New XP system... from a non-XP whore

Pilgrim · 2003-05-12, 10:49 PM

I honestly do not play this game for XP.

I get most of what I want by BR 5, and can get to BR 5 with a good squad killing folk in the world. Any BR after that is nice, but not really necesary to my enjoyment.

That being said... I understand why SOE made the xp change they did. I was sick of fighting with my squad to take a base, then over the course of the 15 minute deffence watching 60+ of my closest friends wander in for free xp. The XP change will force a first come first serve mentality, which will force people off overcrowded contenents and onto the lesser contested ones (if there are such things) Where they can lead the charge into a base instead of just tagging along. ATM a base that has been hacked on a connected contenent... by the connected empire, will have minnimum 30-40 people in it after the hack. Today I was leading a squad, and I swear we hacked 3 bases in a row, and watched the part vans move in.

Of course after a time, the deffender of that base is not going to even try anymore, why bother you can't cut through that many people... ever.

So to me much of the XP change is more of a deffence minded thing then anything else.

Deffence will now be eassie... perhaps too easy. Without the XP carrot many people won't sit around bored for 15 minutes. This will give the deffenders a far better chance of scraping clean the CC and getting the base back. This should stop much of the spam base caps that have been going on recently. (we locked ishunder... go us, we kicked all 12 of those guys butts!)

On the down side to this whole thing... I see the xp slow down, and it is not good. Are people going to time their entrance into a CC and wait for the HACK till 10 minutes has elapsed to get the entire 25 minute chunks? Are TK's on hackers going to re-emerge because your squad hasn't been there long enough? Will you be able to pay someone to do an ANT run for a depleting base?

So to me, and remember I care very little for xp... this is a minor change, my outfit and I fight in the field, and kill them on their way. Much more effective then waiting. And without a single cap we went from br1 to br6 in a few hours... even after the newest xp cuts.

I hope they change a few things here, just to make the ANT/GALAXY/Snipers/external harrassment force, mean something. But honestly then most XP you'll gain from a base cap is 3500... that's for 25 minutes of sitting thump incased. Spend that same time attacking the enemy as they move from one contested base to another. Add it up and see how much you get.

So I think this is a step in the right direction, but a step that didn't take all factors into consideration. Watch for this to get revised to help the support monkey's get their share, but otherwise... not a horrible idea.

Flame on

PAX

Ignore Me · 2003-05-12, 10:57 PM

First come, first serve? Was like that before and people got their panties up in a bunch because of TKers. Unlike you, I'm not satisfied with BR5 level of certifications. Being a Commander, it's usually important to get certed with a Galaxy, some sort of ground transport, and a whole lot of guns in order to lay down enough cover and support for your squad.

I used to think that all those people who said Planetside wasn't worth the money were crazy up until recently. But now that they've added this feature into the game, I'm not so sure anymore. C'mon, this would only serve to reward those who could care less about the people who are trying to acheive a certain level of cohesiveness(sp) within a Squad, Outfit, or even Empire. I mean, what's the real point in joining a squad anymore aside from sharing the experience from kills? When you get to a higher BR it really makes no difference whether or not squad member A killed enemy B to get you a whopping 13 bep.

Airlift · 2003-05-12, 11:06 PM

I start to get comfortable around level 10/1.

If they first reduced the number of points you get for a kill and second reduce the number of points you get for doing anything other than staying alive the longest in an SOI, they are not fixing what is broken. Of course, that's just my opinion.

PeregineDive · 2003-05-12, 11:19 PM

Not a bad post Hunter. I agree with you that the xp whore parties are annoying, as after you hacked a base, people start flooding in like mad to get the XP. But as a Gal pilot, this really sucks. I was with a squad tonight, we hacked 2 bases on Emisnar(sp?) and I barely made 1000xp total. Guarding towers is now worthless. Now I am not an xp whore, I like getting it, but the SOI doesn't even reach near any towers. And we have to defend them when we are attacking. I am br7, half way to 8. I will be happy once I get to 10 so I can get something besides medium assault. I really don't like the system so far.

-PD

SuperGlue · 2003-05-12, 11:23 PM

I'm not in beta so plz excuse me.

But I think this new exp system might help the zerging/recyclying effect that I hear about. With life being more precious it will make people pick and choose their moments. Also this will give more power to adv. medics. This is assuming that you still count as being in the SOI while lying dead on the ground waiting for revival. People will lay around a bit longer and ask for medic to revive them. This might help calm the people that hate the new system without trying it. Instead of losing a time slice by dieng and having to respawn, just lay around a bit and yell for a medic.
I am going to be playing medic so I hope my assumtions are correct

Flame away

Ignore Me · 2003-05-12, 11:31 PM

Zerging isn't really that big of a problem anymore, at least from what I've seen. The respawn times have been upped, so pretty much you need to wait between 30 seconds and a minute before you can respawn, depending on how often you die.

Rainer · 2003-05-12, 11:37 PM

Zerging is problem now but its not offense its defense now

Pilgrim · 2003-05-13, 01:02 AM

Just played for the last 2 hours or so...

Got with a good squad and we fought our little panties off for 2 bases... for all our efforts we got a grand total of 1300 xp...
Plus an additional 2-3k in kill xp.

gotta say it does suck.

In the good ole days.. like at 5pm I woulda gotten around 5000 on the base caps and the others. I guess this just happened because of the fact that there was a wipe less then a week ago... and people are allready BR14 or higher.
I think this is a bit of an overcorrection, but it will adjust up... hopefully.

I also realize this totally screws commanders. Don't get me wrong... not for lame new XP system, just think it's a step and will hopefully develop into a better way of getting base caps.

As for life being more precious... hehe I don't think so. People still ran about in an insane fashion. Chickens all of us!

So as of tonight... same fight, same ammount of time, 1/5 the xp... not really worth it.

(BTW not being an XP whore, doesn't mean you don't like it, just means it's not why you play. I look forward to my next BR when I get to add to my list of things I can do... but it's in the play that I find my enjoyment. sitting in an overcrowded base while 10 year olds shoot everything is not my idea of a good time.)

Angelos · 2003-05-13, 01:03 AM

Zerging is only present if the other empire doesn't show up. And then it's not intentional at all. Zerging is not a problem.

I'm with Hunter. I get comfortable at 6/1. Yeah, I can do more at 20/5, but do I need it to help the squad? Remember, you are just one piece to the puzzle. I think you missed that ghost. You wanted everything, because you thought you needed it as a commander. You don't. A gun and a gal would do just fine, you can still be a commander. Remember that a squad of 10 people means you can have everyone play a different role, you don't have to be 3 roles in 1. That's why us non-xp whores are comfortable within a day or two of playing. At BR6 I have 9 certs. That gives me heavy assault with reinforced armor. Someone else in my squad can handle transport, and I KNOW other people will have transport. If I choose to, I can trade in the reinforced armor for a vehicle. Most vehicles don't allow reinforced armor to drive them anyway, so it'd be usually useless if I had a vehicle. So at BR6 I'm even flexible with my certs.

Saethan · 2003-05-13, 01:16 AM

I never get all the certs I want until around br 15. :-O But I'm weird.

Cairo · 2003-05-13, 04:06 AM

This is a terrible patch IMO. Im not an XP whore either, i could care less. What i want is a patch that doesnt reward XP whores by sitting around doing nothing for 10 minutes meanwhile 3 other bases are hacked

. I understand rewards for defending but is it just me or is it sad to have a base clearly well defended enough and to just have everyone around sitting so they can get their precious XP. Something needs to be implemented to change or prevent this.

Holo · 2003-05-13, 08:17 AM

A few weeks ago it was a bunch of people saying "slow xp gain down! it's too easy to get BR20, it takes like 2 weeks... there's really no reason to play after that."

Now it's "omg xp gain is too slow, now it's gonna take forever to get BR20"

Decide what you want people... Personally, I think it's a great thing that now it's going to take considerable time and effort to reach the upper ranks... but that's just me

btw, I do think something needs to be done in the way of screwing over the transport and ANT drivers... that's kinda crappy. Other than that, I think it's a good thing that new levels are gonna take a lot more work to attain, at least you won't be BR5 after only a few hours of playing... 1/4 of the way to the top.

Airlift · 2003-05-13, 08:20 AM

I'm not an exp whore, I'm an exp pimp, and it is time to set some SOE bitches straight

Edit: On a serious note, Holo.. Have you ever considered that there might be more than one person or group of people that feel differently about it? The people who complained that exp was too quick were the ladder bitches. The people complaining now are the ones who want to play a FPS.

Hamma · 2003-05-13, 08:39 AM

This is a bad move, it needs to be fixed. Catering to the RPG croud is a very bad move, becaue generally FPS folks and RPG folks want completly different thinks. You are gonna need to pick one, or the other. There were "RPG" elements prior to this patch. Now it becomes a leveling treadmill.

BlehBlehAmiga · 2003-05-13, 08:48 AM

Holo, I think it's different camps of people. The people who want an RPG and want levels to mean something more, want level 20's to beat level 1's without a fight were saying leveling was too slow.

People who treat this as a hardcore fps don't care about level very much and that's all find and dandy.

People who are mostly FPS but a little RPG want to be able to level to a certain point at least relativly quickly, say BR 10 so their char is to a point of being complete. Afterwords levels are mostly just options.

Then of course it's the principal of the thing. The biggest punishment of this system is support classes, why should the grunt who stays in the SOI get rewarded more than the guy defending the tower so the grunt can capture the base? Or the transporter who got them there? Or the guy making the ANT run? Or the sniper on the hill taking out just as many people from outside the SOI?

This same system with group xp instead of individual wouldn't be so bad. Combine that with a little bonus for defending and it all balances out. Increase the XP curve post BR 10 or so and it slows down leveling, but people can still get reinforced, a weapon speciality and a vehicle, or some other basic combination before slowing down.