Happy New Year to you all... and it certainly looks like it will be if you're a Planetside 2 player thanks to a post on the official forums detailing the second major update, due on the 30th of January.
Despite some of my earlier issues (and a few concerns from some of the hardcore players), the game appears to be going from strength to strength and these improvements are really going to help.
I've listed the main points below but be sure to head over to the official post to read it in full.
General performance increases, particularly for lower end GPUs
Experience (XP) system enhancements:
Dynamic XP system for player kills, players who have more kills on their current life are worth more XP. Freshly spawned players will be worth a fraction of the current kill reward.
Partial damage XP for dealing damage to vehicles that you don't end up killing
Population XP / Resource bonus moved over to continent population instead of global
Better display of XP sources for things like defensive bonuses & population bonuses
Rebalancing of XP rewards to help support tasks
Server transfer token available in Depot
UI changes to emphasize score per minute as a primary metric of player comparison
Sortable columns on outfit management & addition of "last online" column
New weapon type for all empires: SMG
Short period of invulnerability will be added to freshly spawned / revived players - breaks upon game actions such as entering a vehicle or using a weapon.
Dynamic / player configurable colors for minimap & overhead indicators for enemies, friendlies, and squads within a platoon
New Hot Spot system that displays where active fights are occurring on the map
New spawn buildings with more exits, protected balconies and easy roof access to make them less campable.
Tunnel systems for amp and tech facilities to give access from spawn rooms to interior of bases and base walls without having to go above ground.
Making MAXes render more reliably at long distances for players in vehicles
AA improvements, notably flak changes for turrets and skyguards, giving them some better ability to aim, although not drastically impacting their DPS.
Fixes to missiles so that they more reliably detonate and actually blow stuff up
Air vehicle weapon tweaks
Increases to reload speed for certain HE ground vehicle weapons
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