Lone Wolves Rise Up! - Page 2

Silent Thunder · 2013-03-26, 04:28 AM

Originally Posted by Timealude

This....

The main reason my outfit kicks out randoms is because they will take shots when we are trying to sneak by enemies. Other then that, its just we have times where we have a full squad or two going and so we lock it to preserve seats for our members. Once the seat locking system is put in we will probably run alot more open vehicles.

Worst one for me was I hadn't noticed the guy get in, untill he opened fire on a Scythe swarm about 5 or 6 strong, all armed with G2A pods. Up untill he shot at them they were basically afterburning past me as well. Not only was my Resupply Sundy destroyed, but so were my 4 or 5 squad mates in the tanks that I was supporting. All because one guy ran up and hopped in the turret. Stuff like that is why I default my Sundy to Squad Only/Locked now

Gatekeeper · 2013-03-26, 05:15 AM

I play lone wolf most of the time (though I have a few friends that play less often, who I squad up with when they're on).

I play the game a lot, so my reason for not joining an outfit isn't time restriction, I'm just too impatient and antisocial... it's quicker and easier to bounce between random fights on my own than to wait around for a squad to form, and I don't have to consult with anyone else if I want to change tactics, change objectives or even change continents.

Most of the time I just follow the zerg along, or fight to defend one of our overwhelmed bases. I don't have the patience for infiltrating or special forces sneaking around. I find the game supports my play-style pretty well, overall - although obviously it's harder for me to compete with groups of enemies when I end up on my own, and that does affect my k/d.

I'm not too keen on the recent change to instant action - especially since it now often moves me from Esamir to Indar when I use it, which seems a bit crazy. At least knowing you'll turn up somewhere on your current continent would be nice.

Silent Thunder · 2013-03-26, 05:19 AM

I will agree that IA should keep you on the same continent, and provide a more reliable fight, but the old method had issues as well. While it was great for a lone wolf, it also opened the game up to abuse by larger outfits, who would use IA to droppod large groups behind a defensive permieter with no warning, causing a good fight to immediatly collapse. This action would essentially ruin the fun for both the attackers and defenders who were stuck in to one of the rare good fights you can find.

Gatekeeper · 2013-03-26, 05:40 AM

Originally Posted by Silent Thunder

I will agree that IA should keep you on the same continent, and provide a more reliable fight, but the old method had issues as well. While it was great for a lone wolf, it also opened the game up to abuse by larger outfits, who would use IA to droppod large groups behind a defensive permieter with no warning, causing a good fight to immediatly collapse. This action would essentially ruin the fun for both the attackers and defenders who were stuck in to one of the rare good fights you can find.

Yeah, that's a fair point - and I agree, I have no objection to IA taking me to an ongoing fight, but not giving me control over which one. But it should be a fight in progress (and ideally one that I have some chance of winning), and it should be on the same continent.

Edit: actually, I wonder if squad leaders/faction commanders could be given some influence over IA locations somehow? It'd be nice if they could request reinforcements and have IA direct troops to assist them - not in a 'mass drop behind enemy lines, smash a good fight' kind of way, but dropping on the friendly forces to assist them.

And/or maybe IA drops could preferentially target squad deployment beacons? Then at least enemies have some idea where reinforcements are likely to drop, and can destroy the beacons to stop them.

phungus · 2013-03-26, 05:47 AM

Organized outfits are usually worse then the zerg, and they both do pretty much the same thing: overrun light resistance with overwhelming force. Gets boring fast, and is an epic waste of players' time. I still do not understand why 90% of you like to roll 50 deep on a base to kill 5 or so people and then spawn camp while "waiting for the points". Seriously what do you guys get out of that, and how is it fun?

Much more fun to lone wolf with your ESF and just kill things. If you're out of aerospace resources, grab a sundee and go take a point that makes sense, or try defending one (while half your team is massed in a zerg/organized platoons).

Lone wolfing is pretty much the only way to play this game and get enjoyment out of it.

Gatekeeper · 2013-03-26, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by phungus

Organized outfits are usually worse then the zerg, and they both do pretty much the same thing: overrun light resistance with overwhelming force. Gets boring fast, and is an epic waste of players' time. I still do not understand why 90% of you like to roll 50 deep on a base to kill 5 or so people and then spawn camp while "waiting for the points". Seriously what do you guys get out of that, and how is it fun?

Much more fun to lone wolf with your ESF and just kill things. If you're out of aerospace resources, grab a sundee and go take a point that makes sense, or try defending one (while half your team is massed in a zerg/organized platoons).

Lone wolfing is pretty much the only way to play this game and get enjoyment out of it.

Ha, I actually agree with pretty much all of that. Perhaps I was just being a bit too polite in my post

Vashyo · 2013-03-26, 06:07 AM

Originally Posted by phungus

Organized outfits are usually worse then the zerg, and they both do pretty much the same thing: overrun light resistance with overwhelming force. Gets boring fast, and is an epic waste of players' time. I still do not understand why 90% of you like to roll 50 deep on a base to kill 5 or so people and then spawn camp while "waiting for the points". Seriously what do you guys get out of that, and how is it fun?

Much more fun to lone wolf with your ESF and just kill things. If you're out of aerospace resources, grab a sundee and go take a point that makes sense, or try defending one (while half your team is massed in a zerg/organized platoons).

Lone wolfing is pretty much the only way to play this game and get enjoyment out of it.

This is the biggest issue I have with outfit play, I just hate playing risk and waiting around when I can shoot people. The game even rewards u more by shooting people.

Rolfski · 2013-03-26, 06:12 PM

I like to lone wolf a bit before I join my outfit ops. I takes some time to understand the flow of the map & battles and predict what's going to happen where and what is needed in a upcoming fight. But when you do, lone wolving can be equally fun. It also can be equally frustrating of course considering the limit to what you can accomplish on your own.

When I find myself getting frustrated by these limitations it's usually a good moment to join my outfit ops.

Ghoest9 · 2013-03-26, 07:42 PM

So you guys are unhappy that players often employ the most successful tactic in history?

Sonny · 2013-03-26, 08:00 PM

I have to disagree with OP when he says that the game is not designed for lone wolves. I run almost exclusively lone wolf or random squads. I've never had a problem with finding fun stuff to do alone. Whether that is hacking every terminal and destroying every generator at a base behind enemy lines, getting an ESF and randomly taking down infantry, enemy liberators or galaxies or taking part in a charge on the crown with some random pubbies, i always find something to do.

In fact, I have the opposite opinion of the game in its current state. I think it is too focused on casual, diffuse players who never feel the need to join a serious squad or outfit. At the moment, the community is very 'I need a fight now' focused rather than 'I need to do what is best for my outfit/faction' focused. There is no long term objective that would make me fight for my faction/outfit rather than just for myself and my certs. This is not a fault of any individual playstyle or player, I guess that the incentives and/or objective of the game are not focused on longer term objectives.

Sonny

Obstruction · 2013-03-26, 08:55 PM

when i first started i heard that you needed an outfit to "really experience what planetside 2 is all about."

but that's not really the case at all.

from what i've seen the really good outfits of hardcore players or at least dedicated weekenders are few and far between. what you mostly have out there are either groups that have enough members that there's almost always a platoon online, or groups that have 1-3 squads on certain times of the week and a handful of hardcore players that try to run in a small group as much as they can.

then rarely there's one or two groups of hardcore players that are all online a million hours a day and you know who they are.

so what you get with the first type, the zergfit, barely fits the definition of organized. they are constantly gaining and losing members, may boast about 2000+ members but then you look at their roster and 1500 of them are BR9 and last logged in before new years. when you run with these groups (you always can, because they always have "recruiting" platoons) you see that it's basically just a popularity contest between the "officers" and that what the group is doing at a given engagement is random at best, and whimsical at worst. my favorite example is having everyone blow their max suit when a biofarm is about to flip. so you get 35 maxes that all die 15 seconds later. brilliant lol. way to feed, am i rite?

my favorite though is when they decide to "go fight the vanu for a while, i'm bored of tr." and suddenly 36-48 people who were fighting on your side in a conflict just evaporate and all those other small squads, lone wolves, specialist outfits are left to feed because the zergfit held that tech plant just long enough for a trickle of enemy to turn into a zerg of its own.

even better is having everyone abandon their vehicles to regroup at warpgate, then sit for 15 minutes "getting organized" into galaxies to go drop on a perfectly good biofarm and ruin it by wiping out the enemy FOB. way to go.

it just fails to provide enhanced gameplay to anyone who can figure out what to do on their own, and what patterns the majority of players follow.

secondly, there's no such thing as a commander having any extra training or experience, or any type of strategic reasoning ability. a commander is just someone who's probably "been here since beta, noob."

well, woop de shit. you've been playing since beta but you don't have that many hours logged, your certs look like a pile of unspecialized dog crap, and you're constantly trying to "defend this tech plant guys" when pretty much everyone in the game understands that THEY CHANGED THE TECH PLANT TO MAKE IT INDEFENSIBLE. and you can watch them repeat the same patterns daily.

then that brings us to the weekenders. you love these guys. you like to sit in the teamspeak while you play borderlands or arma or whatever. you show up for the op night. you follow them into the gates of hell.

but you lose k/d (if it matters to you, you notice) and your exp/hour plummets. you play as a member of a team, fly wingman, be the bored ass medic in the burster nest, run suicide engi into a crowd of pump actions as many times as it takes to see that sundy drop. but you don't get the kills or the points because "you're doing your job" and "getting stuff done."

"stuff" like capping a territory that, honestly, whatever. who cares?

so you play alone more and more. or group with the one or two people you really like to talk to and who don't chew food on mic, or have barking dogs, or whatever. maybe its just that they don't constantly narrate every detail of what's happening on their screen.

and you learn that you do way better as an ESF pilot, or Lib team. or you instant action and do the redeploy shuffle until you're standing on the good side of the ridgeline and take your shots, then move with the group, or flank, or whatever it is you like. maybe you just sneak around hacking turrets and setting traps. or ride armor columns. or defend people's sunderers. all the things we do as loners.

i know this was too long. i know you didn't read.

but i have been needing to say it. you don't have to have an outfit and it's often better without them. the social game is a good reason to stick with it and to try your best to contribute to outfit play. but it honestly just isn't better.

and i know the common argument is that organized forces will always outperform "disorganized" forces.

but:

1. this isn't real war.

2. your "organized" forces in PS2 are most often hampered by slow decision making and piss poor orders. besides that they RARELY exhibit actual organization. most often they are just scrambling around being yelled at.

3. an equally sized group of hardcore lone wolves will make superior tactical decisions, faster, less predictably, and generally already make their living from farming big "organized" groups like yours.

and i'd put money on it.

Hamma · 2013-03-26, 09:45 PM

Creative name btw

Brusi · 2013-03-26, 10:14 PM

I'm a lone wolf... also not by choice.

The territory capture mini-game feels like a waste of time. Racking up kills and certs feels way more productive, and outside of a liberator... lone-wolfing is the best way to do that.

Well, Ok... so i'm technically a i'm a lone wolf by choice, then. You get what i'm trying to say though ;p

If the aim of the game was felt (by the community) to be completing objectives using team-work rather than to...

... Then, i think myself and more players in general would seek out organised squads and outfits.

Neutral Calypso · 2013-03-26, 11:24 PM

I have lately felt more inclined to engage in a sort of defensive conquest, myself...

Namely, heading to every major facility "naturally belonging" to my faction and ensuring that all the territory surrounding them is taken so nobody can just march in and start capping 'em.

Especially the tech plants... I like my MBTs thanks.

CzuukWaterson · 2013-03-27, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by phungus

Organized outfits are usually worse then the zerg, and they both do pretty much the same thing:.

Who said anything about organized mate? :P The key to success in business is proper delegation of authority. We are in the business of war. Business is good.