I've been looking for something in the recent weeks to occupy my time, but I'm tired of dropping money on duds. Luckily, I came across Planetside 2. After reading the reviews I thought I would jump in, and boy was I in for an unexpected treat.
My first couple hours in the game were rough, I didn't understand the map layout, the classes, how to pilot vehicles, or special abilities all too well. I easily went 0-20 within my first hour. Daunted, but not defeated, I pressed on, already wildly impressed with the scale of the battles I unknowingly tackled. My noob eyes beheld a glorious front of planes and tanks storming some massive structure I didn't even know how to get into (I'll get into this later). Watching so many infantry mixed in with vehicles trying to siege a base on an enormous continent was something I enjoyed.
I'm ranked 17 now (out of 100) and although the learning curve was steep, I've got a pretty fair handle on things. You'll learn the format of most bases, how to circumvent different defensive maneuvers from enemies and how to properly control and establish control points within the afmorementioned. This is important, because if you don't learn how to do this properly you're not going to have a good time. There are three enormous continents vying for control by three different factions. Most importantly, when alerts pop up, this is your signal to find the area with the alert on it and capture the land in that area. The faction at the end of the two hour alert will benefit from a special perk and the continent is locked. It started to get better when I learned how to use the squad system, I joined a platoon with four squads and we hatched a plan to storm a base that previously we were trying to hit from a horrible chokepoint on some east end. The platoon leader tactfully pulled everyone back to our main base where the squad leaders purchased some aircraft able to hold 12 people per unit. When we pulled out of that base, so did most of the enemy force, so when we came back in full force, the base was taken quickly. Seizing that faculty provided an advantage to our forces where we were able to continue to move forward with brevity.
The terrain is varied between the three areas and all of the classes have their own distinctive feel. I chose light heavy because of its jet pack ability which lets me scoot around tight corners, between ridges, and over walls. The community is generally inclusive provided you have some foresight to your actions, and if you're joining a squad (or collection of squads [platoon]) then you better well play as a team or they will kick you. As long as you can play along, you'll have a lot of fun.
So far, I haven't felt like I was limited by what I spend on the game. There isnt too much of a pay to win approach to this game, although there are still caveats. The paywall to experience another gun which may actually not be too different from what you start out with is HUGE. Assuming you get 2-3 kills as a light heavy per round, thatll grant you MAYBE 5 certs, which are points to purchase other guns, skins, utilities, etc. It's 1,000 certs which equates to about 200 deaths. That's being generous too, when you first start, it'll be a frustrating learning experience, as in learning how to not instantly die every 10 seconds. For the first ~4 hours of gameplay, my K/D ratio was about .2 which is absolutely atrocious. I will say though, don't worry about you're K/D ratio, becuase you can't. Seriously, don't pay attention to your K/D. I've gotten mine up to about .8 but that's only because I stopped paying attention to it.
The graphics are not bad considering it's age, and the fact that it is an MMOFPS, though the textures can be somewhat bland, not surpsingly so considering the vast area in which the game takes place. The sound gets to me a bit because even though some of the laser guns actually sound like laser guns, a lot of others sound like generic assault rifle effects out of call of duty. Nothing really stands out in terms of music, sound effects, or voice acting. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, so I wasn't really disappointed either way. The controls are pretty standard with the exception of vehicle controls, specifically air vehicles, which can be pretty confusing to pilot in the beginning. That and the fact that there are like 4 different voice keybindings depending on who you're talking to, which would include your outfit(guild), platoon, squad, and local proximity.
I see myself playing this game more in the future, and potentially even spending money on it just because. There is a lot to discover about the game, I could have continued on in more detail concerning classes and vehicles, skins and guns, but that is literally part of the fun in this game. You're welcome to add me or message me if you want to get together and play as well.
Gr8 b8 m8, r8 8/8
Planetside 2’s future is uncertain as the IP was sold for a relatively low sum to a company with no history.
The last Live Letter is done and we were all surprised at the announcement of a delay to the release of FFXIV's Endwalker expansion, we got some more details about the MMORPG's new PvP Crystal Conflict mode, and some system details. Then we talk about PlanetSide 2's new continent and LOTRO's new expansion before wrapping up with some good changes for Ubisoft and Blizzard... but are they enough? All that and more on this week's Always Online!
PlanetSide 2 is going to be getting its next major expansion this December. This new addition, titled “Expedition: Oshur” will be the first addition in almost seven years to bring an entirely new continent to the game.
6 out of 10 for me perhaps the most grindy free game I have ever played sure some bottleneck battles are good I played a bit when it first came out now all I get is G9 error even after fresh install . I once played MAG at a friends house and found that to be more fun and more intense.