Meta game problems and proposals

[Twido]

I would like to spark some discussion about the upcoming meta game and some of the problems it might have. My understanding is that the meta game will be some method of continent locking allowing the domination of more territory.

Before Planetside 2, I got my MMO PvP fix from Guild wars 2. When I played, this game had effectively four continents with three opposing servers and no way of continent locking. Soon after launch it became apparent that the winners were the servers with the biggest off peak player base. It was not uncommon to find all the progress made during the day was completely wiped away every night and they would have an insurmountable lead in the score. This caused much angst on the forums and by the time I left that game, it had not been resolved.

This could potentially be a problem for Planetside 2 once continents can be locked, and it is not a problem that is easy to fix. I play on Miller and I don’t see one faction dominating all the continents overnight but it could well be a problem on other servers. Furthermore, when we have a good reason to dominate the continents, this could be more of an issue. One shouldn’t underestimate the dedication of some players to win; in guild wars 2 people played every night against no real opposition capturing all the maps and then camping at their “warp gate”.

In the end, the player led solution was to try and bring guilds from different time zones onto your sever so that you would have a presence at night. I guess if enough people did this then things would even out, but it relies on people willing to play on servers that are further away. Of course, many people did not see it as a problem, but more of a feature; war is war and one should do whatever it takes to win. Unsurprisingly this is the view of people who have a larger night time population.

I have to admit that I would find it very frustrating if when we are pushed back to our final warp gate each night regardless of how well we play during the day. A suggested solution was to limit score (or maybe in the case of PS2 continent capping) to prime time hours. However I believe this will ruin the game outside of prime time and therefor a direction best avoided.

So how do you see this playing out, will it be an issue, does it even matter and what could be the solution? I have played on both east coast and European servers and not noticed a performance difference. So could it be an answer to have non location specific servers?

My other proposal for the meta game is counter intuitive and perhaps unnecessary but hear me out! Currently in Planetside 2, if your faction does well and captures continents then it gets some kind of bonus as a reward. This makes it easier to then capture the next continent and so on. If your faction was losing because it has a lower population (or was underpowered) then it just gets harder and harder to compete and so in theory you fall further and further behind. This isn’t so important with only three continents and a fairly worthless bonus, but these things will hopefully change in time.
I propose that as one faction dominates the continents then the other factions get the bonuses. This means that if one faction is under populated and gets pushed back, then it becomes easier for them to push out again. Now obviously there needs to be more of an incentive to capture the continents, I just don’t think it should be bonus related. For example we could have a worldwide (or server wide) leader board showing faction statistics, who is winning the war and giving us all the chance to wave our E-peen around.

Personally I would like to see a random piece of propaganda on the character selection screen based on the performance of the factions. This could be quite sophisticated with a little bit of effort. What I really want is a reason to fight that isn’t bonus related, a few paragraphs of humorous propaganda would be enough for me and very easy to implement. What is your opinion of this?

Sorry for writing so much, TLDR: go back to school!

[Redshift]

It's a fluidic thing, back in PS1 sometimes you'd log on and find some bored barney had turned everything purple, but it didn't really matter as it'd quickly be turned back once everyone else woke up. The conts never stayed the same for too long and you only really cared what happened to them while you were online anyway.

[Riekopo]

Yes it would be nice for the world to feel at war and persistent.

[Twido]

Originally Posted by Redshift

It's a fluidic thing, back in PS1 sometimes you'd log on and find some bored barney had turned everything purple, but it didn't really matter as it'd quickly be turned back once everyone else woke up. The conts never stayed the same for too long and you only really cared what happened to them while you were online anyway.

Would it not ber better if after you achieved something you knew it would last for a while and have some kind of meaning?

On another note, I am seeing more talk on the official forums accusing players of capping continents in the middle of the night. http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/i...nt-lock.96663/
When continent locking is implimented I can see this becoming a very big issue. If you have any ideas about how to deal with it or if you think it even needs to be delt with then I would love to hear it!

[Sturmhardt]

I don't see it as such a big issue. It's not ideal, but I pretty much only care about the state of territory when I log on for a few hours. Then I fight and maybe win or loose some. When I log off I stop caring about the territory until I log on again. Let the unemployed bored guys do their thing at night, every faction has some of those

.sent via phone.

[Redshift]

Originally Posted by Twido

Would it not ber better if after you achieved something you knew it would last for a while and have some kind of meaning?

When continent locking is implimented I can see this becoming a very big issue. If you have any ideas about how to deal with it or if you think it even needs to be delt with then I would love to hear it!

Firstly no, because forcing a place out of bounds for a while stagnates gameplay.

Secondly when they say continental locking if it's anything like PS1 what it means you can't hotdrop onto the continent and have to use the warpgate.

This means it's not really worth going straight back to the same place as you'll be camped in the warpgate, meanwhile the attackers are flying through the warpgate and hacking the link connecting to the other warpgate thus removing that option too.

Of course this requires a few more continents and a half decent lattice.

[Twido]

Originally Posted by Sturmhardt

I don't see it as such a big issue. It's not ideal, but I pretty much only care about the state of territory when I log on for a few hours. Then I fight and maybe win or loose some. When I log off I stop caring about the territory until I log on again. Let the unemployed bored guys do their thing at night, every faction has some of those

.sent via phone.

Wouldn't you get fed up if there were lets say seven continents but you only ever see four or five of them because every night you are pushed back to your last warp gate?
I'm not saying that this will happen, my example was an extreme case. But some sort of effect is certainly possible and perhaps even inevitable.

What I really want is to have my cake and eat it. I want the battles to be meaningful and for us to care about how well our faction is doing, but I want the game to remain dynamic and not become stagnant.