What’s the server pop like?
Chaplin
2042
I have not played in forever. Last night I tried a quick “instant action” and it failed to deliver me anywhere that could be remotely associated with action. I am (or was at least) in the Vanu outfit Azure Twilight there and while not really involved in the outfit, it was good for finding large scale action quickly.
Mattherson seems to have a decent level population from my experience. I recently did an instant action (on Indar. Indar is almost invariably the most populated map) and got dropped right in the middle of a whole bunch of surprised TR who thought they were far enough behind the line to be safe. Mwuahaha!
On Mattherson my Vanu character is named Shartly.
I was in the QT3 guild back in the day (Vanu - Mattherson). I’ve since joined Azure Twilight (www.azuretwilight.org) and have played pretty steadily since release. A rare event for me, more of a strategy/RPG gamer. I’ve even got my wife playing regularly. Look us up as AlchemistOO or Faeleen.
Joining a guild has really improved the experience. Organized operations can help generate some additional purpose. Operations aren’t always super-organized, but if you’re in the outfit, you’re generally expected to join up. You’re free to make alts and purchased (station cash) equipment is usable across characters. NS gear is usable across factions.
Chaplin
2046
So I got into some battles on Mattherson and wow, the updates they have put into the game over the year or so I have been away have done a ton of good. Not only does it perform better, but it looks and sounds better to boot. I used to have to run horribly low settings just to pray for 15 to 20 FPS in big fights, but I managed to up it to High/medium and maintained 30 to 50 FPS in a biodome fight. I also used to really hate the sound and feel of the Vanu flashlights and almost switched just to get a better feeling weapon set, but now they are cool sounding with nice lighting effects. My comp is pretty mid range now, but on the exact same rig it is night and day. That is some serious magic voodoo patching that they have been doing.
I popped into it last night for about half an hour before bed (Lemmuin, Vanu-Mattherson). I was totally lost and probably mostly useless as a medic, but it did look interesting enough. I probably won’t a play tons but I’ll keep an eye out for y’alls. I can always use help keeping from getting my fool head blown off, and I typically prefer to play support roles in these sorts of games.
Alan_Au
2048
One of the things that I consider to be a shortcoming of the game is that specialization requires some time investment. It’s a bit better since you can’t actually pay to get ahead in those areas, but for example, to be an effective medic you’ll want to have upgraded your medic tool to at least level 3. Long-time medics will tell you that having a level 6 medic tool is a game-changer, allowing you to revive people in a mere fraction of the time it takes a stock medic to do so.
I randomly reinstalled this a couple weeks ago and have been having a fair bit of fun despite bouncing off it when it first came out. Did they change the spawning rules or something? I’m finding it a lot easier to find a decent sized fight than it used to be. I have no idea how to find people or join a group or something but I’m also a Vanu on Matherson (otthegreat I think) if you ever want to get people together.
Yeah, I can’t list all the changes they made, but since it came out they have made a lot of changes that effect how easy it is to find a firefight. Some people complain that it hurts the meta game a little, because going behind enemy lines is basically pointless, but at any given time on a populated server and map there are 3-6 major battles going on that the game will have no problem dropping you into.
I will also second that a level 6 medic tool is a game changer. I did a fine job for a long time as an NC medic, thinking that dropping 500 certs on a level 6 tool was a waste. But last night I was playing my medic and I was like “eh, what the heck” and got the level 6. Now I can basically revive somebody while running past them to the next downed teammate. It is a beautiful thing. A well organized group would probably only need half as many level 6 tool medics as level 5 to be as effective, meaning more people available to shoot things. I wish I had done it a long time ago.
Chaplin
2051
I concur. Unless you hate teamwork, top level medic tool is the biggest game changer in the game. Guns are nice. Modifications are nice. But that medic tool is night and day when you hit the top rank. The other stuff…not even close.
I think my philosophy when starting up was Night Vision scope (cheap, and required for OPs in my outfit as they use a lot of smoke assaults), med tool up to second to top tier, AA weapon, top tier med kit. The rest is gravy, but that other stuff is critical.
I am probably going to play more of this now as the optimization patches have seemingly transformed my rig’s ability to play the game.
Chaplyn as Vanu, Mattherson
Ponicus
2052
I play TR on Waterson if anyone wants a change of pace.
This here is a pretty cool collection of Planetside 2 videos. I’ve only watched the first four, but they’re well done, and the second one has some of the best PS2 flying that I’ve seen. It kind of makes me want to start dumping certs into my ESF.
A bunch of you on Mattherson got friend requests from me. - Lemmuin
Chaplin, myself, and… somebody else… Direwulf? had a pretty good run tonight. I don’t want to say that we singlehandedly turned the tide of the Alert in favor of the VS on Mattherson… but we got some good licks in.
shang
2056
So, how much of a real power upgrade are the unlockable weapons or are they mostly “side-grades”? I played the game for a short while yesterday after a long pause and while I’m admittedly rusty it felt like I was mostly being killed by BR100 opponents who gunned me down in a second while I was barely scratching their shields. Did not make for a very entertaining session.
Razgon
2057
Thats how most competetive shooters feel if you have been away for a while. I actually tried a few times this weekend as well, after having been away for a long time. I died very fast the first few times, but last night I had a good run and got some kills in. Also, remember that its not so much about you, as its about your faction. Meaning, you should fight with your comrades.
As for how much the sidegrades mean - not much in my experience. You still have to hit people. While there are powerful guns, they lack in other departments (Speed, range, clip size and so on)
Octagus
2058
The game does a good job of making most of the weapons sidegrades and some of the weapons you start with are some of the best all around weapons in their respective class. That said having guns that are specialized can give someone an advantage, this is most noticeable when fighting against someone in CQC who is using a CQC weapon and you’re not. If you’re going to invest in a new weapon I suggest making it a CQC weapon for your favorite class. Otherwise your starter weapons are usually fine.
A character level doesn’t mean much in terms of winning or losing fights, their higher BR doesn’t let them tank enormously more damage then you or put out all that much more in the grande scheme of things.
shang
2059
Ah, that is probably a factor as I was mostly fighting inside bases last night. Anyway, it’s good to hear that high BR doesn’t necessarily mean a huge numerical advantage. It makes losing much less frustrating if I know it’s mostly because of skill and not stats differences.
What Octagus said. I typically have 2-3 different weapons for my character, per class, and I’ll pick a different load-out depending on the situation.
What faction do you normally play?
