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Maybe my understanding of how the game is wrong since I haven't yet played or seen it, but it seems to me that anytime you want to "hack" a base, you would have to send in a team of base infiltrators and not a lone hacker by himself. If this assumption is correct, then the majority of the things you say a hacker will have fun doing is going to be stuff that applies to being a base infiltrator, not specifically a hacker.
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A team of Infiltrator-Hackers invading a base is barely different from going in alone. If anything, it'd be more fun and require even more skill than a solo approach, as you need too coordinate and cooperate. Having allies would be less nerve-wracking, but overall, I think it'd be more enjoyable.
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It would seem that the hacking cert is going to basically be one that people are going to take just because having one is required. An analogy is to a poorly done RPG where clerics are boring as hell to play, but someone has to bite the bullet and be one if you are going to have a successful party. What some of us are trying to suggest is that hacking become a "class" that people actually enjoy and can become proficient at. Just as Dio said, having a rifle cert doesn't make you good with that rifle, yet having the hacker cert is really all you need to be a good hacker.
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You are not limited to only being able to carry a hacking kit and nothing else. Watch the movie Aliens, for instance. The Hacker (Hudson) that was a part of the team of Marines which was sent to help the colony which the Company had lost contact with was just another Marine. He had the same rifle, the same body armor, and the same rank as everyone else. He fought just like the other, non-Hacker Marines. But if the squad needed a door opened or a computer hacked for information, he'd whip out his little hacking kit or whatever and get to it. That's the alternative to an Infiltrator-Hacker. The Soldier-Hacker. And the Soldier-Hacker is going to rely on his ability to blow the hell out of his enemies for having a good time. Not waiting with baited breath for his chance to solve a puzzle and open the door to allow his squad access. Although, that will make him feel like he's more integral to the squad, and being able to open the doors and capture the bases for his unit will be fun for him, despite the fact that he doesn't have to solve a puzzle to do so.
You will be able to afford an armor cert, a weapon cert, and some hacking certs. Hackers aren't going to be totally restricted to only being able to use a hacking kit and nothing else. After a group of soldiers blows away the defenders and gets to the control room, they're not going to ask "Ok, anyone see someone with no armor or weapon? We need to hack this." The guy who hacks the base is likely going to be wearing the same armor and using the same weapon as any other grunt in the group.
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I think it's important to remember that we're all fans of Planetside and if we didn't think it would be a good game we wouldn't be here. Hacking as it stands now doesn't change our opinion of the game in general, so there's not really any point in trying to convince us that hackers will still have fun playing PS because we all agree. What we are trying to say is that by making hacking dependent on some kind of player skill, you make the game MORE fun, and the hacking certification becomes more appealing, as opposed to just being something that someone on the team has to have. Just as some commanders are striving to be well respected because of their command abilities, wouldn't it be nice to have hackers well respected because of their hacking abilities?
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By your logic, then, perhaps even Medics and Engineers should have puzzles involved with reviving people, healing wounds, repairing vehicles, deploying mines/turrets, and that sort of thing. After all, by making these tasks more dependent on player skill, you make the game more fun. Right? Are you also for making all of these tasks puzzle-related? Because as it stands right now, the only way for a Medic to become well-known and respected is by being brave, dedicated, and a good fighter if push comes to show. And the only way an Engineer can be well-known and respected is by being crafty, ingenious, and a good fighter if things get tooth-and-nail. These methods are of course inferior toward an Engineer being well-known for his ability to beat the land-mine at a game of chess, thus being able to actually plant the mine.
Yes, bitter sarcasm, but I'm really hoping you guys will get the picture here. There's so much more to things that having puzzles simply isn't a) fun, or b) going to get you any respect. A good Medic will earn his reputation as a good Medic for actually being
a good Medic. Not a good puzzle-solver. Someone who can solve puzzles easily can still be a moron when it comes to the role of a battlefield Medic, and despite the fact that he
can Revive people easily, he's might still be crappy at actually applying said skill.
So what the question to those of you who want Hacking to be some sort of respectable puzzle-profession is this: Do you want Infiltrator-Hackers (Soldier-Hackers are Soldiers first, Hackers second) to be respected for their ability to solve puzzles, or their ability to actually take over bases or hijack enemy vehicles? That's what it all boils down to. The best puzzle-solver in the world will still capture far fewer bases than another Infiltrator-Hacker if the not-so-good puzzle-solver is simply better at being a stealthy, commando type guy. And the other, non-puzzle expert player
will be respected more than the expert puzzle-solver. Who cares if the first guy can open a door faster if he's always slipping up and getting killed before he can even get close to the control panel. At the end of the day, the guy who gets the job done will be the one getting the recognition, and if you think there's absolutely no skill involved with Infiltrator-Hacking a base to your side, you're fooling yourself. There's plenty of room for the skilled to rise above the unskilled, and wanting the actual task of Hacking to make a difference is like putting a fifth wheel on a car. Looks nice, but it doesn't solve any problems or improve the situation much at all.