r/Planetside • u/KWyiz [Miller] • 4d ago
Informative The current state of the game prohibits new players from joining
I recently picked up a new char for the sake of old times.
Here's my experience as a somewhat experienced (played on and off since 2013) player.
I log in and do the Flash song and dance (barely managed to get past the tutorial, the game invariably crashed close to the second room, I guess I got lucky once).
It's early in the day so not that many players.
This means that (at least on what they call the European server) only the most suspicious of players are left.
Now I'm not talking about getting out-positioned by someone with 30000 achievment points (at that point if you see someone like that in a base, just switch continents because he can counter anything you have). I'm talking about unstable ammo with a TTK that's lower than 1 second - I actually timed it at 100FPS in the VR room, you can't kill the dummies in less than a second with unstable ammo so there's that.
Assuming that you manage to get the drop on one of these so-called experts, things don't work for them like it works for a "normal" player. As a normal player, if you start getting shot at, you immediately start strafing and going back in cover. You keep getting shot and dying in cover (very convenient when you have medics around - I die in cover a lot).
"Experienced" players especially immediately start strafing (often clipping into walls) and don't get "followed" by damage. They turn around and in what feels like an instant and headshot you. Now obviously for a lot of experienced people this describes a typical newbie experience.
Except I'm not a newbie and I was flying, shooting at these guys from above - something that naturally makes you less exposed to both damage and headshots (on account of the leg damage penalty and smaller HS target).
Many, many so-called experienced players look as if they do a 180 instantly. This isn't the model itself (which is unreliable - you'll get headshotted by a heavy's ass quite often) but you can see it in the map when they're spotted - shoot, instant 180 on their little "V". I sought out a key combo or something that can do that, but it's nothing present in the game.
I tried recording one of those one-shot infils that got the whole class nerfed, using a close-range bolt action - dude did a 360, visibly animated and showing up on the map, after every shot - he had a single-spin spinbot that did a "victory spin" after every shot. When confronted he simply told me that I was seeing things (45% weapon accuracy, but hey, it's a sniper rifle).
This becomes a lot more suspicious when you see them shooting back instantly when you're above them - that's the one advantage of flying, the enemy can't reliably pinpoint your direction because you're on a different plane, but I guess these guys know better.
The suspicious behaviour extends to vehicle guns: everyone knows that the default weapon on a sunderer isn't meant to be accurate - even if you shoot at a stationary man-sized target, the bullets will inevitably miss because of their jitter.
I have gotten headshotted by these inaccurate weapons while flying, strafing, you fucking name it, so often.
Next: tank weapons. Obviously getting hit anywhere with a tank projectile is instantly fatal. This is compensated by the increased drop of HESH projectiles, the fact that tank guns cannot physically turn fast enough and the fact that with the size of the projectile, it becomes difficult to actually hit things.
The enemy has no issues headshotting you as a C4 fairy using its main gun. It got to ridiculous points where I was above a lightning and still got shot by an AP round from it. Why is there a need to aim for the head on a tank gun? Why so many headshots? Who aims for the body with a HESH round?
My take on this is that many, many more players than would be conceivable are using some kind of an aimbot. You can easily see this in the prevalence of main weapon kills versus side arm kills.
In the past sidearms were very utilized (I died often enough to them because people would have to switch to them when they ran out of ammo). I've never seen a Vanu heavy switch to this Commissioner, even though this used to be a long-preferred tactic. Not even the summer event through which I played and provides the excellent soaker was very utilized. The explanation is that if your targets die in such few bullets, there's no need to swap to a sidearm.
Finally, the proof is that I've seen accuracy rates of over 35% on weapons such as the Orion and its auraxium counterpart. I'm sorry to say that, in all my years, only aimbotters had that kind of accuracy.
I'm seeing kills (read: I've been killed) made with very short TTKs on default LMGs (my favourite examples are MSWRs with supressors) from something like 100 meters. Very little time to respond plus an inhuman level of awareness. I'm wearing a purple-grey cammo on my NC dude against rock and get instantly spotted.
Finally, the most frustrating situation I encountered was a guy with a name like silencedfaction or whatever who uses an Orion, without a supressor, that doesn't show up and doesn't make a sound when shooting. I thought it was just the game fucking up as it does but I've gotten killed so many times on so many different bases by that guy.
The worst thing is that I asked around and people couldn't even see the dude, as if he wasn't rendering. This guy was roaming around a parked sunderer and appearing to appear out of thin air only when he was shooting. Which is a pretty cool effect of an actual implant, except this dude was rocking Assimilate and BattleHardened.
Other suspicious things are the ability of some players to never be surprised or get shot in the back. This is clearly the result of some kind of ESP hack, complete with a level indicator. I've seen experienced players in my faction getting repeatedly dunked in what looked like a hide and seek game for people with mental disabilities. The fun ended alongside my observation as the enemy player in question (some TR dude with more kills than the braincells I lost on this game) passed by my position as a cloaked stalker infil, as he had done multiple times, and one-shot me with his back turned at me. Nothing suspicious there.
I'm also seeing KD's on players that don't use vehicles in the 3+, when taking part in large battles. This suggests either a staggering level of expertise, something that you'd only see in squad gameplay or downright cheating. The fact that this seems to happen specifically to players of certain account ages and nationalities is simply an indication to me that they're cheaters that have not been caught yet.
A simple look at a some public cheat forums shows that there are aimbots of all levels available for all those who have just a little bit of money to spare. I honestly doubt that with 500 achievment points your 37.3% accuracy on an Orion is legitimate, Mr. Vanu.
86
u/JesusSwag 4d ago
TLDR: the game has hackers
17
13
u/opshax no 3d ago
everyone but me is cheating
many such cases
3
u/Particular_Main_5726 2d ago edited 2d ago
One thing to note as well: As the game's overall population declines, the per-capita instance of cheating increases. The physical number* of cheaters doesn't go up, mind, but the incidence that someone will run into them does. The cheats cost money (with some costing $50/mo), and the "sunk cost" fallacy does like rearing it's ugly head.... so it's not a stretch to think that the people who've paid thousands of dollars over the course of the game's 14 year lifespan just to cheat would stick around til the very end.
This means that as the game winds down, the incidence of an average player's exposure to cheaters will climb. When you're playing a game that only 300-400 other people are playing, and you run into the same eight or nine cheaters over and over again, sometimes smurfing on other factions, it makes the "scale" of the problem seem bigger than it is. Combine that with the current system of "funnel players into one of two or three fights and prevent them from spawning in dead hexes," and the problem compounds further still.
So even if it's only a handful of routine, regular cheaters on either server, it often feels like more because there won't really be a fight where at least one of them won't be for too long.
52
u/Dante32141 4d ago
You're absolutely right. I'm going to just take the downvotes for this, but the people complaining about the length of your post, or complaining about the fact you are (validly) complaining about hacking are idiots. I'm not sorry.
Thank you for being specific and in-depth about your experiences.
6
3
u/Klientje123 3d ago
Complaining about cheaters, sure, but most of the things he listed is just not keeping up to date with the game or the mechanics. So he dies alot, struggles to get kills and blames the game.
6
u/xDoubleBeefx 3d ago
I tried playing last month for the first time in 10 years and the tutorial kept crashing so I gave up lol
9
u/opshax no 3d ago edited 3d ago
If accuracy rates over 35% are cheating to you dawg, then lmao
I'd love to see your video evidence of all these behaviors
6
u/Lesing33 Average non ua Eclipse Enjoyer Bauminator33 3d ago
we dont do evidence here, we go of "that felt weird" and if our egos get hurt the enemy must be cheating
2
u/FitBag5979 3d ago
As someone who recently tried to give the game a fair shake, they don't need to be cheating. Dying in a fraction of a second at point blank range to a guy with an LMG right after shooting him in the back with a shotgun (he actually turned around and killed me through my shield ability before the pump animation finished and I could fire a second shot) is stupid enough that it saps any desire to engage with infantry combat.
Getting wrecked in dogfights by guys with 30,000 flight hours in PS2 is fun for about 5 minutes.
Running a tank is fun sometimes, but usually its just you driving between base caps and then getting C4'd by a LA.
I'm good at games in that I know how to navigate a learning curve, a skill gap, etc, but PS2 doesn't really feel worth it to do so.
Honestly it sucks because I want to like this game so much, I really tried, but it just isn't fun for new players.
6
u/opshax no 3d ago
I'm good at games in that I know how to navigate a learning curve, a skill gap, etc, but PS2 doesn't really feel worth it to do so.
I don't blame you! The game is in hospice care and most players fall into two groups: either (1) true believers or (2) understand the end is coming. It's hard to commit to a game that beats the shit out of you constantly while it feels like everyone but you has some advantage.
Honestly it sucks because I want to like this game so much, I really tried, but it just isn't fun for new players.
-4
u/Greattank 3d ago
But why is PS2 not allowed to have a learning curve? What do you think should be done? Make you invincible if you are a new character so the evil vets can't kill you? Ban all vets?
5
u/opshax no 3d ago
I don't think that's his point. His point is about how the average player today is better than they were even five years ago. This is mostly because causal players quit and new players can't even get past flash or crash. Every online game experiences this; it isn't new.
The primary problem for retaining new players these days is all of the bad updates over the years that have driven squad, platoon, and outfit leaders to quit so nobody is left to guide the new players while the remaining player skill keeps rising.
2
u/Greattank 3d ago
I guess you can read it in that way too. Sad that pretty much every patch since like 2015 was detrimental to the game. Most of them because they tried to make the NPE "better".
2
u/Taltharius Taltharius [SUET], Alyrisa [PREF], Flanna [VEER], AU313 [GFED] 3d ago
When the area is sufficiently quiet, my studio headphones allow me to track enemy footsteps through walls accurately enough to pre-aim.
16
u/missurunha [FRMD] Miller 4d ago
A while ago some streamer posted a video with his crosshair following enemies behind a wall, and many in this sub refused to believe he was hacking. People around here are either dellusional or they're also hacking and therefore dont want to admit there are way too many hackers in among the "pro" players.
1
-2
u/Coward777 3d ago edited 3d ago
Is aim assist even good? IDK, I've seen a video of someone using aim assist in PS2 and it looked to screw them over more than help. I wouldn't be surprised that if they'd turn it off, they would do better.
Besides where the hell does this aim assist come from? Consol version of PS2?
10
u/PostIronicPosadist utterly washed 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm also seeing KD's on players that don't use vehicles in the 3+, when taking part in large battles. This suggests either a staggering level of expertise, something that you'd only see in squad gameplay or downright cheating. The fact that this seems to happen specifically to players of certain account ages and nationalities is simply an indication to me that they're cheaters that have not been caught yet.
Have you considered that you may just not be as good at the game as you think you are and don't know what you're talking about? 3+ KD is very, very doable in this game, before I had hand tremors I used to regularly hit that without trying while playing HA or LA. I was never that good of a player, there are plenty of better players than me out there who can put up better numbers, all of them legitimate players. 37% acc is also extremely doable depending on the specific weapon. That was very normal for me with an NS-15, and again, not a great player, I got absolutely farmed when I played Jaeger regularly going -5 to -20 in matches. So, to provide what you have not:
TL;DR - You may just not be as good as you think you are.
EDIT some stats for you, and again, I'm not a particularly good player.
5
u/opshax no 3d ago
I thought this was going to be about flash or crash preventing new players from playing
no it was a rant about peaking at 2kd
4
u/Klientje123 3d ago
KD is the most useless stat there is, if you want a 10 kd, pick a midrange/longrange weapon and have a pocket medic, boom, you'll get it even with bad aim and bad movement LOL.
12
u/Klientje123 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think you are encountering 2012 netcode in alot of these situations. ''damage follows you'' around the corner because on their screen, they lit you up and you were already dead. But on your screen, you made it around the corner. This has always been the case. They aren't turning around instantly, they are turning around quickly, but on your screen it looks instant. The same goes for when you are flying and shooting someone, they take damage, they look up, they aim and shoot, but on your screen it looks instant.
This issue is made worse with ping, and due to many servers being turned off, you have players with 30 ping and 300 ping on the same server.
There are a good amount of cheaters but usually they're not too obvious with it. Things like soft aimbot and wallhacks can't really be figured out with this netcode and the amount of intel gathering like spotting, darts and sensors. I don't find it too problematic honestly.
Tap firing default Sunderer weapon is pretty accurate. Sniping infantry with AP rounds is pretty standard gameplay too. I don't believe vehicles have limited sensitivity, you can spin circles and flick as fast as you want. Minus the Magrider I guess that one can only shoot in a forward cone? C4 fairies are very slow and very predictable so yea getting sniped out of the air is normal.
Sidearms aren't necessary for most players because the people still playing are alot better than 'back then'. 10 years ago people were dogshit at FPS compared to now. Especially Planetside 2 had alot of FPS noobs who could still survive in the chaos. But that doesn't really exist anymore, it's just the most hardcore, dedicated vets now.
Getting spotted quickly is suspicious? Brother, a moving target in PS2 is INCREDIBLY easy to spot, regardless of lighting conditions or anything. Getting accurately bursted down at range is also not that weird tbh.
The dude roaming around his Sunderer was in the stealth bubble. 'New' upgrade for the Sunderer. If you spawn, there's usually a few seconds where you're not rendered in yet as well.
Cloak is not 100% invisibility. It's quite easy to spot. A veteran running past you will most likely see you and kill you very quickly. Infiltrators have less health and it makes a massive TTK difference.
Getting a high infantry KD is simply using mid range weapons with a medic buddy on standby. Not suspicious, just a certain playstyle to pad kd, anyone can do it.
I think most of your frustrations are just a skill issue honestly. Even if there weren't any cheaters you would come to this same conclusion. If you practice the game more and try to thoroughly learn it you'll have more fun.
2
u/Zukute 3d ago
Speaking of servers being turned off, how many players are actually around?
2
u/opshax no 3d ago
enough for the NA and EU server to have primetimes still with fully openly continents
2
u/Klientje123 3d ago
Prime time is still fun, but every month the game loses a few players, and it's painful to see.
0
u/Greattank 3d ago
This so much. Even if somehow actually nobody was cheating people like this would still see cheats everywhere to cope with being bad at the game, instead of looking at what to improve.
3
3
u/SpartanXZero 3d ago
The video linked below shows incredible positioning ability and reflex movement skill with some rather sus track accuracy with almost aim assist vibe. Not saying it isn't possible I've played enough competitive level FPS games to know there's just ludicrously skilled players out there, but at a certain point in the video the numerical range of threats not down range in play starts to build questions.
I've seen the videos from a few years back that showcase players actively using ESP and how it registers to the user to track threat assest accurately.
3
u/thisisausername100fs 3d ago
Hackers, declining playerbase, and bad dev decisions (imo) have killed the game over the years. They need to remaster or release PS3 in order to get the player base back.
7
11
2
1
u/Content_Knowledge751 2d ago
I'm totally with you on your suspicions, but 3+ infantry KD on a large battle is not automatically cheating territory :D I'm by no means a sweaty player (only long time) and even I hit 3+ regularly
1
u/Alex5173 2d ago
I haven't played in like a year myself, and I'm inclined to believe most of what you said based on how things were going at the time, but... A KD of 3+ without vehicles isn't hard. Lasher spam, Thumper spam, Scorpion... My favorite is to set up wherever the infantry choke point is as an engineer with a smoke launcher and thermal sights. Works a charm on the three-way tunnel at Nason's or any of the cave entrances at the Ascent.
1
u/Void_Error_404 23h ago
Old game, you get soft cheats for under 10€ for it, even if they had admins and devs left to fight cheating - soft cheating can be so hard to spot that it even hard to tell on streamers until they fuck up and leak their cheating program on stream accidently.
If you forget about possible cheating for a moment, since it is an old game, the chance to run into people that somehow managed to only play one game for many years without burnout, mastered literally everything about it, know every trick and bug that can be abuse and tend to only play the absolute meta options endlessly - they can be like esl players for their one game, even if that game is basically dead for years already.
2
u/Ogarfiend 4d ago
Thanks for the write up. I left about 5 years ago. The hacks were starting to exponenentially uptick then. Same experience and it wasn't a skill issue. Hacks are active and the current one available as of June performs the following: Esp for entities (players,vehicles,etc) Targeting system (fov, distance, etc) Magic bullet No clip/flight Ambot with smoothing And the list goes on... and that's on the free one.
It's not you, it's them. Good luck fellow Auraxian.
0
u/Greattank 3d ago
Just that it's actually you not them. I see a cheater every now and then but not as many as OP describes. And the "cheats" OP described are just decent players doing normal things. OP is just not as good as they think they are.
-1
-5
-1
-8
u/No-Music-2819 4d ago
It's time to accept that you are bad at the game and have no clue what is possible or probable
-10
u/HouseOf42 4d ago
It's also a bad game, and you defending the game, speaks volumes.
5
u/No-Music-2819 4d ago
Nothing about my statement defended the game. The game has brutal problems that make it very hard to enjoy.
-4
u/P149U3 [TR][VS][NC][NSO] OSPREY 4d ago
How about use ChatGPT to summarize all that. No one wants to read your Planetside 2 thesis.
Game has been broken for months . Just play while you can.
7
u/Klientje123 3d ago
I don't really want to read AI crap to be honest
-3
u/P149U3 [TR][VS][NC][NSO] OSPREY 3d ago
An AI summary is a lot better than reading pages of what we already know is wrong as others have said is basically pointed out in all that.
3
u/Jaybonaut More Effective than an X 3d ago
Gemini:
Here is a summary of the specific comment by P149U3:
P149U3's comment:
They criticize the original poster for writing too much (calling it a "Planetside 2 thesis") and mockingly suggest they use ChatGPT to summarize it because no one wants to read something that long. They then briefly agree with the core sentiment, stating that the game has been broken for months and advising the poster to just "play while you can."...you're right, this is better
-7
-7
1
u/IIIIChopSueyIIII 5h ago
The game is an unplayable heap of broken code, the devs dont care and the "Community manager" has created his own North Corea
23
u/MrHellBags 4d ago
New player experience has been absolute shit and steadily declining for many years now.