but the Flight BFRs are still insanely good. The only reason people think they are bad is because pilots are pretty much all terrible players. I'm only an OK player but I can go 30/1 K/D piloting a Flight BFR (and this includes eating MBTs for breakfast) without breaking a sweat. Bad players never believe me, and yet I've done it more times than I can count.

AGREE ^

I believe you mate I play TR Invader whenever I roll armor, and its by far the most powerful single-man vehicle. You can even pull it without Tech plant!!! My best ratio is 100-0 when I went all out to get my MAX buster Platium award (10 Max kills without respawning). Took about 5 hours. Kills were mostly MAX's on hills and aircraft. I swapped out from my damaged BFR twice.

Alot of people just dont know how to use BFR's effectively. Gotta use your crouch mode to conserve your shields and not jump unless you really really need to (drains shield and turns it off while midair). And have damn good aim and tracking skills. AI make good AA and AV weapon if you can land your hits.

There are some good infantry out there who solo me sometimes with the jammer deci combo, but very very rarely and only when they get the drop on me. If I am aware of them closing the distance they have no chance; between me jumping away, or firing my jammed AI chainguns at half rate at them, it still kills them.

Someone mentioned about the bullets penetrating the shields, alot of players don't even fire their medium assault when they see a BFR. They should do, Its a major major drag for me when my AI chaingun gets half-ROF or 10% projectile range, it sends me right back for repairs. You can damage a system if you're lucky with a single shot from a bolt-driver. HSR works good too.

Last night I killed 2 Galaxy Gunships using AI Chainguns (and did the majority damage on them too - not just the kill-blow). My favourite thing to do is to jump at them and try and collide with them, its massive damage, it messes with the Gunner's aiming and a GG never expects anyone to get super aggressive against it! Vehicles also take massive damage when you sprint at them and start kicking them, while shooting them. This also knocks their vehicle about; gives the gunner a hard time aiming when their vehicle is rocking side to side, and on occasion you can kick them into water (yay!) or into some trees where they cant maneuver. On the odd occasion I've gotten some vehicles to flip over entirely, and kicking fury's or basilisks about is like playing footbalL!!!! Its so funny. Even managed to turn a few friendly vehicles over when the drivers dropped off the cliff on esamir once.

I mostly play right next to the other frontline TR forces so I can retreat easy, and I soak up ALOT OF FIRE onto my shields from enemies. Even when I'm not actually getting kills, I can GUARANTEE you that if you see my INVADER on the front line, its me who's dishing out the most damage and absorbing the most fire (for one soldier). If Planetside tracked kill assists I would have a rediculous amount of those, since I often just try and put damage on everyhing enemy that I see. More than 75% of the targets I fire at escape me with low health especially vehicles. I dont mind shooting at things even if Im unlikely to get the kill..... FOR THE EMPIRE!!!!

For defence you can sit next to the veh repair/rearm terminal and hotswap out your weapons instantly based on target. You dont even have to reload. Reavers square up to you and your AI chainguns turn into AA weapons instantly and the sky starts burning around them. You can jump to get a better line on escaping air and vehicluar targets too. Its sublime

You can jump ontop of bases and get a firing line through doors no other vehicles can reach. Perch ontop of trees while recharging your shields. Instantly climb mountains. Has a pretty impressive top speed. Its just a massive power trip!!!! I can see why some Planetsiders hated the BFRs. They couldnt beat em, and they wouldn't join them!

If every TR had Invader we would never need Oshur or another Techplant ever again. I haD dreams of a 30 man Invader platoon, but never managed to find that many Invader buddies

-RageMasterUK

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Rivenshield

2) It is exasperatingly difficult to get gunners

Raider

Think I found your problem..

5) The time to kill with handheld weapons against other infantry in PS1 seems to be just right. I can't imagine it being worse, what with the vast new territory we have to cover and the gigantic bases we'll have to fight in. 'Spawn, run for a full minute, AHH I'M BEING SHOT AT DODGE SHOOT BLARGH respawn' being replaced by 'spawn, run for TWO minutes, DIE INSTANTLY' is not much of an improvement no matter how nice the graphics are.

6) The TTK for most ground vehicles is far too long. I remember the Decimator before it got nerfed, and it was a good anti-armor weapon. Now it's an armor-annoyance weapon that I haven't scored a single kill with in three days. We need something we can carry around and definitively thump enemy vehicles with, as it was of old. Even some kind of dedicated anti-tank mine would be nice -- something that goes off like a squib if a soldier or light vehicle runs over it, but blows half of the health off a Vanguard.

Its curious you put these together. TTK on vehicles is long for the very reasons you don't want a short ttk on infantry... it takes a long time to get back to the battle. Infantry at least has the option of spawns right nearby, and doesn't have a 5 minute cooldown. If you die in a vehicle, you have to spawn back at another base, run to the pad, grab a vehicle, drive back to the fight. All of which can take several minutes. As you put it, nobody wants to spend several minutes getting to a fight then instantly dying.