Ok, I've played FPS games since the Amiga 500 and 386. That's a heck of a long time. My last addiction was Counterstrike/RTCW:ET and I've recently gotten into a little bit of BattleField 1947. These games are fine for a quick blast since they do have the best "drop in play a little drop out" feel to them.
Now what I have found is that if you run about by yourself, without LFS (looking for squad) or being in an outfit then it's going to be boring. The whole world is based on having a command structure. Team mates, tactics. Structure in PS currently is EMPIRE<-OUTFIT<-SQUAD<-PLAYER but PLATOONS (up to 10 squads of 10) are coming soon to the game.
This way you log on, use your outfit channel to find out where your outfit is currently fighting (which is decided by Command ranking players for the Empire), ask the outfit if there are any squads that need players, join the squad and assist in the battle. A lot of squads end up being 10 grunts with the same weapons just storming enemy positions which gets repetative. But if its more organised you have a couple of engineers, an advanced medic (can revive players like in RTCW:ET), couple of people with aircraft certifications for air cover, maybe a couple in MAX armoured suits (like mini mechwarriors), an infiltrator in a stealth suit who can remain almost invisible when stationary. So working as a team, giving backup, changing your configuration of weapons and abilities to suit the needs of the squad, trading a certification to get an armoured troop transport so your squad can travel quickly to the next base rather than all having to run across a mountain range. It all comes down to command structure, team work, community. Once you have these down the game is has so much more to offer than any other.
The objective, unlike other FPS round based games is to have help the most territory/bases on continents. Go to the official PlanetSide site. There you can see which Empire is victorious at the end of each day. That is what your fighting for.
With the up and coming changes things are going to be less base capture intensive (hack base control console with hacker tool [needs certification you buy with gained certification points] which spawns a flag type object that you have to take back to the next base you control which is connected. Its like an elaborate game of capture the flat. Also controlling certain bases gives you different "Facility benefits". Advanced vehicles can only be constructed at other bases if you control the Technology Plant base etc. etc.
The biggest experience gain (EX points) that you get in game is if you have to fight a long battle for a base and then capture it. This is going to change. Soon there will be a 25% increase in Experience (battle experience = increase in battle rank and another cert to get more abilities) for defending a base. So no longer will you find that a whole swarm of enemy capture a base then move on to the next base and forget the last. Defending bases is going to make things a hell of a lot more rewarding.
I've found myself selflessly doing tasks and lone missions for my squad and outfit that have little reward experience wise but when you get thanks from your commanders and even just other squad members it makes it worth it.
The other day I was in a tower at the periphery of a base that my outfit was trying to take. Other than AMS (mobile spawn sites) that we had, the only other place for my comrades to spawn was at the tower I was defending. Also at the AMS vehicles comrades can't get MAX armoured suits, so my tower was the only place we could have MAXs coming from. Now overall we ended up getting pushed back away from the objective base but by staying and guarding this tower from the enemy taking control of it, I probably helped prolong the assault. And it was fun plasma grenading the team of 4-5 people that kept trying to take control. Thankfully they weren't coordinated. Even when I was eventually killed I respawned at the tower (respawn means start you with basic equipment) and was killed about 5 times by an enemy with a chaingun. But eventually I took him out with basic equipment, got my Special Assault configuration from a terminal and rushed up the tower to stop the enemy capturing it by hacking the Control Console for the tower. All in all it was fun, a challenge and appreciated by my squad.
Now I played CS for years, and since Steam and 1.6 and me buying PS, I hardly ever play it.
I'll play with some friends occasionaly and then again have a game of Battlefields but nothing else brings to the table the comradery that PS pretty much FORCES you to participate in. If your a lone player you will get a mere fraction of the enjoyment out of the game that the team players get.
If anyone wants to look me up, I play as Dobber (battle rank 12, command rank 1), Purple Valor outfit (over 800 members), Vanu Soverenity on Werner server.
http://planetside.station.sony.com/
Now what I have found is that if you run about by yourself, without LFS (looking for squad) or being in an outfit then it's going to be boring. The whole world is based on having a command structure. Team mates, tactics. Structure in PS currently is EMPIRE<-OUTFIT<-SQUAD<-PLAYER but PLATOONS (up to 10 squads of 10) are coming soon to the game.
This way you log on, use your outfit channel to find out where your outfit is currently fighting (which is decided by Command ranking players for the Empire), ask the outfit if there are any squads that need players, join the squad and assist in the battle. A lot of squads end up being 10 grunts with the same weapons just storming enemy positions which gets repetative. But if its more organised you have a couple of engineers, an advanced medic (can revive players like in RTCW:ET), couple of people with aircraft certifications for air cover, maybe a couple in MAX armoured suits (like mini mechwarriors), an infiltrator in a stealth suit who can remain almost invisible when stationary. So working as a team, giving backup, changing your configuration of weapons and abilities to suit the needs of the squad, trading a certification to get an armoured troop transport so your squad can travel quickly to the next base rather than all having to run across a mountain range. It all comes down to command structure, team work, community. Once you have these down the game is has so much more to offer than any other.
The objective, unlike other FPS round based games is to have help the most territory/bases on continents. Go to the official PlanetSide site. There you can see which Empire is victorious at the end of each day. That is what your fighting for.
With the up and coming changes things are going to be less base capture intensive (hack base control console with hacker tool [needs certification you buy with gained certification points] which spawns a flag type object that you have to take back to the next base you control which is connected. Its like an elaborate game of capture the flat. Also controlling certain bases gives you different "Facility benefits". Advanced vehicles can only be constructed at other bases if you control the Technology Plant base etc. etc.
The biggest experience gain (EX points) that you get in game is if you have to fight a long battle for a base and then capture it. This is going to change. Soon there will be a 25% increase in Experience (battle experience = increase in battle rank and another cert to get more abilities) for defending a base. So no longer will you find that a whole swarm of enemy capture a base then move on to the next base and forget the last. Defending bases is going to make things a hell of a lot more rewarding.
I've found myself selflessly doing tasks and lone missions for my squad and outfit that have little reward experience wise but when you get thanks from your commanders and even just other squad members it makes it worth it.
The other day I was in a tower at the periphery of a base that my outfit was trying to take. Other than AMS (mobile spawn sites) that we had, the only other place for my comrades to spawn was at the tower I was defending. Also at the AMS vehicles comrades can't get MAX armoured suits, so my tower was the only place we could have MAXs coming from. Now overall we ended up getting pushed back away from the objective base but by staying and guarding this tower from the enemy taking control of it, I probably helped prolong the assault. And it was fun plasma grenading the team of 4-5 people that kept trying to take control. Thankfully they weren't coordinated. Even when I was eventually killed I respawned at the tower (respawn means start you with basic equipment) and was killed about 5 times by an enemy with a chaingun. But eventually I took him out with basic equipment, got my Special Assault configuration from a terminal and rushed up the tower to stop the enemy capturing it by hacking the Control Console for the tower. All in all it was fun, a challenge and appreciated by my squad.
Now I played CS for years, and since Steam and 1.6 and me buying PS, I hardly ever play it.
I'll play with some friends occasionaly and then again have a game of Battlefields but nothing else brings to the table the comradery that PS pretty much FORCES you to participate in. If your a lone player you will get a mere fraction of the enjoyment out of the game that the team players get.
If anyone wants to look me up, I play as Dobber (battle rank 12, command rank 1), Purple Valor outfit (over 800 members), Vanu Soverenity on Werner server.
http://planetside.station.sony.com/
