To me, the Planetside 2 Devs' chief weakness is
decisions/changes based on not playing the game.
Imo, it is the primary root of PS2 development quandary. It led to:
Adding things not crucial, necessary or even remotely wanted
some quick examples:
- WDS (Imagine there's a Marathon (WDS). And a hide-and-seek (Alert) pops up. What do you tell the runners?)
- No-Deploy Zone (made attacker Sundy parking a pain and fights
predictable and repetitive; Dev gameplay interference/encroachment at best)
- New lattice links on Indar making Redeployside even worse (It led to large forces going to undefended bases due to those extra connections).
Removing things that is important and/or universally liked/loved.
some quick examples:
- The Crown nerf
- Resource mechanics
- Global Facility Alerts
- Faction Continent ownership (and the fights to lock/unlock it).
Fixing things that aren't broken 
some quick examples:
- Random buffing based on updates (HE, Liberator,infil 1-hit headshot etc.)
- Random buffing based on release (ZOE, Harassers, Fractures, etc.)
Not being able to tell whether a weapon or vehicle is broken is akin to a pilot not knowing whether the plane is upside down or not. Or not knowing if the switch is on or off. Which means, 50% of the time, something can go wrong.
If they want to prevent Planetside 2 from cratering completely, there are two things that can - in short term- alleviate player exodus:
-
Fix Redeployside.
-
Reapply the old Resource mechanics or initiate the mythical Phase 2.
I haven't logged in since Smedley announced basically OMFG2 early January. There's literally no reason to fight without the old resource mechanics and with the constant, endless redeployment. There's no continuity, order or logic to battles. These are basic things that PS2 is lacking.
A telltale sign is when newbie players would shout out "do not blow up the Sunderers because it is ruining the farm". Or from the more discrete veteran allies "NC is the biggest fight breaker". Those things sting because it means, the only reason why they are pvping is to level those guns. After that? Level more guns. The flow of combat is dictated by the farm.