Newbie comments/questions

[jordanz]

I just started playing PS over the past few days. Thoughts/questions:

* It's very beautiful and vast. I get a great feeling of immersion.

* The offline training was helpful.

* I think I like this game. I'm not yet sure if it's worth $12.99 a month. It will be interesting to see how it evolves.

* I die too quickly! There's so much going on that it's very hard to get oriented. Sony should have an offline training scenario that simulates a large battle. It's simply too hard to get acclimated. As time goes on, it will get worse. Current players will get super-experienced and new players won't stand a chance.

* Why is there a 10 minute wait between HARTs?

* I find that I spend a lot of time in PS just waiting around. It's like 5 minutes of waiting and then an intense rush for a 20 second battle and then 5 minutes of waiting again.

* I find that most of the time I'm running around doing nothing in this game. I'm walking forever to get to a fight. Instant Action doesn't necessarily put me in the action.

* It should be much easier to meet up with your squad. I just got invited to be in a sqaud and it was very difficult meeting up with them.

* The inventory window needs tooltips. I don't recognize the icons of the weapons.

* The auto-turrets and mines are a pain! Many times, a spawn-point is littered with them and it's impossible to move.

* I'm coming to PlanetSide as a Battlefield 1942 addict. I think PS could take a page or two from BF1942. The balance of power is better (of course, you don't gain XP in BF1942).

[NightWalker XI]

Current players are good because they got used to how the game works, you will too

How can't you not recognise the weapon icons? they are so distinct...

Meeting up with squads is easy, the leader uses a squad waypoint and there ya go, but maybe he/she wasn't CR1

Don't run to battle, get Galaxy or a vehicle cert for transport..

If you move while crouched turrets won't fire at you

HART has 10 minutes waiting time because the HART ship has to go into orbit, launch the pods come back and be ready again, it takes that long for all that to happen

Battles last 20 seconds? I usually run around for five minutes then get into a one hour long battle, thats all I see, I never seen short fights and these big fights are what make the game great

[Prowler]

Battles usually last mroe then 20 sec.

[jordanz]

HART has 10 minutes waiting time because the HART ship has to go into orbit, launch the pods come back and be ready again, it takes that long for all that to happen

What I meant was why did they design it this way. I can understand why there is a wait to respawn, but what does it matter to the game dynamics whether HARTs are 10 minutes apart or 1 minute apart? It seems silly to have 20 players sitting around Yelling "Negative" at each other for 10 minutes.

[jordanz]

I understand that battles only last 20 seconds because I'm a newbie. How long did it take you guys to not die fast? What battle level did you have to get to? I just got to 4.

[Nitsch]

Originally posted by jordanz
I just started playing PS over the past few days. Thoughts/questions:

* I die too quickly! There's so much going on that it's very hard to get oriented. Sony should have an offline training scenario that simulates a large battle. It's simply too hard to get acclimated. As time goes on, it will get worse. Current players will get super-experienced and new players won't stand a chance.

Happens to everyone... soon you will kill more than you get killed (hopefully)

* Why is there a 10 minute wait between HARTs?

It used to be 15 minutes. Otherwise there would be no need for other means of transport, there would be no stratagy in cutting off reinforcements... all people would have to do is recall to sanctuary and drop in behind enemy lines.

* I find that I spend a lot of time in PS just waiting around. It's like 5 minutes of waiting and then an intense rush for a 20 second battle and then 5 minutes of waiting again.

People have the mistaken idea that you have to stay in the base even though there are no enemies... actually you only get exp on a cap if there are foes in the SOI. So, if there is a huge zerg there and they took out all the badguys... head to the next base and strike up a fight.

* I find that most of the time I'm running around doing nothing in this game. I'm walking forever to get to a fight. Instant Action doesn't necessarily put me in the action.

Instant action is a joke most the time, they say they are working to improve it (we have heard that before). Get some sort of vehicle and look on the map where there are tons of hotspots (you will learn to pick out the actual fighting vs people just shooting the walls after a while)

* It should be much easier to meet up with your squad. I just got invited to be in a sqaud and it was very difficult meeting up with them.

Look on your map (m button), you will see the squad members number. Put a way point where they are and head that way. In the middle of each sanctuary villa (clusters of buildings near warpgates) is a teleport tube that takes you to different villas. Jump in that to port you around the sanctuary.

* The inventory window needs tooltips. I don't recognize the icons of the weapons.

After a while you will easly tell the difference (hardest one that still gets me is picking up standard ammo instead of shotgun).

* The auto-turrets and mines are a pain! Many times, a spawn-point is littered with them and it's impossible to move.

I shouldn't tell you this (I am a combat engineer), but crouch when you see a spitfire turret... they wont shoot you. If you see prox mines... throw jammer grenades to blow them up (always have at least 1 jammer grenade on you at all times). Jammer grenades also disable spitfires for a short amount of time.

[Madcow]

You make a lot of good points. In regards to how quickly you die I'll just tell you there are certain situations where that is all but inevitable. That's one of the reasons you can get back into the action so easily. Even with a large number of people playing, however, the learning curve still isn't too steep. It won't be long before you realize and recognize certain battle situations and your best odds for surviving each one.
Meeting up with squad mates will come easier as well. Often squads are all waiting in sanctuary and it's a piece of cake, but the map is an invaluable resource which is well worth the time it takes to become familiar with it. Obviously some sort of vehicle certification can help to get you places faster, and you're obviously familiar with the HART which can get you right to your people in a hurry. The 10 minutes is harsh though, I agree. I'm not sure about their reasoning on it.
It also shouldn't be too long before your 20 seconds of fun seems like a distant memory. I played 2 nights ago and a group of us were on a continent that was pretty much under both Vanu and NC control, and the two of them were fighting each other like mad. Some TR had pretty well littered the place with AMS's for the rest of us, and I had about 2 straight hours of absolutely intense combat against both of the opposing armies. It's not that hard to find those places, but I highly suggest getting your familiarity level up before embracing that.
As for a name for each gun when you highlight it, I'm all over that idea. I never seem to know what I'm nabbing from enemy sacks, I just grab anything that isn't normally available to me.

[NightWalker XI]

My HART reason was good

But yeah, like sumone said, if HART was able to be used all the time reinforcements would arrive too fast and continental locks would be pointless

[jordanz]

Makes sense about the HART - especially the going into orbit part - PS is a bit too immersive for some

I'll keep plugging away. Thanks for the suggestions. If you see me (TR Randgalt), say hello or pop a cap in my head...

[Airlift]

Questions first:

Why is there a 10 minute wait between HARTs?

To balance the number of people who use the HART against the number of people who get into vehicles and use the warp gates to travel.

Ok, so that was just one question. Now some suggestions to improve your survival rate and hopefully change the ratio of time that you spend waiting to time that you spend fighting.

Sony should have an offline training scenario that simulates a large battle. It's simply too hard to get acclimated. As time goes on, it will get worse. Current players will get super-experienced and new players won't stand a chance.

This is not feasible for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, the game has no AI! So the closest they could get to a big battle simulator is a bunch of dummies standing around. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to add all that code just for a trainer. Second, even if they did, it wouldn't likely be a very good simulation for the real thing. One of the notable things about the game is how dynamic a battle is. There are an infinite number of scenarios that will happen during the course of your pside career. Unfortunately (or fortunately, really) there is no possible simulator that can prepare you for what 150 real people will do in the heat of the moment.

I find that I spend a lot of time in PS just waiting around. It's like 5 minutes of waiting and then an intense rush for a 20 second battle and then 5 minutes of waiting again.

My first best solution to you is a two-parter: 1. Always take cover. If you are an infantryman, there are a lot (and I mean a shit-ton) of things that can and will kill you, but the terrain is your friend. It won't protect you from a laggy Magrider, but trees and rocks will always turn the tide in a gunfight. 2. Keep your head on a swivel. Always look behind you, and soon you will notice the people who don't. These are the low hanging fruit. Take a hike the long way around and kill them from behind.

* It should be much easier to meet up with your squad. I just got invited to be in a sqaud and it was very difficult meeting up with them.

Did you know that everyone in your squad is numbered on both the minimap and the overhead map that you can access with the M key? (I think it is the M Key). It doesn't make up for a squad leader that doesn't keep his forces together, but it will help you have a good idea of where you are in relation to your group.

* The auto-turrets and mines are a pain! Many times, a spawn-point is littered with them and it's impossible to move.

When a turret shoots at you, stop moving and take a knee immediately. It will generally lose where you are, and you can crouch-walk away (or to a better place to deal with the turret). There are some damn genious combat engineers out there, mining landing pas, vehicle terms, doors, bridges, and sticking turrets in some very uncomfortable spots. It is difficult to deal with them some times, but always watch where you step, and again, keep your head on a swivel. Get very used to taking a knee in this game. Not only will it dramatically improve your accuracy, but it will keep turrets, and other infantry-sensing equipment from locating you.

[Airlift]

Another suggestion I have for you is to make some room in your inventory for med kits, and use them whenever your health falls to around 75. Two reasons to use them up quick, 1. stay alive. 2. don't let the guy who kills you loot them.

If you stack 3 med kits with 2 nano cartridges, you have room for 5 boxes of ammo in Agile. This is plenty, and it brings me to one last suggestion: Engineering is worth it. Don't mess with the equipment repair rifle, just get the armor repair pistol, and a REK in the other slot. You don't need a pistol anyway, use your rifle to kill. I use my med kits during the heat of combat and I break out the repair tool whenever I duck behind cover or the battle clears.

Reinforced is also worth it unless you spend all your time in aircraft or driving a tank. It gives you some very good weapon options and more survivability. A lot of certs are worth their points. It is a tough call. It's a shame it takes so long to change your role around.

[jordanz]

Great tips - thanks.

In the last day or so I've found that the really fast machine gun (I forget the name) is very effective. Also, zooming in to shoot helps. I'm getting better, but still dying a lot

[Arakiel]

The easiest way not to die, IMHO, is to stay in groups. This applies to both a squad as well as just other soldiers you see indoors or on the field. Killing in this game is largely a matter of numbers.

As far as certs, give Medium Assault and Special Assault a shot. They're both quite effective, quite easy to use, but teach you important concepts (CoF, when to reload, etc) about the game.

Oh, and carry plasma grenades. Never underestimate the lowly plasma grenade.

[mikkyT]

shouldn't tell you this (I am a combat engineer), but crouch when you see a spitfire turret... they wont shoot you.

Or you could just hold shift...