Planetside 2 Catch-All

I work as a Software Engineer and I fix bugs every day. SOE bugs make me go wtf? (in a good way, cause I know how to program, and to hear these bugs it's like, I dunno).
But really, SOE bugs are just in a class of their own. I would love to see the code for that game.

I love that they gave us some Mag strafing back, I've noticed the difference. Can't wait to try out the faster velocity Cosmoses.

I tried out the other MAX weapons. The NC weapons other than the Falcon are unchanged, those were rebalanced in a previous patch. The antivehicle weapons are pretty evenly balanced overall, but they work in very different ways now.

The new Falcon is really cool. The projectile it fired used to be a shell trailing smoke, like a tank shot. The new one is a rocket and they greatly reduced the amount of drop. The rocket's exhaust is pretty bright and it makes you look like you are firing twin fireballs at night. One issue I noticed with the guns is that they are mounted pretty far apart. If you aim directly at a soldier about 15m away both rockets will miss them to either side.

The Pounder was changed up a bit, each one now fires 4 projectiles, not 6 as I mentioned earlier. The grenades have a pretty hefty arc to them and it's pretty hard to hit anything smaller than a tank. Recoil also causes the weapons to drift upwards if you fire at full speed. They do pretty well against infantry given that you only need 2 direct hits past medium range and with a pair of them you have 8 shots to work with.

The Comet does the same damage as the Pounder but only fires 2 shots per reload. The projectiles don't drop at all, so it is much easier to aim. The recoil didn't used to be a problem but now that you fire 2 shots in a row it can spoil your aim at very distant targets, especially if you fire both at once. You can get around this somewhat by alternating your shots, 11-22-11-22, 1212-1212 etc. They also seem to have the tightest spread, you can hit infantry pretty well up close because the bolts aren't that far apart.

The TR anti-infantry weapons are roughly equivalent to their Vanu counterparts. Each different version works the same way, with lower damage and higher firing rates. They seem fairly evenly matched, if two MAXs came face to face the winner is probably going to be the one who shoots first. The stock versions are relatively unchanged from what they were pre-patch. The high-capacity versions took a slight accuracy hit. The real buffs come with the long distance and fast firing variants. The long ranged guns all got HUGE accuracy boosts in return for reducing their maximum damage. The fast firing guns like the Nebula and Onslaught now shoot even faster! The Nebula used to be a Cycler clone but now shoots slightly faster (and the Cycler holds more ammo). The Onslaught is just ridiculous, put two of them together and you have a combined firing rate of 980rpm. Infantry just melt away, and you can even use it at long range just because of the sheer number of rounds it puts out makes it easy to hit stuff.

I also tried out the new scout and battle rifles. They completely redid their firing mechanics and they work great! The auto scout rifle now holds 26 rounds instead of 20 and it's very accurate, basically a pocket assault rifle. I tried The scout "DMR" holds 12 rounds instead of 10 and also has very steady accuracy. Compared to the unscoped full-sized 10 shot sniper rifle it does less damage but has better hip fire, reload speed and other benefits. (still kills in 3 hits though)

I'm really liking the new patch overall. The only iffy thing is the new capture times. Because they are flat rate having influence and standing men on the points no longer matters. So you end up with whole platoons just kind of idling around waiting for the base to flip. It also seems too be rather buggy at the moment, capture time for facilities is supposed to be 10 minutes. But I once saw the timer for a bio lab shift from 12 minutes to 24 right before my eyes. Not sure what's going on there.

Hotfix today.

Show your aircraft some love with Lumifiber Trim in the Depot. Equipable for the Galaxy, Liberator, Mosquito, Scythe, and Reaver.
Fixed the issue with players that are stuck with two helmets equipped on top of each other. Note that you will need to re-equip your helmet if you were affected by this issue.
The Rashnu Bio Lab forward spawns should once again be able to be captured
Instant action and squad deploy timers are no longer tied to the normal facility respawn timer
Disabled the vestigial Capture HUD (0/0) UI on capture points as well as the now defunct loading screen tip regarding the element
Fixed missing audio for the Prowler while anchoring
Fixed missing piece on the VS Lasher
First person rifle jump animation has been fixed
The color of the VS Infiltrator Helmet was made a darker grey to match the rest of the body.

The missing lasher piece was the battery, they updated the model but the battery was missing so the gun just had an empty socket in it. The new lumifiber is especially silly, it's basically undercarriage lights for aircraft. And I'm glad they changed the silver Infiltrator helmets. Doesn't help ME as much because I use the Alpha Squad camo and my infil is bright pink and purple under most lighting conditions

Right, so Game Update 08 dropped this morning. Here are my trimmed patch notes because holy TLDR. Anything I cut down to size will be bolded, plus any comments in italics. Full notes here.

All servers will come down at 6:00 AM PT (3:00 PM CEST) for a brief update to add Game Update 08. Downtime is anticipated ot be approximately 2 hours. Players may note the following changes:

New in the Depot

MAX Weapons:

NCM3 Raven
The NCM3 Raven is a laser guided rocket launcher that deals heavy damage to vehicles. (NC only)
MR1 Fracture
The MR1 Fracture is a dual rotary cannon that fires high velocity rockets designed specifically to penetrate vehicle armor. (TR only)
Vortex VM21
The VM21 particle accelerator is capable of firing a beam that punches through vehicles. Charging the weapon will increase damage at the cost of more ammunition used per shot. (VS only)

These are longer-ranged antivehicle MAX weapons meant to complement the current set which are more for close range.

New infantry and MAX helmets
Single Use Camos have been removed from the Depot

The new helmets are pretty boss looking! More high tech and sci-fi than the previous offering. It's also good that they removed the single use camo because it was cluttering up the store and apparently no one was buying them anyway.

Vehicle Updates

New Common Pool Vehicle – The Harasser

The Harasser is a speedy armored assault buggy that plays a dual role as both a transport and a strike vehicle.
Carries three units:
Driver
Gunner
Passenger in rumble seat (supports a MAX unit)

Several vehicle turret weapons now have greater elevation/depression angles, +3-5 degrees.

M20 Basilisk and M12 Kobalt on Sunderer Only
ES540 Halberd
Saron HRB
Enforcer ML85

Vehicle Weapon Adjustments:

M20 Basilisk (the ground version)
Upped base cone of fire, but removed additional blooming
Min COF increased from .25 to .75
Max COF decreased from 1 to .75
Lowered projectile speed from 650 to 500

M20 Drake (the air version)
Upped base cone of fire slightly, but removed CoF blooming
Min COF increased from .25 to .66
Max COF decreased from 1 to .66
Lowered projectile speed from 750 to 650

G40-F Ranger
Reduced Flak Damage from 56 to 38
Decreased time between shots from 272 to 182
Increased Clip Size from 24 to 32
Magazine Size certs now gives 3 rounds per rank.
Increased Ammo Capacity from 288 to 384
Ammo Capacity certs now gives 16 rounds per rank.
Increased CoF from 1 to 1.25

The old Ranger weapon definitely sucks, will see if this version works any better.

Reaver M30 Mustang AH
Damage per pellet reduced from 175 to 150

Scythe Light PPA
Increased projectile speed from 250 to 300

Mosquito M14 Banshee
Direct hit damage increased from 140 to 150

Tank Armor Changes. In general the below changes will allow tanks to sustain one more anti-tank round to the front and sides and about 1.5 to 2 more tank rounds to the rear. Armor certifications are listed as decreasing, this was to keep them able to absorb roughly one addition anti-tank round to that side. Also smoothed out some unnecessary inconsistencies between the tanks.

[b]TLDR All tank armour has been increased to make them more durable, especially rear armour. Resistance against Armour Piercing specific weapons has not been affected as much. The following weapons do special damage types that bypass this added tank armour.

AP30 Shredder
CAS30 Tank Buster
Lightning L100 Python AP
Magrider Supernova FPC
Vanguard Titan-150 AP
Prowler P2-120 AP
Phalanx Spear AV Turret
Liberator C150 Dalton

Sunderer:

Resistance to C4 increased from -50 to -40
Critical damage state on Sunderer begins at 13% health remaining instead of 12.5%
Two C4 will still place a full health stock Sunderer in critical damage state.

So if I am reading this right sunderers take slightly less damage from C4 but start to burn out at a higher damage threshold. This is exactly what happened pre-patch so why did they change this?

Annihilator
Damage increased from 1150 to 1200

Bug Fixes:

Fix for ESF external afterburners not being able to be re-equipped if a secondary weapon is selected in VR training
Fix for ESF external afterburners not being able to be re-equipped if a secondary weapon is selected in VR training
Fixed issue where Vanguard Shield would sometimes immediately shut off or shut off after taking a little bit of damage
The Prowler should now have appropriate 3rd and 1st person audio while in Anchored Mode

Infantry Updates

Improved MAX Flak Armor. Flak armor explosion resist is now increased 10% each tier.
Tier 1: 10% - Tier 5: 50%

Improved MAX Kinetic Armor. Kinetic Armor now increases the default light projectile resist by 1.5% each tier.
Tier 1: 81.5% - Tier 5: 87.5%

MAX Nano-Armor Accelerator renamed to Nanite Auto Repair System.
Damage delay reduced to 8 seconds.
Increased Healing rate
Tier 1: 0.5% per second - Tier 5: 1.5% per second

Infantry Weapon Changes

The majority of infantry weapons have been adjusted to better even out the performance of the different types. Assault rifles, carbines, and small magazine LMGs have had their equip speeds and reload times tuned to allow them to be more competitive with the larger magazine LMGs. Short range assault rifles and carbines are being reduced in effectiveness at long range. Long range weapons are being increased in effectiveness through individual weapon tuning and related attachment changes. Burst variants are now more accurate. Exact changes are detailed below.

Weapon Misc. Changes

Increased the hold breath time by 1 second when looking through a 6x or higher scope.
All rocket launchers now have a short delay between ammo pickups from engineer ammunition packs.
All shotguns with a 20 meter max damage range had that max range reduced to 18 meters.
Fixed a bug that was causing pump-action shotguns to start their chamber timer early. This will result in ALL pump shotguns having a longer delay between each shot.

Weapon Equip Times

All Assault Rifles except the below: 0.75 to 0.65 seconds
NC Reaper DMR: 0.875 to 0.78 seconds
All Carbine Rifles except the below: 0.575 to 0.55 seconds
NC AC-X11: 0.7 to 0.65 seconds
All Sniper Rifles: 0.75 to 0.85 seconds
All Shotguns: 0.7 to 0.75 seconds
All SMGs: 0.75 to 0.65 seconds
All Scout Rifles: 0.75 to 0.65 seconds
TR T7 Mini-Chaingun & VS Lasher X2: 1.3 to 0.9 seconds
Both Medical Kit Types: 0.3 to 0.4 seconds
LMG equip times are more varied and will be listed below.

Weapon Attachment Changes

Compensator
Increased vertical recoil reduction on all weapons.

Suppressor
Carbines: These now slow the projectile by 35%, instead of the previous 40%.
SMGs: These now slow the projectile by 20%, increased from 18%.

Velocity Ammunition
The velocity increase from this ammo type was increased on the majority of weapon types. The benefit given differs per weapon.

Forward Grips

LMG Forward Grips no longer reduce vertical recoil.
Weapons with direction recoil will now lean more toward center when a forward grip is attached.
The maximum horizontal recoil cap is now lowered when a grip is attached.
All forward grips now have an equip penalty. It ranges from 20ms to 150ms, depending on the weapon, with long range weapons and weapons with an innate slow equip speed being penalized less. In general, it drops all weapons down by one weight class. For example, fast equipping 50 round LMGs will drop to the equip speed of 75 round LMGs.

Grenade & Smoke Launchers
These now have a 4 second delay between ammo pickups from engineer ammunition packs.

6x Scopes
All 6x scopes now have weapon sway.

Weapon Specific Changes:

*snip* pretty much EVERY SINGLE bullet firing infantry gun in the entire game has had it's stats tweaked, check the full notes if you want to examine changes for a specific weapon

TR T2 Striker

Chamber Time: 0.7 to 0.5 seconds
Lock-On Time: 2.5 to 2.25 seconds
Note: The fix that lowered the pump-action shotgun rate of fire also lowered the Striker’s. These changes are to compensate for that.

TR M3 Pounder HEG

Direct Damage: 350 to 425
Indirect damage: Max damage reduced from 150 to 75.

VS Comet VMT

Direct damage: 430 to 475
Indirect damage: Max damage reduced from 110 to 80.

Bug Fixes and Misc Changes

Fix for the extended magazine attachments not taking effect until after reloading.
Fixed an animation bug with the Lasher X2’s ammo clip during the reload.
Bolt action sniper rifles should no longer be inaccurately labeled as having Semi-Auto fire modes in the Depot.
The ammo, barrel, and forward grip cert prices for the AMR-66 should now be consistent with similar weapons for the other factions.
Fixed an intermittent issue where shots from the main turret of MBTs would not display properly.
Squad Deploy and Instant Action can no longer be utilized as a MAX. Squad deploy will now give the option of deploying as a different class.
The auto resupply function will now attempt to purchase up to the max equip count for an item based on available resources.
Increased the maximum look angle of infantry when looking down.
Fixed VS Cosmos VM3 having a max cone of fire of 7. It now matches all other MAX weapons with a max cone of fire of 3.
NC Bouncers and VS Proximity Mines now have attached lights that will allow aware players to spot and avoid them.
VS Comet VM2 will no longer show certifications in the VR zone.
Fixed an exploit that allowed engineers to create a self-repairing Flash.
Consumables no longer require resources to resupply in the VR training zone.
The resist shield duration will now correctly increase with each cert rank.

UI Updates

The vehicle stat page now shows stats for individual vehicle weapons. This includes ribbons and medals.
Added ability to preview items contained in bundles
Added directional indicator to capture progress indicators on the map
Colors can now be assigned per entity rather than via a global color setting. This allows players to apply color presets to UI elements that represent players (nameplates, minimap indicators, vehicle indicators, etc.) separate from facilities (basically everything else - objectives, map regions, terminal indicators, etc.).
Facility NPC indicators (terminals, vehicle ammo dispensers, etc.) now show up on the map screen at zoom level 5 (same zoom level as objectives).

Bug Fixes

Minimap indicators now properly update their colors when changing them in the settings and then returning to game.
Exiting the game should no longer cause Invert Reverse Steering for Tanks setting to toggle off
Fixed an issue with the weapon select HUD not updating properly when entering the VR zone
The Commissioner and Underboss pistols should now filter properly in the Depot
Fixed an issue causing some players to appear to have two helmets equipped simultaneously. May require impacted players to re-equip their helmet.
Leaderboards will now display earned certifications only
Fixed a display issue with Auraxium Loyalty Level showing as Copper after reclogging
Fixed a bug that would end a Twitch TV stream if you Alt –Tab’d out of fullscreen

The only thing I don't like is the new continent map colors. I assume they did this for color blind players, but I can't change them.

Holy changeset Batman!

Haven't logged in to get the patch, but hoping the weapon balancing actually makes a difference.

Warpgates rotated.

Some impressions of the new patch:

- My performance sucks again!
- No gamebreaking bugs (yet) but lots of minor weirdness, especially with weapon animations.
- I forgot to mention that they added new MAX cosmetic armour and helmets, they looks awesome! One of the options for each faction is a "retro" style helmet which resembles the original game helmets.
- The new infantry helmet they added costs 1000 SC, but ANY class can use it, so it's basically 6 helmets in one.
- The Ranger turret still kinda sucks. It will only do enough damage to scare off an ESF, unless you have two. Against a libby or galaxy it's worthless. It's still a bit better than the Walker anti air gun however.
- Tanks are MUCH MUCH tougher than they used to be, making friendly tanks with AP weapons almost essential. Mines are going to be more common I think.
- They didn't mention this in the patch notes but Galaxy resistance to C4 has been nerfed. It takes 4 to nearly destroy one, I think it used to take 7 or 8.

The new MAX weapons are kinda weird. And some of them are extremely overpowered compared to the original set. I expect nerfs. They don't have the spread issue that the Pounder/Falcon/Comet have where the projectiles from each hand are spaced very far apart, so it's easy to hit infantry even at point blank range. They did buff the damage of Comets and Pounders but they also nerfed the blast damage at the same time.

- NCM3 Raven
Each Raven is basically half of an antivehicle mana turret. You can fire up to 4 missiles with it and they are wire guided so you can direct the stream of missiles around. They seem to be horribly overpowered because they can hit infantry with perfect accuracy if you simply mouse over them and they have a huge damage potential against vehicles if all of the missiles hit.

MR1 Fracture
- Using the Fracture is kinda like firing a Striker with twice the ammo, but in dumbfire configuration. The missiles you shoot even glow red the same way. It's rather like plinking away at vehicles with giant ass revolvers. The Pounder does more damage by comparison but these are so easy to use at any range I don't know why anyone would use the pounders anymore.

Vortex VM21
- If my testing in the VR sim is correct each Vortex is almost EXACTLY half of one Lancer weapon. It holds 12 shots instead of 6, does a little more than half of the damage per shot. If you put two of them together you get a Lancer with 4 times the ammo capacity. It charges up the same way with 3 different stages, but unlike the infantry lancer you can't "hold" a fully charged shot for a second or so. Once you hit charge 3 the weapon will fire a split second later. The weapon reticule is highly buggy because the charge indicators like to disappear. ESFs BEWARE, one dual charged shot will knock you down to half.

I've only used these weapons in VR so I don't know how they perform in live combat. I could actually buy a pair with my 2000 certs and I do like the Lancer a lot, so the Vortex feels very familiar to me. One issue I have with the Lancer and all MAX weapons is that they don't have any optical magnification at all and that makes it tough to bring out their full potential as long ranged weapons.

SOE is doing a special event that grants a free month of premium membership to "inactive" or "lapsed" accounts. Some conditions apply, this offer doesn't extend to me because I already have a membership, but if you haven't played in a while I would check it out.

https://www.planetside2.com/respawn

* The period of free Premium Membership ends on June 1, 2013 at 11:59 PM PST. The free Premium Membership is being granted to PlanetSide 2 accounts in good standing that previously had a Premium Membership or All Access Pass (since November 20, 2012) that lapsed on or before April 3, 2013, or that made an in-game item purchase on or before April 3, 2013 (including Alpha Squad). This offer is not available for PlanetSide 2 accounts with Premium Memberships or that made in-game item purchases since April 3, 2013.

There is also a special deal going where you can purchase a 3-month membership at a discount. The cost is 10$ a month, which is the same discount as the 12-month bundle.

Anyone with a membership or who qualified for the free month is also getting a free camo set. It looks like a mix between digicam and the Alpha Squad camo.

\

Tamren wrote:

SOE is doing a special event that grants a free month of premium membership to "inactive" or "lapsed" accounts. Some conditions apply, this offer doesn't extend to me because I already have a membership, but if you haven't played in a while I would check it out.

https://www.planetside2.com/respawn

* The period of free Premium Membership ends on June 1, 2013 at 11:59 PM PST. The free Premium Membership is being granted to PlanetSide 2 accounts in good standing that previously had a Premium Membership or All Access Pass (since November 20, 2012) that lapsed on or before April 3, 2013, or that made an in-game item purchase on or before April 3, 2013 (including Alpha Squad). This offer is not available for PlanetSide 2 accounts with Premium Memberships or that made in-game item purchases since April 3, 2013.

There is also a special deal going where you can purchase a 3-month membership at a discount. The cost is 10$ a month, which is the same discount as the 12-month bundle.

Anyone with a membership or who qualified for the free month is also getting a free camo set. It looks like a mix between digicam and the Alpha Squad camo.

Tempting, I stopped playing a while back with some space bucks left on my account. I definitely qualify. Have the implemented the capture system I was reading about before. It's supposed to much more like the original planetside's system. The metagame still looks nonexistent but that's not gonna change anytime soon.

master0 wrote:

Have the implemented the capture system I was reading about before. It's supposed to much more like the original planetside's system. The metagame still looks nonexistent but that's not gonna change anytime soon.

The lattice is on the test server, I think there's a fair bit to do on it before it hits live. I'm finding the alerts to be quite good, that's new and brings in the 'down to the wire' feeling quite often when you're doing your bit to get your side to qualify, and it also gives opportunities to shake things up on the other two continents.

The lattice system is basically up next. The new weirdness with the flat-rate capture timers is all due to the delay. It's supposed to work with the lattice system but without it you get all sorts of back capping weirdness and whole platoons twiddling their thumbs for 10 minutes waiting for a place to cap. It's not unplayable, it just has some issues. That said I'm eagerly awaiting the new system.

I recently got back into this game. Man, the scale still blows me away. Rolling up to a tech plant with a huge column and being met with an equally large force is insane. I'm also really impressed with how much the game has improved. I really like the ribbons and alert system and the new vehicle is a lot of fun too. Once everything in the roadmap is done, hot damn this game will be so sick.

They still need a tutorial badly but once they get that out, they should do a mini-marketing push to get people to give it a go again. I'm also kind of surprised at the rate in which the game is being updated because I was 90% sure that most of their time would be devoted to porting it to PS4 in time for the launch. Now I'm thinking they are waiting to finish everything in the roadmap before porting it to PS4.

There are meant to be signs in the test client that new tutorials are on the way. It's the usual thing with games though, to a certain extent time spent implementing one feature may not necessarily mean another isn't being worked on by developers of a different discipline. Also if they're doing new tutorials, I'd like to think they wouldn't spend time teaching the old system.

Tutorials are weird when the thing you're trying to teach is potentially changing.

Probably I would stick with the basics, and even though most FPS conventions are semi-standard, there are enough differences to warrant a review. For example, it would useful to show new players how to identify grav lifts and jump pads, and things like the light assault jump jets aren't immediately obvious.

I think they could do better than throwing people straight into a meat grinder for a start. That's a real sink or swim situation. Perhaps start them at a warpgate on the same continent as instant action would put them, and give them a bunch of mini-objectives that lead them to that battle.

Scratched wrote:

I think they could do better than throwing people straight into a meat grinder for a start. That's a real sink or swim situation. Perhaps start them at a warpgate on the same continent as instant action would put them, and give them a bunch of mini-objectives that lead them to that battle.

This is incoming, we've been working toward a better new player experience for quite some time... It's about to pay off!

Sr. Game Designer - Sony Online Entertainment
Current Project: Undisclosed

Past Projects:
PlanetSide 2

Does Higsby ever get a haircut, or does he moult?

Whee, I love how often we get developers in our threads, nice work on the game good sir.

Could you please give shotguns to Infiltrators?

I need to play this some more tonight, I still haven't had a chance to try out the harrasser. I think I might need to finally look into joining an outfit, my lonewolf ways are fun, but I'm missing out on the full experience with some of the larger vehicles.

whisenhunt wrote:
Scratched wrote:

I think they could do better than throwing people straight into a meat grinder for a start. That's a real sink or swim situation. Perhaps start them at a warpgate on the same continent as instant action would put them, and give them a bunch of mini-objectives that lead them to that battle.

This is incoming, we've been working toward a better new player experience for quite some time... It's about to pay off! :D

Thanks for the tip, Jimmy. Looking forward to seeing the changes!

Redwing wrote:

Whee, I love how often we get developers in our threads, nice work on the game good sir.

Could you please give shotguns to Infiltrators?

I need to play this some more tonight, I still haven't had a chance to try out the harrasser. I think I might need to finally look into joining an outfit, my lonewolf ways are fun, but I'm missing out on the full experience with some of the larger vehicles.

You play on Briggs right?

If so, we need to join up and kill fools!

Unless you are a non-NC BASTARD!

AP Erebus wrote:
Redwing wrote:

Whee, I love how often we get developers in our threads, nice work on the game good sir.

Could you please give shotguns to Infiltrators?

I need to play this some more tonight, I still haven't had a chance to try out the harrasser. I think I might need to finally look into joining an outfit, my lonewolf ways are fun, but I'm missing out on the full experience with some of the larger vehicles.

You play on Briggs right?

If so, we need to join up and kill fools!

Unless you are a non-NC BASTARD!

Oh no, NC all the way!

Spoiler:

With the occasional TR daliance...

Sounds good! If you see me on give me a holler, I'll do the same!

The sheer crazyness of the bugs in this game continue to amaze me. Most of the time problems come from changes they make to the game that then break it somehow. But other times things just happen to completely unrelated things that were not touched at all. Like sometimes when I come across a hacked phalanx turret the turret will be... wiggling around. It's as if there is a critter inside running all over trying to escape. One time I zigged instead of zagged and accidentially crashed into a turret with my scythe. I came back later and the turret was break dancing all over it's mount and tilted a good 45 degrees to the left. Bizzare.

In just this last patch when I try to use my underbarrel grenade launcher, sometimes my character will start holding the entire rifle like a pistol. The launcher itself is invisible and when I fire and reload it the animation is the same as if I was using a beamer. Like... wut.

Redwing wrote:

Could you please give shotguns to Infiltrators? :P

Oh dear lord, Inf's with SMGs is bad enough.

Also I love the harasser, and I'm discovering just how squishy Flashes are now that I've unlocked a couple of weapons and am trying to fight with them.

I just want a small buff to base flak resistance for ESFs.
And a way to fight back when a fighter gets on my tail.

Infils don't need shotguns, they can just decloak and headshot you with a silencer so what's the point?

What I really wish they would change is how cloakers appear under IR sights. It used to be that IR would highlight them, that was fixed in a later patch. But now it seems like whatever they changed now makes infils completely invisible under IR. Was this intentional? Because it makes it impossible to fight them at night.

RolandofGilead wrote:

And a way to fight back when a fighter gets on my tail.

The biggest gripe I have about ESF combat is that every fighter handles the same. Oh sure there are minor stat differences like hover power and top speed. But the single critical stat for dogfighting is pitch speed because it's your effective maximum turn speed. No matter what upgrades you have on your fighter pitch speed is exactly the same, so if you get someone on your tail they are going to stay there.

It makes more sense if you think of them as rotor-less helicopters because they don't actually fly very fast.

Tamren wrote:

Infils don't need shotguns, they can just decloak and headshot you with a silencer so what's the point?

I love how you make it sound so simple.

I'm talking about wants, not needs here! Besides, only adding what a class needs isn't a great way to go about designing a class in my opinion. They didn't need SMGs either.

Having said all that, I do realise giving shotguns to infiltrators might be a little overpowered, at least the existing ones. Perhaps if they had some sort of infiltrator variant? I just feel left out since all the other classes can use them!

What I want is the cloaking from the original game. It doesn't have an energy bar that drains so you can turn it on and leave it on. You still become visible when you move, but are perfectly invisible when stationary. The downside was you could only carry a pistol and very little supplies. It was a lot of fun ghosting around the enemy base and backstabbing people. Especially since dead players dropped backpacks that you could loot in PS1, so you could open them and salvage stuff like mines and grenades.

Oh salvaging things sounds like fun. That would be great for all the times I'm behind enemy lines and run out of ammo. Hacking an infantry terminal is one way to restock, but it's bloody dangerous.

Redwing wrote:

Oh salvaging things sounds like fun. That would be great for all the times I'm behind enemy lines and run out of ammo. Hacking an infantry terminal is one way to restock, but it's bloody dangerous.

Not in my experience, there's barely anyone hanging around defending as they're all chasing the big fights, and anyone who does isn't going to notice a minimap icon flip colour and then go hunting you. In fact, when I'm infil and looking to weaken a base, terminals and turrets are what I go for first as they're most subtle, then the control points and generators which are higher profile.

I loved so much about PS1. But I've had to come to terms with the fact that most players these days didn't/don't want PS1. They want Battlefield MMO. So I grit my teeth and deal with one-shot-one-kill weapons and crazy base designs.