News: Smedley - "Planetside 2 2.0 in September"

[SArais]

Sanctuaries huh? Better keep going and overhaul the entire system.

Let's make planetside 2 like planetside 1. Because what we had/have is the wrong direction.

[Xaine]

As has been mentioned in this thread several times, make it more like Planetside 1.

I'm not quite sure how the design for Planetside 2 got into a place where it needs a 'complete' overhaul, but then again, the development and general design direction if Planetside 2 has always been a complete and utter fucking clown car - so no shocks there I suppose.

It's always blown my mind how SoE/Daybreak could take such a fantastic game, years ahead of it's time - and then with more money, better technology and larger dev team, somehow turn it's sequel into such an unmitigated disaster.

The engine is fine, the moment to moment gameplay is great, the art is great - the game design is some of the worst I've ever seen.

Amazing how a game that people can play for free, with such high development cost and time invested - can have so few people playing it.

[Mordelicius]

Originally Posted by OpolE

Whens this fekking september ANT ready? Sept 2016? TOSSERS

The ANT is out on PTS. In its current iteration, it's nothing but Harasser fodder. The classic cert pinata (that's not to mention aircraft vultures).

Tanks are slow but it's sturdy and hits hard.
Sunderers are slow too with medium weapons, but are bulky enough to survive.

ANTs however won't be able to exist for long in the battlefield. I noticed resources spawn behind the frontlines. Even so these things will be hunted down easily. Even with escorts, how do you prevent harassers/tanks from hitting these things? Heck, stealth Flash should be able to ambush them).

It has to be:
1) the sturdiest of all ground vehicles (barring deployed/shielded Sundy)
2) the weakest-hitting of all vehicles (including the Flash)
3) given 3 sidegrade options:
- extra Armor
- Turbo (5 second speed boost)
- Radar
It's up to the players whether they want avoidance (radar), escape (turbo), or survivability (extra armor).

I doubt they will give this thing stealth. It would me it consequently overpowered.

One thing they have to prevent is the advent of Battle ANTs. Hence, it shouldn't be able to scratch anything more than light armor.

They didn't heed my warning against Battle Sundies. I suggested, weapon damage should be halved/disabled when deployed and armor/shield doubled and allowed to be repairable. That's why I prompted it. Being an exclusive Sundy driver/spawner, I knew the exact weakness and strength of these things.

I remember fighting the old NUC when the Harassers got nerfed. They tried the Battle Sundy spam immediately that same day. I just sniped and broke apart their formation with a Spear Turret from a tower. I waited until they are separated, before I shouted "NUC Sundies incoming N NE NW". And I believe this was before the series of Sundy buffs. They just hunted them down and tore them up. Still believe to this day that NUC broke up b/c of the Harassers and TR Max nerfs.

SOE/DBG ignored our warnings about ZOE and Harassers, both disastrous to game balance and population. They finally listened with the Valkyrie release (was it that bad? They buffed it incrementally).

The ANT has to fit in the battlefied (I don't mean combat-wise but survivability-wise). I used to roll Scout Radar Flash. I run in straight to the enemy lines and hide behind the rocks. Every enemy within 100m radius is lighted up. I just say "clear" and the rest will follow suit because enemies are hightlighted.

When they released the Harassers, Scout Radar Flash lost its niche. All that is left for Flashes are the Stealth Ambushers. One has to pick Stealth or Radar. If I pick stealth so I don't get fodderized by the Harassers, its moot because there's no radar. ANTs, I dont' see how it will survive long enough.

[ringring]

Do you think a relatively weak ant will force cooperation and by that I mean troop of 1 ant plus protection in the form a harrassers and/or battle sundies?

I suspect it will depend on the reward at the end of it. If the base that can be built at the end of all all this is powerful and not easily knocked-out then maybe outfits will think the end result is worth the effort.

[Mordelicius]

Originally Posted by ringring

Do you think a relatively weak ant will force cooperation and by that I mean troop of 1 ant plus protection in the form a harrassers and/or battle sundies?

I suspect it will depend on the reward at the end of it. If the base that can be built at the end of all all this is powerful and not easily knocked-out then maybe outfits will think the end result is worth the effort.

In my opinion, it is relatively moot to escort a weak ANT. High value targets will always be priority. In the case of Sunderers, players suicide just to take it out. That's why the Sundy was (eventually, finally and thankfully ) buffed so it could stand a chance surviving all these attacks (I've lost count how many 'buff Sundy spawn' post I had before they listened).

You do realize how difficult it is to keep Sundy alive during battles, right? I know this very well because I always guarded my Sundy. I know every trick they use, including underhanded ones using alts to drop friendly mines in conjunction with enemy c4/grenade/rocket rush and many other chicanery such as deploying a friendly Sundy out of place to block others from placing at any apt hiding/parking spot (via friendly Sundy no-deploy zone).

Hence I suggested putting nametags on Sunderers, so players can report these ***holes. Apparently, they just recently implemented that one too.

Secondly, I really doubt they would release all the new Base-building systems all at once. Hence they got 3 choices:

1) Release a weak ANT. It will buffed anyway. If the airborne Valkyrie was initially widely lampooned as a flying cert pinata, then the ANT is the grounded version where everyone essentially can take a pot shot at with it having little to no defense/resistance.

2) Release a buffed ANT (as I suggested) and adjust/nerf it later if necessary once they release the rest of the base-building components.

3) Release the ANT and the whole Base-building meta in one go 10-12 months later. Highly unlikely.

Lastly, I think a proper ANT escort should include at least one Repair Sundy and a Harasser to scout ahead of the destination. Plus 1 tank or combat harasser. Even with those, how do you stop 3 determined tanks/harrassers from focus-firing on the ANT/Repair Sundy? That repair Sundy won't last. And these guys would gladly exchange kills as long as the ANT goes down, no different to what would happen to a Sunderer spawn.