No Auto-Turrets - A paradox harming PvP?

[Garem]

I know anytime someone mentions that PvE should play a role in the game, everyone gets up in arms. I understand that; but it DID play a role in PS1. Turrets are PvE, they're part of the environment.

However, I want to make the case that this PvE aspect (turrets) actually promoted PvP. Here's how.

Turrets made people hesitant to sneak around in a base and try to capture it alone. It was dangerous, even when no players were scouting around their ghost town bases. Impossible? No, even a solo player could take a base if nobody was paying attention, but it made them think twice.

Now, in the lattice system, you always had a good idea where your opponent would attack. I like the grid system better, but here's the problem.

Without SOMETHING to slow down an enemy, the opportunity to attack anywhere without worrying about anything but other players means players must now fill in the role that auto-turrets once held.

Sentry duty.

Who wants to float around empty bases just to keep watch? Nobody. That's very, very boring.

With auto-turrets, attackers are slowed just enough to give defenders some time to respond without having to resort to sentry duty or excessive amounts of "scouting", which also isn't as entertaining as, you know, fighting a war. It also raises the first on-map "flash points" to alert players that fighting had occurred there, that enemies may be present to engage.

Maybe base shields will play that roll- then again, that's just another form of PvE. My point is just that SOME sort of speedbump is necessary to prevent players from following the path of least resistance to gain territory instead of duking it out the bloody old way. It doesn't have to be auto-turrets but surely there must be something. Personally, I like auto-turrets because it takes more tactics to get past them than to just blast away at some shield-bubble with big guns. But that's just my preference.