Something to work towards/"RPG Elements"

[Lonehunter]

RPG may have been the wrong term, but I've heard people mention wanting something more to work towards. That BR and CR just aren't enough.

Basically, I don't think some people are happy with just reaching a MAX BR cap. Some have even brought up Prestige from Call of Duty. The main point is some games use some kind of almost infinite leveling system so it always feels like you are working towards something, it's a great way to keep people hooked. But personally I've always been the one in my group who is just happy to play the game, I don't want a high amount of levels. I feel like what I do is never enough.

So what do you think? Would you be happy hitting a level cap?

[Azellon]

I agree that there needs to be other achievements and such that people can unlock.

Adding an Empire progression bar of some kind might be nice, as would Outfit progression, both of which could rely not only on kills but also on capturing and holding objectives, support provided in terms of healing/repping/CE/hacking, etc.

Allowing Outfits to designate squad roles and giving the Command Ranks the ability to flag Squad/Platoon leaders' maps with what types of squads are needed and where might be nice. Make it like a Legend in a lower corner so the abuse wouldn't be so bad.

Long, hard battles...say any continent battle that takes 12+ hours and involves hundreds of players should be counted as pivotal battles and provide some kind of acknowledgement. Vets should be able to look at someone else's ribbons and say "You were at that battle? So was I."

[Tikuto]

I'm one who doesn't give a damn about game achievements and progression bars. I've always played PlanetSide for it's heavy mass PvP battles.

I can agree to an 'endless progression' and can contribute. As well as "BEP Prestige",
have at look at CEP fluctuation (http://www.planetside-universe.com/forums/showthread.php?p=562080#post562080).Both alternate up and down.


the Differences
Prestige wouldn't be an end-game thing, though. It'd be a by-product of your Battle Rank. Prestige would be a measure of one's K : D ratio, maybe, which is influenced by your BEP Battle Rank. You can be so awesome, you'd be a temporary "Champion" for a duration, which grants you something awesome and bragging rights.
Command fluctuations would be similar though, still, completely different and not a by-product. Increases and Decreases of CEP, which promotes or demotes your Command Rank. All decided by players.

Titles
Prestige (by-product of BEP) creates "Champions".
Command (CEP & Command Rank) creates player "Chieftains". together at their peak they would create a player "Hero" (very hard to attain).

[Azellon]

Command fluctuations would be similar though, still, completely different and not a by-product. Increases and Decreases of CEP, which promotes or demotes your Command Rank. All decided by players.

Titles
Prestige (by-product of BEP) creates "Champions".
Command (CEP & Command Rank) creates player "Chiefs". together at their peak they would create a player "Hero" (very hard to attain).

I like the idea of Command fluctuations, especially if players can decide. However, how could grief be prevented?

Specifically, if one or two large Outfits decide a couple of their guys should be the only Chiefs ever, they can then vote their guys up again and again and vote anyone else down. The only way to overcome this sort of thing would be a concerted effort by everyone else, and many people just wouldn't care enough to try. Most Tribes 2 servers I ever played on were lucky to see half of the server's population participate in a vote.

If the problem of a player-controlled lockout could be overcome or avoided entirely, it would be a good system.

[Bags]

Achievements are a disease that ruin game communities. "Hey bags come do x achievement with us; we don't get ANYTHING for it, but it's an achievements!!!"

I wouldn't mind optional prestige, but plz, no achievements. Merits are OKAY, but they're pretty much achievements.

Achievements encourage bad gameplay. "Don't heal me medic, I'm going for the get 20 kills without being healed achievement!"

[Timantium]

By RPG you meant rocket propelled grenade right?

Kidding, I hate to admit it, but I like the merit system. As long as they promote team play and push the advancement of your empire they work for me.

I'd like to see some perks for the particularly effective leaders, but I'm against anything tied to K/D "prestige." This is going to penalize people for leading a charge, and thus discourage people from assaulting period.

I could give two ####s about my K/D when I play, I'm all about the caps baby. I don't care if I die charging down a hallway if I clear the path for my teammates behind me. You have all been frustrated by the chickens grouped up at the backdoor of a base going nowhere when all it takes is a few brave souls to charge in and break up the blockade.

I like to be the person who helps break the wall, even if it means I die in the process (which it almost always does). I should not be penalized in my "prestige" by this.

[Hamma]

The merit system was one of my favorite additions to the original PlanetSide. It provided some progression but not totally out of control like many achievement based systems in gaming now.

I do believe PS needs more aspects to it in terms of progression the trick is finding that balance between some additional progression and crackpipe achievement whoring that could be spawned.

[Lonehunter]

The Merritt system was a good addition, but I don't think it was relevant in any way. With a lot more work it could be a key feature. What if the sunglasses, shades, no helm etc. where all unlocked by achievements like that?

Now Bags may be right in the fact if they're poorly designed they could negatively affect the battlefield. But they could be simple things like cap so many bases, or kill so many people with a certain gun or armor. Although I'd like to see some real accomplishments, like successfully defend a Red Alert

[Bags]

Now Bags may be right in the fact if they're poorly designed they could negatively affect the battlefield. But they could be simple things like cap so many bases, or kill so many people with a certain gun or armor. Although I'd like to see some real accomplishments, like successfully defend a Red Alert

Merits work sort of like this already.

[CutterJohn]

Once I was sitting in a back base with my driver. We had a vanny. I was just lazily scanning around, when I saw two gals. "Shit! Shit! Shit! 2 gals backdoor now!" And my driver took off. We rounded the corner, and they started to fall, there was a handy hill 50m away from the backdoor my driver went up on, and I just started shooting into the backdoor. 2 dead. 4 dead. 8 dead. bam, bam, bam. I think a reaver took out one of the dudes who landed on the wall, but we killed everyone else.

Thats an achievement. And the game will never measure that sort of stuff. Computers just count. And if theres rewards, its just one more thing I have to grind out before i can quit the grind and enjoy the game.

[SKYeXile]

Once I was sitting in a back base with my driver. We had a vanny. I was just lazily scanning around, when I saw two gals. "Shit! Shit! Shit! 2 gals backdoor now!" And my driver took off. We rounded the corner, and they started to fall, there was a handy hill 50m away from the backdoor my driver went up on, and I just started shooting into the backdoor. 2 dead. 4 dead. 8 dead. bam, bam, bam. I think a reaver took out one of the dudes who landed on the wall, but we killed everyone else.

Thats an achievement. And the game will never measure that sort of stuff. Computers just count. And if theres rewards, its just one more thing I have to grind out before i can quit the grind and enjoy the game.

sure it can...

M.M.M MONSTER KILL.

simply not in a vanguard.

[basti]

Nice and easy: This is not a MMORPG. Leveling isnt the key here, the key is playing with you buddys and having fun. And if you want a long term goal to reach: Look at the map, make everything the color of the empire you belong to. THAT is a true long term goal, not this random "LOL LVL 23563285" crap.


Besides that, people dont care about the levels or stuff, they care about the reward. And as we all know, to much reward (BR40 anyone?) causes alot of pain for everyone.


And even besides that: If PSN got a useful way to track stats again, like planetside used to have before the websites stats went broke, then most people will be happy. All my archiving needs where covered everytime i reached the top10 of my empire...

[Tikuto]

CutterJohn understands. That's how an achievement in PlanetSide is accomplished -- it's Personal and remembered, and is probably the very thing that attaches us to the game. All this Merit system and other none-sense can shit itself out of PS:N.



to much reward (BR40 anyone?) causes alot of pain for everyone.Yeah stuff like that feels like a burden to me. I was shocked at what sense it made, which was nothing to me. I was and still remain to be thinking: "Why would SOE do that, really?". "What emotion and thought made them do that pointless bit of shit?".

[Raymac]

Yeah stuff like that feels like a burden to me. I was shocked at what sense it made, which was nothing to me. I was and still remain to be thinking: "Why would SOE do that, really?". "What emotion and thought made them do that pointless bit of shit?".

Well the logic behind it made sense, especially at the time. Populations were so low that you needed to do more with the soldiers you have. For example, if you only have 3 people online that are certed in AMS, well obviously thats a problem. Now that pops are up, it's less of a problem, and I don't see it being a problem with the pops they should have in PS:N.

Some have argued that you should let people continue to level up and cert everything because they can only do 1 thing at a time, but I just disagree with that. It's good to have roles to fill, instead of everyone being able to fill any role.

[DviddLeff]

I don't mind the merit system at all, except the requirement for big kill streaks which encourage camping.

The merit system encourages people to both specialise in a role to achieve the top tier merits, and eventually try all the things in the game to get all the merits.

[Traak]

I figure merits are fine, minus any kill streaks needed, which encourages whoreage.

[Hamma]

The exact reasons I thought merits were good is they did NOT have rewards associated and you just got them for playing normally.

[Raymac]

The exact reasons I thought merits were good is they did NOT have rewards associated and you just got them for playing normally.

Except for the kill streak part. On alot of those, you'd really change your gameplay alot, especially if you were at 6/8. I still try not to care about that stuff, but it's human nature to react to that situation. Overall though, I liked the addition of the merits too.

[Tikuto]

The exact reasons I thought merits were good is they did NOT have rewards associated and you just got them for playing normally.True. It'd be like a Curriculum Vitae and I likes that thought.

[Tremadog]

I liked the idea of the merits being displayed on the character, it felt good wearing my medical specialisation on my armour. If they were more clearly distinguished on the character model, all the better. Unlockable toys are all well and good, but you don't have to balance shiny medals, and they can be balanced to be unintrusive to the gameplay if properly thought out, I believe.