Why did they change...

Navaron · 2003-07-23, 03:26 PM

Base capping from beta?

I'm not making a point here, I just can't remember.

I was talking with mist, and we both liked the whole time slice before the hack thing. What was the reasoning in changing it?

Hamma · 2003-07-23, 03:28 PM

Because of ninja hacking mainly

At any given time an entire continent could be hacked by a galaxy with a few people in it. Hack, move on, hack, move on.

It sucked

Navaron · 2003-07-23, 03:32 PM

Ok, that's why the put in the lattice, but why did they change the xp points and what not? Isn't that what screwed up the whole being in a squad thing?

I like the lattice cause it made the fights more coordinated.

Hamma · 2003-07-23, 03:43 PM

The amount of XP?

They didnt want people to be BR20 in one week like they were in beta

Headrattle · 2003-07-23, 05:45 PM

The Xp thing?

Ok If you are talking about the unique kills? there was a time in beta if you or your squad made X amount of unique kills (max of 20) during the hack you would get X amount of xp (max of 5000.) You would still get nothing for an uncontested base. But the more people that you killed in that base, meant the more xp you got when that base got hacked.

What would happen is there was less base camping. People wouldn't leave a spawn point open because it was too risky. If if is the same three guys, your squad already killed. Why kill them again? XP farming was impossible. It rewarded squads more then soloers, because it is harder for one guy to kill 20 then ten guys to kill twenty within a certain amount of time. People concetrated more on getting and holding the hack then letting x amount of baddies in the SOI and killing them. People were more likely to leave an SOI and defend somewhere else, because there was no timeslice. It didn't matter how much time you spent there. It mattered how many people your squad killed.

They changed it because they didn't like it and it was too hard to explain. I found that hard to believe. But that was their story.

The time slice thing was what they replaced it with. You get more exp for the amount of time you are in a base, while there are enemies there. The more enemies X the amount of time = more experience.

I guess they changed it AGAIN because everyone was staying in the SOI. I believe that the unique kills idea wasn't forcing people to stay in the SOI as much. but that isn't the point. Now that we have the time slice idea, they want us to use the tarrain between bases. So they came up with the CTF idea.

Cauldron Borne · 2003-07-23, 06:58 PM

Wait! CTF? Capture the Flag? don't... under....stand.... I think I spend to much time in the field. Barely even go in bases. EXPLAIN YOU SELF!!!!!

Headrattle · 2003-07-23, 07:02 PM

it is new.

In a few weeks, we'll be shaking up the base capture process by bringing out of the SOI and back onto the terrain. In order to successfully capture a base, rather than waiting inside the base's SOI for the capture process to count down, players will need to capture a base's Lattice Logic Module and deliver it to one of their nearest facilities. We'll describe this more fully in the coming days.

There is more in these forums.

Hamma · 2003-07-23, 07:08 PM

Visit the front page of PSU sometime

Navaron · 2003-07-23, 07:35 PM

Perhaps I'm going insane, but wasn't there a time when you got more xp for being in a squad then you did alone?

Also, I thought there was a point where they used the time slice things, combined with kills to equal your exp for the cap. No one stuck around for 15 minutes for the hack to go through, cause as soon as you hacked it, the only reason to stay around was to get your 20 kills, after that, as long as the base was secure you didn't need to stick around.

The unique kill thing was a dumb idea anyway.

Navaron · 2003-07-23, 07:48 PM

Originally posted by Hamma
The amount of XP?

They didnt want people to be BR20 in one week like they were in beta

Actually, what's so bad about that? CR would have to be a different ball game, but BR??? That'd be good. Everyone bitches about how it's not an RPG, so do away with the level grind.

Cease · 2003-07-23, 07:49 PM

the only reason to stay around was to get your 20 kills, after that, as long as the base was secure you didn't need to stick around.

Hmm, to my knowledge you still don't need to wait for the hack to go through. I solo quite a bit in the mornings and I'll go to a base... kill some baddies.... help get the hack and then move on if things look settled. I'll be far away from the SOI and still get XP when the hack goes through.

Navaron · 2003-07-23, 07:49 PM

Sorry for the trifectorate post, but Spin... I meant Spork

posted on this exact topic ironically-

SporkfirePS
Developer posted 07-23-2003 12:23 PM user search report post
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We actually do not think people will quit when they reach BR20/CR5, we always intended that to simply be the top level of the game where the character is fully deveoped and versatile enough to fill several roles and experiment with some others.
We've continued to look at the exp system and discussions are going on about what to do with it in the future. Despite people's protests, simply increasing it is not the answer. We have to look at the number of people who have hit the cap after only two months (many of them hit it in less than a month) and ask if we seriously harmed advancement. I don't think we have.

Beta-style gameplay cannot be explained only by citing the difference in experience gain. There are other factors, including a sigificant difference on what players focus on when they know that these characters are not persistent.

So, I can tell you that we are looking at making sure that players feel adequately rewarded for what they do. The details on are the design table, with people making it a serious priority. But simply increasing kill experience is not the cure-all that so many think it is.

Victor Wachter
Community Relations Representative
Many questions can be answered by reading the PlanetSide Game Info and FAQ

fpmoose, I generally agree with you. Let's stop using the word 'experience' for a moment and begin thinking in terms of rewards and goals, or the carrot you cite.
We do not think that the beta reward system is the key to answering some of the issues that players have. Even a modification of that system would not help PlanetSide meet its full potential. We have some goals in how we'd like to see the game played. We agree that appropriate rewards are necessary to see this through. In that case, we need to:

1) Reward players for a variety of activities. There are plenty of things to do in PlanetSide, and we want players to feel that doing those things is worthwhile.
2) Keep them focussed on the primary theme, which is the battle for global domination through control of territory.
3) Make this system non-exploitable.

Pretty hefty tasks we're undertaking, but we do see the community concerns and agree with many of them. We are always thinking of ways to make gameplay everything it possibly can be. Sometimes, we'll go with community feedback. Sometimes, we will go another direction. But it is always in the interest of creating the best game out there. The opportunities we have are the things that great long-lasting games are made of.

Victor Wachter
Community Relations Representative
Many questions can be answered by reading the PlanetSide Game Info and FAQ

Headrattle · 2003-07-23, 08:11 PM

Originally posted by {BOHICA}Navaron
Perhaps I'm going insane, but wasn't there a time when you got more xp for being in a squad then you did alone?

Also, I thought there was a point where they used the time slice things, combined with kills to equal your exp for the cap. No one stuck around for 15 minutes for the hack to go through, cause as soon as you hacked it, the only reason to stay around was to get your 20 kills, after that, as long as the base was secure you didn't need to stick around.

The unique kill thing was a dumb idea anyway.

Well, kills weren't split between the squad. If you got a kill, everyone got the same expereince for it. It wasn't split between the members of your squad. So, the time that it took for you to reach the next level got multiplied by 5 to 10 times what it was in Beta.

Which I don't have a problem with. I just wish that the larger the squad, the more your bonus. The bonus should be potentially better then 20% for a ten man squad.

The Timeslice thing never really went through many changes. Most of the time there were misconceptions. Mainly because people were confused and believed that you still needed the unique kills. It was very odd. But when the went from Unique kills to timeslice, I think that was the only change in how they collected experience. I liked the Unique kills better, because it seemed to cut down on the number of hack whores, and made people actually want combat instead of wasting time in a hacked base shooting each other.

Currently I regularly leave the SOI of a hacked base, if that base has little to no enemies and plenty of friendlies. But then I don't really play for XP anyway. My gunner (who is on the Konried top ten) gets me plenty if we hunt AMS's, Vehicles, and take towers. We almost have it down to a science. The baddies are usually coming from somewhere. In that area you will see a Vanguard driving full speed inbetween trees, while the gunner makes insane shots, reviving friendly infantry, repairing friendly vehicles, then driving away to repair ourselves. I have noticed with the outfit that I started that most people do want xp. To me they kinda miss the point. But whatever. I have a crap load of fun killing things outside of the SOI as I do inside of the SOI. But that may be just me.

Cauldron Borne · 2003-07-23, 08:45 PM

Wait, front page? THERE'S A FRONT PAGE?!?!?!?! damn I spend WAYYYY to much time outside. need to devote all my time to PSU and th front page. going now, bye.