The Life and Death of Planetside 2

[Canaris]

Okay so I’m not going to sugar coat this, I don’t like how Planetside 2 developed into an awful gun and arena shooter game with no depth. Some of the only true similarities between the original and this is the names and factions. The gameplay style was pushed away from being a true combined arms global conflict MMOFPS to an instant gratification Cod/BF rip off with a Planetside theme.
With the removal/leaving of some of the senior staff of PS2 development team, whom I believe were responsible for the bad direction of the game I’ve decided to lay out what I think is wrong with PS2 and maybe how we can tackle some of the problems and fix the game in the short term and maybe bring back some players so the game can be COMPLETED in the long term.
I don’t really imagine this will have any effect on PS2 but at least I can say I tried.

So first off let’s start with something small (on a continental scale) but has a huge impact on the game overall, Facilities:
So this is where I would begin to tackle the problem of PS2.

What should a facility be? In simple terms;
• Should benefit the owner with a slight buff
• Should be a defensible structure
• Should be an infantry fighting zone

So currently the facilities (Biolab, Techplant & AMP station) in PS2 are want for a better word CRAP and have been from the start. They’re small cramped, badly designed and most of the time you can just spam vehicle and air weapons into them making them not very dynamic and honestly the exact same as every other outpost in game.
What a true PS2 facility should be is one of the biggest infantry only fighting zones in the game. How do you achieve this in a game where vehicle and air spam is the true bane of a good old fashion shooter, you simply take them out of the equation. (Calm down fly girls and petrol heads hear me out first, with redesigning the main facility and potentially removing some of the outposts from the game it would give more room for vehicle fights out in the open while)
So step 1 – All planetside facilities should be gutted and turned into icebergs (Say what Canaris?) What I mean is the part you see on the outside is only the tip. The true base is inside and far bigger than what is on the surface. The philosophy of the design here should be vehicles and aircraft can get you to the door but if you want that base you need to go in there and root out the defenders like weeds. “First we crack the shell then we crack the nuts inside!”
Oh and biggest of all, NO MORE BEING ABLE TO BRING VEHCILES INSIDE BUILDINGS, the bs I’ve seen with MBT tanks up in biolab domes or up on top platforms in techplants, heck I don’t want to see even a flash’s in there anymore. Vehicles that get inside should just go b00m, nuff said.





Biolab: These need to be made with a larger floor area, thankfully them being on stilts makes it easier to achieve. They also need to be made multi-storey internally between 2 and 3 levels inside the dome.
Capture points moved to the various levels
Access to the biolabs dome also needs to be made down to the ground level via a new ramp and wall systems (Some biolabs already have the surrounding walls) Some of these ramps will be enclosed and some will be open air.
The vehicle spawn area in the centre needs to be moved and redesigned so as not to be a place to spawn and play peekaboo through the shields. (see above vehicle in bases)
This next one I think is pretty big the removal of as many jump pads and gravity lifts as possible,
(In general I think the vast majority of jump pads and gravity lifts need to be removed, these damn things are a cheap way of not having to build proper structures in game and with a code as buggy as PS2 with all the latency issues that people suffer causes all sorts of server stupidity but that’s another topic really.)
Remove satellite teleporters from the outlying outposts and into the courtyard area of the facility that can be captured by *HACKING THE TELEPORTER TERMINAL*. (Yes putting in more minigames for various classes, I know shock horror)
The teleporter rooms need to be moved to less centralised areas inside the main dome structure away from the capture points.
The biolab exterior pads would be made slightly smaller and a couple more added on the various levels. (Some levels may be only accessible by shield doors that the defenders can use, I got another class concept for this later but let’s just say LA special ability….)

The Techplant –
Gut the inside and again make it into a 4 or 5 level structure (You know use some of that wasted inside space that its full/empty of) with stair wells instead of all the open internal platforms.
Keep the capture point at the heart of the facility but make the level only accessible from the inside.
Turn the landing struts into stair wells for the ground floor, main buildings and roof access and add new platforms on top.
Add proper catwalks around the outside mid-levels of the base with shield doors at the corner struts (yes the hackable kind).
Facility generator will be housed in a new purpose built building perhaps still in the current double stack location.
Increase the floor size of the gun deck and revamp the entire thing into a roof bunker instead of an open air platform. AA guns only on the roof. AV weapons should be moved to landing strut platforms. The bunker is still accessible by infantry attacking from the roof.


The AMP station.
Gut the internal of the station(You seeing the pattern here?) to make 2 or 3 levels above the ground in all that wasted space.
Add new ramps and sky bridges connecting the main facilities catwalk to the outer walls and taller building in the compound.
Add infantry cover points around the new open ground upper fighting zone
Relocate the central vehicle spawn to somewhere else that actually makes sense.
Add maybe 1 or 2 underground levels to the facility that if possible are as big as the entire floor plan of the AMP station (as in the walls of the facility, so the main building and courtyard in size)
Relocate the spawn room, main generator and capture point/s to different areas underground.
Add 1 or 2 new stairwell “back door” shield door entrances on the North and/or South of the base for access to the underground.

All main facility buildings will receive 2 or 3 new equipment terminals, positioned in key areas of the main building.
New shield doors in Planetside 2 facilities would act similar to the regular doors did in Planetside 1.
They are hackable by Infiltrators that can remain hacked for 60 seconds (full hack skill) before reverting to the base owner.
Light Assaults will gain access to a new special ability. P.S.D. – Personal shield diffuser. As the marauder class they can pass through shields. The skill would work similarly to how other classes’ specialities work (heavy assault shield). Short timer but long cool down when fully discharged but can be turned on and off.
Not sure what you all think, you might think I’m mad but I feel it could be a huge benefit to the game without having to completely revamp entire continents again. That the smaller dev team should focus on this part of the game and be able achieve it within a reasonable time frame.
I still think, as I’ve said many times that if the development team is struggling to keep up with the demands of higher management for results that aren’t feasible, then you should utilize that huge resource that is your player base.
Watching Devin Lafontaine Work in Progress videos on map creation and alteration using the terrain editor, I believe that should release that to the player studio and I’m 100% sure you would find some of the designs that the players create will make PS2 a more desirable game to the masses.

If anyone is interested I can post up my ideas on rebalances for ground vehicles, aircraft, classes, continental lattice and much more.