There is METAGAME in Planetside 2…

ToweTwelve · 2013-02-17, 10:02 AM

…and it lives in forums, twitter, reddit, facebook and similar spheres. Just playing on battlegrounds, earning certs and having fun are not enough anymore (for me for example). The result of GU02 shown for me that gameplay mechanics in game can be changed drastically by enough drive through whining and/or any kind of propaganda drive (justified or not is another question). So know – your faction needs you on internet. I will be reminding this to players from Ceres by /yell from time to time, please incite your fellows on your servers too. If you have some little extra time join the battlefield that changes tanks, planes, guns, everything in game, and post or two or start a thread (and even if you do it now do it a bit more and start a bit pushing towards this your friends on servers):

- change Magskater – nerf to the state, where players will have no more temptation to use it (a joke, please don’t make it worse

), or give some benefit, for now it is highly weakened (more in TIPS).
- Change Prowler – the doom of tank CQC is stronger than ever with the ability to snipe.
- Start scaling AA vs Air balance a tiny bit in favor of air. For now 1 MAX is a high threat for any ESF around 300 m from him (and I mean MAX will kill you, Fly away!).

For two months I was just enjoying the game and reading and lurking the forums from time to time. When Libs were hitting me hard I was hiding, changing the spawn point, uniting with other AA (10-20 MAXes on the hill shooting away Air), using Scythe or Magskater to shoot it from distance. When Rocketpods killed me in 10th or 20th time when I was sniping from some high rock, I put away my sniper rifle and started mastering Scythe, using my Rocketpods and never regretted it.

But now the Magskater strafe ability was almost halved and they took away magnificent hill-climbing ability, but they gave more damage and velocity to Prowler and more velocity to Vanguard. In 50-100m if you don’t drive away you will be outshoot by Prowler or outlived (by its shield) by Vanguard (and Vanguard has less chance to miss now due to higher velocity). So Vanu was hit hard but don’t be afraid: we can and should push them back, give developers your thoughts on all those internet fields and Vanu will smile upon you.

Thank you for reading my dear reader, I will try to reward you with some decent-player TIPS (mostly usable by Vanu):

Magskater – always know the way you will be retreating. Know that now you have almost no chance in 50-100 m against other faction MBTs, so in perfect situation shoot them take some damage and drive away. Use Stealth Armor, radar invisibility is your best friend, no armor will help you now against these monsters. Use Default cannon, for now AV cannon (used it for around 1 month) gives almost no benefit (especially regarding GU02 boons for other MBTs) but takes away you ability to fight effectively infantry (specially those situation when you enemy is being repaired by engineers, but blast from Default will kill them). The HE cannon on other hand will make you a tasty meal for all enemy vehicles so stick with default. Rival or Racer – your choice (I used Rival but now strafing effectively works only on 400-700 m, where you can run away any way) so I would recommend Racer if you have none. Secondary Gun – anything will suffice. Use Magburner – it will give that needed speed edge when running away from enemy MBT, going for cover from lock-on or going away from Rocketpods. If you were caught in Tank CQC give some shots to enemy tank, deconstruct it and run towards enemy to Tankmine them. Deconstructing is needed for avoiding the explosion blast from your vehicle, denying XP is the side effect.

Scythe – if you hear that specific hit sound from flak learn the reflex to fly away (truly you have little chance to find the source of this flak and effectively eliminate it). So turn your self to 90o to the side and use afterburner plus vertical thrust, after that start zigzagging towards friendly territory, Repair and rearm yourself then start hunting again. Use stealth, again radar invisibility is your best friend, especially at night. Use default cannon, upgrade it a bit, it is perfect for long range and decent in a dogfight. Put basic Infrared Night vision on your rocketpods even at day time it will help you to aim at those smoking tanks. When engaging tanks (best at night) try to take a long rout, fly around the tank column choose the last enemy, kill him and run away, when successful repeat couple of times but be careful: if things get hot start using long-range(800-1000m) barraging, at least it will distract them from shelling your allies, Also good move is to shoot stationary Libs from distance with default gun (700-1000 m) it will cripple their ability to rain hell on your friends below. Use Hover Frame (it will boost the strengths of Scythe), Flares (wait till enemy has hard Lock-on and then use it). In Dogfights if 1 enemy is engaging you try to get on his tail if not zigzag to friendly territory.
P.S. Sorry if my English is bad.

OCNSethy · 2013-02-17, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by ToweTwelve

…. If you were caught in Tank CQC give some shots to enemy tank, deconstruct it and run towards enemy to Tankmine them. Deconstructing is needed for avoiding the explosion blast from your vehicle, denying XP is the side effect.

Really?

Your going to take any Xp you earn but deny it to the soul thats taken you out... shame on you.

CrispyHaze · 2013-02-17, 06:11 PM

Yeah, no. There is absolutely no reason to deconstruct. Unless you already have a macro for deconstruct (in which case you are a prick), you can be well out of the blast range of the tank in the same amount of time it takes to open the menu and select deconstruct. Therefore this is not a valid point, and the main purpose for doing this is XP denial. Making you a prick.

Neutral Calypso · 2013-02-17, 06:50 PM

All is fair in love and war. I state that XP denial is a valid strategy. The last thing I need is more op NCs running around faster.

OCNSethy · 2013-02-17, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by Neutral Calypso

All is fair in love and war. I state that XP denial is a valid strategy. The last thing I need is more op NCs running around faster.

I can not subscribe to that notion. Why have XP at all, if all you are doing is taking your bat & ball and going home?

Sifer2 · 2013-02-18, 12:31 AM

Doesn't matter anyway as they are going to be revamping the deconstruct feature to give back a portion of resources but it will likely receive a longer deconstruct time.

As for the nerf/whine metagame. There is some truth to it. Almost all changes made so far seem to line up with common complaints on their forums. It's probably because in the past they were notorious for not listening to their players, and it cost them big time. SWG...

PredatorFour · 2013-02-18, 06:47 AM

If there was a meta game, people wouldn't stay at the crown and surrounding areas all day/night.

ToweTwelve · 2013-02-18, 07:05 AM

Originally Posted by OCNSethy

Really?

Your going to take any Xp you earn but deny it to the soul thats taken you out... shame on you.

Originally Posted by CrispyHaze

Yeah, no. There is absolutely no reason to deconstruct. Unless you already have a macro for deconstruct (in which case you are a prick), you can be well out of the blast range of the tank in the same amount of time it takes to open the menu and select deconstruct. Therefore this is not a valid point, and the main purpose for doing this is XP denial. Making you a prick.

As i said, denying XP is a side effect, i would gladly support feature that would give XP for damaging ground vehicles, but for now the enemy tank pilot just knows, if he will not finish off the tank he will not get XP so it gives you chance to Tankmine him. It is just my way for adapting to ridiculous situation where in 50-100m radius the only viable stratagy for my tank is driving away.

Originally Posted by PredatorFour

If there was a meta game, people wouldn't stay at the crown and surrounding areas all day/night.

There are people who just play the game, like me for two months, and there are people who forces their thoughts or complaints through forums, twitter and other internet fields and they are changing the game. The question if it is good or bad is debatable but for me it feels very odd how the drive for nerfing Magskater worked in such succesful way.

Baneblade · 2013-02-18, 07:10 AM

Originally Posted by Sifer2

As for the nerf/whine metagame. There is some truth to it. Almost all changes made so far seem to line up with common complaints on their forums. It's probably because in the past they were notorious for not listening to their players, and it cost them big time. SWG...

No, they still pick and choose what they want to hear from us.

ToweTwelve · 2013-02-18, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by Baneblade

No, they still pick and choose what they want to hear from us.

But the more people stating the same idea or complaint over and over again the more there are chances that it will be implemented.

Figment · 2013-02-18, 07:18 AM

I only deconstruct vehicles when I don't want people to have a physical reminder I'm in the area.

Like when we did Sundy drops in PS1... I'd decon it to ensure everyone was going to move inside and to not give a big radar blip to the enemy suggesting there's an incursion going on (any second gained in confusing the enemy helps).

But to do it for exp denial... Eh, why would you care about someone else's exp gain in a game where every action you do makes you high on exp gain? :/ Hell, people are addicted to exp gain already. That's a bad thing btw, leads to farm mentality.

PredatorFour · 2013-02-18, 07:28 AM

That's what this game is tho, farmside. That's all it is worth playing it for. Just a massive farming simulator.

sylphaen · 2013-02-18, 05:02 PM

And to be honest, actual farming is much more exciting than digital "farming".

Edit: @Figment: thanks for holding the fort.

MaxDamage · 2013-02-18, 05:06 PM

"For now 1 MAX is a high threat for any ESF around 300 m from him (and I mean MAX will kill you, Fly away!)."
Spoiler: 1 ESF with one pilot is also highly dangerous to MAXes.

He's in a mechanised suit with FLAK CANNON ARMS. If he can't potentially shoot down one ESF solo (there are no guarantees) then what is the fucking point of having them at all?

Think about it. You want to be OP as a single player against another single player whose SOLE purpose and ability, is to shoot you down, trapped in his little tincan suit.

Jog on.

OCNSethy · 2013-02-18, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by Figment

I only deconstruct vehicles when I don't want people to have a physical reminder I'm in the area.

Like when we did Sundy drops in PS1... I'd decon it to ensure everyone was going to move inside and to not give a big radar blip to the enemy suggesting there's an incursion going on (any second gained in confusing the enemy helps).

But to do it for exp denial... Eh, why would you care about someone else's exp gain in a game where every action you do makes you high on exp gain? :/ Hell, people are addicted to exp gain already. That's a bad thing btw, leads to farm mentality.

Tactically, your first two sentences make sense, cant argue with that reasoning.

IDK, for some reason, deconning your ride before the death blow seems like a spiteful act to me.

But Im sure of one thing though, if enough people start doing it, there will be a shit storm of complaints to enable a change.