PS2 needs dynamic XP gain.

[Electrofreak]

I know this is a lot to read, but please lend me a moment of your time and hear me out on this one.

PS1 vets will remember that in the first PlanetSide, when you captured a base, you gained XP that varied based upon how much combat took place within the SOI (Sphere Of Influence) surrounding the base while you were present during the battle. Long, protracted battles would reward those who stayed and fought hard (provided they were on the winning side) by providing a much higher XP reward than a shorter battle. Back-hacking didn't really provide much XP at all since there was little to no combat involved, and neither did showing up at the last moment as the base was captured.

Player kills worked a similar way. You got extra XP for killing a player who had been alive longer and had been making more kills. So when you snuffed out that guy who made mincemeat of 6 other guys in the tower you were defending, you got a good chunk of XP for your effort. PS2 sort-of does this for kill streaks, but it's still not quite the same. This system made spawn camping far less profitable than it is in PS2, as you only got a couple XP for killing someone who spawned a few moments ago. Kill whores will always spawn camp to pad their K/D ratios, but with dynamic XP gain at least they won't be pulling in ridiculous amounts of XP while they do it.

In PS1, the dynamic XP system didn't always exist... if I remember correctly, it was implemented after people started exploiting the static XP system by having a couple guys from opposing factions pick an empty base on the corner of a map somewhere and flip it back and forth for the static XP gain. PS2 had the same problem during beta, and the solution was basically to remove XP rewards for recapturing a base, and to provide XP bonuses made to kills when defending. Unfortunately, this is largely transparent and is one of the main reasons why defending is so unappealing to many.

I'd really like to see PS2 employ dynamic XP gain, only using the hexes instead of the SOI the PS1 bases used. There seems little reason to stay and fight in a protracted battle when you can just hop in a Reaver and fly over whatever base or outpost on the map is about to get capped for an easy chunk of XP in a matter of moments. And, for the record, there are some ways PS2 handles XP better than PS1 did, with kill assist XP and XP for destroying vehicles even if the occupant has bailed out of it, but without dynamic XP gain, it ultimately just rewards rushing the base that's about to be captured and farming Sunderers and spawn rooms.

Think about it; one of the main reasons we play is to gain XP, which gives us the certifications which we use to unlock new weapons and abilities. XP is the carrot being dangled in front of the playerbase, so if we fix the way it's handed out in a matter that better rewards strategic gameplay instead of farming spawns or just zerging towards whatever is about to be captured, we should see PS2 develop some greater depth in gameplay. It's not the answer to all of PS2's issues, but I believe it's a step in the right direction.

I've been wondering if dynamic XP isn't in the game simply because it hasn't been given the development time yet, or if it's a server computing load issue.

Truly, I hope it's the former rather than the latter.

EDIT - After some good discussion in this thread and some feedback from SOE dev (and former respected community member) Malorn, I've decided that I don't think we need to make EVERY aspect of PS2's XP system dynamic.

Here's my current proposed list of changes:

• Leave anything class-based static (heal/revive/repair/resupply bonuses). This helps to simplify XP balancing.

• Leave infantry kill payout at 100 XP (no dynamic), just include an XP penalty curve that ramps up to full XP payout within a certain number of seconds after spawning so spawn camping isn't profitable.

• Include dynamic XP to attackers for base captures, rewarding XP based upon the intensity of the battle in the area.

• Make defense bonus XP more visible to defenders by showing them that they're getting more XP for defending, encouraging them to stick around.

I think this is all we need to do, and I don't think it would be terribly hard to balance as none of it benefits any class over another, isn't crazy complicated (people will figure out that killing new spawns doesn't pay well), and dangles the carrot in front of attackers and defenders alike to promote epic battles.

After all, epic battles is really what PlanetSide is all about.

EDIT 2 - Victory! One of the main features in the upcoming January 30th patch is dynamic XP! Here's what Higby says is coming for us:

Originally Posted by Higby, post: 985680, member: 36

Experience (XP) system enhancements:

• Dynamic XP system for player kills, players who have more kills XP earned on their current life are worth more XP. Freshly spawned players will be worth a fraction of the current kill reward.
• Partial damage XP for dealing damage to vehicles that you don't end up killing
• Population XP / Resource bonus moved over to continent population instead of global
• Better display of XP sources for things like defensive bonuses & population bonuses
• Rebalancing of XP rewards to help support tasks

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/i...02-info.77203/

No dynamic base XP yet but it's a great start! I'm impressed that they went fully dynamic with kill XP as well as support XP, as it was the more difficult path in terms of development time and balancing than staying static. I really appreciate the effort!