Planetside 2: What I’d Like to See

A couple of days ago, I gave you my review of Planetside 2, the unmissable MMOFPS from Sony Online Entertainment. What I deliberately missed out of that review was the game I wish they had made. Whilst I really enjoy the game, I feel they could have gone an extra mile towards making it my favourite game of 2012. As it stands I think there are a few small problems I have with the game whose absence does not detract from the game at all, but whose presence would have greatly improved the experience. So here we go, this is my wishlist for the Planetside 2 of my dreams.

Firstly one of my major problems with the game is that how you go about capturing a territory is the same in every case, with only tiny variations (such as the presence of generators) and it creates a kind of “been there, done that” feeling after long play sessions. I wish Sony had included a variety of different ways to capture territories, rather than just holding a capture point, and spread them throughout the map so every land grab felt like a different experience.

I would have loved to see a capture the flag element to some territories, where the attacking team has to retrieve a “key” from one side of the base, and take it to the other side where successful delivery would place the base under their control, and with a respawn timer on the key so both sides could regroup. I would have loved to see a scenario where you need infantry to capture a territory, but because of NPC turrets that take the side of the defending team the infantry can’t get close enough. So the attacking team would have to send in their heavy armour, tanks and bombers, which could withstand the turrets, to either disable them from a central point, or take them out one at a time, at which point the infantry could move forward to make a capture.

Another idea I had was for one member of the defending team to be automatically denoted as the “commander” of that garrison, and the attacking team has to kill that player in order to capture the territory. I’ve noticed a few capture points can only be accessed from the air, requiring some form of air transport, however these are often on the peripheries of the map, and are rarely defended. I’d like to see these bases in more prominent positions, so that it would have to take a real coordinated effort from the attacking team, requiring both dropships and an escort of fighters to capture the territory, I think it would force the sort of coordination and teamwork you won’t see in the game unless you join an outfit. I also like the idea of bases that are laid out in such a way that infantry is funnelled one way, and vehicles another, so that two fights essentially take place simultaneously, with the outcome of both deciding the overall outcome.

I’d have also liked to have seen the implementation of dynamic, randomly occurring objectives within the game. Much like Firefall, the choice to complete these objectives would be entirely optional from an individual perspective, but would grant a small, temporary bonus, to the faction that completed them. These objectives could occur anywhere at any time and could range from assassination missions, to retrieving the cargo of a downed freight carrier, to patrolling or running scans of a particular point, it could even be a basic team deathmatch of first faction to 10 kills. Either way, these dynamic objectives would keep the game fresh, fun and interesting. They could change the focus of the war at any given moment and could move the action around the map on a scale that can’t currently be done.

I would also have liked to see the squad mechanics given a bit more love. Currently, squad leaders can set a waypoint on the map that will show up on the maps of other squad members, and can unlock the ability to highlight certain capture points, set a spawn beacon, and release different coloured smoke signals again to mark points, but without a proper way to convey the battle plan, squads just don’t work as well as they should be working. Yes people can voice chat, but not everyone has or wants to voice chat, and in Europe we have to worry more about the language barrier. So being able to set specific objectives; go here, hold this point, destroy this tank, go grab a bomber, switch to the Light Assault class and jump that wall; would be a big step forward in squad cohesion. Within platoons it’d also be a good idea for platoon leaders to set specific objectives for each individual squad. Something along the lines of: Alpha squad, take generator 1. Bravo squad, take generator 2. Charlie squad, go grab some tanks and thin out their air support. These tools would be super useful in coordinating large scale strategies between a big group of people that don’t necessarily know each other, and can lead to the exact kind of experiences Planetside 2 is all about.

So there’s my two cents, if you have any ideas of your own or would like to talk about mine, feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter. We’d love to hear from you.
Jamie out xoxoxo