Planetside 2

[Miasma]

The refund is supposed to be for people who bought the same weapon on multiple characters because the unlocks weren't account wide.

Being SOE, they didn't have the sense to try the refund on a test database of players and then look for absurd problems resulting in:

http://imgur.com/a/N0Ks0

Some characters that have never even logged in have over 100,000 certs.  Lots of people got way more certs than they should have and others got nothing.

[Mrbloodworth]

Few things that may help sky. "H" will make the mini-map bigger, also the "[ and ]" keys will zoom in and out the mini-map. Also remapping "E" will save so much frustration, especially with air. :)

[Sky]

I was considering the remap, but I'm not sure why I had such a problem with it. I use E for use and R for reload in just about everything.

Thanks for the tip about the map, that helps some. If only they'd allow some granular access to UI elements!

[Mrbloodworth]

Dude, if I had a nickle for all the times someone hit E instead of R while in air.....

You are not alone.

[shiznitz]

Anyone want to play "how much I have spent in PS2 so far?"

$195, incl Alpha purchase, excl 12 month sub.

Wow.  F2P can work...

What really got me to spend is trying out other factions.  I immediately drop $50 to get the best weapons.

[Trippy]

What's the deal with the capture changes? I haven't been paying attention to dev posts.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/server-hotfix-04-19-2013.117818/

[01101010]

What's the deal with the capture changes? I haven't been paying attention to dev posts.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/server-hotfix-04-19-2013.117818/

Timered captures. Flip the point and you are now free to hunt the area or set up ambushes of people trying to flip the point back... or just do what everyone else is doing and spawn camp till timer is over. No sitting on the point with 6/6 or 3/3 or 2/2 to make it go faster. And influence is no longer in play...

Since influence will no longer be required once they come out with the 'lattice' work, they decided to put this part of the change over in now - probably to make sure it is working before unleashing the new map structure - less apt to break everything when you release it in bits, even though it fucks with the status quo.

[shiznitz]

I like the change.  You can look at how much time is left to cap on the main map.  The gens and SCUs also have timers on the map.  They left in the 0/0 syntax though it doesn't mean anything anymore.

[Trippy]

I have have no idea what to do now when capturing or defending, though. In PS1 it was clear after some play time which parts of the base need to be defended/attacked without having explicit "hold points" but in PS2 I feel lost without them cause all the bases were designed around those points. Now do you just protect the generators? Or turtle somewhere where nobody can find you? Also the "sub base" capture mechanics are broken by this change. Some of the exterior capture points on the large bases (the up arrow locations) can no longer be captured.

[Nija]

Now you just wait a bit until they make it even more like PS1.

[Trippy]

I'm cool with that as long as they fix the bases to match whatever system they are settling on. Right now there's a cognitive dissonance going on where the base designs tell you to play one way but the game "rules" tell you to play another way.

[shiznitz]

I don't think anything has changed as far as capture mechanics.  You have to capture and hold A, B and C in the big bases.  This often requires taking down the gens and then the SCU first.  All that has changed is that the timers are fixed, not variable, and there is map transparency to these timers.

[Mrbloodworth]

I'm cool with that as long as they fix the bases to match whatever system they are settling on. Right now there's a cognitive dissonance going on where the base designs tell you to play one way but the game "rules" tell you to play another way.

Forward bases ( Capture point with the UP arrow ) are not required to take a base, but simply provide a hard spawn and vehicle facilities.

[Nija]

I don't think anything has changed as far as capture mechanics.  You have to capture and hold A, B and C in the big bases.  This often requires taking down the gens and then the SCU first.  All that has changed is that the timers are fixed, not variable, and there is map transparency to these timers.

Nobody has to stay on the points anymore. Ever. You flip it and you can walk away. Ghost caps happen as fast as zerg caps. What makes you think this doesn't change anything? This changes a lot of shit. As mentioned above, the bases aren't really setup for this kind of gameplay yet.

[Mrbloodworth]

Yes, but "You have to capture and hold A, B and C in the big bases." is still true. How you manage your team is up to you, is not up to the game to tell you to keep that gen secure.

Only thing that's been removed it the capture rate increase by staying on point ( 1/6 ). It was optional before this change.

[Trippy]

I'm cool with that as long as they fix the bases to match whatever system they are settling on. Right now there's a cognitive dissonance going on where the base designs tell you to play one way but the game "rules" tell you to play another way.

Forward bases ( Capture point with the UP arrow ) are not required to take a base, but simply provide a hard spawn and vehicle facilities.

Yes I know but not having the extra spawn points is a big change. It does work with Bio Labs though which is weird.

[Mrbloodworth]

Them not being able to be captured is a bug.

[shiznitz]

Nobody has to stay on the points anymore.

I don't view that change as terribly significant since it only applies to the outlying points.  They were always easy to ghost cap and if you don't stick around to defend it, it will be ghost-defended as always. 

[Mrbloodworth]

Planetside 2 - Harasser Reveal Trailer  

[Gets]

Shooting from the back of the Harasser is really difficult with the camera shaking all over while driving, so putting a Burster Max there isn't as effective as you might think it could be. No unscripted Mad Max inspired roadfights like in your favorite FPS franchise, I'm afraid. It has its upsides and downsides like that. Faster than a Flash, but Radar is only 50m compared to Flash's 100m. You can throw tank mines from the backseat, but you can shoot the person sitting there with the mounted turret in the back of the head.

[shiznitz]

I have had a chance to drive and gun for Harassers now.  I find them incredibly fun in either role.  They have just enough survivability to be useable because of their speed and maneuverability.  God help you if you stop or slow down, though.  My favorite gun is the Halberd.  It makes the Harrasser a real threat to Lightnings and Sunderers. 

[Surlyboi]

Just bought the new big-ass revolver. Slow as shit, but it packs a punch. And the reload animation is 

[shiznitz]

Just bought the new big-ass revolver. Slow as shit, but it packs a punch. And the reload animation is 

Does it go in the revolver equipment slot or the rifle/smg slot?

[Kageru]

Pretty sure it's what I was playing around with last night, and it's a pistol replacement.

Logged in again to see what had changed. Lots of new weapons, rebalanced weapons, and the forts look like they've had a lot of work to make infantry defence more than being vehicle-chow.

Strategically it still has zero depth from what I can see. All the action was people trying to hold the hill near the crown for no particular reason I could discern. With one of the most effective weapons being people driving harassers through the crowd. The engine still chugs annoyingly when the action warms up.

[Trippy]

Strategically it still has zero depth from what I can see. All the action was people trying to hold the hill near the crown for no particular reason I could discern.

Cause that's where the EXP is? PS 2 is even worse than PS in that regard since you could eventually max out both sets of levels in the original.

[Kageru]

Yeah, big farming session. The inevitable outcome of a "war" where there is no winner, no reason to hold any particular territory and everyone respawns. But it makes the MMO aspects a bit of a waste and the battles have no structure or story (unlike a WoT round).

And I suspect much of the remaining population are the hard-core. Lots of battle rank 60+ people which is a lot of hours.

[Nija]

It's going to change quite a bit with the new lattice changes that are coming down the pipe. I'm not sure if it'll be a change for the worse or for the better, but I'm hoping better.

edit: here's some info about the change from a friend of mine: http://themittani.com/features/planetside-2-latest-lattice-changes

[Jimbo]

About every 4 hours an alert spawns, you go to that continent and try and capture all the areas and hold them for the alert, then whoever has the most wins. Roughly, it is like, alert starts, and then it is a battle for 1.5 hours, then you get exp if you win or loose or tie. I've seen 1 tie, and been on winning and loosing for each faction. And then a break happens till the next alert comes on. It is great in that it gets people off of Indar and gets them all over the place.

There is talk of continent lock and winning, something like if you control a continent for so long, the other team is unable to leave the warp gate for so long, forcing everyone to another continent. The winning would be if one side could control all the area for a certain time. Sort of like WWII Online does (okay it has been a long time, they had that feature in for a bit at one time) where one side could win the war, then start again.

There is a ton of stuff to try and spec out. The damn hat they released today made it "hey let's play TR today so I can wear a damn hat!" NC and VS population was way freaking low. Made it a freaking stand at the Alamo most of the places.

[shiznitz]

I still find the game incredibly fun a few nights a week (the most I can play anything).  I find every battle a little bit different and if it isn't different enough, I can change it by switching classes.  I have enough certs across them all now so that each one that I like (no LA or Infil for me) is effective.  Whether I would still love this game if I played it 5 night a week, I cannot answer.  As usual, the guys you play with matter a lot.

[Mrbloodworth]

The new stuff is really hot.

[Falconeer]

Double Station Cash this weekend.

[shiznitz]

Double Station Cash this weekend.

Fuck, I just dropped $50 last week.  I will do it again, though.  That shit goes fast when supporting characters of all 3 factions.

[Kitsune]

Hold off for the very rare triple cash days and stock up then.  Walmart has a $15 gift card with $5 bonus, so each one of those counts as $60 when redeemed on a triple cash day.  The maximum station cash you can redeem in one day is $300, which is $75 worth of those Walmart station cards.  Stock up your cash that way once a year and you're pretty set for any amount of station spending.

[shiznitz]

Double Station Cash this weekend.

I am not seeing Double Station cash.

edit: I found it.  Go to the Wizardry Online site and get 2x on $50 and $100 amounts. 

[Kageru]

2Gb patch and the return of the lattice system. Hopefully that will add some structure to the strategic layer without bogging things down.