My final analysis of Planetside

Kikinchikin · 2004-03-22, 12:42 PM

As some of my friends and teammates know, my subscription ran out March 20th. I am not renewing, so I will be retired for a while. I hope to come back at another time, but several things are prohibiting that from happening. Anyway I figured I would post my final analysis of the game and note the problems, so that, if they are fixed, I can come back and enjoy Planetside like I used to.

From the day it was released, Planetside broke new ground in gaming. It was my favorite game right off the bat, and still probably is my favorite game ever. The scope of the battles, the opportunity to participate in massive multi outfit operations and missions, and the inventiveness of the vehicles and weapons all make it a superb game, and one that I will never forget.

However, it seems that as the "Golden Age" of Planetside began to end (end of summer to mid fall in my opinion) a host of problems began plagueing me and my experience. This started with the end of my outfit 7th Legion, but the main hit came when Core Combat released. Apparently my computer's performance either dropped or the game requirements rose, because I began experiencing awful lag. Although it was playable at that time, it certainly made me angry. Then came the server merge. Of course the merge happened the day after I attained CR 5. This angered me too, because I had worked hard to get it, and I wanted it to be special. But when the merge occured, the number of CR 5's on emerald increased dramatically, thus taking away from the "specialness" of being a CR 5.

It went downhill from here too. I had great fun from November to mid December, when my best friend bought FFXI. I too got it for Christmas and became hooked on it, as well as Call of Duty. It seemed Planetside was being relegated to third of the three, because the other two were new and because of the afformentioned problems. Plus the lag was getting even worse.

I stopped playing more or less in January. I only logged on three or four times that month. Every time I came on, I noticed more and more things that were detrimental to the game. The organization was gone. There were no more raids, just zergs. I longed for the days of the summer when the TR had done so well organizing operations and such. I guess those days are more or less gone now.

I logged on twice during February to find that the lag made theh game unplayable. I could no longer even be on the same continent as the main fight. And with the server merge, I couldn't even find a small battle. It was then that I decided Planetside would have to go. I logged on 3 days ago, said goodbye to my friends, and took a last look around at the game. I will miss playing Planetside, as it has many more positive attributes than negatives, but I simply cannot play with the lag. I also miss the organized playing, and am saddened by the influx of new, less tactically minded, players. On Thursday I figured I would give it one more shot and asked if someone wanted to help take Searhus. I got my first hate tell then. It didn't suprise me, even though I had never gotten one previous to that. The playerbase as a whole seems to be going downhill in intelligence.

In conclusion, I will always remember Planetside as being one of my favorite games, and I hope to return in a few months to play again and fight alongside my friends again. Until then, farewell. /salute.

Black · 2004-03-22, 12:50 PM

You will be back untill then have a good time playing other games

Krinsath · 2004-03-22, 12:53 PM

It always sucks to lose a player, but you have to do what you have to do.

PS is a great game, however, the Devs (actually, SOE) needs to stop lying about the minimum requirements. The recommended need to be changed to minimums and the recommended likewise updated. It may cause a drop in player population, but at least then PS will cease getting the bad press of being far too intensive on resources.

I've found many medium sized battles over the past few days...Instant Action is invaluable and, as always, Core Combat is the source of excellent fighting now that the Caverns are worth something. Since so many people refuse to abandon their snap judgement that CC is useless, there's plenty of space down there....if they'd just fix the problem of CC being an absolute monster to keep a force in.

Good luck with wherever you end up...and hopefully you'll be back in PS soon.

Baneblade · 2004-03-22, 01:04 PM

I haven't played myself since for almost a month and a half...

I might return if I'm not playing a better game and I finish building my new computer...

Kikinchikin · 2004-03-22, 02:01 PM

Yes, thats one regret I have. When I was playing in the weeks after CC release when a fewpeople actually went down in the caverns, I realized that I did infinitely better under the ground than I do above. Sure I'm a great pilot and pretty good soldier/grunt on the ground, but man underground I was owning like crazy. I remember once I filled up kill window like twice over from decimating two switchblades, pegging planes with turrets and just surging around with my maelstrom. Yeah I wish we fought down there more, as it seemed to lag less and I for some reason fight better there. And now people actualy do fight down there, and I can't expierence it

. Oh well hopefully they will continue to so that when I come back I can try em out again.

EarlyDawn · 2004-03-22, 02:43 PM

I'm really concerned about PS when the big name FPSes like HL2, D3, and the like come out, and even more so when WoW and EQII are released. PS is gonna have to change a ton to stay competitive.

Electrofreak · 2004-03-22, 02:53 PM

Heh. I was in a cavern fight last night that had about a dozen or so people from each empire fighting at once. It was pretty sweet, some of the best fun I've ever had in PlanetSide. Rbstr, xmodum and Krinsath were there too, and can all attest to the fact that it was one seriously awesome battle. The caverns are definately taking a turn for the better with the new locked cavern module benefits.

Krinsath · 2004-03-22, 02:58 PM

I wish they hadn't made so many caverns...the rotation system bugs me.

Especially with the way that you log in and see like:

"NC has captured Annwn"
"NC has captured Aldivun"
etc.

And then you look and NONE of those caverns are open. Shouldn't there be like a mechanism that turns everything neutral when the cavern closes?

I've never actually taken a sniper down into the caverns...something about HA guys on ziplines coming out of nowhere and completely owning me...I have enough problems with effective CQB weapons...though a BD + Repeater isn't bad if you land that sniper shot.

Kikinchikin · 2004-03-22, 03:11 PM

Kinda back on topic, not that it was off topic really, but I'd like to know if anyone who started playing on May 20th or earlier is still around and what they think the game is now (is it better, worse do you miss older times?).

Baneblade · 2004-03-22, 03:31 PM

I do miss the PS that went gold, even some of the bugs were fun :P

I never liked this autodrive system when you create a vehicle (cant do my patented takeoffs

)

I don't like any of the things CC brought to the game, the vehicles are stupid looking, the weapons are shabby (no wonder the aliens are exctinct), and the mods are only mildly useful...

Some of the changes are good, but overall the game is worse...but I still like it...

Baneblade · 2004-03-22, 03:35 PM

Oh and WoW is no threat to PS whatsoever...

Darkfall Online however is...

Lartnev · 2004-03-22, 04:28 PM

To be honest the "old times" is nostalgia talking. The game is getting far better than it was back in beta, it had a hard time leading up to and shortly following Christmas but it does seem that many of the bugs have gone, the game is getting closer to balance and new content seems to be on the horizon.

When you come back you will love it

And HL2 and especially Doom 3 are not going to be threats to Planetside. They're mainly single player games. UT2k4 is the only threat online, and that hasn't really torn players away from the game. They're different genres and you can play both at the same time

HawkEye · 2004-03-22, 06:17 PM

yea i have been playing planetside since better and it has improved alot. IF klag cuold some how be terminated or mase so theres not that much then PS wuold be even better. plus i think u can't really experince PS with out a good comp. playing ps on low setting sucks, but once i got my new comp i was stunned at what i was missing when my settings were low.

321 · 2004-03-22, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by Krinsath

the Devs (actually, SOE) needs to stop lying about the minimum requirements.

They don't lie about them thoes really are the minimum requirements.

Originally Posted by Krinsath

The recommended need to be changed to minimums and the recommended likewise updated

Just because the game does not run well on the minimum that doesn't mean that they need to be swaped with the recommended. That is why it's called minimum and recommended.

Indecisive · 2004-03-22, 08:57 PM

Just fyi, I got board with ffxi around lvl 30. Lvling subjobs is a pain in the ass. I dont want to go through the EXACT same things I did 30 lvls before. Its gay. I want to explore the entire world, not wait to lvl 65 before I can have "fun"