weapon mods

[Furret]

As long as the attachments are all common pool, it'd be fine.
I do agree with having to cert to get them. Perhaps an extra 2 certs to get attachment rights for a weapon group (heavy, medium, special, sniper, AV)
so if you want a decked out JH, you need to invest 8 certs.

[PsychoXR-20]

Originally Posted by Furret

I do agree with having to cert to get them. Perhaps an extra 2 certs to get attachment rights for a weapon group (heavy, medium, special, sniper, AV)
so if you want a decked out JH, you need to invest 8 certs.

As soon as you do this you give an advantage to players who have been playing longer, which goes against one of the core philosophy of PlanetSide.

If you do mods similar to the way I suggested, then yes, they could be certs, and should be. If they enhanced weapons (which I am very much against) they need to be given out with basic assault so that every player from BR1 can use them.

[DviddLeff]

Access to them is tricky, as I say in my post a merit system would work well as a reward, but only if there are initially a few mods available anyway (such as a scope or such).

You could have them accessible via both merits and/or certs. Buy them if you want or just wait and earn them. his is actually how I have them in the upgrade project, although mainly due to oversight and forgetting to change the cert overhaul page. This way is best perhaps.

[CutterJohn]

No merits that give you more power or more options. Thats the whole point of BEP. If merits add new equipment and options, then you essentially have two widely disparate forms of leveling, and day 1 newbs are no longer the equal of vets with equipment.

These should be accessed via certs. Either as a part of the cert the weapon comes in, a separate cert, or a synergy cert(SA + MA gets you the underslung gl, for instance).

[Robert089]

Anything to make medium assault more useful, having a grenade launcher strapped onto my cycler might actually make it able to compete.

I'm all for this, there should be no decrease to the weapons performance though, just the extra cert costs.

[Hamma]

I like all of the OP's ideas except for the Grenade Launcher.

I don't think something like that fits in this game, it becomes shoot shoot shoot then you get in close range and nade them to death while you take minimal damage.

Laser's would be kind of pointless in PlanetSide I think.

Most of these are fairly cosmetic and don't allow for a huge bonus. I really think that weapon mods that significantly change the operations of a weapon are a bad idea in PS.

[BlazingSun]

As long as they don't increase the damage or RoF of weapons, there should be hardly any problems with balance. I want upgrades!

PS.: I love silenced weapons!

[Tikuto]

Because of reasons that I cannot be bothered expressing right now. I disagree completely with weapon mods.

It's more interesting to press [RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON] on you super sci-fi Gauss Rifle for it to do something else;
or press [X] to change ammunition.

All this customization stuff is going to distract from battle. People idling when you really need their help! Not good at all.


DENIED.

[Warborn]

Customization is always cool. Underslung grenade launchers aren't such a big deal because grenades aren't instant-kill in Planetside, and if people are given compelling options beyond grenade launchers then people will not all gravitate toward using them all the time.

Personally, I think this is a good idea, and the best part is it'd make the punisher totally unnecessary.

All this customization stuff is going to distract from battle. People idling when you really need their help! Not good at all.

This doesn't make sense anymore than saying certifications and levels and implants "distract from battle". They add depth to battle and let people fight more closely to how they'd like to fight. There's nothing wrong with that, and weapon mods have been very popular additions to a number of big-name FPS games recently. Frankly SOE would be a bit silly not to attempt to add this sort of stuff to PSNext.

[Galapogos]

I think it would be a little distracting if it was on the fly modification like in crysis, but like warborn said if you cert the mods and they instantly attached to the weapon that you certed them for, I don't see this absorbing a player's attention any longer than figuring out what their regular certs will be. Also, in hindsight I do remember how much people endlessly spammed grenades down stairs (myself included at some point), so the grenade launchers may be a bad idea, it's just they look so fucking cool. Maybe underbarrel grapple launchers instead (im sure thats a whole new topic)?

[Rbstr]

I like the idea of fairly limited customization options that make a bit more significant impact on the guns. Something like "specialization" certs.

You like to use MA? Take the advanced training: Grab a 1 point "specialization" cert in MA. It gives you access to two specialized versions of the rifle.
Lets say you're NC: (with fluff text!)
The Gauss Carbine - Forgoing the long barrel and magnetic focusing that enables long range combat (ex, the bullets diverge rather quickly even with small Cof or damage degradation is higher) has allowed designers to include a larger magazine and mount a powerful MAG-Scatter tube beneath the barrel. A Dot sight has been added to help with short range fire control.
That is you've now got a fairly hurtful shotgun you can unleash on the unsuspecting and a larger ammo pool for crazy indoors shootouts but you loose long range capability. You also get to have a better non-zoom aiming view, instead of the iron sights/gun taking up a bunch of room.

The Gauss Marksman - Limiting the weapon to burst fire removed the need for a large fuel cell system and has allowed the addition of a second stage of capacitors and magnetic coils with active stabilization technology, increasing the rapid fire accuracy significantly and increasing the muzzle velocity. A small scope has been added to take advantage of the improvement. Active stabilization is, unfortunately, thwarted by rapid movement.
Poof, you've got more at-range accuracy but run and gun situations you're worse off because of the burst fire. You also get a token 4x scope.

So now you have a gun that suits your play style better, or gives you a bit more versatility without having to pick up the sniper or HA certs (though it wouldn't be effective as doing those).
The normal Gauss wouldn't really ever be much worse than either of them but it'd be more versatile. Though it would only have iron sights.

There need not be two variations of the weapon.
One very cool thing is that objective of the variants wouldn't need to be the same empire to empire, they could be vastly different in implementation. Which makes looting one a more unique prospect.
LOL wat, this pulsar shoots shotgun beams. ect.

Mods are also no-hassle, you just put the gun you want in the favorites or grab like a normal gun from the terminal.

[Traak]

I'm thinking with about 20 cert points, have one that is a rotating Swiss Army Knife of delicious mayhem: shotgun, grenade launcher, MCG, Lasher, Boomerang chucker (would bring back enemy women) and laughing gas dispenser.

This would bring a rotating cornucopia of death to whoever had the uber-leetness to have cert points to get it. It would sound like: "Boom! SwooshBoom, ratatatatatatat, lashlashlashlash, whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop 'Oh thank you brave soldier from rescuing me from those boorish NC', 'bloop/hiss/hahahahaha' You could recognize the sound signature anywhere. Plus another 10 cert points for the ridiculous ammo pack needed, plus the "bitch catching glove" that would have to be massive to catch the women who you boomeranged back, think of a baseball glove 5 feet wide. If you don't drop the rotary oober-cannon and catch the chicks on the way back, they continue to boomerang past and back to your enemy, and, well, "hell hath no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned" so she would get Revenge for Spurnage Stamina and be able to leap over everyone to wreak her vengeance upon you.

It would rock, all for only 30 cert points. No extra armor, or any certs whatsoever, would be left after purchasing this combo, and it would drain stamina like mad just walking with it dragging on the ground, leaving a ditch dug wherever you traipsed. But once you were ensconced at the top of a stair or tunnel, hoo hah! It would all be worth it! WORTH IT, I TELL YOU!

[Hamma]