Threads currently being eaten alive by all the other suggestions on the main planetside 2 forum, so thought I would put it here for longer discussion (or any discussion at all). Not sure if this is would be better for the ideas section or not, feel free to move it.
Original Thread:
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/i...e-cover.21450/
I've noticed that currently the infantry combat is a little...erratic, would be the word. Infantry moves at a very fast speed in close quarters/range. There is not enough use of cover. In fact, it's more of twitch shooter at the moment. This doesn't apply to any other aspect of the game, vehicle combat is very tactical and requires proper positioning. Infantry combat? Not so much.
While it is completely possible to have those epic moments where you're defending a position with a machine gun emplacement and one mans guarding a doorway or assaulting a large base with a squad of five from a long distance to take out the bases main guns, this is often ruined by the sprint function.
It often feels like you're penalized for attempting to guard doorways or hold down positions. I've more often than not had a man literally sprint up the stairs at mach 10 to extremely close range while I'm blasting his armor off, then fire off a few shots with ends up with either one of us dying due to the gamble. Hiding around a corner and shooting upstairs while someone else flanks isn't the most viable strategy at the moment.
The sprint is also abused to avoid death. Weapons in the game do not insta kill, there is a armor layer than needs to be punched through. Heavy assault abuse this especially, flicking on their overshield then running into a building despite getting jumped by another player. If you're twitchy enough, you can run and cower to avoid several levels of ambush. This benefits players with quicker reaction times rather than players who think "tactically" in a fight. While skill is something we want in this game, it can't be that kind of skill. There are far too many players. With the current system, zerging is an inevitability rather than a viable strategy. As it stands,100 players holding off 200 isn't even slightly possible, it ends as quickly as the horde super sprints in, which is the opposite the developers said they wanted.
There needs to be a larger penalty for being caught with your pants down in an open field without proper positioning. Or for rushing a entrenched position that's aiming right at you. There's a few ways to fix the speed issue, though they all have their weaknesses.
Build up speed for infantry: This is probably the worse of all of the ideas, as this exact thing is currently supposed to be one of the weakness of the max suit.
Damage causes slowdown: Being shot reducing movement speed is honestly what I think would be best, though I'm letting you be the judge of that. It would keep the full sprinting speed for flanking/running from cover to cover but disallow rushing into guarded rooms and having complete ability to escape from suppression fire.
Sprint meter: A sprint meter wouldn't do much, but it might dissuade long distance running.
Decreasing speed as you run: Another possibly good one, the longer you run, the slower you move. This wouldn't exactly stop rushes, but it would do enough to prevent super sprinting from danger.
What do you guys think? This seems to be part of the reason bases are hard to defend (players getting really close without anyone noticing, then just running and gunning everyone like we're playing Doom, as much as I love Doom).
2012-09-20, 01:37 AM
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