May 17, 2022

May 18, 2022 - PlanetSide Legacy (PC Update)

PlanetSide 2 - dsosa

All PC servers will come down for the following changes on Wednesday, May 18, at 6:00am PT (3:00pm CEST). Downtime for this update is expected to last up to 4 hours as we conduct additional backend maintenance.
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The PlanetSide Franchise Celebrates 19 Years of War

On May 20, 2003, the original PlanetSide was released. With the Legacy update, we celebrate 19 years of the PlanetSide franchise, and the battle on Auraxis.

DOUBLE EXPERIENCE EVENT

From May 18 - May 26, ALL PLAYERS will receive DOUBLE EXPERIENCE.

DOUBLE EXPERIENCE for MEMBERS will continue as normal from May 27 - May 29.

REDEEM ME

Redeem the code LEGACY2022 when this update goes Live to receive the NS-11C and the NS Harrower, a reliable pairing for soldiers young and old.

Limited Time, in the Depot

Throughout May, you can visit the Depot for classic weapons and armor, solid faction camos, limited-time bundles, and special edition weapons.

PlanetSide Legacy Bundle

New this year, the PlanetSide Legacy bundle offers a 6-month experience boost, three "Perfect" account-wide exceptional implants, fresh cosmetic takes on classic weapons, and more.

6-month Heroic Boost
Title: Enthusiast
Apex Drop Pod
"Apex" NC1 Gauss Rifle
"Apex" T1 Cycler
"Apex" Pulsar VS1
Infravision [Perfect]
Avoidance [Perfect]
Minor Cloak [Perfect]
Legacy Banner
Legacy Banner Frame

"Apex" T1 Cycler

"Apex" Pulsar VS1

"Apex" NC1 Gauss Rifle

New to the Arsenal

Empire-Specific Anti-Materiel Rifles

New Anti-Materiel Rifles are now available for each faction. With long-range optics and damage models befitting longer-range engagements, these rifles add a deadly new angle to your Engineer's toolkit.

DAGR-81 (Terran Republic) - An infantryman's answer to long-range vehicle opposition, with a quick rechamber and large magazine for sustained fire.

VX4-3 Slicer (Vanu Sovereignty) - This anti-materiel rifle delay-fires a plasma blade that rips through organic material on its way to striking heavily armored targets.

LA60 Masthead (New Conglomerate) - A hard-hitting anti-materiel rifle that deploys a flak payload when dealing with aircraft.

NE-36 Linecutter (Nanite Systems Operatives) - In addition to a balanced magazine, reload, and damage, this anti-materiel rifle can also prevent MAX units and infantry deployables from receiving repairs.

Infantry Balance

NS-AM7 Archer

Hipfire CoF bloom from 0.6 to 1.
ADS CoF bloom from 1 to 0.6.
ADS movement speed multiplier from 0.75x to 0.5x.

Dev Note: With the increased power provided by the last major update, this weapon's ADS mobility is higher than it needed to be. The Black Market Shortbow has kept this trait, however. The CoF value adjustments are mainly an error correction between the two firing states.

Directives

A new Exceptional VI directive line has been added. Much of the weapons offered in the Legacy update, including the new "Apex" weapons, contribute to this directive's progress.
Anti-Materiel Rifle kills have been added as an option to the Engineer's Directive line.
Fixed an issue where Spitfire Auto-Turret and Anti-Vehicle Mana Turrets could not allow Engineer directive progress, or show as disabled.

User Interface

Main Navigation Menu

The Main Nav Menu has received many updates based on player feedback.

We've moved the Settings, Support, and Codex buttons out of the dropdown menu and into the lower-right hand corner; currencies are now readily visible in the upper-right area without a dropdown; and the logout button now prompts you to either return to the character select screen, or exit the game entirely. Many reported bugs have been resolved and refinements have been made as well.

Additionally, you can now bind a hotkey that will bring up the Settings menu.

HUD Indicator Options

As shown in the screenshot above, we've added the option to turn off many of the HUD indicators in the game, and can be seen through its own pane in the Settings menu.

We're currently exploring options for differentiating some of the categories into friend/foe, but until then, many of the game's HUD indicators can be disabled to tailor the amount of on-screen clutter.

Spawn Changes (Likely Temporary)

When we first launched Oshur, we reverted to some legacy spawn rules with a little less restriction than they had. The intention there was to reduce performance overhead, while encouraging more logistical gameplay. With our investigation of the server performance issues ongoing, we'd like to revert back to the legacy ruleset, but with major reductions in the restrictions so that we don't end up in the situation we had with Oshur.

The outcome of these changes is that all of the valid hardspawns on the map will pop at the same time, instead of bringing them online based on the ideal combat zones we'd like to send you to. Vehicle spawn points will activate slightly faster. Ideally this would provide some information for us, and a more performant server for all of you while we continue our investigation.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

Fixed an issue with Darklight Flashlights revealing cloaks in first person from any distance.
Fixed a camera issue with the DV-XAT on the Dervish.
Fixed animation and VFX issues associated with the DV-22T Lightweaver.
Fixed an exploit with the Spitfire Turret.
Fixed various issues related to the NS-66 Bumblebee.
Explosive damage once again works in VR Training, but you'll likely see the return of fidgeting VR training targets as a result.
Heavy Crossbows now appear in the My Stats screen.
Fixed typos associated with some Heavy Magazine attachment descriptions.
You can now filter infantry weapons for Anti-Materiel Rifles in the Depot.
Added new loading screen tooltips.
Critical Chain now works with the NS-AM8 Shortbow.
Magrider's turbo costs have been adjusted to return the vehicle to expected performance levels.

May 3, 2022

May 04, 2022 - Codex and Navigation (PC Update)

PlanetSide 2 - dsosa

All PC servers will be offline for the following update, May 04, at 6:00am PT (3:00pm CEST). Downtime is expected to last up to two hours.
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Notes on Network Issues

Connery Latency Issues: As of 10:30pm PT, May. 02, we have made revisions to the network infrastructure surrounding the Connery server. The goal with these changes are to, at minimum, cross certain factors off our list during the investigation into Connery's latency problems. The best case scenario would be that the changes resolve the current issues.

We'd like to encourage folks to play on Connery tonight (and post update) and send CS report tickets for issues if they continue to occur (https://help.daybreakgames.com/hc/en-us/requests/new). As a reminder, we're looking for your character name, server, time of incident, ISP, and PC specs.

G15 errors: As of this update, all gateways will have received the modifications discussed in the recent dev letter. The G15 issues continue to be investigated, but they should be less frequent overall, and keep impacted players out of the game for less time as well.

Codex System and Main Navigation

In this release, we've made a variety of updates to the UI, including an all-new Codex System that acts as an in-game wiki for mechanics, lore, and other useful knowledge. This new screen is accessible from the "hamburger menu" dropdown in the top-right corner.

The Main Navigation menu has also received a number of changes to modernize the look. The top right corner houses boosts, currency, and settings options, while the top left shows your player-card, experience to next level, and directive score. Additionally, the directive score can be clicked on to send you right to the Directives page (without going through Missions or Campaign,) and clicking elsewhere on the player-card will send you to the My Character screen where you can customize your profile banner, title, and more.

VS Directive Weapon Adjustments

Updates to usability here bridge the gap between what felt off about the first pass, and how we'd like these weapons to perform overall. Heat weapons don't use traditional short/long reloads, and only use their overheat value for a reload (this is an unresolved issue with all heat weapons with a manual reload,) and we've brought the directive weapon overheat values in line with those weapons' short reloads.

Darkstar (VS Assault Rifle)

Reload/Overheat penalty from 2.2sec. to 1.75sec.
Shots until overheat from 24 to 27.

Eclipse VE3A (VS Carbine)

Reload/Overheat penalty from 2.28sec. to 1.65sec.
Shots until overheat from 24 to 27.

The Immortal (VS Sidearm)

Reload/Overheat penalty from 1.75sec. to 1.45sec.
Shots before overheat from 14 to 16.

Revenant (VS Scout Rifle)

Reload/Overheat penalty from 2.6sec. to 2sec.
Shots before overheat from 16 to 18.
Fixed an issue with the audio playing the "low ammo warning" when firing.

Parsec VX3-A (VS Sniper Rifle)

Reload/Overheat penalty from 5.575sec. to 3.86sec.

Chaos (VS Shotgun)

Reload/Overheat penalty from 3.22sec. to 2.1sec.
Shots before overheat from 6 to 7

Skorpios (VS SMG)

Reload/Overheat penalty remains at 1.74sec.
Shots before overheat from 20 to 25.

Dev Note: To replace some of the built-in function of the previous Vented Power Core, it's been given minor mag size benefit despite the heat standardization, and kept the added recoil penalty from Vented Power Core in exchange.

Betelgeuse 54-A (VS LMG)

Reload/Overheat penalty from 3.44 to 3sec.
Shots before overheat from 40 to 45.

Dev Note: Realistically, the Betelgeuse didn't need any buffs, and this change is only to bring back a portion of its "LMG high-mag" feel, that was remarked on as missing by players. It may receive drawbacks in other areas in the future.

Explosive Ammunition

Explosive Ammunition now has a standardized effect, impacting the following TR weapons: HBR-1 Dragoon, DMR-99, and HSR-1
Now converts 125 direct damage into 100 explosive damage over 2 meters for all affected weapons.
Minimum blast damage from 1 to 25.
Bonus friendly-fire damage reduction from 75% to 50%. This effect stacks multiplicatively with the baseline 50% damage reduction applied to all non-squad friendly fire.
Explosive Ammunition now has new impact effect visuals.

Dev Note: Previously, Explosive Ammunition dropped the Dragoon's 334 direct damage to 250, and added 75 splash over 2 meters (it was stated incorrectly as 1.5 meters in the tooltip.) For non-Dragoon weapons, the effect was the same, effectively boosting the damage of those weapons to silly levels.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

Added a setting option that can disable melee weapons from being auto-wielded when the melee key is held down.
Same-faction targets no longer appear in the firing lanes in VR Training, but still appear out in the field.
Defectors can no longer hit themselves when firing through the Seraph Shield.
Added underbarrels to many weapons that were intended to receive them during the Arsenal Update.
Tactical Grenades/Mines now show "Assists to Next" instead of "Kills to Next" and are capable of earning assist ribbons.
The Oshur "Underwater Travel" directive no longer shows numbers that exceeds the display, and instead counts to 5000 hectometers (100 meters per 1 point.)
ANTs with the Deliverer Module equipped now earn spawn experience.
The A2-20 HCG for the NSO ANT can now unlock the Ammunition Capacity cert line.
Chimera CT2-20 HCG barrels now animate when firing.
Fixed audio and FX issues related to the HCG.
Holding down the afterburner key while your energy is regenerating will once again apply boost when you gain enough energy.
You should no longer be able to achieve infinite afterburners.
You can once again see afterburner FX from Interceptors deployed by the Bastion Fleet Carrier.
Fortify implant now provides the 20% small arms resistance as described, and no longer protects from sniper rifles.
Underwater Weapons category has been renamed to Amphibious Rifles and Amphibious Sidearms, where applicable.
The Brawler's Extended Magazine no longer conflicts with optics.
Viridian Genetics Lab's Ammunition Tower now provides ammunition.
Concussion Mines no longer causes a second placed mine to remove the first.
Exodus Flotilla Cannons no longer fire upon allied NSO Flash and Javelins.
Fixed various underbarrel related issues.
Adrenaline Shield's upgrade descriptions no longer differ from the ability's actual description.

Apr 26, 2022

On the Road(map) Again

PlanetSide 2 - dsosa

Hey there, folks. With the summer months right around the corner, I wanted to revisit the roadmap with an eye to what's currently in development, and what you'll see in the next leg of PS2's development.

But first, let's take a moment to talk about a couple hurdles we've been dealing with since roughly around the time of the Arsenal Update.

G15 errors: Over the past few weeks, we've added loads of logging, pored over code submissions, and continue to search for the source of our G15 issues. A G15 is the error you see when you can't connect through your "gateway" to the server. This is not something that's wrong with your computer or connection. The only "fix" is to wait for a while and try again later. However, we do have a bandaid in place that should cut down on G15 issues substantially, by shutting down broken gateways after enough connections get stuck on it.

Network issues: For players who make use of the Deutsche Telekom ISP (primarily Cobalt/Miller players,) we've made some routing changes late last week that should have resolved the major connection issues through that ISP. For Connery players experiencing high latency, we're still trying to track down where the impact is. To that end, please submit tickets to CS using the following information when latency issues take place: https://help.daybreakgames.com/hc/en-us/categories/204228447-PLANETSIDE-2 We need your character name, server, time of incident, ISP, and PC specs, if you can provide them. There have been relatively few players doing this at this point, despite it being helpful to resolve these issues.

As a side note, resolving the above issues and developing the roadmap are done in parallel. The team members devoted to one are not actively developing the other. Thought that was worth mentioning, given some of the discourse I've seen surrounding these events.

Roadmap Progress

Speaking of the roadmap, let's check back in on how things are going.

The roadmap, as we move into the second leg of our 2022 ambitions.

Year's Beginning

For our first leg of the roadmap, we delivered on most of what we set out to do, with the new Codex and Main Nav Menu updates making their way Live on May 4th. We've taken onboard a fair amount of feedback during that time, like surfacing the logout button separately from the collapsible menu, and cleaning up the membership promotion area, among others. The Codex has also been fleshed out a fair amount, and is now a good jumping off point for future additions. We'll be sending this latest round of updates to PTS later this week.

Updated Main Nav menu and Codex.

Outfit Wars on Nexus

From here, we start moving into summer-ish, where we'll see the return of Outfit Wars in a new 1v1 format on the continent of Nexus. More to follow on these changes once we're closer.

Water Combat and Naval Vehicle

While we're not wholly decided on the scope of the underwater combat yet, we'll be making efforts to expand that. The goals would be to add more depth (hah) to water gameplay by giving players reasons to use the water, ways to defend themselves, and make it a bit easier to traverse while still retaining the feel. We'll be introducing our first proper naval vessel as a part of that, which we'll talk about more in the near future.

Revisiting Squads

As was mentioned in the original roadmap dev post, we'd like to introduce "Garrison Squads" that allow players to form temporary, local area groups automatically when attacking or defending regions, and take a pass on the squad finder and surrounding squad functionality as a whole.

Item Gifting

Being able to gift DBC-purchasable items to your friends is something that's been requested over the years, and we're currently working to get this implemented. It might not land with the 19-year PlanetSide Legacy update in May, but that's the timetable we're shooting for.

Off-roading

There's plenty going on that you won't find in the roadmap as well.

For example, the next update will incorporate some player feedback into the Trident Relays, giving defenders the ability to reach the top of the dome to deal with attacker vehicle spawns. We've also been consistently adding quality of life improvements to the updates thus far, with a couple more on the way. You'll soon be able to disable auto-knife wielding as an option, and disable a multitude of HUD indicators (something that's been asked for for a long time.)

New ramps that lead to the top of the Trident Relays.

When the PlanetSide Legacy event arrives, some killer new cosmetics will make their way to the Depot, as well as all new empire-specific Anti-Materiel Rifles to diversify your arsenal a bit.

All new Anti-Materiel Rifles, one for each faction.

Overall, I've been happy to see the renewed excitement surrounding the Arsenal Update, and the Roadmap items we've got planned. We'll continue to build, refine, and expand as we move through the year. Thanks for the continued support, everyone.

-Wrel, Lead Designer

Apr 4, 2022

April 05, 2022 - Arsenal Hotfix - Patch Notes

PlanetSide 2 - dsosa

All PC servers will be offline for the following update, Apr. 05, at 6:00am PT (3:00pm CEST). Downtime is expected to last up to two hours.

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Notes on Server/Client Performance

Periodic Hitching: Hitching should be resolved with this update's downtime. With last week's repeated rolling zone restarts, the expectation is that we introduced a mismatch between data on certain environments that was causing the hitching. (Side note: This issue has nothing to do with the nanite timer, as some have theorized.)

G15 errors: We're currently experiencing intermittent issues with gateways getting into a bad state. Sometimes a gateway will stop letting traffic through, which means that certain people won't be able to reach the server (resulting in the G15 error.) Those bad gateways need to be restarted manually after a problem is identified. We've added additional logging to the Live environment that will help us diagnose the cause of these gateway collapses. We're trying to stay on top of these problems as best as our current resources allow, but we can look for a more permanent fix once the data comes in.

Connery Server Latency: We're aware of extremely high latency for players connecting to Connery from Asia and Australia. This may be due to routing issues from those environments. It would be extremely helpful if you could submit tickets to CS through this portal: https://help.daybreakgames.com/hc/en-us/categories/204228447-PLANETSIDE-2

We need your character name, server, the time of the incident, ISP, and PC specs if possible. CS will work with you if they need more specific information beyond that point. We realize there is a lot of friction associated with this process, but if we can find the exact jumps where these slowdowns occur, we can work with network providers to try to circumvent these problem areas. Fixing this issue for one person tends to fix it for many people, so thank you in advance for those of you submitting tickets.

High-Pop Performance Issues: We continue to investigate how we can make the high-pop server performance better, but the analysis done until this point mainly points to it being something we need to address from a gameplay side. Reintroducing the spawn priority system has certainly increased the performance overhead, and we're looking at ways to make that less cost intensive. (As a refresher: We initially disabled this system with Oshur's release, but using the more efficient pre-2019 spawn system garnered a lot of negative feedback on non-Oshur continents.) Alternatively, we can reduce the maximum populations on a continent, as performance tends to really starts feel a negative impact 750ish players, but that's probably the least favorable bullet we have in the chamber, as it doesn't truly solve problems when players are all clumped up in the same location. Long story short, we're not ignoring these issues, there just aren't great answers at the moment.

Double Experience Weekend Two, Electric Boogaloo

Because our last double experience weekend was riddled with server issues, we're going to run another one this weekend. The hope is that we have performance issues hammered out by then.

Double experience for ALL players will take place Apr. 08, 09, and 10.

Balance Adjustments

Semi-auto shotguns now use the same Slug Ammunition as automatic shotguns, changing their damage from 600-400 to 475-300.
19A Fortuna, CB-ARX Newton, TRAC-Shot, Eclipse VE3A now all have access to Soft Point Ammunition.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

Compensators for the Eclipse VE3A, TRAC-Shot, and 19A Fortuna now operate as expected.
NSO's HCG turrets no longer have view model issues in first person while looking up.
Heavy Magazine attachment no longer prevents rail attachments from being equipped on weapons that were affected by this bug.
Heavy Magazine attachment no longer increases the magazine size of underbarrel grenade launchers.
Compensator's attachment description has been updated, and properly conveys the increased hipfire penalty.
NS-45P Pilot now has compensator and flash suppressor like it's base weapon counterpart.
Havoc Mines no longer show the tactical grenade indicator above them.
Mines added in the last update no longer stick to surfaces.
Updated the cert line description of Nano-armor Cloaking.
EMP, Flash, Concussion, and Havoc grenades now all grant assist experience.
Equipping a laser sight on the "Treasured" LA1 Anchor no longer conflicts with barrel attachments.
MG-A1 Arbalest now has proper barrel attachment models.
Earning a Flashbang Mine medal no longer also grants a Flashbang Grenade medal.
The My Stats page have had the missing grenades added to it.

Apr 1, 2022

Hook, Line, and Sinker

PlanetSide 2 - dsosa

Hey there, folks.

In my view, PlanetSide 2 has always been a game about possibility. With a wealth of playstyles, from boots on the ground infantry, to armored vehicle specialists, to elite fighter pilots, and supportive construction specialists, we make an effort to ensure that every player who sets foot in this game has a niche to call their own. Sadly, one segment of the playerbase has gone underserved for the entirety of the game's almost 10 years of life. We'd like to change that. Players who prefer non-combat roles, or are staunch supporters of pacifism amidst the battleworn landscapes, should finally be granted a well-deserved reprieve from the war on Auraxis.

When this update rolls around, we will be taking our first steps toward introducing the serene art of fishing to PlanetSide 2.

Making Preparations

While on Sanctuary, speak to Representative Nalla to apply for the Auraxis Anglers Society, and unlock the NS NanoCaster tactical slot item.

Auraxis Anglers Society

The Auraxis Anglers Society operates on a "capture and document" policy, where participants compete to acquire NFTs (new fish targets) that have yet to be tagged.

Before you become a full fledged member, Nalla will ask you to prove your worth with various fishing-related tasks in the form of the new Gone Fishing directive line.

Taking the Bait

The NanoCaster can be used on any body of water to scan and document fish native to that environment.

Right-click will toss the NanoBobber into the body of water. The NanoBobber will attempt to lure aquatic creatures to the device. When the NanoBobber receives a "hit," left-click to "capture" that fish.

Permits and Competition

Upon completing the Gone Fishing directive, you will gain the ability to fish on certain continents during the appropriate seasons, provided your permits are paid for and up to date.

All continents have unique fish to discover, and fish size and weight leaderboards will be made available in the Sanctuary during each season.

Wen fishing?

We hope you're all excited as we are for this highly requested feature, and want to make sure we take the time to get it right.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @planetside2, and be on the lookout for updates that may possibly discuss the implementation of this feature in some timeline.

-Wrel, Lead Angler