Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

PS2 is a Disappointment

UsualSuspectUsualSuspect Member UncommonPosts: 1,243

I've been playing in the PS2 beta for a while now and though I keep going back night after night, it's more out of an interest to see if the developers will make any nice changes, than actual game enjoyment. I mean, it's not a bad game, it has its moments, it's just all a bit pointless. There's a big battle going on in the middle usually, then you'll get people backhacking other bases so people will go out and take those back, while that's happening another base nearby will be taken so you go to that, then that's captured and, oh, they took the first base back again, so you go there...

It's just back and fore, back and fore, no real reason, no real purpose and wow does it ever get tedious. You can go back and fore like that all day, meanwhile that same battle is going on in the middle, someone might go forward, someone might fall back. Then you can log on the next day and the exact same thing will happen all over again. This game is desperately in need of PS1's original lattice network, plus more areas for the three factions to conquer. At the moment I find myself wondering why I'm bothering, it's just fighting for fightings sake.

Then you look at the classes, vehicles and weapons and how to upgrade them and quickly realise that this game screams Pay to Win. I mean, I started my current character about 5 days ago, played about 3-4 hours a night after work, and I managed to raise 5000 auraxians (that's credits). To purchase a new weapon can cost upwards of 20,000. No surprise then that you can also pay real cash for those extra weapons.

Are these weapons powerful? Hell yes they are. Most people seem to have gained enough for anti-air weapons now and honestly, it's not even worth taking an aircraft up if a few of those are around. With rockets that auto lock and flak weapons with massive range and damage, it's just not worth the cost in resources. I was in a battle earlier to take a base back, flying around with my Galaxy trying to find a suitable position, and if I even saw an enemy far off in the distance I was taking damage and having to flee from missile locks.

Will they balance these things or will it become an arms race, where everyone is paying real cash for the next upgrade so that they can keep up? I don't have the answer to that one. I'd bet that they keep the power level up though, to entice people to open their wallets.

I'm also against the idea of classes. Looking at the certifications and how many you seem to get over time, it seems you'll be forced into a role as the cost of some of those certs are pretty high. They do seem to increase even while you're offline though, which is something I guess. Like I'd log off with about 5 certs then join the next evening and find I have 28.

The bad thing is that a simple cert can be really expensive. Small things like a suppressor on your weapon are about 5pts, but placing a zoom function on a vehicles weapon can be 15 for the very basics, increasing with each extra level, so a 1.5x zoom will be 15, 2x zoom will be 25, 3x will cost 40. And you have to get the first to get the next, so to get 3x zoom will total out at 80 cert points. That's just for one weapon on one vehicle.

Of course, this is still beta and I'm sure there are changes to come - hell, a lot of certs still aren't active yet. But considering they've lifted the NDA and are willing to accept what people currently think of the game reaching consumers, then I can't see a whole lot of changes coming down the line. I think we'll see the locked certs slowly open up, a few tweaks here and there, then they'll call it done.

For me, it's far from done..

«13

Comments

  • fadisfadis Member Posts: 469

    I think you need to let this part of the beta play out... don't burn yourself out.  As has been stated in a variety of forums - this is an actual beta, not a pre-launch demo. 

     

    Re: the pricing and upgrade pacing... who knows?  It's obviously going to be very important in maintaining a level of competitive balance (though keep in mind, nobody is forcing you into the sky until you've unlocked decoy flairs or your own AA missles) - but I would take any costs you see in beta as just that... beta costs.

     

    However... SOE is in the business of making $$$.  If you're one of those that can play 50+ hours per week and pays nothing... you must understand you're not going to be as far 'ahead' of others who play 10 hours/week and are willing to pay $10/month as you'd probably like!

     

     

     

     

  • coretestercoretester Member Posts: 64
    the removed everything that made planetside good and basically made battlefield 3 / ps edition. it's really terrible. and im not talking about the AWFUL graphics and textures, nor the animations, optimization and the other million problems it has, but the game is simply not fun. there's no point to anything and it's just terrible all the way through. but i guess its a F2P so can't expect too much, but the shooting, balance issues, max, healing, classes .... its all just extremely bad.
  • UsualSuspectUsualSuspect Member UncommonPosts: 1,243
    Originally posted by coretester
    there's no point to anything and it's just terrible all the way through.

    This is my biggest problem with it at the moment. There really is no point, the game gives me no motivation to go out there and fight for territory. The territory just swings back and fore every few minutes, you can capture a base or outpost and within a few minutes that base or outpost is back in the hands of the enemy. Why bother?

    In PS1 the motivation was capturing lands, you could push the enemy completely off a continent and then move on to the next one. That was the goal, to try and conquer the lands. Making the whole game about a couple of bases on some godawful landscape is just a major fail in my opinion. It gives you nothing to care about, the scale is just too small to be interesting.

  • UsualSuspectUsualSuspect Member UncommonPosts: 1,243
    Originally posted by fadis

    I think you need to let this part of the beta play out... don't burn yourself out.  As has been stated in a variety of forums - this is an actual beta, not a pre-launch demo. 

    I would have agreed with you here, except they've lifted the NDA. Once they lifted that they were happy for people to judge the game on what's currently available. It stops being a beta and becomes that pre-launch demo. All we're going to see from here are minor tweaks and certifications coming into play. If they make any sweeping changes I'll be VERY surprised.

    Re: the pricing and upgrade pacing... who knows?  It's obviously going to be very important in maintaining a level of competitive balance (though keep in mind, nobody is forcing you into the sky until you've unlocked decoy flairs or your own AA missles) - but I would take any costs you see in beta as just that... beta costs.

    There's actually a lot of threads on the beta forum about the power of air and how they dictate the entire battles due to the way the bases and terrain are designed. Have more air power than the other faction? You win. Seriously, massive amount of threads over there, so it's not just me.

    However... SOE is in the business of making $$$.  If you're one of those that can play 50+ hours per week and pays nothing... you must understand you're not going to be as far 'ahead' of others who play 10 hours/week and are willing to pay $10/month as you'd probably like!

    I wish I could play 50+ hours a week but I've got a job. I play a few hours a night after work and extra on the weekends. Back in the EQ days I could do that, hell I used to play all through the night and barely see the sunlight, but not anymore.

     

  • jpnzjpnz Member Posts: 3,529
    Originally posted by UsualSuspect
    Originally posted by fadis

    I think you need to let this part of the beta play out... don't burn yourself out.  As has been stated in a variety of forums - this is an actual beta, not a pre-launch demo. 

    I would have agreed with you here, except they've lifted the NDA. Once they lifted that they were happy for people to judge the game on what's currently available. It stops being a beta and becomes that pre-launch demo. All we're going to see from here are minor tweaks and certifications coming into play. If they make any sweeping changes I'll be VERY surprised.

    Re: the pricing and upgrade pacing... who knows?  It's obviously going to be very important in maintaining a level of competitive balance (though keep in mind, nobody is forcing you into the sky until you've unlocked decoy flairs or your own AA missles) - but I would take any costs you see in beta as just that... beta costs.

    There's actually a lot of threads on the beta forum about the power of air and how they dictate the entire battles due to the way the bases and terrain are designed. Have more air power than the other faction? You win. Seriously, massive amount of threads over there, so it's not just me.

    However... SOE is in the business of making $$$.  If you're one of those that can play 50+ hours per week and pays nothing... you must understand you're not going to be as far 'ahead' of others who play 10 hours/week and are willing to pay $10/month as you'd probably like!

    I wish I could play 50+ hours a week but I've got a job. I play a few hours a night after work and extra on the weekends. Back in the EQ days I could do that, hell I used to play all through the night and barely see the sunlight, but not anymore.

     

    Highlighted red text is some really bizzare logic that doesn't reflect what IT industry (and to an extend the gaming) does.

    IE. in the real world (and not some imaginary one) games / IT stuff are beta with no NDA for a while and some do go through radical changes. Gmail comes to mind.

    Also, I recall J-Smed saying 80% of skills isn't in yet.

    Gdemami -
    Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.

  • ZinzanZinzan Member UncommonPosts: 1,351
    Originally posted by UsualSuspect

    I've been playing in the PS2 beta for a while now and though I keep going back night after night, it's more out of an interest to see if the developers will make any nice changes, than actual game enjoyment. I mean, it's not a bad game, it has its moments, it's just all a bit pointless. There's a big battle going on in the middle usually, then you'll get people backhacking other bases so people will go out and take those back, while that's happening another base nearby will be taken so you go to that, then that's captured and, oh, they took the first base back again, so you go there...

    It's just back and fore, back and fore, no real reason, no real purpose and wow does it ever get tedious. You can go back and fore like that all day, meanwhile that same battle is going on in the middle, someone might go forward, someone might fall back. Then you can log on the next day and the exact same thing will happen all over again. This game is desperately in need of PS1's original lattice network, plus more areas for the three factions to conquer. At the moment I find myself wondering why I'm bothering, it's just fighting for fightings sake.

    Then you look at the classes, vehicles and weapons and how to upgrade them and quickly realise that this game screams Pay to Win. I mean, I started my current character about 5 days ago, played about 3-4 hours a night after work, and I managed to raise 5000 auraxians (that's credits). To purchase a new weapon can cost upwards of 20,000. No surprise then that you can also pay real cash for those extra weapons.

    Are these weapons powerful? Hell yes they are. Most people seem to have gained enough for anti-air weapons now and honestly, it's not even worth taking an aircraft up if a few of those are around. With rockets that auto lock and flak weapons with massive range and damage, it's just not worth the cost in resources. I was in a battle earlier to take a base back, flying around with my Galaxy trying to find a suitable position, and if I even saw an enemy far off in the distance I was taking damage and having to flee from missile locks.

    Will they balance these things or will it become an arms race, where everyone is paying real cash for the next upgrade so that they can keep up? I don't have the answer to that one. I'd bet that they keep the power level up though, to entice people to open their wallets.

    I'm also against the idea of classes. Looking at the certifications and how many you seem to get over time, it seems you'll be forced into a role as the cost of some of those certs are pretty high. They do seem to increase even while you're offline though, which is something I guess. Like I'd log off with about 5 certs then join the next evening and find I have 28.

    The bad thing is that a simple cert can be really expensive. Small things like a suppressor on your weapon are about 5pts, but placing a zoom function on a vehicles weapon can be 15 for the very basics, increasing with each extra level, so a 1.5x zoom will be 15, 2x zoom will be 25, 3x will cost 40. And you have to get the first to get the next, so to get 3x zoom will total out at 80 cert points. That's just for one weapon on one vehicle.

    Of course, this is still beta and I'm sure there are changes to come - hell, a lot of certs still aren't active yet. But considering they've lifted the NDA and are willing to accept what people currently think of the game reaching consumers, then I can't see a whole lot of changes coming down the line. I think we'll see the locked certs slowly open up, a few tweaks here and there, then they'll call it done.

    For me, it's far from done..

    I don't see how any of this should be a problem and as you claim to be a former PS1 player im baffled at these comments.

    Paying cash for faster access to the more advanced weapons/kit/vehicles, whats the problem with that? Everyone can unlock them for free, it's not P2win.

    Organised gameplay is how you tackle AA, if you think you can grab an aircraft and fly it into a zone with AA without the support of your friends taking those AA's out on the ground then your a bit daft and deserve to get killed.

    I also see no problem with slow gain certs, as with PS1 you can play effectively with just the basic certs in an organised outfit, the advanced certs just enhance the game as you progress, easy access to everything would detract from the game experience quite a bit for me.

    You are not FORCED into a role, you CHOOSE a role and you can eventually fulfill any role should you wish to.

    Balance is fine, join an outfit.

    Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy :)

  • blythegablythega Member UncommonPosts: 174

    I agree with the OP. Jump in a shoot stuff for a bit of fun. Beyond that .. Pointless.

    PS2 does not capture any of the feel or game play that makes PS1 great. .. Back to PS1 for me

     

     

  • HexcaliberHexcaliber Member UncommonPosts: 171

    I will avoid a large reply, but will add that I feel the same, after logging in a couple of times this last week I eventually uninstalled, ultimately I found it boring and would rather play Tribes Ascend for my fps fix.

    Further, after learning that ProSiebenSat.1, and not SOE will handle all EU accounts for Planetside 2, I cancelled my existing pre order. PSS.1 support is abysmal, I lived in Germany for a while, and I had nothing but problems with them as my television provider; and on reading the fiasco that was the handover of DCUO, I see they have not changed, and I will be damned if they get another penny of my money.

    My Colour Is Vomit green, I puke on the tards with stupid colour sigs. My symbol is ,,!, O ,!,, My enemies are any prat with a colour sig, a meaningless personality test, or a pointless list of games and classes.


    Regards Hexcaliber

  • Shoko_LiedShoko_Lied Member UncommonPosts: 2,193
    I agree about all the battles taking place in the middle. I noticed this and felt it was such a waste of a huge map. It was quite disappointing.
  • MikehaMikeha Member EpicPosts: 9,196
    Wow, and I was just checking this game out today and signed up for beta.
  • Superman0XSuperman0X Member RarePosts: 2,292

    I think it is interesting that I am playing the same game, dont have the problems that you do, but have a totally different set of issues.

     

    I find the certifications quick, and almost effortless. I really dont see a need to buy anything, nor do I see any real advantage for buying thngs. I do realize that much of the inventory isnt available at this time, but even when it is, I can see spender maxing out quickly, and not having any real advantage (other than having more choices).

     

    I do understand your concern about pounding the same ground, over and over. It is a bit repetative in PUG or solo.  However, in a good squad, or with some friends, the familiarity with the territory makes it much more enjoyable. When you dont need to explain the terrain, and layout to your mates in the middle of combat, it becomes mure tactical... and ads a new level to the gameplay.

     

    Now, the problems that I (and my friends) have is this... performance. It has gotten noticably better this weekend, I have gone from 5-10 FPS to 10-15. I still cant compete with anyone that has a reasonable FPS, but with the use of terrain, and some tactics, I still get kills and can help support the squad. The only think that I really cant seem to do is fly.

     

    This game is really fun to jump into.. especially with friends. However, because of the action element, it isnt as grindable as a RPG, so 2 hours at a shot is plenty... take an hour break, and come back for two more.... then call it a day.  I think that they need to re-work the server setup.. and allow you to play the same char on any server... then keep the amount of servers low. I expect this game to have max players during peak hours, but not many during off hours. They need to adjust the servers to account for this, and to keep it busy.

  • TinybinaTinybina Member Posts: 2,130

    This just goes with what I have been saying all the time, this is Battlefield online more then it is Planetside 2...

     

    Another Epic Fail in the works for Smedley? Sure looks that way.

    ------------------------------
    You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith

  • sirphobossirphobos Member UncommonPosts: 620

    Beta is beta.  This is not GW2, RIFT, or SW:TOR beta where you get a free preview of a 99% done game before it comes out.

    The game is nowhere near finished.  Two of the three continents aren't even in the game yet.  Most of the weapons and certifications are still unavailable.  Class and vehicle balance is still being hammered out.  Base capture mechanics are still being tinkered with.  There are still bugs which make it difficult to communicate, easily find action, and play as a unit.

    Yes, there are a ton of issues still that need to be dealt with before the game is ready for an official release.  My guess is it's still at least two months away, probably more.  To judge this game based on what is available right now and to call it an epic fail just implies that people don't understand what a real beta is.

    I have been in the beta since day one.  The game is already a hell of a lot more fun than when beta started.  There is a long ways to go, but there is no reason to think anything other than that big improvements will continue to be made.

  • CaldrinCaldrin Member UncommonPosts: 4,505

    Dont agree with the OP at all, I used to play PS before and I am having just as much fun in PS2.

    There is a reason to fight, each base gives different resources to your team. I dont think the resource thing as been all brought into the beta yet but it will pay to hold more locations as your team will get more resources.

    Also to the people who say its pointless taking a base as someone will come and take it again a few mins later... well guess what defend the location then.. Get a group of you to defend a base you just took and get a battle going..

    At the end of the day PS2 a multiplayer FPS game your suppose to fight each other..

     

    The classes work fine and yes it takes some time to max the class out but thats a good thing, it adds somthing to the game.

     

    I would have prefered a sub instead of a cash shop thats for sure but at least you can buy everything with in game cash even if it does take a bit of time. SOE are out to make money of course so they had to put stuff in the cash shop that makes people want to spend cash.. are the weapons overpowered? I dont believe so at least I have not come accross anyone with an unfair advantage..

     

    Anyway this is gonna be my pvp game of choice for quite some time i think. GW2s WvWvW is ok if you can manage to get into but its no where near as much fun as this.

     

    Dont get me wrong the game has big perormance issues at the moment but hopefully they will be fixed.

  • ThaneThane Member EpicPosts: 3,534
    Originally posted by UsualSuspect
     (blablablablaaa)

    For me, it's far from done..

    maybe that's why they call it beta and not release?

    jesus... some people will never get it...

    "I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"

  • UsualSuspectUsualSuspect Member UncommonPosts: 1,243
    Originally posted by Thane

    maybe that's why they call it beta and not release?

    jesus... some people will never get it...

    The beta argument would have been a good one, and one I would have agreed with and been content to just wait out the problems, but as I said before, the moment they lifted the NDA they're happy for people to judge the game as it is. Why would you risk that on an inferior product? It just says to me that this is what we can expect, they'll tweak a few things, bring the locked certifications online, then call it done.

  • Deto123Deto123 Member Posts: 689
    I m not going into a long winded post about it, but I don t agree at all. It s a brilliant game, with more strategy invlved then just macx crashing. It s also fairly early beta.
  • OmaliOmali MMO Business CorrespondentMember UncommonPosts: 1,177
    Originally posted by UsualSuspect
    Originally posted by Thane

    maybe that's why they call it beta and not release?

    jesus... some people will never get it...

    The beta argument would have been a good one, and one I would have agreed with and been content to just wait out the problems, but as I said before, the moment they lifted the NDA they're happy for people to judge the game as it is. Why would you risk that on an inferior product? It just says to me that this is what we can expect, they'll tweak a few things, bring the locked certifications online, then call it done.

    They opened the NDA to get a lot more feedback. John Smedley has stated that the game may change radically by the time it is actually ready for release, and they want the community to shape how the game develops.

    They want people judging how the game is with the intention of making it better, not reviewing it as if it is anywhere close to a finished product. There's a very fine line, I suggest you find it.

    image

  • UsualSuspectUsualSuspect Member UncommonPosts: 1,243
    Originally posted by Omali

    They opened the NDA to get a lot more feedback. John Smedley has stated that the game may change radically by the time it is actually ready for release, and they want the community to shape how the game develops.

    Like Bioware did with Star Wars: The Old Republic, you mean? Yeah, because that worked out really well for them.

  • tixylixtixylix Member UncommonPosts: 1,288

    I played it since the test test and I hate it, just doesn't feel like Planetside and all my Outfit mates from the first game agree.

     

    Another SOE failure.

  • tixylixtixylix Member UncommonPosts: 1,288
    Originally posted by Omali
    Originally posted by UsualSuspect
    Originally posted by Thane

    maybe that's why they call it beta and not release?

    jesus... some people will never get it...

    The beta argument would have been a good one, and one I would have agreed with and been content to just wait out the problems, but as I said before, the moment they lifted the NDA they're happy for people to judge the game as it is. Why would you risk that on an inferior product? It just says to me that this is what we can expect, they'll tweak a few things, bring the locked certifications online, then call it done.

    They opened the NDA to get a lot more feedback. John Smedley has stated that the game may change radically by the time it is actually ready for release, and they want the community to shape how the game develops.

    They want people judging how the game is with the intention of making it better, not reviewing it as if it is anywhere close to a finished product. There's a very fine line, I suggest you find it.

     

    John Smedley says a lot of things, none of which are true.

  • MindTriggerMindTrigger Member Posts: 2,596
    Originally posted by UsualSuspect
    Originally posted by coretester
    there's no point to anything and it's just terrible all the way through.

    This is my biggest problem with it at the moment. There really is no point, the game gives me no motivation to go out there and fight for territory. The territory just swings back and fore every few minutes, you can capture a base or outpost and within a few minutes that base or outpost is back in the hands of the enemy. Why bother?

    In PS1 the motivation was capturing lands, you could push the enemy completely off a continent and then move on to the next one. That was the goal, to try and conquer the lands. Making the whole game about a couple of bases on some godawful landscape is just a major fail in my opinion. It gives you nothing to care about, the scale is just too small to be interesting.

    I'm having this problem with WvW in GW2 as well.  Yeah, your server get some low-level buffs, but in the end, you just zerg from keep to keep in an endless cycle.  I just think it's all too simple.  Land should be captured and held while keeps (or bases) are built by players.  Otherwise.... meh.

    A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.

  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 31,892
    Originally posted by tixylix

    I played it since the test test and I hate it, just doesn't feel like Planetside and all my Outfit mates from the first game agree.

     

    Another SOE failure.

    Can I assume that you guys are saying this stuff to the developers? Perhaps bringing up why Planet Side 1 was great?

    Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb." 

    Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w


    Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547

    Try the "Special Edition." 'Cause it's "Special." https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64878/?tab=description

    Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo 
  • MindTriggerMindTrigger Member Posts: 2,596
    Originally posted by Sovrath
    Originally posted by tixylix

    I played it since the test test and I hate it, just doesn't feel like Planetside and all my Outfit mates from the first game agree.

     

    Another SOE failure.

    Can I assume that you guys are saying this stuff to the developers? Perhaps bringing up why Planet Side 1 was great?

    These are things developers have to know from the beginning.  Once the game design is settled on, we've learned that it is what it is.  What blows me away is how little these companies pay attention to their customer's opinions.  They are apparently behind trends in what people want as well.

    A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697

    I liked PS1 for the first couple of months it was out. There were some balance issues with the different sides but otherwise it was fun. Even with PS1 though it was fairly pointless overall. We would run a group who would purposely sneak in and capture all the bases the enemy wasn't at and when enough of their forces came over we'd go back and recapture the original one we were attacking. That was what PS was.

     

    I was excited when they initially announced PS2 but then they said cash shop shortly thereafter and I stopped following it all together. I'm not surprised there isn't a lot of enjoyment there and that they managed to make it worse than the first.

     

    Back then there weren't a lot of good 32x32 or 64x64 player team FPS games that had infantry, air and mechanized units all in one which is what part of the draw to PS was. But now there are games like BF and a couple other franchises that do this and do it better than PS ever did (although the newest BF is pretty awful). So why play one that has a chash shop that is worse??

Sign In or Register to comment.