Feb 7, 2023

PlanetSide 2 - Blaster

All PC servers will be offline for the following update on Wednesday, February 8, at 6:00am PT (3:00pm CET). The downtime for this update is expected to last up to 2 hours.
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Nvidia DLSS

You'll now have access to Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology through the Graphics Settings menu. DLSS uses AI to enhance framerate performance on DLSS-enabled Nvidia cards.
Learn more here: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/technologies/dlss/

AMD FSR

We've also integrated AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution into the game, accessible in the Graphics Settings menu. AMD FSR can improve framerates using cutting edge upscaling technology, and can be used on any graphics card PlanetSide 2 supports.
Learn more here: https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/fidelityfx-super-resolution

Anti-Cheat

In this update, we beef up anti-cheat measures in a new system that was introduced in January. We've plugged some holes and adjusted the tuning parameters of the system to catch and kick instigators more quickly. It should be noted that this is not a replacement for reporting poor behavior, and doing so via the in-game commands or cheater@planetside2.com helps a great deal.

Server Performance

With this update, we'll be releasing new "profiling zones" to the server, which will expose more performance information. These changes come with some additional network baggage, so we've made it easy to replace the zones with the old ones, if the performance impact becomes too costly. We shouldn't need the profiling zones to remain active for too long to get the information we need, which is the next step in further diagnosis of the ongoing server performance issues.

API Updates

Team member MangoBean has been hard at work cleaning up the Census API and providing more access to third-party developers. Missing collections from new items, new vehicles, continents and facilities, experience events related to CTF, new achievements, directive trees, and missing loadouts for NSO classes are some examples of information that's now surfaced. More experience events have also been added, allowing third party developers to track things like vehicle gunner kill assists and other shared vehicle experience.

Reflex/ACOG Rework

All reflex sights and ACOG (typically 3.4x to 4x optics) have been reworked to have consistent reticle sizing for any reticle of the same type. For example: All Red Dot reflex sights will have the same size dot as other Red Dot reflex sights, all Chevron reticle sights will have the same size as other Chevron reticle sights, etc.

Previously, all optics could vary in size based on the platform they were equipped upon. For example, one LMG's reticles could be larger than another LMG's reticles, and the most dramatic differences could often be seen between sidearms and primary weapons. That should no longer be the case.

Additionally, you now have the ability to change the color of reflex and ACOG reticles from the Settings menu, and you can even hide the reticle entirely!

Shown: An example of the reticle color tinting on a (traditionally blue) NC reticle.

Gender Change Token

Auraxians around the world can now change their character's gender by unlocking a token in the Depot.
Voice packs you own will automatically allow access to an "equivalent" voice pack on the gender you're swapping to.

Note: Some voice packs don't have one-for-one conversions across gender, and have instead been packaged alongside similar voice packs. Example: The "Tough" Female has been packaged with the "Gruff" Male voice. All voice packs have been repackaged in this way, and in many cases renamed.

Gender Change tokens will be available for 1 Cert through February and March, and increase to 1000 Certs beyond that.

Remote Vehicle Spawn

We've re-enabled the ability to deploy vehicles from the map remotely at any base that is not contested.

Dev Note: The spawn system changes toward the end of last year mostly achieved our design goals with the pacing of deployment, and we feel comfortable enough to return this feature to the game in the form stated above.

Character Slot Increase

Increased the total number of character slots for Members by one, and increased the total number of purchasable slots by 2. This brings the total number of available character slots per account to 16.

NSO Faction Colors

All NSO-specific weapons and attachments now take on the accent colors of the faction they're associated with.

Example of the updated NSO weapon colors for a character aligned to the Terran Republic.

No-Deploy Zones

Sunderer to Sunderer no-deploy exclusion radius from 65m to 50m.
Tech Plants on Amerish and Hossin now use Indar's no-deploy zone placement, as this change was well-received during the Indar test run.
Warpgates now show no-deploy areas.
Colossus can no longer deploy in a no-deploy zone.

Capture Mechanics

Adjacent regions now only count as "contested" when a timer is active in that region, or in the case of a Conduit Outpost, when a flag has been captured.
Capture the Conduit Repos and Conduits can no longer be interacted with if you have no secure lattice link, and additional messaging now conveys as much to the player.

Dev Note: This solves an issue where a single player could control a single capture point in a four-point base, and prevent the capture of the next base in the lattice until someone redeploys to deal with them, and has the benefit of making it clear on the map when a base is actively contested or not.

Continent Benefits

Continent benefits have been removed for the time being. This includes Indar and Esamir's benefits, which have been non-operational for many years.

Dev Note: These benefits don't currently act as strong motivations to capture a continent, which defeats their intended purpose. We're disabling these benefits to tie up some loose threads in the current experience, but aren't opposed to bringing back map-persistent benefits in some form if there are good suggestions out there.

Mission System

The Overview screen has been removed, in line with the changes we've made to auto-claiming missions.
Additionally, the following new Missions have been added to the daily pool:

Concealed Chaos (Black Market) - Earn 500 experience while cloaked.
Clandestine Operative (Black Market) - Earn experience by gathering intel or sabotaging enemy facilities.
Conduit Control (Nanite Systems) - Capture a Conduit Facility.

Valentine's Day Event (Feb. 08 - Feb. 14)

The Depot has received a bundle containing a lovely new NSX Amaterasu variant, as well as the return of Valentine's Day offerings from previous years.

Sweet Nothings Bundle - 1499 DBC

Queen of Hearts (NSX Amaterasu variant)
Love Letter Decal (Usable as Outfit Decal)
Sugar Tile Camo (VS/NC/TR/NSO)

Love stings, when it stabs all the bad things.
New Directive - A new directive makes an appearance for the duration of the event, rewarding 2000 ISO-4 and the "Huggable" title upon completion.

New Missions - Matchmaker missions have made their way back to Auraxis. You can complete up to two of these missions per day, and earn extra progress through the event directive.

Balance Adjustments

Impulse Grenade (Light Assault Grenades)

Nanite cost from 50 to 25.

D7 Hummingbird (NSO Defector)

Improved lock-on acceleration and projectile turn rate.
Increased lifespan from 4sec. to 6sec.

Dev Note: The changes here make the Hummingbird more capable of chasing down aircraft who've strayed too close.

AR-ARX Maxwell (NSO Directive Assault Rifle)

Maximum damage range from 10m to 15m.
Minimum damage from 100 to 112.
Magazine size from 26 to 30.
Reserve Ammo from 208 to 210.

Dev Note: The damage bump helps alleviate the tradeoff penalty incurred by the higher rate of fire, and the Maxwell has received the AR-100's recent magazine size buff as well.

Disruptor Ammunition

This ammunition type has been standardized across most weapons.
Each weapon has 20% of its direct damage converted into the weapon's disruption effect.
A struck target's maximum shield and ability energy is reduced by 0.4% for every point of damage converted (this effect takes place after the initial bullet damage is dealt.)
In each case (aside from the Thumper, which remains unchanged,) this ammunition type has received a buff. Previously, most weapons provided a flat 10% drain of maximum shield and energy.
Strings related to this ammunition type now also better describe the actual effect, and references to unused legacy benefits have been removed.
Lastly, this ammunition type was providing only the passive drawbacks (and no benefits) for the following weapons: Tempest, NC9 A-Tross, GD Guardian, AF-6 Shadow. Congratulations to anyone who has been playing on hard mode since the Arsenal Update.

Percent drains per shot for each weapon are listed below:

NC9 A-Tross drains 16% per shot.
MGR-A1 Vanquisher drains 16% per shot.
AF-6 Shadow drains 27% per shot.
The Executive drains 18% per shot.
Tempest drains 13% per shot.
GD Guardian drains 20% per shot.

New Depot Items

Fuzzbuket's NSO Defector helmet, "Trash Eater" is now available in the Depot.
Binaryc0der's NSO "Response" armors are now available for Light Assault, Heavy Assault, Medic, and Engineer. The existing Infiltrator Response armor has received some visual updates as well.

Fuzzbuket's "Trash Eater" helmet on the NSO Defector.

Big Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where camouflage could appear incorrect on remote clients. The days of seeing a Prowler caked in bright yellow, instead of glorious metallic pink, are gone.
Added automatic removal of "stale squads" that last longer than a few days. If you've seen a "squad leader" that doesn't actually exist (sometimes appearing as a dorito at some obscure place in the world with no body attached to it,) that's what we're referring to. We've seen instances of these stale squads staying for longer than 20 days, in some cases, and would previously be cleared organically when a server was restarted.
Sunderer and Galaxy now display their ammo and repair icons on the minimap once again. In addition, Deliverer ANTs now show an ammo icon, Lodestar Galaxies now show their deployed state, Lockon Jammer Galaxies show a unique icon, and Corsair resupply and proximity healing are now also shown as map icons.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

Removed the "Member Early Access" category from the Depot (it hasn't been updated since 2014ish) and the items therein have been made purchasable by all players.
Chat now displays a channel suggestion prompt in the text field, instead of an empty box.
Toggling the ignore incoming tells function now requires you to relog to take effect.
Clicking on an open character slot now begins the character creation phase, instead of waiting for you to press the Create Character button.
Updated text size and verbiage of the All Access Member popup.
Speculative fix for edge cases where you could be kicked from a squad/platoon, but still see their waypoints and chat communication.
Fixed an animation issue where player models would "pop" when a player enters their idle animation from a locomotion state.
Fixed an issue where Infravision would highlight yourself after exiting a vehicle.
Infravision implant's description now conveys that you cannot see cloaked targets.
Jackrabbit's reflex sight reticle no longer becomes invisible when the user cloaks.
Fixed an animation issue caused by crouching while reloading the NS-61 Emissary and variants.
Fixed rechamber animations for the ADVX//Mako, Ghost, Parallax, V10, and XM98.
The Year of the Tiger decal no longer tints Auraxium Armor color red when worn.
All Heavy Assault shields and Combat Medic abilities have been enabled for underwater use.
The "roots" of underwater seaweed should no longer sway with the rest of the foliage.
Anti-Aliasing is now available to players on Low graphics quality settings.
Added frame housing to the Endeavor reflex optics.
Updated messaging in the voice pack dropdown for unowned voice packs.
Receiving a headshot as an NSO character now uses the same audio as receiving a headshot on a non-NSO character, for consistency.
Fixed an issue with the Dive! horn not playing correct audio in first person while equipped on a ground vehicle on land.

Looking Forward

Work on the construction revamp is well underway as we develop the tech needed for updates to modules, clean up problems with existing assets, and develop new placeable objects, like the Command Center below. We've also taken feedback on the design into consideration and amended some points of execution, like the ANT's harvesting capabilities. Instead of chunking bits of cortium that then need to be scooped up, we'll stick with the existing mining lasers, and make some adjustments to the cortium veins to make them more interactive. The current design is to add spawning weakpoints that can accelerate harvesting or give additional resources when targeted. Concerns about the need to constantly replace modules have been heard as well, and we can easily increase how long basic modules stick around before needing to be replaced. It's still early days with the development of this update, and we'll share more as we get further along.
-Wrel, Lead Designer

Shown: The WORK IN PROGRESS Command Center construction placeable next to an Infantry Tower and ANT for scale. The Command Center has a multi-story combat interior, and is meant to be the capstone of a well-developed base.

Jan 17, 2023

Construction in 2023 - Dev Letter

PlanetSide 2 - Blaster

Hey there, folks. In this letter we'll be sharing our intentions for the first major update of 2023, a Construction System overhaul.

One of our goals for this year is to be more transparent with content we're excited about, which includes letting you know our plans further in advance, showing off more work-in-progress material, encouraging more feature testing on the Public Test Server, and engaging in more discussion with you all when possible.

To kick things off, below you'll find an overview of our goals and planned design for a revamped construction system. This should be viewed as somewhat of a conversation starter, and you can find a discussion thread to post feedback in here.

Construction – What it does well, and what needs work.

Since its introduction in 2016, the Construction System has been leveraged as a way to fill the "in-between spaces" of a continent by providing a low-intensity form of gameplay that can be done off of the front lines. By giving players a variety of pieces and control over a base's layout, each Construction fight will be a little bit different. This increases the diversity of play, adds intrinsic progression for builders in the form of acquired map knowledge and the perfecting of base layouts, and has loads of potential for teamplay due to the nature of the system.

That said...

Construction is difficult to get into, can be borderline tedious to participate in as a defender, frustrating to fight against as an attacker, infrequently creates well-developed back and forth fights, and only recently (with the increase in open-field capture points and a map to support it) was even made capable of adding value to the most common form of map-based play, being capturing and defending bases.

So how do we tap the potential good of this almost-seven-year-old system?

Goals

For this overhaul, we're focused on two main objectives:

Allow builders to develop bases that non-builders enjoy fighting at.
Reduce barrier to entry for players looking to engage with the system.
If we nail the first one – everything else kind of falls into place. So here are the focus areas we're planning to address.

Lattice-based Construction Outposts

One of the more game-changing features we'd like to deliver is the conversion of vehicle capture points found at lattice-based construction outposts into slowly, but infinitely refilling, faction-controlled Cortium Silos. These special silos will double as the capture point of a base, and the heart of one. No longer will you arrive at an open-field capture point with nothing to do. By adding a Silo right to the capture point, there should almost always be a base to fight against, and the ability to construct one, without all the initial friction of cortium runs and setup. When the base is captured by an opposing faction, all of the resources in range of the Silo will flip to the capturer's faction, meaning that it may sometimes be better to leave structures standing, instead of knocking them over.

Combat In and Around a Base

In general we'd like more construction objects with interiors that can be used as combat spaces (community member Lorrmaster made some great mockups to this effect.) It's a tricky balance to strike, because of how difficult placement can be when the bases of an object get too large, but the goal would be to have interior spaces at especially powerful construction objects. For example: The Elysium Spawn Tube might be converted into a Rebirth Center, and the Orbital Strike Uplink might be incorporated into a larger structure. New structures would be added that serve other niches as well – for example, a Command Center might have a spawn room, vehicle bay, and equipment terminal incorporated within it, but also require a larger, flatter area to place.

Going the other direction, we'd also like to add more small-scale construction objects that provide cover while traversing a base. Objects like tunnels, awnings, or tree-stand-like platforms for infantry. More pieces overall.

Modules Reworked

Cortium no longer passively drains based on the modules you have scattered around a base, instead, we're revamping modules to move toward an active form of base upkeep. In this updated version, modules are pulled from a Silo (or another dispenser,) and placed into the socket of a structure. The module then provides a benefit to the structure depending on the type of module slotted in, and it will stay powered until the module runs dry. After that, a new module will need to be inserted.

For example: A Bunker might have 2 module sockets, and be able to accept Repair Modules, Durability Modules, and Heavy Repair Modules. A Repair Module might increase the maximum health of a structure, and passively heal it over time, while lasting for 20 minutes, a Durability module may just increase the maximum health by a greater amount, and last for the same length of time. A Heavy Repair Module may last for a much shorter duration, but have a greater impact. We refer to these modules as "High-Pressure" and they're meant to be inserted when combat heats up and the base needs additional support.
Between these changes, players will be given an active role in maintaining the health of a base (by slotting in new modules when needed,) newly formed bases won't be so difficult to get going, on account of the removal of cortium drain, and the "drain" on cortium will only need to take place when a base is in a combat area – so you won't need to keep doing cortium runs just to maintain bases that aren't yet under attack.

On the flip side of this, attacking individual structures can now also be done with the help of modules. If an enemy breaches the interior of a structure, they can destroy any socketed modules within the object, and replace them with a Cortium Bomb. The revamped Cortium Bomb will no longer be able to be able to be placed out in the open, and will instead act like a module that attackers have access to. Still held in the Tactical Slot, a Cortium Bomb must be defended until it explodes, dealing heavy damage to the structure it's housed within.

Finding the Fun in Attacking Construction

The flow of a construction base is a bit different than a designer-built one because of the design intent. A defender attempts to build the most impenetrable base they can, either to protect a capture point or to create an impassable object. The goal of the attacker is to stop the enemy from spawning there, or to get through the obstacle. This methodology is more similar to a Rush game mode, than a Control one. Control is a tug of war, whereas Rush is a one-and-done, attrition-based objective. Construction operates similarly – once the heart of the base is destroyed (the Silo or spawns) the rest of the base is just debris.

For this reason, the fun of a construction base fight needs to be in the approach, and overcoming obstacles as you work toward a heavily guarded center. Unfortunately, some "un-fun" mechanics make it difficult to really enjoy the core of the combat experience, which is vehicle and infantry play. With the update, the intention would be to convert non-Skywall shields to two-way shields (and revamp which structures have access to them and how they use them,) remove the Pain Spire, remove (or revamp) Automated Turrets, remove the EMP effect from Skywalls, as well as increase the overall resilience of larger bases by increasing defensability when modules are placed within them.

Barrier to Entry

There are very few moments that Construction is introduced to a player, and almost all of them happen randomly. Adding a Construction-based training mission, and construction dailies will help introduce players to the system. We've also tossed around the idea of leveraging the campaign system to create a series of missions players can use to get acclimated to a certain concept of the game, Construction included. Aside from that, reducing the overall unlock cost of construction schematics, and expanding the base kit of items available to new players would be on the docket as well.

Harvesting and the ANT

We'll be taking a pass on the amount of Cortium nodes on each map to ensure that there's enough of it to go around at prime time, as well as integrate the ANT's max-rank mineral radar and cortium capacities by default. Cortium nodes themselves are also going to change. To make the experience less left-click-and-wait, and add a bit more interactivity, we'd like to convert harvesting tools like the Mandibles into a more traditional (albeit short range) weapon that can chip pieces of Cortium nodes away. These pieces would then be driven over to collect. The intention would be to make these nodes change shape as they fall apart, too, allowing you to clearly see how much cortium is available from a distance. Mandibles would deal heavy damage to Cortium, deal reasonable damage as anti-construction vehicles, and light damage to everything else.

Additionally, the Orbital Mining Drill is planned to make a comeback as a War Asset that Outfits can summon to the battlefield. The drill would churn up Cortium that can then be collected to help supplement a base.

Quality of Life

There's a lot of quality of life improvements that we've identified to improve already. Things like... slowing down the default rotation rate on construction objects; turning the colored building socket spheres into upward and downward arrows; showing the placement controls on-screen while holding a construction object; making it easier to read the ANT's mining HUD, and surfacing cortium capacity in third person; having an easier place to see and unlock construction objects; making it easier to unlock construction objects in general; showing the nearest friendly Silo on your HUD while you're in an ANT; showing allied Silos on the map in general; showing which terminal types a construction base has access to on the redeploy screen; expanding buildable areas where possible; aaaaaaand the list goes on.

Odds and Ends

More in the realm of cleanup and balance, Orbital Strikes won't be able to two-click a base away any more, as damage will be reduced against construction objects. Targeting devices for the Flail, Glaive, and Orbital Strikes would also all be converted to a "laze" system that requires the user to remain exposed with eyes on target for a time before the strike is confirmed – this offers more counterplay than the fire-and-forget targeting dart was capable of.

We've also discussed the ability to generate points toward Empire Strength through construction objects. If anyone remembers HIVEs and the old Victory Point system in 2016, you'll probably also remember how abruptly and out-of-nowhere a continent would capture because of backline HIVEs generating Victory Points. If that system worked more similar to Empire Strength now a days, where points lead toward an Alert firing, instead of a map's closure, it may be a different situation. This is something I consider the weakest portion of the current proposed design though, as the rate of Alerts firing on continents at the moment is pretty high, and includes population-triggered alerts. Whether or not we have too many or too few alerts seems to be an opinion that's oscillated back and forth over the years, and I'd be interested in your feedback about this portion of the game as well.

There's Plenty More

While I'm describing a large, multi-month initiative above, you'll still see plenty of bug cleanup, quality of life improvements, balance iteration, as well as monthly Prime Gaming content and seasonal events in between major releases.

Let me know what you think. Thanks folks.

-Wrel, Lead Designer