News: Higby Outlines this Months Patch - Page 5

OpolE · 2013-01-09, 04:18 AM

So no new Continents and people are leaving the game because they probably think Planetside2 is a tri-island shooter and it plays like cod/bf3.

Lack of content I want as a customer tbh, seriously.

Dreadino · 2013-01-09, 04:40 AM

Dynamic XP system for player kills, players who have more kills are worth more XP. Freshly spawned players will be worth a fraction of the current kill reward.

Great change, make it so player with more xp worth more xp and that's a deal!
This way killing a badass engeneer that didn't shoot a single bullet but was a repair/ammo master will give me more xp than shooting the dumbass LA that scored 2 kills with a C4.

Oh and extend that to Sunderers, more spawns/resupply, more xp!

Sabrak · 2013-01-09, 04:42 AM

"Tunnels under bases", as in "big ass tunnel layouts with rooms and important capturable/destroyable objectives where everyone will have to focus on infantry CQC, with a lot of Planetside 1 base-layout inspiration", or as in "long and boring tunnel to go from point A to point B, and useful only to walk around the enemy's blocus on your spawnroom" ?

I hope the first option will be used, but I fear it'll be the second.

Rat · 2013-01-09, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by Sabrak

"Tunnels under bases", as in "big ass tunnel layouts with rooms and important capturable/destroyable objectives where everyone will have to focus on infantry CQC, with a lot of Planetside 1 base-layout inspiration", or as in "long and boring tunnel to go from point A to point B, and useful only to walk around the enemy's blocus on your spawnroom" ?

I hope the first option will be used, but I fear it'll be the second.

I am sure it will be the second...I think the intent here is just to give us more ways to get out of the spawn room to shoot rockets up the asses of MBTs....this should allow for better defence, atleast for awhile, at some point a facility is still lost.

ringring · 2013-01-09, 04:58 AM

Oh I forgot. They're working on new player experience, so it looks like that didn't make the cut this time around.

Suitepee · 2013-01-09, 05:22 AM

Will be interested to see what those tunnels look like.

And it'd be nice if they could fix the MOTD also so it actually remains when I put in a new one.

Ruffdog · 2013-01-09, 05:22 AM

Dynamic xp and invulnerable for newly spawned is a great fix imo. We should see less Sundy camping now. Far less. Add in increased HE reload times. Beerbeer should be happy

Tunnels - good to see (screw you flyboys) - mana turrets just got useful. And lashers sadly.

SMG - I guess one handed Uzi types for inf class?

Hopefully a boost in frames for my graphics card too. I think 5770 qualifies as "older"

Sturmhardt · 2013-01-09, 06:09 AM

Originally Posted by Sabrak

"Tunnels under bases", as in "big ass tunnel layouts with rooms and important capturable/destroyable objectives where everyone will have to focus on infantry CQC, with a lot of Planetside 1 base-layout inspiration", or as in "long and boring tunnel to go from point A to point B, and useful only to walk around the enemy's blocus on your spawnroom" ?

I hope the first option will be used, but I fear it'll be the second.

Yeah... I have the same concerns.. let's hope for the best.

.sent via phone.

Sledgecrushr · 2013-01-09, 06:30 AM

I dont like the limited invulnerability idea. I can really see that get abused by some of these more organised outfits. What your going to see are entire platoons suicide at exactly the same time, respawn at the same time and rush together as one impossible to kill target. This isnt a really good idea and I would like to see it scrapped.

NewSith · 2013-01-09, 06:35 AM

Okay, let's dissect this. I'm gonna be all Thomas on some of these, but it's not being negative, it's being cautious.

Main thing:

Tunnel systems for amp and tech facilities to give access from spawn rooms to interior of bases and base walls without having to go above ground.

I was very glad to see this, but then a thought crossed my mind - are SCUs still only reachable via "above ground" on Tech Plants? Because if this is the case, this change adds NOTHING to the defensibility.

The rest:

Originally Posted by Higby

General performance increases, particularly for lower end GPUs

Okay this is reallt REALLY good, since my i5 650 seems to be the "low end one". The game seems to be handling hyperthreading really badly. A perfect example is that my loss of FPS is minimal when recording with fraps, however the game itself only runs at 50FPS max with all settings set to minimal and with shadows actually turned off.

EDIT: Oh, wait... GPUs...

Experience (XP) system enhancements:
- Dynamic XP system for player kills, players who have more kills are worth more XP. Freshly spawned players will be worth a fraction of the current kill reward.
- Partial damage XP for dealing damage to vehicles that you don't end up killing
- Population XP / Resource bonus moved over to continent population instead of global
- Better display of XP sources for things like defensive bonuses & population bonuses
- Rebalancing of XP rewards to help support tasks

This is also good, but there's one "but". "Population XP / Resource bonus moved over to continent population instead of global" That even further removes the whole purpose of the resource system. It's a step towards stalemates from Beta, I tell you.

Server transfer token available in Depot

Wonderful. No more loss of everything once moving to another server.

UI changes to emphasize score per minute as a primary metric of player comparison

Not exactly a worthwhile change for a particular type of player folk - Liberator Pilots. Especially Shredder ones like myself. I'm already getting lots of idiots that see my stat and brand me a noob because I have ~1.0 K/D ratio, with SpM system, I'm gonna look even more newbish. Not like I care much, tbh, but sometimes it does make you feel down.

Sortable columns on outfit management & addition of "last online" column

Just make it so you don't have to hit "sort by last online" every time somebody goes online/offline.

New weapon type for all empires: SMG

There we go, SMGs. The only question I have is - if most Carbines don't have a buttstock, does it mean that SMG will look exactly like carbines?

Short period of invulnerability will be added to freshly spawned / revived players - breaks upon game actions such as entering a vehicle or using a weapon.

I always considered it to be a strange addition in many multiplayer games, honestly.

Dynamic / player configurable colors for minimap & overhead indicators for enemies, friendlies, and squads within a platoon

Colorblind people will now get their love. That's good.

New Hot Spot system that displays where active fights are occurring on the map

Excuse me my rudeness, but since Beta I tend to look at the word combination "New Hot Spot System" with extreme caution.

New spawn buildings with more exits, protected balconies and easy roof access to make them less campable.

This needs just one more bit of info - does this mean "spawn buildings" as in "Base Spawn buildings" or this includes outpost boxes of death, which are definitely way more troublesome in that regard.

Making MAXes render more reliably at long distances for players in vehicles

*no comment* Feelings are rather mixed. There are two sides to that coin. Hint is - you cannot make only AA maxes render from longer distance. This means that all AI (and AV) MAXes are now primary subjects for liberator spam.

AA improvements, notably flak changes for turrets and skyguards, giving them some better ability to aim, although not drastically impacting their DPS.

Does this mean that you give them better accuracy, but reduce their damage? That's not exactly a good change in my book.

Fixes to missiles so that they more reliably detonate and actually blow stuff up

Never noticed this kind of stuff occuring tbh.

Air vehicle weapon tweaks

Just don't mess up my Shredder Lib, please.

Increases to reload speed for certain HE ground vehicle weapons

My best guess is that Higby meant "reload time", not reload speed. I mean what's the point of buffing HE weapons so they can basically have the same DPS output against armor as HEAT weapons?

ShadetheDruid · 2013-01-09, 06:43 AM

I imagine the invulnerability will just be a split second thing, to counter the moment where you count as alive in the world after reviving or spawning at a Sunderer (and thus can be instantly killed again) a second before you can do anything about it.

NewSith · 2013-01-09, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by ShadetheDruid

I imagine the invulnerability will just be a split second thing, to counter the moment where you count as alive in the world after reviving or spawning at a Sunderer (and thus can be instantly killed again) a second before you can do anything about it.

It is a BF3 borrowed thing. They have it so unless you move your mouse (was unless you move in the first version of implementation), you are invulnerable for a couple seconds.

The added the second implemention, because invulnerable people could kill others after spawning while not taking damage themselves.

ringring · 2013-01-09, 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by NewSith

It is a BF3 borrowed thing. They have it so unless you move your mouse (was unless you move in the first version of implementation), you are invulnerable for a couple seconds.

The added the second implemention, because invulnerable people could kill others after spawning while not taking damage themselves.

What about
- get revived
- happen to be facing the right way
- press g
- win

NewSith · 2013-01-09, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by ringring

What about
- get revived
- happen to be facing the right way
- press g
- win

I myself treat that as normal, since it's luck, and "chance of luck" is the most balanced factor there is.

EDIT: Doesn't mean I like the change, I'm just indifferent, since it doesn't affect gameplay that much, BF3 spawn protection Mk2 proved that to me.

Figment · 2013-01-09, 06:54 AM

Pretty much what NewSith said.

Presume it'll be made clear when someone is invulnerable? Due to ammo/reload considerations. I'd rather have gone with a cloak field like the AMS than complete invulnerability, though it is a fix to lag after spawning and getting a bearing on what's happening around you before dieing. Guess it depends on implementation. Wouldn't have applied it to healed troops though, if someone is revived under dangerous circumstances he just got killed in, the medic is to blame for his timing and the player in question for accepting it. Again, depends on implementation.

As for the missiles, did notice that happening (would hit something or explode in proximity, but not deal damage).