Planetside 2

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

What side? PLANETSIDE!

Planetside 2 is a Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter (MMOFPS) game created in 2012 by Sony Entertainment. It’s currently being managed by Daybreak Games Company and Rogue Planet Games. The game is free to play, and anyone who owns a PC or Playstation 4-5 can download and play for free. It’s a sequel to the now defunct PlanetSide game made in 2003. It holds the Guinness World Record for most concurrent players in a single battle, with over 1158 players participating! Basically, it’s everything that Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade could’ve and should’ve been.

Plot

A long time ago, Earth would become embroiled in a massive fuckoff war that went nuclear and killed half the population. Discovery of a few wormholes somehow scared everyone into peace due to the potential threat of aliens, even though everyone was previously just fine bringing each other to extinction. The Terran Republic (TR) would form to maintain this peace, creating utopia for anyone who showed fealty while killing anyone who refused. Under the TR’s banner, humanity colonized the solar system and discovered worlds beyond Pluto.

When another wormhole opened, a famous TR leader named Thomas Connery led a massive fleet to journey through it alongside New Conglomerate (NC) personnel. Unsurprisingly, the wormhole closed and fucked up about half the fleet. Stuck in the ass-end of space, the once-proud fleet would war among itself as tensions between the TR and NC erupted into bloody insurgencies by the NC. This forced the TR to implement strict martial law. Peace talks to end the crisis were sabotaged by unknown agents who blew up the ship where talks were taking place, along with Connery and insurgent leaders. This motivated the TR to go full tyrant-mode even after they discovered Auraxis.

TR scientists discovered the Vanu in detail, finding out they were a long dead alien race. They would later worship the Vanu while trying to further explore and exploit Vanu tech. TR and NC tensions on Auraxis reached a boiling point and they went to war. The Vanu followers made the Vanu Sovereignty (VS) and joined in on the fun. That’s how we got into this wonderful clusterfuck. Oh and there’s a campaign that explains how Esamir was turned into a shitty mess, and the aftermath of it.

Gameplay

On Auraxis there’s 4 continents: Indar, Esamir, Hossin, and Amerish. Indar is a desert continent with some greenery and many open spaces, although slopes and massive elevations exist. It’s also the oldest and most popular continent. Esamir is a snowy continent that also has lots of open spaces, but is in practicality much smaller since an area called ‘The Shattered Warpgate’ takes up a good chunk of the map and has no strategic value. Hossin is basically Space Vietnam. It’s a bitch to navigate, and caters more towards infantry and aircraft. Amerish is also a very green map, but is infamous for its many hills, mountains, and rough terrain. Prepare for many uphill fights. As a general rule of thumb, the most intense battles will be at the center of the map or major facilities (like biolabs). Each continent has more than enough space to bear witness to immense combined arms battles, tank battles, and dogfights.

Overall control of a continent depends on how many bases your faction has. Each base has at least one capture point that you fight over. Some of these bases will be made by other players in real time, including fortifications and heavy weaponry! These player-made bases can also be in strategic locations that block access to the ‘real’ bases behind them. In any event, you need to control a ton of bases so that you can trigger an ‘alert’, which is a contest for territory that lasts for an hour and 15 minutes. Whatever empire has the most territory at the time limit controls the continent until it reopens after the other continents are rotated through. Rinse and repeat. The process for capturing and defending bases can be akin to a large game of team deathmatch if the population is low. But once more people start showing up, the battles to capture or defend bases will start resembling grinding sieges that can last hours.

Noobs will be skullfucked by the veterans repeatedly until they learn the ropes, or quit after a week. The gunplay is nothing like COD. The vehicle game is also very unforgiving, and takes a while to fully upgrade your vehicle of choice. It too is heavily skill-based. Basically, it’s BF4 but way bigger and harder to get into due to a skill gap bigger than each continent. Unless you’ve put in your years, individual soldiers on the battlefield mean jack shit. Success or failure depends on teamwork and coordination with your faction. Well, most of the time. If a zerg is barreling down the lane, only another zerg is stopping that shit. Speaking of which…

Not an exaggeration...

Social Aspect

Players can join squads that hold up to 12 people. Squad leaders can form platoons that hold up to 48 players. Platoon leaders can have an entire army at their beck and call if they’re talented enough. Outfits (aka Clans) can be made or joined. It can be a group of friends, an army for your faction, or a stack-fit full of the most elite players in the game. Other players make ’solo fits’ that allow solo players access to war assets.

Outfits don’t just bolster coordination and the amount of fun players can have. Outfits have access to an armory which holds War Assets. Outfit members with the right privileges can use said war assets. The war assets include citadel shields, orbital strikes, colossus tanks, bastion fleet carriers, vehicle discounts, ANVILS (airdrop a vehicle), and Steel Rain. Each war asset costs resources and takes time to build. These resources are obtained by capturing bases for your outfit or resource expeditions. Capturing and defending bases also gets you merit, which lets you buy a few cosmetics, upgrades, and tactical items.

Players are able to chat via voice or text in a number of separate channels. There’s also various generic phrases that you can have your character say, most notably taunts and ‘I need a ride!’ A separate level in orbit called ‘Sanctuary’ exists, which is a social hub that allows players of all factions to exist on a space station above auraxis. The Sanctuary lets you buy unique weapons and cosmetics from various vendors, spend your merit on merit-purchaseable items, collect resource expeditions, accept campaign missions, and more.

Directives

These are achievements that you grind for. They either provide cosmetics, weapon variants, or shiny and glowing variants of the default weapons. There’s a directive score that shows up next to your name, and shows how much of a neckbeard you are how many directives you’ve completed. Some are holiday exclusive, and you may never see them again. Not for the faint of heart.

Factions

Terran Republic

We call this tactical superiority.

The Terran Republic is an authoritarian military government with massive resources and a professional army to boot. The TR want to re-establish contact with Earth, while ensuring peace and prosperity on Auraxis for their people. Their guns function like real-life firearms and shoot bullets really fast, while carrying lots of them per mag. In some cases their weapons do below-average damage per bullet and have questionable accuracy, but fire even faster. Regardless, this ensures most of their weapons have the highest and most sustainable raw DPS. They have red tracers. The TR tends to have more coordination on a macro and micro level, and is much more likely to send combined-arms zergs. Mil-simmers and fans of either The Empire or the Imperium of Man will gravitate here.

The Mosquito is the TR’s Empire Specific Fighter (ESF). It’s the fastest ESF in the game but also the most fragile. Its M14 Banshee sounds awesome and is fucking deadly.

The Prowler is their faction specific MBT. Like the Mosquito it’s the fastest in the game and has best-in-class DPS. It has a double-barreled cannon and the Barrage ability lets you reload 30% faster. Just don’t use the Rampart Projector.

TR helmets are sleek, angular, and aggressive. Some helmets resemble the ones used by Stormtroopers and Boba Fett, which makes you wonder how the devs weren’t sued to death by Disney. But 40K fans are in for a treat, as TR players can play as a Commissar! You can do this by buying the commissar cap, and AVA armor. While the voice pack is optional, ideally you want the premium voice packs. In terms of armament you need the Ripper power-knife, and 'Endeavor' variant of the Underboss which is featured in the insanely overpriced Starseeker's bundle (this gun is the most similar to a laspistol). Sorry, no bolt/plasma pistol. 2 particular voice packs can make you sound like a Russian or Drill Sergeant. Their armors also emphasize practicality and militaristic designs. Their most popular ones essentially consist of armored skirts. Their colors are red and black.

New Conglomerate

The suits should cut you a bonus check.

The NC is ‘Murica in SPESS. Especially since they have megacorporations, mercenaries, and freedom fighters making up their ranks. They see the TR’s totalitarianism and the VS’ insane religion as an intolerable tyranny that must be eradicated. Their faction is an embodiment of the skill gap, as it's usually composed of clueless noobs or hardened vets. They’re also the least coordinated, but whenever they do get coordinated they’re a fucking nightmare. Their weapons consist of coilguns which fire gold tracers. Their typical faction trait is slow-firing but hard-hitting, although their weapon lineup has a diverse array of traits. These hard-hitting weapons are a burden in the hands of noobs, but in skilled hands their high alpha damage combined with consistent headshots potentially makes them the best weapons in the game. Prepare to be team-killed.

The Reaver, aka the Flying Brick, is their ESF. It’s the slowest but most durable ESF, and carries heavier hitting weapons.

The Vanguard is the NC’s MBT. It too is slow, durable, and carries hard-hitting weaponry. It resembles and functions like modern-day MBTs. Its shield is fucking broken to go against, even after multiple nerfs. Skip the Nimitz reactor.

The only thing NC soldiers hate more than tyrants are curves, which explains why all their helmets and armors are boxy and rigid. More advanced cosmetic choices can be huge, bulky, industrial, or ramshackle. Another massive plus is the ability to sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jim Raynor from Starcraft. The highly talented Chris Jai Alex lends his voice to the Daredevil voice pack too. Their colors are blue and gold. Buy their Cavalier (cowboy hat) helmet, Mercenary voice pack, and revolver to fulfill the futuristic wild west aesthetic today!

Vanu Sovereignty

Do you have any spare batteries?

A cult that worships the long-dead Vanu race. Believes that technology equals might, and are radical transhumanists. If you oppose them, they’ll blast you HERESY. They use plasma weaponry which offers unparalleled accuracy and no projectile drop in most cases, but unfortunately their projectile velocity is lower. In some cases, so is their overall DPS. The accuracy and unique traits on many of their weapons make them insanely easy to land headshots, ensuring even noobs are competitive. Female VS infiltrators also have the best asses. The average VS player is more skilled, although by necessity since they have less numbers. Infamous for their elitists and stackfits. Tryhards, Weebs, and (un)ironic degenerates make up this player base.

The Scythe is their ESF. It’s the most maneuverable of the ESFs, and as flat as a damned pancake. It’s the closest thing to easy mode pilots will ever experience.

The Magrider is their MBT. It’s a hover-tank which can levitate over any obstacle and strafe. However, the gun is fixed to the front and one must point the entire tank in a certain direction to aim. Its main gun is also the weakest DPS-wise. Magriders are the hardest tank to learn but near-unstoppable once mastered, and is a constant source of frustration for rival tankers.

Unlike the NC who avoid ’The Curve’ like the plague, the VS practically worship it. Their cosmetics are typically otherworldly and spiky, though some helmets and armors can also take cues from ancient oriental cultures. One of their helmets also has cat ears, not making this up. Voices of note include a discount Starscream or robot. Their colors are purple, and teal.

Nanite Systems

Planetside 2: Rise of the Machines

The mega corporation responsible for supplying the 3 main empires with equipment, weapons, vehicles, and (most recently) robots. Examples include the nanites and rebirthing facilities necessary for each empire’s war effort, infantry tools and weapons, and common-pool vehicles. Their combat robots are sent to supplement whichever faction has the lowest population, and said robots have their own unique arsenal. If you pay for it, your robot character can permanently be attached to the faction of your choice. Does the existence of a neutral entity which sells critical services to each empire sound fishy to you?

NS Operators get the Javelin, Chimera, and Dervish. The Javelin is a 2-seater hovercycle that functions like the Magrider. It’s known for Lulz and quickly traversing terrain, but its weapons are not to be underestimated.

The Chimera is the MBT for NSO. It’s 6-wheeled with a front mounted secondary turret for the gunner, and 4 rumble seats not unlike the Scorpion tank in Halo. It’s agile and good on rough terrain, but not as much as the Magrider. Its firepower or protection also won’t exceed the Prowler or Vanguard respectively.

The UFO Dervish is the ESF for NSO. What it lacks in agility and speed is made up for in durability and firepower. It’s a 2-seater aircraft, involving the pilot and a gunner for a top-mounted turret.

Common Pool Vehicles

The following are vehicles available to all players regardless of faction (AKA common pool vehicles).

More armor than Red Square!

Flash- A cheap 2 seater quad bike meant for rapid transport and light skirmishing. By light skirmishing, we mean assfucking tanks with a grenade launcher (or Starfall for VS), insta-gibbing infantry via shotgun or .50 cal, and being able to go invisible before and after attacking.

Harasser- The Flash on steroids. A 3 seated buggy that’s fast and has strong weapons that the gunner can use to fuck people up. Until recently the rumble passenger could give constant repairs, and with this ability removed, Harasser mains are on suicide watch. The retarded physics engine lets it outrun tank mine explosions and its carcass can insta-crush vehicles.

Sunderer- This party van is an APC with 12 seats, including 2 gunners. Back in the day this thing could reliably take on tanks. Now, not so much. It can repair or resupply vehicles with the right investments, and deploy into a spawn point that lasts a minute until some asshole light assault or vehicle beyond render range blows it up. Coordinated outfits can use sunderers to cause serious damage and/or lulz.

Lightning- A light single-seater tank with a wide array of weapons to adapt to any situation. It will never beat MBTs 1v1 unless the MBT is solo and a shitty driver, or you’re just that good. You only use this because you can’t be assed to pull a tank from 5 hexes away.

Valkyrie- A fast moving VTOL gunship that can shit on people with the right loadout and a little coordination. Squadmates can use it as a spawn point. It usually escapes most retaliation since the 4 rumble seats meant constant repairs by engineers, and the belly had damage resistance. Said rumble seats could include TR heavies with proximity-guided rockets to fuck up planes or 4 VS with high velocity beam launchers to fuck up anything at all ranges. Rumble seat repairs are gone, Valkyrie mains most affected.

Liberator- This 3-man gunship can shit all over anything below it and tank damage like a champ. Skilled gunners can use its belly mounted cannon for AA duty as well.

Galaxy- Absolutely tanky and FUCKHUEG, to the point that it can ram almost anything and 1-shot it. 4 gun seats let it shit on infantry or defend against ESFs, while certain investments let it repair or resupply vehicles. Can also hold 12 people, and squadmates can respawn on it. Excellent for coordinated outfits, causing lulz and RAGE.

Advanced Nanite Transport- The ANT can harvest corium nodes to aid in construction or fuel its abilities, which include boosting, shields, and invisibility. Can also resupply Colossus tanks. Good for shits and giggles, but also dangerous if left ignored.

Colossus- The king of all tanks, with a massive railgun-style cannon and 4 gunner seats that can use a variety of weapons. The deployed shield and Mass Accelerator Drive (MAD) require cortium to use, which can be generated or provided by ANTS. Equipping the MAD gives the cannon the damage and velocity a railgun-esque weapon is meant to have. Deploying creates a durable shield bubble and turns the cannon into a Skylance Battery that’ll swat aircraft outta the sky and damage Bastion weak points. Deploy on a slope, and you can use it against ground targets…

Bastion Fleet Carrier- The ultimate flying rape machine. The captain can bomb ground targets into slag while 4 manned batteries can wipe out any stragglers. 5 manned AA guns can swat away aircraft. It also spawns free, modified ESFs that can somehow survive a direct hit from a Skylance Battery. 48 outfit members can occupy seats in the Bastion or spawn in it at any time. It can only be taken down by destroying 8 weak points located around the ship. These weak points are shielded and highly durable, requiring heavy firepower. No PS2 cinematic montage today is complete without one of these things, or the explosion it makes when destroyed. Very expensive but near-unstoppable with some coordination.

Classes

Infiltrator- Made for annoying faggots who snipe people, run around invisible with an SMG, or sit there while invisible to annoy the fuck out of people. Can also hack terminals. High grief potential.

Light Assault- Thanks to Wrel these jetpack wielding soldiers can take a shit on infantry and vehicles with no consequences. Has a mini rocket launcher that can also deter aircraft, and can bring C4. Max griefing potential.

Combat Medic- AKA the Medium Assault, these guys can heal and revive people (duh) while their self heals and ARs let them kick ass in firefights. Beware the carapace medics.

Engineer- They can fix shit and carry more explosives, snipe MAXes with anti material rifles, drop ammo, and turn locations into bigger meatgrinders than they already were thanks to deployable barriers, turrets, and mines.

Heavy Assault- The class that 80% of the player base uses. At the press of a button they can activate an overshield that lets them win any firefight and survive damage that no infantryman has any business surviving. Optional Heavy Guns let them cheese the fuck out of entire squads. Also has a rocket launcher, although it’s more often used to get a bullshit kill against infantry than to destroy vehicles.

MAX- These huge motherfuckers are covered in armor and have a gun on each wrist. The NC have giant full-auto shotguns, the TR have miniguns, and the VS have plasma cannons. The anti-vehicle options are also rape-tastic that prioritize either DPS or precision. NC can choose between twin rockets or a miniature guided missile launcher. TR can fire multiple heavy grenades or a rapid fire mini-rocket launcher. VS have heavy plasma orbs or chargeable particle accelerators with insane accuracy and velocity. In terms of AA your options are a shitty flak gun or heavy machine gun that does moderate damage against all targets. The usefulness of their utilities vary. NC has a rechargeable hardlight riot shield that makes them invincible from the front and lets them reload while it's up. TR can lock themselves into the ground reduce their range of movement in exchange for an insane increase in fire rate, reload speed, and velocity. VS cover themselves in unstable chemicals that make them take and do more damage while moving faster. A MAX will facefuck you if you’re unprepared.

Weapons (BUY THESE WITH CERTS)

ARs- Most of them are potent up to medium range. But combine the fact that most fights are CQC with the damage range nerfs, and in reality most people just use the CQC ones. TR has the best AR lineup.

Carbines: Better DPS and hipfire than ARs, but worse than them at range. Less DPS and hipfire than SMGs, but better than them at range. Retains hipfire accuracy in midair, making them best on light assaults. Everyone uses the CQC-oriented ones. NC's lineup is the most diverse, but the TR's lineup is the best.

LMGs: Oversized ARs with less raw DPS and accuracy but bigger magazines. Used with heavies, they can clear entire rooms and farm noobs. If it’s not the NS-15M2 then you’ll probably be killed by the default, directive, or CQC-oriented LMGs.

Shotguns: Comes in semi-auto, full-auto, or pump-action. Used by losers who can’t aim, or griefers.

Scout Rifles: Made to bridge the gap between ARs and Sniper Rifles, but ends up being worse than both guns. Only the NS-30 Vandal and 2nd gen battle rifles are halfway decent.

SMGs: Highly mobile, excellent hipfire, strong DPS. Weak outside of CQC. NC has the best SMG lineup.

Heavy Guns: Guns made for heavy assaults only. Can either use a 6-barrel grenade launcher with multiple ammo types, or a faction specific gun. NC gets the Jackhammer (Pancor Jackhammer on steroids), TR gets a Mini-chaingun, and VS gets the Lasher (splash damage plasma cannon). Will cause much RAGE for those on the receiving end.

Sniper Rifles: The best ones carry 1-4x optics, or do the highest damage.

Rocket Launchers: Buy the lock-ons, decimator, or faction specific ones.

Sidearms: Aside from the repeater or desperado, the only good pistols are the revolvers and NS45 Pilot.

The NSO faction also got their own arsenal as of the _Integration update. Rules are the same, run the CQC-oriented weapons or ones with the best DPS.

Melee: If you’re a try hard pussy who can’t knife, the NSX Amaterasu blows all other knives out of the water since it can ’shoot’ enemies at range. There’s also the ‘Lumine Edge’ (AKA Lightsaber), ‘Ripper’ on TR, and the NC’s ‘Carver’ which are all 1-shot knives but require more precision and are slower. The Kukri, Nightshade, and Psykinetic Blade can scratch vehicles but are weaker than the default knives. The rest are reskinned default knives which do good damage and swing fast.

Consumables: The grenade slot has all sorts of grenades, but only the frags and throwing knives are universal. Others, like the anti-vehicle grenades or revive grenades are class-specific.

The utility slot allows all tryhards to use medkits, and all non-infiltrator classes have access to C4. Engineers and infiltrators have anti-personnel mines, but only engineers have tank mines.

The tactical slot is universal, and ranges from caltrops to time-bombs to deployable stock flashes.

Monetization

A free to play game has to make money somehow. All weapons in the game are free, although most unique variants of them will be locked behind overpriced weapon bundles or overpriced individual purchases. Most cosmetics in the game also cost money, although some can be unlocked via directives. Directives are how the game makes its money, since many directives can only be completed via the purchase of unique weapon variants and bundles (or the directive is so fucking hard that you need to purchase certain items with cash to preserve your sanity). Then there’s the implant system, which is basically their take on loot boxes. All implants can be obtained through implant packs or ISO-4 recyclers, though you’ll have to grind or get lucky to get the one you want. These implant packs and ISO-4 recyclers can be bought for free or with IRL money. Lastly, there’s in-game membership. Buying this gives you a slew of benefits, most importantly discounts and a monthly reward of premium currency which you usually gotta buy with cash.

The free in-game currency is called certs. Certs can buy guns, upgrades, implant packs, and the cosmetic option to remove your helmet. Recycling duplicate implant perks gets you ISO-4, which can upgrade implants or buy them. Then there’s merit, which can be used to purchase a few cosmetic options and upgrades for certain items (as well as tactical items). You get this by capturing or defending bases. The premium currency is station-cash (or daybreak cash). This can buy anything in the game including resource boosts, unless it’s an upgrade for certain gear. However, you wanna save this for cosmetics or unique variants of weapons that are required for directives.

Planetside 2 Today

This is just tuesday.

The game is still being supported by a dev team with decent resources although the youtuber turned game dev Wrel continues to make or endorse highly questionable decisions regarding updates. There’s bugs and flaws as old as the game itself which may never be fixed due to the game’s spaghetti code. Advertising for the game is also virtually nonexistent except for major updates. The worst issue however is its very nature as a skill-based shooter. The game is so hard for noobs to get into because it’s effectively the Dark Souls of FPS games, leading to poor player retention and a ball-busting new-player experience. If you’re a console player, you have to deal with constant neglect by the devs in addition to the aforementioned issues. Whatever PC-side gets, console will be behind by months if not longer. Some features won’t even make it at all. Console population is also much smaller, though it can still bring the epic experiences Planetside is known for on a single continent. Only if you’re on the US Genudine server, since the European Ceres server is a ghost town of sweaty veterans. On top of that, performance is significantly worse unless you have a Playstation 4 pro or Playstation 5.

But even with all of its flaws, Planetside 2 is the only game of its kind on the market, and it’s free. The game can often bring you unforgettable experiences no other game can provide, including the Battlefield franchise. Other games try to recreate massive, cinematic battles inside of clearly staged trailers. These types of battles are a daily reality in Planetside 2, and it’s easy to take for granted. The game is also the furthest from pay to win. You win or lose based on your own skill and that of your teammates, not superior gear that’s locked behind a paywall. While some weapons and items are inherently better than others given the daily realities of the game, all of it can be obtained relatively easily without an obscene grind. If you’re just getting into the game, make sure to squad up with other people and join active outfits. They will show you the ropes. Do not give up and stick it out, because it will get better.

Gallery

The real reason to join VS.

What really happens on NC.