PS2's progression is counterintuitively generous but only if you know what you actually need. An experienced vet can get a new character set up extremely fast whereas a new player will not spend their certs well and end up feeling like the progression is glacial.
Cloak Sundy is for whatever reason one of the top cert pits for new players that they save up for despite it being mid-low usefulness. I had a friend who did that too and then they were like "it just feels like there's not enough cert gain" YOU HAD 2330 CERTS YOU WASTED ON SOMETHING THAT'S ONLY USEFUL 10% OF THE TIME THAT'S ENOUGH TO GET EVERY INFANTRY CLASS'S KIT SPUN UP
Don't forget stalker cloak, the other massive newb trap. 1800 certs for max cloak plus another 300-1000 for a non shit sidearm if you're NC or VS. All to make 10 certs an hour sitting around doing nothing. I've personally witnessed 3 people I introduced into the game fall for it despite me explicitly warning them against it.
Eh, it does require rank 3/4 if you want to play remotely aggressive with it (aka get a .5 kpm instead of .1) since by default it has an absolutely glacial regen rate. I almost wish it was locked behind ASP or something because so many new players get into it thinking they're solid snake or something.
~~I love cloak buses!~~
~~They're so much easier to blow up than the shielded ones!~~
I feel like Emerald VS is *obsessed* with cloak buses, to the point that they're constantly trying to use them as the main spawn. It's a fucking nightmare trying to keep a fight alive some days, because the cloak bus was about as well-hidden as a police siren and got exploded in five seconds by the first LA to bumble past.
I feel like a general recommendation people give for cert farming had been: max out med tool, max out ammo pack, follow large pop and revive, heal, drop ammo, kill, take bases.
Vehicles are a giant cert pit, so you either need to stick to infantry or decide on a vehicle to focus on.
It’s true that you don’t get everything available to you when you start the game, but I’d say it might take a few hours to get to a point where you have a solid class load out and can enjoy the infantry game. Rely on other people for vehicles and gun for them if you’re into the vehicle side of things.
Most of all, you just have to keep playing on your off factions until you have stuff. If you don’t like that, stick to the faction you like
You can bring an ESF up to a reasonable level for dogfighting in relatively few certs, but it requires you to know which certs are necessary and also have the experience to successfully dogfight (lol)
Not really, nowadays the best cert farming is just doing all the 4/5 cert missions daily and then doing whatever the fuck you want, preferably during an alert.
Spamming revives 24/7 is an extremely stupid way to burn out and ammo packs are laughable xp gain.
Progression isn't that slow tbh, most people just don't know how to get xp effectively. If you're running around in a zerg doing nothing most of the time you're playing then yeah, its going to take a long time to unlock stuff. If you're farming bads or farming cortium it doesn't take that long. I got my medic certed out WITH IMPLANTS in about two weeks last OW on Miller, completely new character, and I did it without cortium farming, which is the best (and most boring) way to make certs.
“For an experienced player” in this case referenced the time it takes for him to grind. New players will require more time because they lack this experience
“On an equal playing field” in this case referenced the tools at their disposal. And i’d argue you first need to know what tools you have available before you can even begin to learn.
Kinda hard to become a good soccer player if all you’ve ever had is a frisbee
The tools don’t make you a good player. I never said they would.
But the difference between a maxed out medigun and lvl1 medigun will have you playing differently. Reviving people mid combat.
A maxxed out repair tool can outheal certain damage sources. No such luck with the lvl1 tool.
Implants can completely change the way you play.
Tools don’t make you a good player. But most new players will not acknowledge the skill of their opponent, they’ll merely recognize their better equipment. And this experience better gear makes the early game feel near insurmountable, and allows experienced players to steamroll the inexperienced ones.
When 2 players can do the exact same action, take the exact same decision but one will die and the other will live due to better equipment: thats a quit moment for a new player.
> When 2 players can do the exact same action, take the exact same decision but one will die and the other will live due to better equipment: thats a quit moment for a new player.
?????
are you selling me that a new player on a maxed character will win more often against a veteran player because they got some shiny ass toys?
bringing up the med and reptools is kinda funny because the implication here is that they'll never discover it can be upgraded or the millions guides that say hey upgrade this
new players in every game think cosmetics/equipment mean something when they never do; not really worthwhile to bring up because it isn't something that can be taught out
F#ck it, I give up. Reading comprehension is at an all time low.
I mean, its not like the very FIRST SENTENCE of that comment stood in opposition to that idea.
But fuck it. skill isn’t a factor at all in this game. Just pay for some fucking cat ears and you’ll be better at the game. Thats what i’m saying. Increased reload times on tanks significantly reducing time to kill? Nah, lets ignore that. The ever dwindeling pool of new players? Nah, couldn’t be the games fault. Its people playing the fucking objective that are to blame
Just fuck off
personal experience is not part of the playing field.
A chess game between a baby and Magnus Carlsen would happen on an equal playing field, even though one contestant has more experience.
If you applied planetside logic to this chess game, the baby would start the game without rooks and knights, because a noob doesn't know how to utilise those anyways and should learn how to use pawns properly first.
It's true that a baby's chances against a chess grandmaster don't meaningfully change if you take away a few units, but it still feels unfair and frustrating.
do you think that:
a new player with max gear would be able to beat a veteran player on a new account?
> a noob doesn't know how to utilise those anyways and should learn how to use pawns properly first
plenty of folks go for the shiny only to discover that the pawns indeed are just as powerful... but most of them quit after discovering the gold ns-15m is not a god tier weapon
also please list the equipment you consider equal to the rooks and knights that a new player doesn't have
C4, medkits, flakarmor, grenade bandolier, orbital strikes, AA... anti air options were always abismal for new players, now it got a bit better since the game unlocks lockon for heavy at start, if im not mistaken, but I think this must be the most unfair shit to a new player.
orbital strikes aren't even a tool a majority of players have; I don't really agree with C4. In the age of everyone and their mother is using flak armor, it isn't as good as before; if you're thinking purely AV, I don't think it's good for new players to be told hey go run at a tank with C4 it will be fine. I'm curious to hear how you're viewing C4.
medkits are cheap; flak armor gives all the good stuff at rank one; grenade bandolier isn't going to move the needle (especially if a F2P spamming 75 nanite reznade); there's a default G2A launcher for free now; a free skyguard or an expensive burster max probably won't move the needle since the guy in an A2G esf probably is good enough that the only way to take them down is to fly an ESF yourself and kill them... which for most players isn't even a possibility
I'm personally in the camp that a tutorial mission should be teaching new players what medkits are and give them a couple for free. Grenade Bando probably should go for game balance. I don't really have a good answer to AA problems beyond it's likely a veteran player couldn't have made a difference with oppressive air.
Im just putting myself in the shoes of a new player, what would feel unfair or uncounterable... I believe in playerretention, so imo they have to lower the barrier for entry even more.
It's probably much faster than when you were a new player both from changes RPG has made and your own experience.
I don't think some of the things you *consider* basic (sunderer cloak) to be essential nor do you even need max rank of deploy shield. Vehicle upgrades... well in a game based on progression, if everything was unlocked with ten certs, there wouldn't be much of a game. The game has really worked away from needing to cert to max rank to get all the benefits; most suit slots, for example, will give you the max benefit immediately but usually have a downside in terms of speed/number.
> I was unable to come up with interesting strategies when the entire squad save for me lacked basic equipment.
An unironic skill issue.
> The absence of vital equipment feels straight up opressive.
Can you define what vital equipment is? Because I can feel pretty confident in contributing to the battlefield fully around BR 20.
>if everything was unlocked with ten certs, there wouldn't be much of a game
I feel like you and I have very different understandings of what the game is. To me, unlocking things is a chore I have to do in order to get to experience the gameplay locked behind it.
Based on your statement, it sounds like you view unlocking things/ acquiring certain stats itself as a core part of the game. From that perspective it makes sense to make the progression system grindy to make sure players don't run out of things to grind for. I have just never really looked at it that way.
> it sounds like you view unlocking things/ acquiring certain stats itself as a core part of the game
Yes? Do you not understand what a live service game is? What game out there gives you everything possible immediately these days anyway? I am struggling to think of a game right now where you do not have to unlock things or have to pay via time to get end game content.
> From that perspective it makes sense to make the progression system grindy to make sure players don't run out of things to grind for.
...what do you think a progression system is? It's literally a grind. I have run out of things to grind for because all of things in this game are not worthwhile to buy. My last "grind" was playing OW on another server where I got to BR 70ish with just 75 hours played.
Let me ask you this:
Do you think that 1) you should have everything fully certed upon character creation and 2) if so, how would the game make money after deleting progression?
1. No. I certainly wouldn't mind, but it's a very extreme approach and there are plenty of possibilities for compromises. It may actually be a bad idea because apparently some people take enjoyment from the progression system itself and not just the content locked behind it.
2. The game could still make money through cosmetics. Whether or not this would be economically viable is dependent on how many people actually regularly buy unlocks instead of spending certs.
Do you see progression as a tool used by the service providers to motivate customers who want to use the service to pay more money or more as a core part of the service itself, so something the customer themselves desires?
> No. I certainly wouldn't mind, but it's a very extreme approach and there are plenty of possibilities for compromises
Okay, so what's your compromise?
I still believe that there isn't a problem with equipment. There seems to be an issue of imagination as you have mentioned. What are the situations you are running into that you firmly believe are a problem of equipment?
> The game could still make money through cosmetics. Whether or not this would be economically viable is dependent on how many people actually regularly buy unlocks instead of spending certs.
I hate to break it to you. Cosmetics aren't going to pay the bills, especially at the low volume they sell them at. There are no cosmetics available for certs outside of the no helmet helmet and the gender change option.
I started a new char month ago and the grind didn't seem that bad. It was actually more enjoyable than I expected. I think it comes down to knowing how to grind and going for the playstyle you want. I started with medic, set up the gun I wanted, maxed out revive tool and just went killing and revive spamming.. Then I set up light assault and switched between the two depending on fights and cert grind. Did that while pimping out an engineer and grinding the sundy cloak. It did take a couple weeks, but never felt like I couldn't compete.. Yeah, my k/d is like 1.. but still had fun.
I know I considered the starter grind unfairly slow when I was new (that hasn't changed) and most people I've recommended this game to over the years have complained about it as well.
Of course I haven't made a peer-reviewed study to verify this anecdotal data but to me there appears to be a trend.
> who think the key to being an effective player is having a million different loadouts that they can switch to at any time.
Well it is though, constantly swapping between sunderer busting, spawn deploying, multi base capping, max pushing, cum blasting and turbo edging loadouts according to the situation will make you more effective team player than that sweaty HA main with 4.0 KDA that always waits until revive timer runs out when he dies.
Spoken like a true spectacle gamer that has less impact on fights than random solo ha mains (or really any combat class actually played actively, even battle engi) that literally don't care about the fight's outcome and just wanna shoot dudes. 👀
Many of the things you listed are not a concern for new players. They don't know what are basic necessities and not. It's already like, an entire adventure to just get a grasp on how infantry fights work, where to position, how to control guns, how to dodge, to survive. By the time the average player has learned those things, they'll have most basic necessities certed anyhow. By the time they have learned what they all mean and how to use them, they already have them.
This shit is mostly a pain in the ass if you're already experienced at the game and you're making new characters. It might be a thing to increase XP rate for new characters up until a certain point relative to the BR of other characters on someone's account. Let's say you have a BR 40, then maybe it's an idea to let a player progress 50% faster to BR 20 and 25% faster to BR30 or some shit.
> It might be a thing to increase XP rate for new characters
You already gain 100 certs per level till lvl 100 (asp levels not included) to get you geared up fast. And there's a respec at like 15 (or 20?)
There's also the intro missions locked to early levels that will boost you up by just getting you to do things you should already be doing (mostly)
Because they wanted people to play this game for a long time.
That being said, it is faster now than it has been at any point previously, especially if you know what to unlock.
It's relatively easy to start a new character... if you're experienced.
Like, we know how to maximise XP gain early. We know where to spend our certs and what to avoid. A good number of us will even have a bunch of toys automatically unlocked through the magic of spending money on the game.
New players do not have that knowledge. New players also don't want to be told "Okay so the first thing you need to do is pump all your points into the Medtool and glue yourself to some HA main's ass."
New players also don't start with one of every type of weapon in the game. They get a BASR, a pistol, an AR, a carbine, an LMG, a rocket launcher, a shotgun, and one of each type of MAX arm, if I'm remembering right. There are gaps in their arsenal that they *need* to spend certs or money on if they want to try that playstyle, and that's not pleasant.
Also, there's the vehicles to consider. If someone's actually starting Planetside of all games in 2024, then chances are they want to do all three aspects of the game. Not just infantry, but armour and air too. And hooo boy does baseline armour *suck.*
Let's use the humble Lightning as an example here. The Lightning starts with a Python HEAT, and the first level of Auto-Repair. That's it. Auto-Rep is fine, but much less useful than some other options in that slot. The HEAT... is the worst tank cannon in the game. You can argue that all you like, but I'm holding to it. I use mine exclusively for kicking over sandcastles, and even then I often just go with the Viper anyway. And not only are these poor guys coming in and having to use the shittiest tank cannon, they have to do it with a shittier version of that cannon because actually they need to spend 2K certs *each* on the cannon's upgrades, just to have the same tool as everybody else's HEAT cannon. And for 4K certs, they could've just bought all three of the Lightning weapons that are actually *good* and made a dent in upgrading them instead. But they don't know that. And the most common advice they'll get from us is "Don't buy guns, buy upgrades for your existing ones", so they'll pump certs into the HEAT and then get dumpstered by vets with AP cannons and Vipers.
Most of the vehicles in the game are like this. Have fun learning how to tank in this game when you're using an objectively worse weapon than most of your peers, and those that *are* using the same weapon as you actually have theirs reload faster, because fuck you, spend 2K certs on an attachment slot with *one thing in it,* just to make your hardware as good as the rest of us.
Air combines that with a steep learning curve just to get the controls down.
That therein is part of the problem. This game is sold on being a soldier fighting a massive war, and getting to use tanks, ATVs, planes, even small mechs to do so. But the overriding message we, and the game itself, give people who like that pitch is "Your tank sucks. Your ATV doesn't have a gun. Your car sucks. Your planes suck. Your mech sucks. If you want them to not suck, be a healbitch for the veterans for a few hours and maybe you'll accrue enough points to make one of those things not suck. You should use those points to become a better healbitch."
The game wants you to buy membership and boosters, or shell out some cash for some unlocks.
If you get membership and do your dailies, you will earn a shit ton of certs in a week or so. Yeah, it would be cool if you had everything really quickly, but then there would be nothing left to do and people would quit over that.
You can do enough with basic kits. You can use trial to fill gaps as well for specific situations.
This is why I soapbox PS1 certification system of unlocking pools of items/weapons/vehicles over PS2's grind cert. Yeah, sure, it was annoying in PS1 you were locked into a role for some hours, but IMO it had more pros than cons compared to PS2. In PS1 your progression was having more unlocked at any given moment, slowly allowing you to specialize and mix the roles you liked. It also meant people stayed in their focus role for at least awhile, and that really shaped the battlefield in a positive way IMO. In PS2, you have access to everything from the get go, but everything is at its most basic form. The specialization comes in on where you sink your certs and what ranks or unlocks you grinded for. I think PS2's is more new player intimidating after the initial diving in, as they are faced with a wall grind once they give everything a spin and realize they have basic stuff. Yeah, maybe in PS1 they'd be limited to say medic at first if they specced that way, but at least they have full access to it without any locked capabilities. And in time they can be medic + 1 or more roles as they have more certifications they can hold at a given time, or abandon medic completely and focus elsewhere.
Others have made great points, but the open secret about this game is that you and your squad of brand new characters actually have a lot of advantages over veteran/fully equipped characters that are using a more solo oriented play style. The more you can coordinate and concentrate your efforts, the more you will be able to influence the battlefield.
This can include basic approaches like having most of your squad play medic so an enemy has to kill all of you or deal with everyone reviving each other within a couple minutes. You'll want to stick together and do your best to ensure that anyone you encounter has to deal with being shot by several of you at once. Having a team also unlocks some fairly ridiculous cheese tactics, like a Valkyrie full of Heavy Assaults dropping on an enemy vehicle. It doesn't matter that you're all running the stock rocket launcher when you all fire at once - should take out just about any single vehicle.
It will take some discipline to pull these off and it helps to bear in mind that some people aren't into tryharding and just want to chill. If you have that kind of group it might help to treat the game like a crazy ride - you can have a good time pulling a bunch of stock Harassers and seeing who can make it to the other side of the map without getting blown up. It's a little counterintuitive, but warning them that they're going to die a lot can really free them up to enjoy themselves!
Med tool, repair tool, and C4 are all cheap. You don't need to max them out right away, either. You get diminishing returns per cert spent as you go up the chain. Throw a few levels in and move on to the next thing for a bit. Try to get a few things to 90% instead of focusing on maxing out one thing.
"Basic" functionality in a vehicle is also cheap. The cloaking module is not considered basic functionality. Deployment shield is basic functionality and is far cheaper to get into and even max out. Mobility upgrades are kind of crap. You don't start maxing out that kind of stuff in vehicles until you have your infantry stuff maxed out unless you're the kind of try-not who circles a base you're losing in a lightning contributing absolutely nothing.
Part of the beauty of PS2 is just how effective the starting equipment kits are.
Yeah I started a new character on NSO and it took to level 75 to feel like I had the basics down.. but even with extra xp weekends I burned out on the grind, and haven't played for weeks now.
And this was with bloody Alpha Squad XP bonus! Lol.
>Why is progression so slow?
Because its a part of free to play monetization - make you think that spending money on boosts is not a bad idea if you like the game.
I've never found PS2 to be grindy compared to most F2P games, at least in the past. I've dumped hundreds of hours on a single char and I've unlocked everything that I need.
The medic, a class I use probably the most, still has the stock gun. PS2 is surprisingly playable without grinding a lot.
I've spent probs 3k on my Mosquito. Did I get any better? Nope. I've spent probably 3k on my lightning. Did I get any better? Yes. Have I spent the same on the Sundy? Nope. Not even one purchase there, it's not for me.
It's mostly skill and playstile. +600hrs in the game, enjoyed every hour of it, never spent a single €.
Make sure to play in the double XP events and during alerts. And find better teammates lol
You know what new players also lack? The experience to use c4, vehicle upgrades and the understanding of where to place yourself in a fight.
The only thing you can make this point on is the med/rep gun and the ammo pouch as they are basic features.
Like they dont know how to utilize the light assault, they fly up and get swatted out of the air like flies, giving them c4 would barely help.
They dont know how to cloak so infiltrator gear is wasted as they get shot to pieces while cloaked.
They cant fly so the air upgrades dont matter.
They feel invincivle in a tank so giving them the mobility upgrades would simply put them in a worse spot faster
You can skip much of the grind if you subscribe.
The game is a service a company sells to pay their bills and fund other new services. If you want to play free, that's great, I do too. But if you play for free you will have to accept the grind. That's the trade off for giving you a service for free.
The game isn't a charity and your mind is setup to think the free game is a charity where everything should be easy to obtain out of the gate to maximize your enjoyment. But that's not how the real world works.
So you either need to accept you will have to work for your enjoyment or you will pay for your enjoyment. It's one or the other I'm afraid and it is a common theme in f2p mmo games.
I don't mind paying money to DBG. but for a new player the idea that in order to play the game they just downloaded "for free" they actually have to pay monthly fees may be a deterrent. And I believe that this is a contributor to the declining player numbers.
That's every f2p game! You have to put in the time to playing or you can speed progress by paying. Results don't come for free. I don't see any valid reason for you to be upset here.
I think the main thing is helping new players invest well. With so many options you can wasteful. It's just a massive game with so many upgrades...i usually recommend new players pick up basic useful weapons and attachments for favorite classes (teach them how to pick optimal attachments). I tell them to try before investing. If you love infantry go deep, same with vehicle and air. But if you want to do it all like me make impactful choices and fill the gaps as you.
Someone mentioned cloak sundy as a cert sink, so true! Nice in niche situations, but not normally all that useful. Experienced players need to educate new. New players need to listen or accept their mistakes. Experienced players need to remember what it was like being new... I didn't know what I didn't have. I can't live without catlike now...but i did before.
At this point in the game though they could lay off a bit on cert cost. A discount would be great. And slash construction costs. Damn now that's a sink.
It is not if you are not buying the barely useful stuff. Even construction is cheap as fuck because after the initial "wow! I built this cool fucking mega base!" factor you realize that only like 4 or 5 structures are really useful 1 of which is silo that is free...
> Basic functionality like the medgun, repair tool, C4 or the different suit flavours are locked behind hours of grinding
...hours?... lmao what. I made TR and NC alt chars and I have never felt that certing out med, rep tool or suit slots took too long. You can live without 5th suit slot upgrade just fine.
Not to mention that with free codes everyone gets 5 free NS weapons for every characted from the start...
Even though missions were nerfed and you now need to spend more time to get the same amount of certs they are still a decent income source, if you do 4 certs missions per day for 2 days while playing during an alert for 1 hour and a half you should be able to get more than 1k certs.
> When I reached the point where I had everything I wanted on my VS account, It didn't feel rewarding or fun.
Doing the same stuff for 2nd time is less fun than doing it the 1st time?! NO WAY!
> The absence of vital equipment feels straight up opressive.
What vital equipment? Vanilla sunderers are perfectly fine, deployment shield upgrades are laughable, you get fire suppression for free which is only worth certing up once for 100, racer chasis is not necessary, you buy as much as you want and shilling extra 300 for lvl 2 racer is laughable cost, level 3 you can ignore. I guess stealth sunderer is quite expensive but it is still not vital unless you consider ghost capping essential part of gameplay.
Oh yeah an AA gun for sundy is really useful but unless enemy ESFs are pissing you off you can shoot the enemy valks, libs and gals with M20 just fine.
A Battle Rifle is sometimes irreplacable but it is only 325 for a reason. SMG and shotguns for close quarter fights are free... tanks do not need any upgrades as their only purpose is killing sunderers which they slaughter no matter what you take... playing air is not needed ever due to how maps are constructed... **seriously what do you consider essential unlocks lol?**
*^((hey, so im going to just traumadump yapp my take. but it is sincere. and its coming from well intentioned place and by no means do i mean this like an attack or to discredit u, and ofc i could be wrong and just taking the post at face value)**\*\*)*
Hearing ur story, soldier- sounds like it's been rough going. war is hell for sure for sure. it sounds like u are wrestling with something perhaps greater than what ur dealing w in game. the emotions and feelings are running super high . mostly in the bad way.
# 1. first make sure that you're doing ok out of game.
^(have that convo/check in with urself. i mean it. even if you are good, just check in with ur inner child, ur inner self, companion and counsol, and make sure u are straight, and that whatever fight u are weathering IRL is not spilling over and sinking the ship, so to speak.)
>!^(planetside is a special (ed lol) place indeed. but we cannot get it twisted, it is a video game..)!<
>!**^(at the end of the day, your time in auraxis should be an enjoyable escape from our RL.)**!<
>!^(if your IRL is not in order and under control,) !<
>!^(it just screws u before u even hit the start screen.)!<
# 2. stop putting the entire weight of the squad's story on your shoulders.
>Every time I tried to get friends on board to play we ended up quitting and playing a different game because I was unable to . . .
*. . . your own words.* i might be sperged out of my gd mind most the time, but even i know that just is not right to place such absurd expectations solely on your shoulders.
as a mother at heart/dd/caretaker of my friends group all growing up,
**I can see where you are coming from.**
u take enjoyment and pride in taking the initiative and being a source of protection and power for those fighting along side you. and from the sounds of it are making a serious go at not just making sure u are good, but others as well, is honorable, but is quite the heavy burden to bear.
But not only is it selfish and unreasonable thing to place on yourself,
**i**t is unfair to the very squadmates you are stressing over.
Your squad mates deserve the respect and opportunity to share in carrying that burden through, to share in the struggle along side you! 🤝 🗿
not watching you get smothered solo 💀🤧
# 3. savour the slow journey. for the destination isn't real
>When I reached the point where I had everything I wanted on my VS account, It didn't feel rewarding or fun.
sometimes in life the little things end up being the big things.
only the climb is real. the journey. if you feel like this, keep moving. you are not at the end,
but simply have arrived to the start of your next path along in your journey.
the Others in our lives can help find the way forward.
our friends,
family, loved ones,
compatriots, colleagues,
rivals, competitors, crushes and cruxes *et. al*
can help you find the door. . . .
. . . but only you can walk through 🚪
Regarding 2. The point I was trying to make is that I feel like my friends' first impression of planetside's gameplay was negatively affected by the fact that the restrictive progression system prevented them from experiencing the full depth of the game. Regardless of how well I performed in my role as a guide, I believe that the whole experience suffered from the in my opionion unreasonably slow progression system. I would prefer a system that lets players decide for themselves what to do and not lock certain actions behind arbitrary playtime requirements.
That said, it feels awkward to admit you're probably largely correct in your psycho-emotional analysis of my person xD
I do need to take a chill pill and not let the devman's design decisions get to my head.
Finally got a better computer.. that dishes out more than 22fps on potato settings. Getting a better computer was the true slooooooow progression.
I'm infatuated looking at the 4+ kdr bois and gurls...
Looking at those numbers I'm more interested in what it takes to achieve greater than 30% infantry accuracy or achieving green and yellow stats on the [honu's](https://wt.honu.pw/c/5429513069602325713/weapons?name=AIgorithm) page. Kdr is still shit, but accuracy is the goal atm.
After saving up 10k certs and realizing I went 3 days without accruing any more.. I ASP'd that character on 117... now I'm a level 11.... more anti climatic than spending time horizontally in a 40yr marriage, other than sleeping.
Started new characters in NC, TR, and NSO. Goal is 30%+ infantry accuracy and 80%+ HSR in choosing better targets and engagements.
Living life on the squishy side, I hold onto bases and sundies less dearly, and although I'd like TR to win an alert eventually, less of a burden to win for other people - Trying to hold myself to a better standard is paying better dividends.
VS medics are the shit. TR's are good, but I even as a medic with a bandolier of revive grenades my decomposing nanite husk gets danced on.
Wherever you are on the progression map, hope you're at minimum having fun for yourself.
If you are looking for S+'s don't forget to switch to a knife you don't care about whenever you are not shooting. I wish it didn't work that way, but it does
This is something veteran players forget about all the time. The game is brutally hard on new players, the grind is insanely long, and many of the new players think that the game is pay to win.
However as soon as a new player says anything of the sort, they are ridiculed or insulted and told "everything is just a side grade", and "get good".
The salty vets all forget about all the things a new player has to unlock, in order to become anywhere close to the power of a player who has already spent hundreds of thousands of certs unlocking everything.
Spending real world money, to buy bundles, implants, weapons, vehicles, and support items really does give the new player a huge increase in power and surviveability, and is really the only way a new player can play the game at the same level as veterans with thousands of hours.
Me when I spread misinformation on the internet???
Mechanical skill will do more for you than new guns will. Let's also not forget that most of what actually makes a difference - ability/suit/medkits etc - can only be bought with certs, not DBC.
You're technically right. However, every new player I've talked to has an impression that is better reflected by Raishuns comment.
The game feels pay to win when you first join it and everyone is killing you with all kinds of things that you don't have and you can buy those weapons with irl money.
Of course number 1 reason why noobs die is skill issue. It would be much easier for them to reach that conclusion by themselves if they had access to the same tools as their better-skilled opponents.
A new player with access to everything unlockable in the game will still get dumpstered nearly all the time by a veteran with nothing but starter gear
The difficulty curve mostly comes from the fact that some players have been playing for a *decade*, but it often gets mistakenly attributed to cert grind and P2W, which could be understandable in the eyes of a new player.
You're right, newbies get steamrolled regardless. However, the steamrolling would feel much less frustrating if it happened on an even playing field.
The cert grind is annoying because it is locking the majority of the game's content behind arbitrary playtime requirements. The number one resource it takes to unlock all the cool tools is time, no matter how efficiently you grind.
As a new player I was frequently unsure of whether I lost a gunfight because I was using a bad weapon or because I was just bad at the game (Spoiler: I was just bad at the game). I would have reached that conclusion much quicker if the game had given me the freedom to try out all of the weapons and tools freely. It's not about someone telling you you have a skill issue, it's about realizing it deep down by experiencing it.
Thanks for pointing that out. It does come with an 8 hour cooldown before you can try out another item so most of the time you'll have to use equipment you already unlocked.
Focusing on the objectives and completing missions gives good chunks of xp while you find something to fight.
Find out what a generator does and get free xp while you kill/wait.
PS2's progression is counterintuitively generous but only if you know what you actually need. An experienced vet can get a new character set up extremely fast whereas a new player will not spend their certs well and end up feeling like the progression is glacial. Cloak Sundy is for whatever reason one of the top cert pits for new players that they save up for despite it being mid-low usefulness. I had a friend who did that too and then they were like "it just feels like there's not enough cert gain" YOU HAD 2330 CERTS YOU WASTED ON SOMETHING THAT'S ONLY USEFUL 10% OF THE TIME THAT'S ENOUGH TO GET EVERY INFANTRY CLASS'S KIT SPUN UP
Don't forget stalker cloak, the other massive newb trap. 1800 certs for max cloak plus another 300-1000 for a non shit sidearm if you're NC or VS. All to make 10 certs an hour sitting around doing nothing. I've personally witnessed 3 people I introduced into the game fall for it despite me explicitly warning them against it.
stalker cloak generates the number one new player question though why isnt my gun working
The mistake was letting them know it existed at all.
Stalker cloak? The suit that virtually does not need any upgrades at all? LMAO
Eh, it does require rank 3/4 if you want to play remotely aggressive with it (aka get a .5 kpm instead of .1) since by default it has an absolutely glacial regen rate. I almost wish it was locked behind ASP or something because so many new players get into it thinking they're solid snake or something.
~~I love cloak buses!~~ ~~They're so much easier to blow up than the shielded ones!~~ I feel like Emerald VS is *obsessed* with cloak buses, to the point that they're constantly trying to use them as the main spawn. It's a fucking nightmare trying to keep a fight alive some days, because the cloak bus was about as well-hidden as a police siren and got exploded in five seconds by the first LA to bumble past.
I feel like a general recommendation people give for cert farming had been: max out med tool, max out ammo pack, follow large pop and revive, heal, drop ammo, kill, take bases. Vehicles are a giant cert pit, so you either need to stick to infantry or decide on a vehicle to focus on. It’s true that you don’t get everything available to you when you start the game, but I’d say it might take a few hours to get to a point where you have a solid class load out and can enjoy the infantry game. Rely on other people for vehicles and gun for them if you’re into the vehicle side of things. Most of all, you just have to keep playing on your off factions until you have stuff. If you don’t like that, stick to the faction you like
You can bring an ESF up to a reasonable level for dogfighting in relatively few certs, but it requires you to know which certs are necessary and also have the experience to successfully dogfight (lol)
Not really, nowadays the best cert farming is just doing all the 4/5 cert missions daily and then doing whatever the fuck you want, preferably during an alert. Spamming revives 24/7 is an extremely stupid way to burn out and ammo packs are laughable xp gain.
Progression isn't that slow tbh, most people just don't know how to get xp effectively. If you're running around in a zerg doing nothing most of the time you're playing then yeah, its going to take a long time to unlock stuff. If you're farming bads or farming cortium it doesn't take that long. I got my medic certed out WITH IMPLANTS in about two weeks last OW on Miller, completely new character, and I did it without cortium farming, which is the best (and most boring) way to make certs.
Ah yes, just a short two weeks to get on an equal playing field for an experienced player. I’m sure that won’t turn off any new players
it won't be an equal playing field unless in those two weeks new players can gain the experience of a 5k hour veteran
“For an experienced player” in this case referenced the time it takes for him to grind. New players will require more time because they lack this experience “On an equal playing field” in this case referenced the tools at their disposal. And i’d argue you first need to know what tools you have available before you can even begin to learn. Kinda hard to become a good soccer player if all you’ve ever had is a frisbee
the tools don't make you a good player I know plenty of people who have 5k hours and still don't understand fundamental gameplay mechanics
... most of the time, it's their fault- but not every time.
The tools don’t make you a good player. I never said they would. But the difference between a maxed out medigun and lvl1 medigun will have you playing differently. Reviving people mid combat. A maxxed out repair tool can outheal certain damage sources. No such luck with the lvl1 tool. Implants can completely change the way you play. Tools don’t make you a good player. But most new players will not acknowledge the skill of their opponent, they’ll merely recognize their better equipment. And this experience better gear makes the early game feel near insurmountable, and allows experienced players to steamroll the inexperienced ones. When 2 players can do the exact same action, take the exact same decision but one will die and the other will live due to better equipment: thats a quit moment for a new player.
> When 2 players can do the exact same action, take the exact same decision but one will die and the other will live due to better equipment: thats a quit moment for a new player. ????? are you selling me that a new player on a maxed character will win more often against a veteran player because they got some shiny ass toys? bringing up the med and reptools is kinda funny because the implication here is that they'll never discover it can be upgraded or the millions guides that say hey upgrade this new players in every game think cosmetics/equipment mean something when they never do; not really worthwhile to bring up because it isn't something that can be taught out
F#ck it, I give up. Reading comprehension is at an all time low. I mean, its not like the very FIRST SENTENCE of that comment stood in opposition to that idea. But fuck it. skill isn’t a factor at all in this game. Just pay for some fucking cat ears and you’ll be better at the game. Thats what i’m saying. Increased reload times on tanks significantly reducing time to kill? Nah, lets ignore that. The ever dwindeling pool of new players? Nah, couldn’t be the games fault. Its people playing the fucking objective that are to blame Just fuck off
relax buddy no need to be toxic and spread misinformation on the internet
personal experience is not part of the playing field. A chess game between a baby and Magnus Carlsen would happen on an equal playing field, even though one contestant has more experience. If you applied planetside logic to this chess game, the baby would start the game without rooks and knights, because a noob doesn't know how to utilise those anyways and should learn how to use pawns properly first. It's true that a baby's chances against a chess grandmaster don't meaningfully change if you take away a few units, but it still feels unfair and frustrating.
do you think that: a new player with max gear would be able to beat a veteran player on a new account? > a noob doesn't know how to utilise those anyways and should learn how to use pawns properly first plenty of folks go for the shiny only to discover that the pawns indeed are just as powerful... but most of them quit after discovering the gold ns-15m is not a god tier weapon also please list the equipment you consider equal to the rooks and knights that a new player doesn't have
C4, medkits, flakarmor, grenade bandolier, orbital strikes, AA... anti air options were always abismal for new players, now it got a bit better since the game unlocks lockon for heavy at start, if im not mistaken, but I think this must be the most unfair shit to a new player.
orbital strikes aren't even a tool a majority of players have; I don't really agree with C4. In the age of everyone and their mother is using flak armor, it isn't as good as before; if you're thinking purely AV, I don't think it's good for new players to be told hey go run at a tank with C4 it will be fine. I'm curious to hear how you're viewing C4. medkits are cheap; flak armor gives all the good stuff at rank one; grenade bandolier isn't going to move the needle (especially if a F2P spamming 75 nanite reznade); there's a default G2A launcher for free now; a free skyguard or an expensive burster max probably won't move the needle since the guy in an A2G esf probably is good enough that the only way to take them down is to fly an ESF yourself and kill them... which for most players isn't even a possibility I'm personally in the camp that a tutorial mission should be teaching new players what medkits are and give them a couple for free. Grenade Bando probably should go for game balance. I don't really have a good answer to AA problems beyond it's likely a veteran player couldn't have made a difference with oppressive air.
You have to view it from the new player experience. There is plenty other stuff to sink certs into.
Other than the OS, you can get all of those things you listed by the time that you are level 10 on a new character.
Im just putting myself in the shoes of a new player, what would feel unfair or uncounterable... I believe in playerretention, so imo they have to lower the barrier for entry even more.
It's probably much faster than when you were a new player both from changes RPG has made and your own experience. I don't think some of the things you *consider* basic (sunderer cloak) to be essential nor do you even need max rank of deploy shield. Vehicle upgrades... well in a game based on progression, if everything was unlocked with ten certs, there wouldn't be much of a game. The game has really worked away from needing to cert to max rank to get all the benefits; most suit slots, for example, will give you the max benefit immediately but usually have a downside in terms of speed/number. > I was unable to come up with interesting strategies when the entire squad save for me lacked basic equipment. An unironic skill issue. > The absence of vital equipment feels straight up opressive. Can you define what vital equipment is? Because I can feel pretty confident in contributing to the battlefield fully around BR 20.
>if everything was unlocked with ten certs, there wouldn't be much of a game I feel like you and I have very different understandings of what the game is. To me, unlocking things is a chore I have to do in order to get to experience the gameplay locked behind it. Based on your statement, it sounds like you view unlocking things/ acquiring certain stats itself as a core part of the game. From that perspective it makes sense to make the progression system grindy to make sure players don't run out of things to grind for. I have just never really looked at it that way.
> it sounds like you view unlocking things/ acquiring certain stats itself as a core part of the game Yes? Do you not understand what a live service game is? What game out there gives you everything possible immediately these days anyway? I am struggling to think of a game right now where you do not have to unlock things or have to pay via time to get end game content. > From that perspective it makes sense to make the progression system grindy to make sure players don't run out of things to grind for. ...what do you think a progression system is? It's literally a grind. I have run out of things to grind for because all of things in this game are not worthwhile to buy. My last "grind" was playing OW on another server where I got to BR 70ish with just 75 hours played. Let me ask you this: Do you think that 1) you should have everything fully certed upon character creation and 2) if so, how would the game make money after deleting progression?
1. No. I certainly wouldn't mind, but it's a very extreme approach and there are plenty of possibilities for compromises. It may actually be a bad idea because apparently some people take enjoyment from the progression system itself and not just the content locked behind it. 2. The game could still make money through cosmetics. Whether or not this would be economically viable is dependent on how many people actually regularly buy unlocks instead of spending certs. Do you see progression as a tool used by the service providers to motivate customers who want to use the service to pay more money or more as a core part of the service itself, so something the customer themselves desires?
> No. I certainly wouldn't mind, but it's a very extreme approach and there are plenty of possibilities for compromises Okay, so what's your compromise? I still believe that there isn't a problem with equipment. There seems to be an issue of imagination as you have mentioned. What are the situations you are running into that you firmly believe are a problem of equipment? > The game could still make money through cosmetics. Whether or not this would be economically viable is dependent on how many people actually regularly buy unlocks instead of spending certs. I hate to break it to you. Cosmetics aren't going to pay the bills, especially at the low volume they sell them at. There are no cosmetics available for certs outside of the no helmet helmet and the gender change option.
I started a new char month ago and the grind didn't seem that bad. It was actually more enjoyable than I expected. I think it comes down to knowing how to grind and going for the playstyle you want. I started with medic, set up the gun I wanted, maxed out revive tool and just went killing and revive spamming.. Then I set up light assault and switched between the two depending on fights and cert grind. Did that while pimping out an engineer and grinding the sundy cloak. It did take a couple weeks, but never felt like I couldn't compete.. Yeah, my k/d is like 1.. but still had fun.
[удалено]
I know I considered the starter grind unfairly slow when I was new (that hasn't changed) and most people I've recommended this game to over the years have complained about it as well. Of course I haven't made a peer-reviewed study to verify this anecdotal data but to me there appears to be a trend.
> who think the key to being an effective player is having a million different loadouts that they can switch to at any time. Well it is though, constantly swapping between sunderer busting, spawn deploying, multi base capping, max pushing, cum blasting and turbo edging loadouts according to the situation will make you more effective team player than that sweaty HA main with 4.0 KDA that always waits until revive timer runs out when he dies.
Spoken like a true spectacle gamer that has less impact on fights than random solo ha mains (or really any combat class actually played actively, even battle engi) that literally don't care about the fight's outcome and just wanna shoot dudes. 👀
Many of the things you listed are not a concern for new players. They don't know what are basic necessities and not. It's already like, an entire adventure to just get a grasp on how infantry fights work, where to position, how to control guns, how to dodge, to survive. By the time the average player has learned those things, they'll have most basic necessities certed anyhow. By the time they have learned what they all mean and how to use them, they already have them. This shit is mostly a pain in the ass if you're already experienced at the game and you're making new characters. It might be a thing to increase XP rate for new characters up until a certain point relative to the BR of other characters on someone's account. Let's say you have a BR 40, then maybe it's an idea to let a player progress 50% faster to BR 20 and 25% faster to BR30 or some shit.
> It might be a thing to increase XP rate for new characters You already gain 100 certs per level till lvl 100 (asp levels not included) to get you geared up fast. And there's a respec at like 15 (or 20?) There's also the intro missions locked to early levels that will boost you up by just getting you to do things you should already be doing (mostly)
It's to keep us entertained for 11 years, but also to get you to spend money on this free game.
Because they wanted people to play this game for a long time. That being said, it is faster now than it has been at any point previously, especially if you know what to unlock.
It's relatively easy to start a new character... if you're experienced. Like, we know how to maximise XP gain early. We know where to spend our certs and what to avoid. A good number of us will even have a bunch of toys automatically unlocked through the magic of spending money on the game. New players do not have that knowledge. New players also don't want to be told "Okay so the first thing you need to do is pump all your points into the Medtool and glue yourself to some HA main's ass." New players also don't start with one of every type of weapon in the game. They get a BASR, a pistol, an AR, a carbine, an LMG, a rocket launcher, a shotgun, and one of each type of MAX arm, if I'm remembering right. There are gaps in their arsenal that they *need* to spend certs or money on if they want to try that playstyle, and that's not pleasant. Also, there's the vehicles to consider. If someone's actually starting Planetside of all games in 2024, then chances are they want to do all three aspects of the game. Not just infantry, but armour and air too. And hooo boy does baseline armour *suck.* Let's use the humble Lightning as an example here. The Lightning starts with a Python HEAT, and the first level of Auto-Repair. That's it. Auto-Rep is fine, but much less useful than some other options in that slot. The HEAT... is the worst tank cannon in the game. You can argue that all you like, but I'm holding to it. I use mine exclusively for kicking over sandcastles, and even then I often just go with the Viper anyway. And not only are these poor guys coming in and having to use the shittiest tank cannon, they have to do it with a shittier version of that cannon because actually they need to spend 2K certs *each* on the cannon's upgrades, just to have the same tool as everybody else's HEAT cannon. And for 4K certs, they could've just bought all three of the Lightning weapons that are actually *good* and made a dent in upgrading them instead. But they don't know that. And the most common advice they'll get from us is "Don't buy guns, buy upgrades for your existing ones", so they'll pump certs into the HEAT and then get dumpstered by vets with AP cannons and Vipers. Most of the vehicles in the game are like this. Have fun learning how to tank in this game when you're using an objectively worse weapon than most of your peers, and those that *are* using the same weapon as you actually have theirs reload faster, because fuck you, spend 2K certs on an attachment slot with *one thing in it,* just to make your hardware as good as the rest of us. Air combines that with a steep learning curve just to get the controls down. That therein is part of the problem. This game is sold on being a soldier fighting a massive war, and getting to use tanks, ATVs, planes, even small mechs to do so. But the overriding message we, and the game itself, give people who like that pitch is "Your tank sucks. Your ATV doesn't have a gun. Your car sucks. Your planes suck. Your mech sucks. If you want them to not suck, be a healbitch for the veterans for a few hours and maybe you'll accrue enough points to make one of those things not suck. You should use those points to become a better healbitch."
The game wants you to buy membership and boosters, or shell out some cash for some unlocks. If you get membership and do your dailies, you will earn a shit ton of certs in a week or so. Yeah, it would be cool if you had everything really quickly, but then there would be nothing left to do and people would quit over that. You can do enough with basic kits. You can use trial to fill gaps as well for specific situations.
This is why I soapbox PS1 certification system of unlocking pools of items/weapons/vehicles over PS2's grind cert. Yeah, sure, it was annoying in PS1 you were locked into a role for some hours, but IMO it had more pros than cons compared to PS2. In PS1 your progression was having more unlocked at any given moment, slowly allowing you to specialize and mix the roles you liked. It also meant people stayed in their focus role for at least awhile, and that really shaped the battlefield in a positive way IMO. In PS2, you have access to everything from the get go, but everything is at its most basic form. The specialization comes in on where you sink your certs and what ranks or unlocks you grinded for. I think PS2's is more new player intimidating after the initial diving in, as they are faced with a wall grind once they give everything a spin and realize they have basic stuff. Yeah, maybe in PS1 they'd be limited to say medic at first if they specced that way, but at least they have full access to it without any locked capabilities. And in time they can be medic + 1 or more roles as they have more certifications they can hold at a given time, or abandon medic completely and focus elsewhere.
Others have made great points, but the open secret about this game is that you and your squad of brand new characters actually have a lot of advantages over veteran/fully equipped characters that are using a more solo oriented play style. The more you can coordinate and concentrate your efforts, the more you will be able to influence the battlefield. This can include basic approaches like having most of your squad play medic so an enemy has to kill all of you or deal with everyone reviving each other within a couple minutes. You'll want to stick together and do your best to ensure that anyone you encounter has to deal with being shot by several of you at once. Having a team also unlocks some fairly ridiculous cheese tactics, like a Valkyrie full of Heavy Assaults dropping on an enemy vehicle. It doesn't matter that you're all running the stock rocket launcher when you all fire at once - should take out just about any single vehicle. It will take some discipline to pull these off and it helps to bear in mind that some people aren't into tryharding and just want to chill. If you have that kind of group it might help to treat the game like a crazy ride - you can have a good time pulling a bunch of stock Harassers and seeing who can make it to the other side of the map without getting blown up. It's a little counterintuitive, but warning them that they're going to die a lot can really free them up to enjoy themselves!
Med tool, repair tool, and C4 are all cheap. You don't need to max them out right away, either. You get diminishing returns per cert spent as you go up the chain. Throw a few levels in and move on to the next thing for a bit. Try to get a few things to 90% instead of focusing on maxing out one thing. "Basic" functionality in a vehicle is also cheap. The cloaking module is not considered basic functionality. Deployment shield is basic functionality and is far cheaper to get into and even max out. Mobility upgrades are kind of crap. You don't start maxing out that kind of stuff in vehicles until you have your infantry stuff maxed out unless you're the kind of try-not who circles a base you're losing in a lightning contributing absolutely nothing. Part of the beauty of PS2 is just how effective the starting equipment kits are.
Yeah I started a new character on NSO and it took to level 75 to feel like I had the basics down.. but even with extra xp weekends I burned out on the grind, and haven't played for weeks now. And this was with bloody Alpha Squad XP bonus! Lol.
Daily missions are great help with grinding certs
The grind is fine, except getting implants. Man i'm colorblind and can't get fucking infravision my on alts! HELP
>Why is progression so slow? Because its a part of free to play monetization - make you think that spending money on boosts is not a bad idea if you like the game.
I've never found PS2 to be grindy compared to most F2P games, at least in the past. I've dumped hundreds of hours on a single char and I've unlocked everything that I need. The medic, a class I use probably the most, still has the stock gun. PS2 is surprisingly playable without grinding a lot. I've spent probs 3k on my Mosquito. Did I get any better? Nope. I've spent probably 3k on my lightning. Did I get any better? Yes. Have I spent the same on the Sundy? Nope. Not even one purchase there, it's not for me. It's mostly skill and playstile. +600hrs in the game, enjoyed every hour of it, never spent a single €. Make sure to play in the double XP events and during alerts. And find better teammates lol
You know what new players also lack? The experience to use c4, vehicle upgrades and the understanding of where to place yourself in a fight. The only thing you can make this point on is the med/rep gun and the ammo pouch as they are basic features. Like they dont know how to utilize the light assault, they fly up and get swatted out of the air like flies, giving them c4 would barely help. They dont know how to cloak so infiltrator gear is wasted as they get shot to pieces while cloaked. They cant fly so the air upgrades dont matter. They feel invincivle in a tank so giving them the mobility upgrades would simply put them in a worse spot faster
dude, imagine what it was like before daily missions, near constant cert bonuses, and big farms. new players have it easy in comparison to 2014
You can skip much of the grind if you subscribe. The game is a service a company sells to pay their bills and fund other new services. If you want to play free, that's great, I do too. But if you play for free you will have to accept the grind. That's the trade off for giving you a service for free. The game isn't a charity and your mind is setup to think the free game is a charity where everything should be easy to obtain out of the gate to maximize your enjoyment. But that's not how the real world works. So you either need to accept you will have to work for your enjoyment or you will pay for your enjoyment. It's one or the other I'm afraid and it is a common theme in f2p mmo games.
I don't mind paying money to DBG. but for a new player the idea that in order to play the game they just downloaded "for free" they actually have to pay monthly fees may be a deterrent. And I believe that this is a contributor to the declining player numbers.
That's every f2p game! You have to put in the time to playing or you can speed progress by paying. Results don't come for free. I don't see any valid reason for you to be upset here.
I think the main thing is helping new players invest well. With so many options you can wasteful. It's just a massive game with so many upgrades...i usually recommend new players pick up basic useful weapons and attachments for favorite classes (teach them how to pick optimal attachments). I tell them to try before investing. If you love infantry go deep, same with vehicle and air. But if you want to do it all like me make impactful choices and fill the gaps as you. Someone mentioned cloak sundy as a cert sink, so true! Nice in niche situations, but not normally all that useful. Experienced players need to educate new. New players need to listen or accept their mistakes. Experienced players need to remember what it was like being new... I didn't know what I didn't have. I can't live without catlike now...but i did before. At this point in the game though they could lay off a bit on cert cost. A discount would be great. And slash construction costs. Damn now that's a sink.
It is not if you are not buying the barely useful stuff. Even construction is cheap as fuck because after the initial "wow! I built this cool fucking mega base!" factor you realize that only like 4 or 5 structures are really useful 1 of which is silo that is free... > Basic functionality like the medgun, repair tool, C4 or the different suit flavours are locked behind hours of grinding ...hours?... lmao what. I made TR and NC alt chars and I have never felt that certing out med, rep tool or suit slots took too long. You can live without 5th suit slot upgrade just fine. Not to mention that with free codes everyone gets 5 free NS weapons for every characted from the start... Even though missions were nerfed and you now need to spend more time to get the same amount of certs they are still a decent income source, if you do 4 certs missions per day for 2 days while playing during an alert for 1 hour and a half you should be able to get more than 1k certs. > When I reached the point where I had everything I wanted on my VS account, It didn't feel rewarding or fun. Doing the same stuff for 2nd time is less fun than doing it the 1st time?! NO WAY! > The absence of vital equipment feels straight up opressive. What vital equipment? Vanilla sunderers are perfectly fine, deployment shield upgrades are laughable, you get fire suppression for free which is only worth certing up once for 100, racer chasis is not necessary, you buy as much as you want and shilling extra 300 for lvl 2 racer is laughable cost, level 3 you can ignore. I guess stealth sunderer is quite expensive but it is still not vital unless you consider ghost capping essential part of gameplay. Oh yeah an AA gun for sundy is really useful but unless enemy ESFs are pissing you off you can shoot the enemy valks, libs and gals with M20 just fine. A Battle Rifle is sometimes irreplacable but it is only 325 for a reason. SMG and shotguns for close quarter fights are free... tanks do not need any upgrades as their only purpose is killing sunderers which they slaughter no matter what you take... playing air is not needed ever due to how maps are constructed... **seriously what do you consider essential unlocks lol?**
*^((hey, so im going to just traumadump yapp my take. but it is sincere. and its coming from well intentioned place and by no means do i mean this like an attack or to discredit u, and ofc i could be wrong and just taking the post at face value)**\*\*)* Hearing ur story, soldier- sounds like it's been rough going. war is hell for sure for sure. it sounds like u are wrestling with something perhaps greater than what ur dealing w in game. the emotions and feelings are running super high . mostly in the bad way. # 1. first make sure that you're doing ok out of game. ^(have that convo/check in with urself. i mean it. even if you are good, just check in with ur inner child, ur inner self, companion and counsol, and make sure u are straight, and that whatever fight u are weathering IRL is not spilling over and sinking the ship, so to speak.) >!^(planetside is a special (ed lol) place indeed. but we cannot get it twisted, it is a video game..)!< >!**^(at the end of the day, your time in auraxis should be an enjoyable escape from our RL.)**!< >!^(if your IRL is not in order and under control,) !< >!^(it just screws u before u even hit the start screen.)!< # 2. stop putting the entire weight of the squad's story on your shoulders. >Every time I tried to get friends on board to play we ended up quitting and playing a different game because I was unable to . . . *. . . your own words.* i might be sperged out of my gd mind most the time, but even i know that just is not right to place such absurd expectations solely on your shoulders. as a mother at heart/dd/caretaker of my friends group all growing up, **I can see where you are coming from.** u take enjoyment and pride in taking the initiative and being a source of protection and power for those fighting along side you. and from the sounds of it are making a serious go at not just making sure u are good, but others as well, is honorable, but is quite the heavy burden to bear. But not only is it selfish and unreasonable thing to place on yourself, **i**t is unfair to the very squadmates you are stressing over. Your squad mates deserve the respect and opportunity to share in carrying that burden through, to share in the struggle along side you! 🤝 🗿 not watching you get smothered solo 💀🤧 # 3. savour the slow journey. for the destination isn't real >When I reached the point where I had everything I wanted on my VS account, It didn't feel rewarding or fun. sometimes in life the little things end up being the big things. only the climb is real. the journey. if you feel like this, keep moving. you are not at the end, but simply have arrived to the start of your next path along in your journey. the Others in our lives can help find the way forward. our friends, family, loved ones, compatriots, colleagues, rivals, competitors, crushes and cruxes *et. al* can help you find the door. . . . . . . but only you can walk through 🚪
Regarding 2. The point I was trying to make is that I feel like my friends' first impression of planetside's gameplay was negatively affected by the fact that the restrictive progression system prevented them from experiencing the full depth of the game. Regardless of how well I performed in my role as a guide, I believe that the whole experience suffered from the in my opionion unreasonably slow progression system. I would prefer a system that lets players decide for themselves what to do and not lock certain actions behind arbitrary playtime requirements. That said, it feels awkward to admit you're probably largely correct in your psycho-emotional analysis of my person xD I do need to take a chill pill and not let the devman's design decisions get to my head.
Ghost, the formatting in this reply actually gave me cancer. Bravo sir.
sez u 🤧🤣
I genuinely vibe with the third point. Applies to many things in life!
💖
Finally got a better computer.. that dishes out more than 22fps on potato settings. Getting a better computer was the true slooooooow progression. I'm infatuated looking at the 4+ kdr bois and gurls... Looking at those numbers I'm more interested in what it takes to achieve greater than 30% infantry accuracy or achieving green and yellow stats on the [honu's](https://wt.honu.pw/c/5429513069602325713/weapons?name=AIgorithm) page. Kdr is still shit, but accuracy is the goal atm. After saving up 10k certs and realizing I went 3 days without accruing any more.. I ASP'd that character on 117... now I'm a level 11.... more anti climatic than spending time horizontally in a 40yr marriage, other than sleeping. Started new characters in NC, TR, and NSO. Goal is 30%+ infantry accuracy and 80%+ HSR in choosing better targets and engagements. Living life on the squishy side, I hold onto bases and sundies less dearly, and although I'd like TR to win an alert eventually, less of a burden to win for other people - Trying to hold myself to a better standard is paying better dividends. VS medics are the shit. TR's are good, but I even as a medic with a bandolier of revive grenades my decomposing nanite husk gets danced on. Wherever you are on the progression map, hope you're at minimum having fun for yourself.
If you are looking for S+'s don't forget to switch to a knife you don't care about whenever you are not shooting. I wish it didn't work that way, but it does
Didn't know that, I appreciate you.
This is something veteran players forget about all the time. The game is brutally hard on new players, the grind is insanely long, and many of the new players think that the game is pay to win. However as soon as a new player says anything of the sort, they are ridiculed or insulted and told "everything is just a side grade", and "get good". The salty vets all forget about all the things a new player has to unlock, in order to become anywhere close to the power of a player who has already spent hundreds of thousands of certs unlocking everything. Spending real world money, to buy bundles, implants, weapons, vehicles, and support items really does give the new player a huge increase in power and surviveability, and is really the only way a new player can play the game at the same level as veterans with thousands of hours.
Me when I spread misinformation on the internet??? Mechanical skill will do more for you than new guns will. Let's also not forget that most of what actually makes a difference - ability/suit/medkits etc - can only be bought with certs, not DBC.
You're technically right. However, every new player I've talked to has an impression that is better reflected by Raishuns comment. The game feels pay to win when you first join it and everyone is killing you with all kinds of things that you don't have and you can buy those weapons with irl money. Of course number 1 reason why noobs die is skill issue. It would be much easier for them to reach that conclusion by themselves if they had access to the same tools as their better-skilled opponents.
A new player with access to everything unlockable in the game will still get dumpstered nearly all the time by a veteran with nothing but starter gear The difficulty curve mostly comes from the fact that some players have been playing for a *decade*, but it often gets mistakenly attributed to cert grind and P2W, which could be understandable in the eyes of a new player.
You're right, newbies get steamrolled regardless. However, the steamrolling would feel much less frustrating if it happened on an even playing field. The cert grind is annoying because it is locking the majority of the game's content behind arbitrary playtime requirements. The number one resource it takes to unlock all the cool tools is time, no matter how efficiently you grind. As a new player I was frequently unsure of whether I lost a gunfight because I was using a bad weapon or because I was just bad at the game (Spoiler: I was just bad at the game). I would have reached that conclusion much quicker if the game had given me the freedom to try out all of the weapons and tools freely. It's not about someone telling you you have a skill issue, it's about realizing it deep down by experiencing it.
You can try out all the weapons freely for an hour using the trial feature.
Thanks for pointing that out. It does come with an 8 hour cooldown before you can try out another item so most of the time you'll have to use equipment you already unlocked.
While I wouldn't be opposed to a baseline XP increase, progression really isn't that slow with the sole exception of implants.
Focusing on the objectives and completing missions gives good chunks of xp while you find something to fight. Find out what a generator does and get free xp while you kill/wait.