[Doomed for Indar from the Start]

HiroshiChugi · 2013-02-25, 07:58 AM

Fellow Planetside-Universe.com Auraxians, lend me your ears!

Ok guys, I know that it's a long read, but please, just give me a few moments of your time to get this straight.

So I was actually able to get on Planetside 2 Saturday night, and I gotta say: even though I missed playing it like crazy, I got bored after about an hour or 2 of playing on only got dang Indar!

So therefore, I decided to check the other two continents for ANY action. Unfortunately, Esamir finally looked like it had some action starting by the time I decided to get off.

My point? I saw all of this happening the very first week I started playing the game. Which was back in September-November timeframe I think? Whenever me and my outfit buddies would hop on to do some cont. capping, a majority of the people would vote for Indar because it was more "fun" and had "better mapping" or some stupid-ass reason... (sorry for the language Hamma).

Regardless of whether you were fighting with outfits or just soloing, or even going with a small squad, you would always at one point or another end up on Indar because a majority of the population was one there.

But nowadays, the only reason there's a majority of the population on there, is because, wait for it, WE ARE LOSING PLAYERS!!!!!

I noticed that we had the normal amount of people on Indar, maybe even a little bit less than before. But the big thing is that NOBODY was on the other two! (Except about 20% population of TR on Esamir guarding the bases, with a few dumb-fire rocket Mossies).

IMHO, server merges are needed but we also need MORE than just the server changes. We need more people, but we need a better way of controlling where those people can go. I've heard continent locking, which I understand pretty easily, but I've also heard of something called "Lattice." Now this term, I am quite unfamiliar with. I've seen diagrams and illustrations, paired with a few descriptions, but it's still a little bit confusing to me. Maybe I just need a better explanation of it?

I also keep hearing that people don't think server merges will help, but honestly, I think they will. Here's what I think SOE should do:

Do the server merges first, and let the population grow a little more. And then, once you have enough players again, split some of the more active servers or add more so that you can balance out the population more.

I've seen the Road Map, and to be quite frank, it looks pitiful. I know that it takes a lot of time to do these things, I'm looking at you here T-Ray (from your interview with Hamma at the Ultimate Empire Showdown event), but you could at least take people off of SOE's other games that are doing just fine right now (the Star Wars one, and Maple Leaf [or whatever it's called]) and put them into Planetside 2 in order to get things done faster. I mean, come on! You have to AT LEAST see that your player base is dropping DRASTICALLY due to fixes not coming soon enough. Maybe try releasing things in smaller patches more often and gearing more towards the general FPS CROWD and not the general gaming crowd?

But then again, what do I know? I've only been playing PC games since Elementary School and have been Closed Alpha and Closed Beta testing for I don't know how many years now.

So fellow Planetside-Universe.com Auraxians, lend me your thoughts and opinions!

PredatorFour · 2013-02-25, 08:05 AM

The lattice worked well in PS1 because the maps were bigger and there was more bases, which provided abilities to the empire owning them.

In PS2 there's only a handful of bases which would probably make it harder to introduce.

Higby designed the maps with the idea of fighting all over the cont, something that didn't happen on PS1. The idea was cool, but it had a significant downfall and that was the design of the map itself. With the crown and surrounding area's they designed a map where EVERYONE would just go to the middle of the map to fight/ farm and not spread out across the whole map.

HiroshiChugi · 2013-02-25, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by PredatorFour

The lattice worked well in PS1 because the maps were bigger and there was more bases, which provided abilities to the empire owning them.

In PS2 there's only a handful of bases which would probably make it harder to introduce.

Higby designed the maps with the idea of fighting all over the cont, something that didn't happen on PS1. The idea was cool, but it had a significant downfall and that was the design of the map itself. With the crown and surrounding area's they designed a map where EVERYONE would just go to the middle of the map to fight/ farm and not spread out across the whole map.

And this is something that needs to be fixed, and fixed FAST. Otherwise, the game will actually fail. Which is the complete and total opposite of what I thought the game would do when I frst heard about it. If they're not careful enough, it could turn into Global Agenda.... which would be extremely sad if it actually happened. -__-"

seanman · 2013-02-25, 12:27 PM

ti alloy, cross road, crown, more of them 1-25BR. Planetside2 more like a TDM inside that's region.

the others region already ghost capping at indar, meanwhile amerish and esamir already a ghost continent.

Sorry for my bad english.
i want to said planetside more like tdm if the pops just fight there.

HiroshiChugi · 2013-02-25, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by seanman

ti alloy, cross road, crown, more of them 1-25BR i mean newbie at planetside 2. it was like a TDM and they were farming cert.
and others outpost a ghost capping, others cont ghost everywhere.

What are you trying to say? That The Crown and others like it should be zoned for higher up BRs or lower BRs? Your English is very broken and hard to understand.

EdiT: Grammar.

HiroshiChugi · 2013-02-26, 07:32 AM

-bump for more views and replies-

Pella · 2013-02-26, 07:39 AM

Ti Alloys, Cross roads. All that Area is a ripe farm for TR prowlers. Then we have Allatum to defend.

Good fun.

HiroshiChugi · 2013-02-26, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by Pella

Ti Alloys, Cross roads. All that Area is a ripe farm for TR prowlers. Then we have Allatum to defend.

Good fun.

That's not really what I was trying to say...

I'm trying to point out that from PS2's public launch, we were all doomed to be headed for one continent, and that continent just happened to be Indar and that all of this could have been avoided.

Dkamanus · 2013-02-26, 08:23 AM

The only way to fix this is to actually redesign indar as a whole. As a continent (since beta) it always felt like a test bed for other enviroments. I mean, 3 biomes in one continent sounds a bad move, specially if those 3 biomes offer 3 different styles of play in the same continent, 1 for each faction, and being detrimental (SE Indar) or beneficial (N Indar) for the faction that owns it.

When we see Esamir and Amerish, we don't see those problems, or if we do, they are of such a minor magnitute that they don't interfere at all. Even having some disadvantages, they're more balanced that Indar. Not only that, Indar has too many bases, some of which only see ghost capping action. Saurva is one such case. One of the best biolabs made in the game, and still almost all the time ghostcapped or ghost BACK capped.

I prefer they did a redesign pass on indar, getting rid of those continental walls that pretty much divide the map in three, with too many passages towards the north and not enough between SE and SW part of indar. Make the new indar a mix of Desert and Canyon formations. Tawrich and Zurvan, disconsidering some map design problems imo, are the best Tech Plant and Amp Station to fight on in Indar. There the canyons offer attack and defense options and some of the most fearsome battles for tech plants/amp station occur.

Dougnifico · 2013-02-26, 11:15 AM

Lets hope more continents help. They need more conts and and intercontinental lattice that can move the battle along. Notice that battles move when only 2 empires are involved. If they can make a 3 empire convergence an uncommon occasion then that would really help the battle move around.

wasdie · 2013-02-26, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by PredatorFour

The lattice worked well in PS1 because the maps were bigger and there was more bases, which provided abilities to the empire owning them.

In PS2 there's only a handful of bases which would probably make it harder to introduce.

Higby designed the maps with the idea of fighting all over the cont, something that didn't happen on PS1. The idea was cool, but it had a significant downfall and that was the design of the map itself. With the crown and surrounding area's they designed a map where EVERYONE would just go to the middle of the map to fight/ farm and not spread out across the whole map.

The maps are bigger in PS2 and they have more relevant terrain to fight over. This actually makes them feel smaller and have less content.

The problem is with perception. You rarely get to fight across the entire continent in PS2 because it's a constant 3 way stalemate. If you do get to fight across the whole thing, there is a lot more in between two objectives than just some empty terrain and maybe a small tower that is easily overrun.

Lattice wouldn't work here because of how much stuff there is packed on a continent. The Hex system is pretty much a lattice system as you cannot attack a base that isn't connected in some way to another hex that you currently own, much like the lattice system from PS1.

The problem isn't lattice, size of the continent, base layout, or any of that. The problem is each empire has a foothold on each continent. You can never actually get a good faction vs. faction battle over the entire continent that would last all day. Each of the continents can be invaded by a faction from their warpgate at any time. No more having to hop across continents, no more being able to predict where the zerg is going, no more retreating back to a better defensive position on a different continent and holding, and no more epic last stands on a continent that truly conclude the fighting on the continent.

Right now it's just a 24/7 stalemate. During medium and high pop hours, the map rarely moves much. It's only when 2 factions abandon a continent do you see a continent flip.

This is what is truly toxic to the game's longevity. There is no sense of accomplishment for fighting. Just grinding out levels.