The potential problem with the cert system

[Red Beard]

Originally Posted by SKYeXile

are we sure these certs have a downside to them? i understand each gun is like a sidegrade...i dont understand why mods or certs slotted would need to be a sidegrade?

I don't think things like vehicle cert upgrades are actually sidegrades at all; devs have talked about power increasing is fine as long as it's accessed through gameplay (which I agree with). I think in this case they just arbitrarily pick the maximum alowable % increase in power, speed whatever, and then divide that range by how many certs they want it to take to max out.

Of course I'm not speaking to the standard side graded equipment like gun configurations and stuff.

[IMMentat]

There's unlocks
Items bought vis station-cash and auraxium, go into this category,
they can probably be equiped without any training


There's certs
these improve the effectiveness of specific items abilities or attachments.
Some certs probably open access to common pool attachments to allow further customisation of that item (separate to the bought items? probably depends on the attachment/mod)

Any given weapon can only have 1-2 unlocks attached at any given time (sight and utility item?)

The sacrifice will be in choosing what you want to improve first (it take time to earn certs)
and what attachments you choose to equip.

[Lonehunter]

Haven't read many replies....

But I'm pretty sure Higby said each one of those boxes has a unique addition. Specifically he said it was a shame the guy's cursor wasn't hovering over the box to bring up the tooltip. I'm not sure what cert tree he was referring to...

But the main point I took away was those boxes aren't a scale of power for 1 perk. Those are a collection of perks.

Updated:

Originally Posted by Higby

Hard to tell whats going on in there without tool tips, each of those segments unlocks different stuff typically...

Source

[Shade Millith]

Originally Posted by SKYeXile

are we sure these certs have a downside to them? i understand each gun is like a sidegrade...i dont understand why mods or certs slotted would need to be a sidegrade?

Because it goes against the idea of Planetside, and what the devs have been saying. That a vet and newbie stand on equal footing.

If it's not a sidegrade, then it's a direct power boost, putting the vet on a higher rung than the newbie.

This is supposed to be a FPS first.

[Pepsi]

I'm fairly certain these certs are pure upgrades, as I can't see every single cert having a downside (so accuracy would just be +5 with no negatives). The "choice" like another poster has said is picking which cert to spec since you only have three slots IIRC.

I don't really agree with this system and wish it could be straight side-grades, but this is an MMO. I'd say the devs are trying to counteract this by having low TTK's, so that a newbie who is just starting has a decent chance at killing the vet even without any certs.

I am a bit worried how this works out for air combat, however. Aircraft battles always tend to be a bit more polarizing, with even slight advantages giving the better pilot dominance 100% of the time. Not even considering how the balance is going to be with 3 radically different aircraft, but now vets get straight upgrades to their craft to better maneuver or be faster than the newbies.

[Satexios]

From what I've seen you have to put in 5 points (Or 15 points) to have the cert unlock and then you can use 1 per weapon.

So if you unlock the entire tree of a weapon you can still only use 1 cert. Just look at the equipment footage from e3. I think next to the camo option you have the cert option, you pick one from there and your weapon gets + whatever stat you unlocked in the cert tree.

This way it is still a side-grade and you don't get uber powerful, as some people rather shoot faster others prefer to do damage and another wants accuracy.

I think that is how the system works.