Why you don’t need to worry about PS2

[DviddLeff]

Reading these forums worries me, as the most vocal people seem to be saying that almost anything that changes PS1 is going to ruin the game, especially any changes that make it feel more like a standard FPS. In particular people are worried about:

• class system
• offline levelling
• specialisation trees
• loss of sanctuaries
• jetpacks
• lower time to kill overall
• instant, one button knife kills
• squad spawning
• sprint
• Head shots

I will address all these points in this post but first let me say this:
Every one of these changes and additions seems to have been implemented to make the game appeal to more people, thereby giving the game a larger audience which will in turn mean more money, more post release development and therefore a longer lifespan for the game.

First let me address the class system. People see the new class system as taking away one of the fundamental aspects of the game, stopping us from customising our load outs to allow us to be as effective as we were. This was a bad thing. Why? Take my outdoor load out which I have used in PS since 2003 and with it I was a medic, engineer, rifleman and AV soldier as well as a commander with various powerful tools at my disposal. That’s five roles, each one effective, each one a totally different aspect to the game. Now with the new class system I will be able to choose one of those (well, I imagine rifleman as well) each time I spawn or use an equipment terminal. This is a good thing as it encourages you to focus on a role and excel at it, in the process making it much easier for friendlies to identify who is the medic, who is the AV guy, etc. No longer will one man be able to do many things at any one time.

Offline levelling I initially thought was a terrible, terrible idea. However having experience constantly trickling in allows you to stop worrying about how to earn it most effectively. This means that there is little need to follow the zerg to the massive base fights and then milk the fight for experience, little need to whore kills in towers on a continent where you have low population. It also rewards those people who don’t get much experience because they are setting up defences (which may not be needed as the battle lines change) or those who protect uncontested base hacks just in case the enemy show up.

Specialisation in different roles I was again worried about, however again my fears have been somewhat allayed by the developers. This system allows you to customise your gear to suit the situation or your play style, tweaking the equipment in this way may give you a 20% accuracy enhancement, but as a trade-off other factors will be harmed such as damage or bullet velocity according to the devs. You see this system working very effectively in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 where the various unlockable specialisations are balanced against each other very well.

The loss of sanctuaries I complained about back when Smedley first mentioned it but now I see it as a good thing. Why? It speeds up getting into combat, and makes it a lot easier for new players to find a fight quickly. Sanctuary for most is an extra loading screen and wasted time when they just want to get into a fight and play. Yes it is very useful for raids to assemble in but with unconquerable bases on every continent there will be plenty of space to do this.

Jetpacks are something I suggested in my upgrade project as they will give players a whole new role to play in the game; that of fast assault. Jetpacks if done right will give the player more mobility in the new games more vertical environment, allowing them to use their speed to attack their more heavily armoured and probably armed opponents from unexpected angles. These troops must rely on this speed and surprise to survive as if they get into a drawn out face to face fight their low armour rating will mean they go down quick. Plus it gets the Tribes community an alternative if Tribes Universe sucks.

Lower time to kill is something I have been asking for since the Rexo buff. The Rexo buff near crippled low damage per shot weapons such as the pistols and MA rifles; they simply needed more shots to kill Rexo at any range. This meant that HA weapons had a much greater advantage at close range, still being able to kill in a little over a second yet the MA rifles needed 2-3 seconds of sustained fire to kill, which then left you with a near empty clip so the next guy you ran into took you down, while HA weapons could kill 2-3 people with a single clip and still have ammo left over. One thing that I simply do not understand is people who complain that lower TTK will remove tactics from the game; it will massively add to it as no longer will players be able to simply have the best weapon for the range and rely on it alone to get them kills. Skill and tactics will be the most important factor, skill because quick aiming becomes paramount and tactics as once you flank the enemy it will be easy to destroy them, not simply have them turn around and take you down anyway as they have HA and you don't.

The knife in Planetside was near useless for anyone but an infiltrator with melee booster. Knives should be a powerful weapon, but only if you are foolish enough to let the enemy get close enough. As long as we do not get the Modern Warfare warping attack from 20 feet away, and instead get the knife from Battlefield it will be fine. Lower TTK will also mean it is much harder for the enemy to get close to you to use the knife anyway. Also bear in mind that PS2 will have much bigger and less claustrophobic environments than even Battlefield, making it much less likely that you will get as close to the enemy before combat engages.

Squad spawning is something that will make the game much better for a lot of people who simply want to join up with their squad out in the field. It has been stated that it won’t work indoors, and people are saying that you will arrive via drop pod; so it’s just the same as jumping in the HART in the existing game.

I cannot believe people are complaining about sprinting… just because it is in a game you don’t like does not mean it does not belong in PS2; it allows you to cross open ground quickly to avoid enemy fire which is especially important with lower time to kill.

Many people are near enough wetting themselves with rage over the addition of head shots. People seem to have a few common concerns with the system:

1. Aimbots will ruin the game
2. Some kid will shoot 6 people in a row
3. A hundred people shooting at you at once someones bound to get a head shot
4. Any rapid fire, area of effect or shotgun will get a headshot instantly

To address these one at a time:

1. Aimbots will ruin the game. Just like COF hackers and speed hackers do now? No they don't, as a credit card is required to play the game. Even if the game does have a free to play element just get people to put down credit card details when they sign up; then just ban them and the card if they are caught hacking. Oh and not to mention PS2 will have a dedicated anti cheat system and active GMs come release at least.
2. Some kid will shoot 6 people in a row. So you are complaining about skill being a factor... wait what? Almost every FPS game of the past 15 years has had head shots, if you haven't learn to aim by now you never will.
3. A hundred people shooting at you at once someones bound to get a head shot. In that situation you made a poor tactical choice to stand in front of the entire enemy army; you will die whether there are head shots or not. In most fights you will have 3 or 4 people aiming at you at most unless you are the only target they can see, its up to you to take cover. If you get caught in a cross fire you have been flanked and deserve to die.
4. Any rapid fire, area of effect or shotgun will be more likely to get a head shot. Rapid fire means low damage, and no one has said its one hit kill on the head. Area of effect can be checked for once per explosion, if the heads hit then more damage, but again no need for one hit kill for all weapons. Shotguns individual pellets wont do much damage either, so again unlikely to kill.

Overall these changes should work well together, and if they do not we have beta to hopefully adjust things, and remember we don’t want a simple Planetside clone that effectively dies within a couple of years, we want a game that will still be going strong 8 years on.