Yay, this is (slowly) becoming an enjoyable experience

[Babyfark McGeez]

I played again since a week or so, and i am mostly appreciating the changes that have been made. It finally feels like they're getting somewhere with this game. I noticed many good changes (some of which are admittedly long overdue) and the outlook on things to come actually makes me look forward.
There are still some basic issues that are hampering the potential (imo) and some problems with the new things.
So let's have a brief look at the new stuff first:

The Lattice

Being a fan of defending bases i really like this change. Finally i know where to go when i want a defensive fight. And the enemy will actually come that way! And there will (most of the time) be allies around too!!
Unfortunately for some reason SOE decided to link ALL outposts and facilities which sometimes results in a rather bizarre and complicated network.
I mean it's like PS1 - if all the towers would have been included in the lattice.

That naturally results in a fairly narrow path, with some odd connections where the next "unlocked" base on the lattice lane is further away than a locked one on another lane.
In PS1, despite having a lattice, you only had a handful of bases per continent, which ment that the "lanes" were much less narrow and strict.

I think it would help a lot if the outposts would be somehow excluded from the lattice, or being less strictly on a "lane". It would offer more tactical freedom while keeping the benefits of focused battles.

Misc

- FINALLY i can switch loadouts with keys only - Good stuff! Why it had to be done with F-Keys involved, i dunno. Makes it less handy than it could be. But i take what i can get.

- Combining the map with the respawn is looking good. No complaints here, functional and less obscure than the previous mess.

- (New) Winning conditions: Bad. Just bad. Took me ages to figure out how continents are "won" these days and i don't like it one bit. You never know when your lock is in danger, you defend one territory and still lose the lock without being able to do something about it, bleh.
Lack of information and contribution feels wasted due to winning conditions being based on arbitrary %-number. This needs a change.


The main problem i still have with this game is another one though, and to a certain degree it still is the dealbreaker for me: The low TTK that turns this into an instagib fragfest. It just doesn't work well with the tactical nature of Planetside and makes it feel like a silly deathmatch lobby shooter.

I may have more thoughts, but gotta roll now. Will check back later.
Tl;dr: This is going into the right direction game-mechanics wise and would make me play more if it would'nt still have such an "instagib" gameplay.