Why Planetside 2 has been steadily losing players

[Babyfark McGeez]

Originally Posted by ChipMHazard

I think the only reason I'm playing atm. is because of the outfit and PS2 being a solid and fun FPS. Hopefully that will be enough to keep my interest until PS2 becomes a MMOFPS.

Fixed that for you.

[DredVS]

Believe me that SOE is working on every single one of those things listed.

One of the problems though is that people are getting tired of the speed of the dev team. Updates aren't coming fast enough.

Optimization is the most important and that is coming out first. I believe they will address imbalances next...On Command Center, Higby said that Harassers should get one-shot by AP rounds from tanks.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdBB6...tu.be&t=27m23s

Planetside 2 is getting fixed, though the speed of which it is getting fixed is the issue.

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Babyfark McGeez

Fixed that for you.

Fair enough. Semantics, semantics, semantics. I don't really like how they define what makes an MMOFPS just that.
I do consider PS2 as being an MMOFPS: A very, very big and fun FPS with nothing else to it. I'm still hoping for the RPG elements and general feeling of playing in a believeable world to be added to the game. (Bases still don't look like anyone actually works/lives there)
Technically the original is also an MMOFPS, but I would personally define it more of an MMOFPSRPG.

[synkrotron]

Originally Posted by Kerrec

Nah, you're getting me wrong. It's not "the certs" that kept me playing, it was a sense of progression.

Hi Kerrec

I wasn't intending to pick on any one individual as such
And I guess you're right that, at the end of the day, certs = progression as you use them to improve your weaponry/tools and therefore usefulness.

By the sounds of it, boredom is the biggest killer then, for any game. We can all put up with the usual glitches of a game but once our interest is lost, that can be the end of it.

[Emperor Newt]

One of the main problems with the progression is that the game is built around the player being able to use everything, but he needs to put a lot of certs into stuff just to be competitive. Medic and Engie tool/ammopack as well as jump jets (as well as a lot of other stuff, extended max magazines for 500 certs each...) require about 60 certs each until they are somewhat competitive with the certed tools other players have. Ever tried getting up on a roof with jump jets 2 or 3? Ever tried to revive someone with a low tier medic gun? This will most likely get you killed in the process. The same with the repair tool and ammo pack. These are just gimped version. It's not like the higher tiers are a bit better, they are the versions you need to do your job. So instead of giving all players a start at about 80-90% effectiveness and rewarding players by giving them a boost to up to 100 or maybe even 110% they decided to start everbody at about 40 percent, get them up to about 70 within about a 100 certs and then let them slowly farm about 15000 certs until they are at about 120%. And that's just outright stupid. Especially when you build your game around the idea that everybody should be able to use everything. It's just not fun to use everything when you get gimped versions and you at least need to put a few hundred certs into each of them until they reach a somewhat competitive level.

The same somewhat applies for vehicles and other infantry certs like suit defense slots. Instead of rewarding players who are invested into a class with slightly better tools and (especially!) additional playstyles they decided to gimp everyone and reward players who know and are able to farm certs. SOE decided to hide a lot of "power" behind a cert wall. Way more then the initial 10 to 20% Higgles claimed it to be before the game was released. What this leads to is the situation we have now: player playing for certs/progression. And those who are unable to farm them get frustrated and quit and those who know how to do it sit on a massive pile of certs, not knowing what to do with them. Unless they completely revamp the cert system this problem wont go away and it will continue to hurt the game/playerbase. But I doubt they will start a "Operation Make A Non Stupid Progression System" anytime soon.

[ringring]

Originally Posted by Emperor Newt

One of the main problems with the progression is that the game is built around the player being able to use everything, .....snip....

But I doubt they will start a "Operation Make A Non Stupid Progression System" anytime soon.

Absolutely

[kubacheski]

Originally Posted by Emperor Newt

But I doubt they will start a "Operation Make A Non Stupid Progression System" anytime soon.

But would that be even possible to change the cert/xp system currently in place? Think about how much the current system has been "leveraged" to max out your toon's certs? It'd almost have to be a completely different game (or server at least) to scrap the last year of progression for the current players.

Everyone able to use everything is what made PS1 so fun. Even at lower BR's you could cert deep enough into a single tree to be competitive. And you could change that over time if you wanted to switch your "class" without even gaining another single cert. The current cert system is simply a Smed-bucks generator and isn't making the game "better" by any means. I understand they want to make money, i mean it's a F2P game after all.

The problem is that PS2 is not fun enough to keep people investing repeatedly. The Return on investment isn't there. I suppose you could say that the grind for the average "free" player doesn't give enough certs to be competitive so it's not worth it, and the cash payment for the "paying" player doesn't give enough content and/or fun, so it's not worth it either.

The point SOE made of PS2 being F2P is to have a large population of free players for the paying players to shoot. yea paying customers are going to have more fun, yea free players can too if they invest the time. You're paying one way or another, it's simply a difference in "speed" at which you can have "fun". Reality doesn't pan out that way. The current exp/cert system isn't conducive for anything less than a very dedicated free player (read: casual players need not apply) thus reducing the fun a wide population of players will have. Thus reducing the entire pop, thus reducing the value of paying customers investment. thus getting fewer consistent payers, thus reducing the resources for more content, thus reducing the devs working on the game, thus reducing content and the death spiral begins. The exact same mistake they made with PS1 - fuck up the content (BFR's, balance issues, expansion which divides the pop) and people stop paying, people stop paying, pops go down, not enough people to shoot, people stop paying, pops go down.

SOE learn from your mistakes FFS. Or admit that PS2 is simply a mule to test ForgeLight for EQNext (yea I'm still beating that dead horse) and that you don't care about the future of PS2.

[Babyfark McGeez]

EQ:Next engine test AND quick cashgrab. That was the "conspiracy theory"
(with how things are going i'll leave it up to everyone to decide for themselves how much of that is a conspiracy).

I lately noticed atleast premium isn't really needed though. I bought a couple of weapons like half a year ago and my six months premium ran out two or three months ago and i didn't renew it. Aside from not allways having full 40/40 grenades/c4/mines i didn't notice a damn difference.
The weapons i bought do make a difference though as i would have never been able to get them all with just certs.

[Blackburn]

I'm glad we pushed away from the crown, and I think no deploy zones are a good thing. As TR are always outnumbered on my server, its good to at least know where the mass of enemy surrenders are not.

[kubacheski]

Originally Posted by Babyfark McGeez

I lately noticed atleast premium isn't really needed though. I bought a couple of weapons like half a year ago and my six months premium ran out two or three months ago and i didn't renew it. Aside from not allways having full 40/40 grenades/c4/mines i didn't notice a damn difference.
The weapons i bought do make a difference though as i would have never been able to get them all with just certs.

So what is SOE's gameplan for generating money when people have certed out all that they want to? Why would a high level player need a sub? What benefit does it give beyond the resource bonus? Some people have mentioned that they rotate their play-"focus" (infantry to vehicle to air) when they run low on a single resource type and jump to the next resource while rebuilding stores on the others.

I can see (and some have already said in this forum) high level players dropping their sub and not playing much as the exp grind for certs is meaningless to people who have all they want already certed. I imagine some bought the weapon they wanted with smedbucks and no only have to cert the weapons they dont want. Is that worth the grind?

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by kubacheski

But would that be even possible to change the cert/xp system currently in place? Think about how much the current system has been "leveraged" to max out your toon's certs? It'd almost have to be a completely different game (or server at least) to scrap the last year of progression for the current players.

Everyone able to use everything is what made PS1 so fun. Even at lower BR's you could cert deep enough into a single tree to be competitive. And you could change that over time if you wanted to switch your "class" without even gaining another single cert. The current cert system is simply a Smed-bucks generator and isn't making the game "better" by any means. I understand they want to make money, i mean it's a F2P game after all.

There have been a few solutions posted during the metagame discussion a while ago that preserve the cert system (expanding it even) while allowing players to specialize deeply in classes. My favorite design is using the resource system to equip unlocked certs. Creates a simple way to expand certs indefinitely while limiting a player's choices based on how much they want to invest on a respawn. One of the more complex and time consuming implementations, but it's that allows a much deeper cert system since it allows players to use all the level of their certs for different costs rather than simply unlocking the max level and that being the end.

In PS1 there was a similar limitation placed on players by their armor and inherent inventory configruation. It's my hope that in the future SOE will untether the utility items and everything from classes and go back to an armor based system with few limitations. A resource system allows that by applying penalty costs to exclusive items and armors. (Equipping heavy armor would be expensive but equipping the Recon Detect Device would cost significantly more with that armor than with others). Would also allow for new armors to be introduced over time.

That said though the resource revamp looks to be a long ways off ever since it was unscheduled. Starting to think they moved too many people off the game that they ran into what PS1 ran into which was essentially a very small development team that was in maintenance mode.

[Rivenshield]

Originally Posted by Sirisian

Starting to think they moved too many people off the game that they ran into what PS1 ran into which was essentially a very small development team that was in maintenance mode.

That would be par for the dreary course. It'd fit the development pattern at SOE over the last decade... and it'd shovel yet another franchise into an early grave.

I haven't played in two months, which in gamer terms is an eternity. I do try to keep tabs with what's going on via this forum. And what I see frankly gives me small reason for hope.

[Nur]

The bigger problem of this game is

MAXES

the sooner SOE understands they are completely detroying the game, the sooner we will have a better game.

This game is now a MAX vs. MAX confrontation.

It is not infantry anymore.


ZOE MAX is the prince of OP MAxes but also other MAXES used in great concentrations just show how bad this game can be.

[typhaon]

It's been 1 year since launch.

Look at what has been added... and look at what hasn't.

[Emperor Newt]

Hey, but we got Battlefield on steroids! That something, right? Right? .... Guys?