What are your thoughts on PlanetSide 2 now that you have played? - Page 3

JawsOfLife · 2012-08-31, 12:29 PM

I just got into the beta 3 days ago and have only played about 4 hours total. Also keep in mind I never played PS1, so this is a perspective completely new to Planetside games.

First off, the way base balance/design is right now, there seem to be no large scale battles around bases. It's basically just an infantry race to cap the points. I spent very little of my time fighting in/around bases, there is not much point as it basically goes:
>Base captured
>Locked for 5 mins.
>Other faction comes in, decimates with air, recaptures
>Rinse and repeat.
Not terribly compelling, unfortunately. In fact, the only large battles I got into (it happened twice) were both infantry vs. tank battles. It was me and about 20 other infantrymen huddled behind one piece of shelter while the HA's in the group tried to pick off the 4-5 tanks that were besieging us. That honestly was the most fun I had during the play time.

I should also note I was going solo this whole time, which is not very fun. I did manage to run into a group of 2 Sunderers, 3 Magriders and a couple Lightnings while I was in a Lightning and we stormed a base at night, that was super fun as well.

Closing notes: Yes, performance is quite lacking at the moment but honestly I was impressed that my meager rig could run medium settings at 1080p. Server load is the most important factor in performance though. A full server will tank framerates regardless. The game looks very good, the lighting as everyone has noted is spectacular. There are of course rough patches (like top of building textures, many ground textures that are 2005-alicious even on High) and other problems but this is beta, and my experience was largely positive. Huge thanks to the dev team for being so open and I have complete faith that as they get feedback the bad balance and vanilla combat design of bases will come together to make a much better experience.

OnexBigxHebrew · 2012-08-31, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Figment

You misinterpreted him completely. He said CoD in combination with BF3.

Why? Because the base layout is very akin to a CoD map with a lot of small single or triple room buildings within a large map with BattleField style capture mechanics.

Thanks, detective, but I don't think a "OMG its CoD and BF3, make PS1 into PS1!" Statement needs much interpretation. Move on.

vVRedOctoberVv · 2012-08-31, 12:34 PM

Overall, I'm really enjoying it. It's definitely the dominant source for my entertainment

I played PlanetSide 1 enough to get a "feel" for it, and was really excited at what SoE wanted to do with the follow up. There were a few changes I wasn't really keen on, like solo MBTs, but seeing how things have been implemented across the board...

I really like it. I hope lots and lots of other people like it to and will make it successful for SoE. At present it's not perfect, has bugs, and various things that need tweaking, but the "overall" experience, the "gist" of the game... Very good. I'll be playing PlanetSide 2 for a very long time!

Thanks to all the developers for paying as much attention to people as they do, for sorting through the drivel, the whiney, the fan bois, trying to find the "gems" among the comments, and for putting as much work into their product as they must have.

VaderShake · 2012-08-31, 12:35 PM

I come to PlanetSide 2 primarily as a Battlefield player, but I have been gaming for over 30 years so I ahve played my fair share of MMO's and everything in between.

PS2 looks tremendously promising and plays like BF2142. Currently the beta is lacking the tools needed to stick close with your friends and squadmates which is my only real frustration with the beta thus far but I understand it's....well...a beta.

This is a game on a scale and scope I have dreamed of for years and I will do anything i can to help this thing come off.

vVRedOctoberVv · 2012-08-31, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by JawsOfLife

I just got into the beta 3 days ago and have only played about 4 hours total. Also keep in mind I never played PS1, so this is a perspective completely new to Planetside games.

First off, the way base balance/design is right now, there seem to be no large scale battles around bases. It's basically just an infantry race to cap the points. I spent very little of my time fighting in/around bases, there is not much point as it basically goes:
>Base captured
>Locked for 5 mins.
>Other faction comes in, decimates with air, recaptures
>Rinse and repeat.
Not terribly compelling, unfortunately. In fact, the only large battles I got into (it happened twice) were both infantry vs. tank battles. It was me and about 20 other infantrymen huddled behind one piece of shelter while the HA's in the group tried to pick off the 4-5 tanks that were besieging us. That honestly was the most fun I had during the play time.

I should also note I was going solo this whole time, which is not very fun. I did manage to run into a group of 2 Sunderers, 3 Magriders and a couple Lightnings while I was in a Lightning and we stormed a base at night, that was super fun as well.

Closing notes: Yes, performance is quite lacking at the moment but honestly I was impressed that my meager rig could run medium settings at 1080p. Server load is the most important factor in performance though. A full server will tank framerates regardless. The game looks very good, the lighting as everyone has noted is spectacular. There are of course rough patches (like top of building textures, many ground textures that are 2005-alicious even on High) and other problems but this is beta, and my experience was largely positive. Huge thanks to the dev team for being so open and I have complete faith that as they get feedback the bad balance and vanilla combat design of bases will come together to make a much better experience.

I had a lot of performance issues until the patch before last, and stability issues until the last one (I'm down to a crash per hour or two instead of every fifteen minutes). It's very playable, as things are optimised better along the way.

Whiteknight · 2012-08-31, 12:37 PM

[quote=Valcron;832131]Classes do feel like a straight jacket, it's the one thing I absolutely despise in this version of Planetside, it really is absolutely terrible. Higby and the development team already said they're not changing it which is really disapointing.
[/QUTOE]

I have to say that I Like the class system. It removed the 'universal soldier' aspect and makes teamwork Necessary. Not just easier, but it is nearly required. Yes, there will still be people who run off and manage to do really well alone, but they are still limited in what they can do alone. A balancing system, which I do like.

Originally Posted by Valcron

Also, the Auraxium time sink is ridiculous, you will be forced into buying weapons with real money. Auraxium takes a really long time to recover.

I agree with you here. The Aur sink time is extreme.... But that's what you get with F2P. The company needs (yes, needs) to make money off of the product that has been a cash sink during the entire development. The ability to pay for other weapons ( rather than spending many many hours in game) along with only being able to buy visual mods with cash, is how the will pay for the costs of previous production, future production, and maintaining the servers.

oosik · 2012-08-31, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Hamma

So here it is, the thread we have all been waiting for..

You got into beta and have had some hands on time with PlanetSide 2. What are your thoughts? Have all your hopes and dreams been met or would you like to see much more?

Not in beta? Well I have this..

KRJJ-TZRJ-N6GE-CZR3-MG76

Be sure to come back and let us know what you think

Great game, and once we get more continents to fight over and are able to purchase stuff and cert out more options, it will get fantastic. First few times I found myself at The Crown battling upward from Zurvan with other TR and despite the early constant crashes, had a great time as a DC Max. I'd flank enemy infantry positions and cut down 3-4 before they knew what was happening.

Lots and lots of outposts (and different outposts) compared to PS1. Terrain (at least on Indar) is considerably more rugged than most PS1 continents and you have as infantry or max an incredible number of places for cover as you advance either in a base or out in the open. Bases are much more open but at the same time more spread out than PS1. Due to feedback the Dev team has been adding terminals, spawn points and flash terminals at many outlying bases, making them viable jumping off points for attacks into enemy held areas and viable defensive positions for organized outfits to slow down attacking forces.

The metagame has evolved considerably since the start of beta and continues to evolve. This week, for example, they added the hex adjacency requirement and new capture mechanics for Zurvan and Peris. It is refreshing to be part of a real beta that is actually evolving and getting better rather than just a demo beta. The Dev team responds intelligently to suggestions without going overboard and swinging one way too far, too fast.

One pet peeve of mine, however, is the TR pounder max. I don't ever use it because, frankly, it is pathetic. The mag capacity is too low for the bang you get, the speed is too slow, and the arc is so bad you can't shoot far enough to hit anything worthwhile. Until they correct it or change it, I'm using an M9 SKEP launcher with HA as my AV.

Gammit10 · 2012-08-31, 12:47 PM

The premise, engine, day-night cycle, sound, and particle effects are great, but at the moment there is a lot of work needed for the meta (chess-like/map-moving) game. It currently feels like a shooting game slapped on a good engine with major ideas still needing to be implemented rather than tweaked.

With fast capture times, capture nodes that are exceptionally easy to access (with many out in the open), sprinting/ jet packs for infantry, few base walls, and a faster TTK, the game is more of a large whirlwind of captures and shooting than a strategy/tactics/shooter/vehicle game that PS1 was.

With the original, I can remember hour-long drawn-out fights, the name of all bases, etc. As of the current build base names are irrelevant, as the fight will quickly wrap-up at its current location and resume elsewhere within 5-10 minutes. I really do not see many hour-long fights occurring here. In this sense, it feels more like a very large UT3 with fast-paced decisions yet different capture areas.

As a medic, I am doing much more reviving than I am healing, which is more similar to my games with Battlefield 3 and very different from Planetside 1.

As of right now, it's a modern shooter with some PS-elements (80% modern shooter, 20% Planetside) rather than a re-take on Planetside with some modern mechanics. Some vets, including myself, were hoping more for a much different ratio. I played PS1 over Battlefield, UT, Call of Duty because of the differences.

What's worse is the large number of people in the beta who seem to prefer this, and that is frustrating. The entire game moves exceptionally fast and will likely be a great hit for the monster-energy-drink chugging crowd.

I'm not dogging the devs. If this game continues to play out this way, I will move on and wish them well. However, as of the current date, the game is disappointing to a long-time veteran. That being said, my hope is for continued MAJOR tweaks by the development team, who has been very communicative thus far.

Kerafyrm · 2012-08-31, 12:49 PM

Personally I think the game is great for being in beta and I also can't wait to see what the game looks like 3 years from now.

Also I think we need to give the devs a ton of credit for making so much effort to actually read their forums and give us feedback and also take our feedback. I haven't been anywhere else where the devs actually talked this much (or at all) on their forums, twitter or whatever. Devs being social=win.

Figment · 2012-08-31, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by OnexBigxHebrew

Thanks, detective, but I don't think a "OMG its CoD and BF3, make PS1 into PS1!" Statement needs much interpretation. Move on.

You asked how it's like CoD, I tell you how and you get all butthurt. Nice.

Sephirex · 2012-08-31, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Gammit10

The premise, engine, day-night cycle, sound, and particle effects are great, but at the moment there is a lot of work needed for the meta (chess-like/map-moving) game. It currently feels like a shooting game slapped on a good engine with major ideas still needing to be implemented rather than tweaked.

With fast capture times, capture nodes that are exceptionally easy to access (with many out in the open), sprinting/ jet packs for infantry, few base walls, and a faster TTK, the game is more of a large whirlwind of captures and shooting than a strategy/tactics/shooter/vehicle game that PS1 was.

With the original, I can remember hour-long drawn-out fights, the name of all bases, etc. As of the current build base names are irrelevant, as the fight will quickly wrap-up at its current location and resume elsewhere within 5-10 minutes. I really do not see many hour-long fights occurring here. In this sense, it feels more like a very large UT3 with fast-paced decisions yet different capture areas.

As a medic, I am doing much more reviving than I am healing, which is more similar to my games with Battlefield 3 and very different from Planetside 1.

As of right now, it's a modern shooter with some PS-elements (80% modern shooter, 20% Planetside) rather than a re-take on Planetside with some modern mechanics. Some vets, including myself, were hoping more for a much different ratio. I played PS1 over Battlefield, UT, Call of Duty because of the differences.

What's worse is the large number of people in the beta who seem to prefer this, and that is frustrating. The entire game moves exceptionally fast and will likely be a great hit for the monster-energy-drink chugging crowd.

I'm not dogging the devs. If this game continues to play out this way, I will move on and wish them well. However, as of the current date, the game is disappointing to a long-time veteran. That being said, my hope is for continued MAJOR tweaks by the development team, who has been very communicative thus far.

Was going to post my own opinion, but found someone had already posted all my thoughts on the matter for me.

So, uh.........^this

Stardouser · 2012-08-31, 12:58 PM

It's doing well, people are batshit insane about wanting cooldowns applied to everything instead of using resources.

And VS is engaging in a coordinated campaign of claiming their weapons are too weak when they are not.

Bags · 2012-08-31, 01:03 PM

It's pretty bad at the moment (yes I know it's beta) IMO.

Base fights are a random scramble, keeping a small squad of 5 people together is a hard task sometime because we keep getting different spawn points (and yes I have a squad beacon certed and use it).

Indoor combat is dominated by maxes because they have no timer and no cost and everyone has access to them.

Outdoor vehicle combat is pretty bad because all of the tanks are paper thin and shredded by any sort of air.

Galaxies are too weak unless you have like 6 engineers repairing it, then it becomes invulnerable. Galaxies are also still too rare to be an AMS filler.

Performance is still pretty bad, getting ~40 fps in no fight with my specs.

I hate indoor fighting at night because the indoors of facilities are pitch black despite having lights EVERYWHERE. Instead of illuminating anything, base lights just serve to blind you when contrasted with the dark of night. The novelty of night fighting wore off fast. They need to make light sources actually illuminate the indoors of buildings and the outside near the building.

Hate the class system. FOr something that is supposed to promote teamwork, I find it constantly limiting my ability to teamwork as heavy assault. I see an almost dead max my first instinct is to pull out my bank and rep him... nope. I see a dead teammate, my first instinct is to revive him... nope. I am not feeling the teamwork increase with this class system at all. Random people rarely drop ammo when asked, and rarely heal when asked. I do get revived a lot, I guess. All it does is force someone on my team of 6 friends to always be medic and engineer.

It's very beta, lol. I kinda lost interest in testing since GW2 came out because as of now PS2 is a larger, worse BF3.

Sephirex · 2012-08-31, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by Bags

It's very beta, lol. I kinda lost interest in testing since GW2 came out because as of now PS2 is a larger, worse BF3.

I'm am also having an unexpectedly good time with GW2. Not a title I was expecting much out of.

Roidster · 2012-08-31, 01:17 PM

personally, i friggen love it,i have been in since tech test,when i got the email on july 24th,i was dancing at my PC,as a 9 year vet,this game is great,cant wait till they start releasing more certifications ,and weapons to try out,my only grip,right now,is they dont support multi monitors,when you get into any vehicle,so i ground and pound every where