Planetside 2

[tataki]

(Copy paste from a thread I made on another forum)

http://www.ps4fans.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Planetside-2-Wallpaper-Amerish.jpg

This game is gorgeous, fun and pretty unique. It’s an MMOFPS. It simulates a 24/7 ongoing war between 3 futuristic armies. You defend and conquer bases and territory, participating in massive battles alongside, and against many, many other players.

Now here’s the thing I wanted to talk about- It has grind, and a lot of it. There are a lot of things you can do in this game, but access to them costs you “certs” (because writing “certification points” every time is annoying) which you get 1 for every 250 experience you earn for doing productive stuff.

You can buy tools with real money as an alternative (overpriced) but to upgrade them you must use certs.

The upgrades have no clear correlation between cost and power. For example, many of the default weapon different classes start with are really really good, and unlockable weapons merely serve as “sidegrades” to compliment very specific roles. Another example is the Flak Armor upgrade route- Going from 30% splash damage reduction to 40% will cost you 150 certs (It takes me 2-3 hours to earn that amount, with the “money maker” support classes.) but going from 40% to the final level of 50% will cost a whooping 1000 certs.

My point is that you unlock stuff really really slow, especially if you want to “max out” your effectiveness in one class and area. (While being a jack of all trades yet master of none is extremely cheap in comparison.)

Now, if you read my various forum posts you know how much I loathe grinding and having to unlock tools in multiplayer games. But after playing this game for 35 hours, I don’t know how to feel about it in this specific case.

Here are the 3 main BENEFITS of this slow grinding system:

1. The war is meant to never end. Every day will be a new small battle over some territory. Also considering the size and scope of the battles, each individual’s influence (both skill-wise and tool-wise) in it is small. While you are simply meant to have fun with the simulated scenarios, this creates a situation where the players may feel insignificant and pointless. The game’s structure and flow don’t offer any noticeable progress. In multiplayer games you get feedback as you improve as a player because the end score changes as well- You start winning more. But here the end result depends on so many factors beyond your control, that you’ll never get any sort of positive feedback. This is where the grind system comes into play. As bad as it is, it’s the only way of the game to give the players immediate positive feedback and a sense of long term progression.

2. The experience gain serves as a reward system that allows the developers manipulate the players into creating the living, breathing world that is needed to provide the war-like experience which makes the game so much fun. Many people like to play as a “Lone Rambo Corridor Shooter”, but the experience system encourages them to cooperate as teams, and fill in for needed roles, and push to complete the objectives. (The support classes, which are also crucial, give the fastest and easiest cert gain, and that reason alone makes enough people want to play as them.)

3. The premise of the game is to put you in a big battle all the time. The developers use experience bonuses to ensure this happens successfully. They offer big experience bonuses to draw players to play in low traffic times, in low traffic areas, and to go into uphill battles. You won’t care that you are getting your ass kicked by an army that’s 50% larger because you earn a ton of bonus experience fighting this losing battle, and it encourages more players to join until the sides become pretty equal in size (but you still get to keep the initial bonus for a while if I understand correctly.)

If you can find an alternative way to do all the above just as well, while giving everyone immediate access to every tool, let me know.

Basic tutorials, covering basic stuff and customization in options e.g. mouse movements etc.

PlanetSide 2 - Game Tutorials

PlanetSide 2 New-Player Walkthrough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URIu143Si3w

I’m playing as TR on EU server Miller. If you want to play with people together you need to start your characters on the same server and same army.

Cert guide and order for each character:
The cert guide is mostly from my personal experience and calculations and tiny bits of internet exploration.
It has 3 assumptions:

1. You suck at FPSs.
2. You still want to contribute to the fights in meaningful ways and – at least if you play support – earn certs at a good pace.
3. You want to get the most value from your cert purchases. (Consider that I’m TR so the gun purchases are based on that)

Light Assault
pending
(considering nanoweave r3, jet r4, 2C4)

Medic
Nanoweave Armor r1- 1
Medical Applicator r1- 10 (Your cert maker, heal and rez, mostly rez)
Nano-Regen Device r1- 1 (The AOE healing is not really important. The self heal of it is the best self heal in the game though, keep it active when going to rez under fire and turn it off when getting to cover)
Nano-Regen Device r2- 10
Medical Applicator r2- 30
Medical Applicator r3- 50
Night vision scope for the main gun- 30 (Why night vision? Because if you are only going to buy one type of scope for now you might as well take the one that will prevent you from being useless at night time)
Nanoweave Armor r2- 10
Nano-Regen Device r3- 30
Nano-Regen Device r4- 50
Medical Applicator r4- 100
Big important purchase if you really like this class:
Medical Applicator r5- 500 (looks expensive but the extra range and the sheer speed of the rez will make you a pro necromancer. This cert investment will easily return itself)

Engineer
Flak armor r1- 1
Nano-Armor Kit r1- 10 (Your cert maker. Tanks and MAXes can really shine when an engineer babysits them)
Nano-Armor Kit r2- 30
Flak armor r2- 10
Nano-Armor Kit r3- 50
Night vision scope for the main gun- 30
Medical Kit r1- 50 (unlocks for all classes when you purchase)
Nano-Armor Kit r4- 150
Big important purchase if you really like this class:
Anti-Vehicle MANA Turret- 1000

Infiltrator
pending

Heavy Assault
Flak armor r1- 1
Nanite Mesh Generator r1- 1
Flak armor r2- 10
The default gun is weird. I bought MSR-W because it’s similar to a carbine- 100
Night vision scope for the main gun- 30
Nanite Mesh Generator r1- 30
Medical Kit r1- 50 (unlocks for all classes when you purchase)
Bazooka with homing vs air unit- 250 "I am the protector of Russian skies!"
Anti-vehicle granade- 200
Flak armor r3- 50
Flak armor r4- 150
Big important purchase if you really like this class:
pending

Max
pending
(considering flak r4, ammo storage r3, the two 250 weapons, 1000 AA gun)