New Player Guide 2024

According to the developers, Planetside 2 has never had an issue getting new players to try the game. However, it struggles to retain those new players. The point of this guide is to (hopefully) help at least one interested player stick around until they understand why this game has survived for ten years, multiple development team and publisher changes, and generally anything that usually spells doom for an IP.

The game is still consistently getting new content updates, and more players make the game more fun for everyone.

Planetside 2 has somewhat of a checkered past, and its battle scars come in the form of micro-transactions and a heaping load of JANK. The good news is that you can ignore the micro-transactions, but you will need to have a baseline tolerance for bugs/glitches and be willing to work around them.

Short answer: Not really
Long answer: Veteran players will have experience and practice. They will also have access to weapons that are better suited to a given situation.
If you look at the negative steam reviews, you'll often see complaints like:
The answer is that this game puts great emphasis on headshots, and the veteran's aim is better. Some weapons have slightly higher damage output, yes, but they also tend to come with drawbacks like reduced effectiveness at range or difficult recoil. Your balanced starting weapons are very capable of matching them. Just don't expect to be able to kill an overshielded heavy assault while using a tiny SMG from 50 meters away. Anything that affects gameplay can be bought with earnable in-game currency. You can buy this gear with real money too, but I highly recommend that you Not just because they're overpriced (like $5 or more for a gun), but if you decide you like the game and put a few dozen hours into it, you will eventually have more currency than you can effectively spend. If you want to spend money on this game, do it to buy membership or to buy cosmetics. Please, don't spend your money begrudgingly; you don't have to. I made multiple new characters while writing this guide, and while currency is tight for new players, you won't feel far behind if you spend it wisely. Most of the bugs you encounter will be unresponsive UI elements, spawning somewhere you didn't expect, or server-performance related issues. The first two have workarounds or preventive measures and I will discuss them later in this guide.

Feel Free to skip this section if you have already put some time into the game.

Planetside 2 is a three-way war, and each faction has its own nuances when it comes to killing people. There is overlap between the three factions in terms of weapon philosophy, but I recommend creating a character for each faction and leveling it to Battle Rank 15 so that you can figure out your preference, or better, find a group of people you enjoy playing with. You may also want to look up alert win statistics if you want to get carried to victory. Don't fall into the trap of thinking "my faction is underpowered." It's incredible how every player believes this at some point regardless of their faction. However, some factions may have higher concentrations of skilled players, depending on the server.

• New Conglomerate
  Conglomerate weapons typically have high damage-per-bullet, but lower firing speeds, high recoil, and "accidental" teamkilling. They also really like shotguns. Some of their standout mechanics include a camera-guided rocket launcher, rifles that can pierce through enemies, and ammo that can drain shield and ability energy. They can use the Reaver aircraft and the Vanguard, a slow but hard-hitting heavy tank that can shield itself from damage. The game will play Rock music during gameplay and you will take orders from Pam in accounting.
  
• Terran Republic
  Terran weapons typically have high fire-rates and large magazines, but long reload times and high cone-of-fire bloom that makes burst-firing important. Some of their standout mechanics include a rocket launcher that automatically locks onto aircraft after firing, an actual chaingun, and ammunition that does more damage on leg-shots. They can use the Mosquito aircraft and the Prowler, a twin-barreled heavy tank that can anchor itself to increase its fire-rate. The game will play martial military-band music during gameplay and a drill sergeant will bark orders at you.
  
• Vanu Sovereignty
  Vanu weapons have a lot of unique mechanics and tend to be more accurate and controllable, at the expense of both fire rate and damage. Some of their standout mechanics include heat-based ammo, weapons that fire multiple or larger projectiles, and anti-gravity projectiles. They can use the Scythe aircraft and the Magrider, a hovering heavy tank that can strafe and activate a turbo boost. The game will play techno-rave music during gameplay and a robo-dude with a geographically ambiguous accent will tell you how to best please papa Vanu.
  
• NS Operatives
  Nanite Systems Operatives are a unique faction created to try and solve population-imbalance. You must earn battle rank 20 on any other character to unlock them. When joining a continent, they are assigned to whichever faction has the lowest population to help balance them out. They have access to the Defector MAX, Javelin hover bike, Dervish 2-seater air superiority fighter, and Chimera hybrid tank. They cannot use the weapons of the other factions, but they have a few unique weapons of their own that range from good all-around to gimmicky. They can play on a faction of their choice if they buy a membership, but that kind of defeats their purpose.

Choose your Name, Head, and Server CAREFULLY! They cost a lot to change later! It may be worth it to choose a server with worse connection if it has a higher average population.

Note: By default, the game will display allies with blue icons and enemies with red icons. Squads will also have their own unique colors. These can be changed in the settings menu.

The tutorial will teach you important basics like switching classes, spawning vehicles, and creating spawn points. Don't be one of those guys that rushes to start and then walks around on foot, alone, for 2 hours, not knowing where to go or what to do.

After finishing the tutorial and talking to a few NPC's you will be unceremoniously dropped into the best fight the game can find for you. A good fight might not exist at that moment, so remember that you can also drop into a fight every two minutes by pressing your J key.

Don't worry, that's normal. Everyone is dying constantly in this game, even veteran players. The average player, statistically, only earns 0.8 kills per life. So instead of getting upset:
Keep calm and respawn! After death two buttons will show up on the bottom of your screen:

This button is your FRIEND! You should click it almost every single time! This button is also your friend, but sometimes it likes to prank you. If your spawn point is destroyed or captured, it will switch and try to spawn you close to where you last died instead. Sometimes this means you get respawned at a nearby base with nobody in it, and sometimes the game just bugs out and dumps you at a warpgate. Use this button sparingly.

Not every type of vehicle can be spawned from every base. Larger Bases typically have more spawn options.
If the vehicle terminal is destroyed or hacked, you must spawn normally and fix it by hacking it back as an infiltrator or destroying and repairing it with the engineer's repair gun.
BUG ALERT: Sometimes a base will not let you spawn with a vehicle even though the terminal is working, or will fail to spawn the vehicle. You will need to manually walk to the terminal in this case.

Not every fight is winnable, and others have so many friendlies that you have nothing to shoot at. The best fights in Planetside 2 are typically those with equal population between factions.

This is an example of a bad fight:

TR are very outnumbered here. They will probably be locked inside their spawn room.

VS has a huge numbers advantage here. They will spend most of their time without a target to engage, or just glaring at the spawnroom.

This is an example of a good fight:

VS and TR are evenly matched here. Everyone will have a chance to play in the fight for the base. More sunderers are always appreciated!
You can also spawn at a nearby base and immediately redeploy (U). The game usually will let you respawn at a base adjacent to your current position.

When Population or Territory control reaches a critical point, an ALERT will be triggered:
An Alert is an hour-and-thirty-minute timer that counts down until the end of the continent. When the timer ends, the faction with the most controlled territory wins, the continent locks down, and everyone moves on to another continent. You earn bonus currency for participating in an alert, and the winning team earns even more.

Not all players play to win alerts however, some people simply have fun driving in tank columns or earning as many kills as possible.

Clicking the circled star icon (or pressing I) will take you to the Missions screen, where you can accept optional tasks to complete every 8 hours.

Daily missions are a great way to earn certs quickly! New players receive easier daily missions as well, to help jump-start their character. You should absolutely take advantage of these!
You can see and accept your current daily missions by clicking the circled star icon from the map screen. Daily missions are also the only reliable way to earn the red A7 currency, which can be used to unlock black market weapons. Don't stress over it though; black market weapons are not necessarily superior to the default weapons.

The other tab on this screen is Directives. Directives are always active and are long-term goals to complete. Completing enough tasks in a single category can award you with exclusive cosmetics or even weapons! Directives are a serious grind however, so you should put them off until you decide that you're going to be a long-term player.

I've met several new players who think that they've wasted their starting certs and need to start over or stop playing. Don't worry, a few thousand certs are really nothing in the long-term. What you deem important to your playstyle is up to you, but in general the golden rule is:
And definitely do not pay real money for them.
The starting weapons are very usable, and alternative weapons are just sidegrades that won't necessarily improve your performance! Try to at least earn a gold medal (160 kills) with a given weapon before buying a new weapon. If you don't want to wait, I've linked to another guide with codes for free weapons at the bottom of this guide.
The most commonly recommended unlocks for new players are:

• tool upgrades (the medic's heal gun, the engineer's repair gun, and the infiltrator's motion sensor dart gun)
  
• One utility slot item for each class (medkits, c4, and/or mines)
  
• One suit slot item for each class (flak armor, grenade bandolier, and advanced shield capacitor are the most popular choices)
  
• One ability slot item for each class (upgrading your abilities will make them recharge faster)

Once you have these essentials squared away, you can branch out into almost anything else you want with the comfort that you will have the supporting tools to make them work.

Implants are Planetside 2's deepest battle scar from when the game was being milked dry years ago. Today, implants are in their least offensive state thanks to the current dev team. The bad news is that implants can only be obtained through random chance or by buying lootboxes AKA implant packs (with certs, the free currency) from the depot. You will also earn some free implants for completing the first tier of the infantry directive lines. The good news is that the most common implants are some of the best and most universally applicable, while rarer implants cater to very specific playstyles.
I won't spend too much time defending implants, because like you, I hate lootbox mechanics. However you should know that even seemingly overpowered implants (such as infinite ammo or faster sprint speed) matter much less in a game where you are constantly being resupplied by engineers and revived by combat medics.

There are plenty of loadout guides and tier lists available if you are wondering which implants you should upgrade first.

The biggest difference between players who stay and players who quit are squads and outfits. This game is designed for large-scale coordination, and it is much more enjoyable when you are surrounded by players with a shared objective.

Press "P" to bring up the social tab and choose a squad to join!
If you're shy, don't worry! You likely won't be expected to communicate, just to stick with the rest of the squad and follow directions. Some squads are even more relaxed, and only exist because you earn more experience points and certs while in a squad. You're only hurting yourself by playing solo, so try to find a group that works for you! If you find a group of players that you really enjoy playing with, consider joining their outfit. If they don't directly invite you, you can access the outfit browser by pressing "O".
Outfits act similarly to guilds in other MMOs. Helping your outfit capture and defend bases will earn you loyalty points, which you can spend to unlock tactical slot items. Outfits that capture bases will gradually earn resources that they can use for powerful consumable items, like giant bubble shields, orbital strikes, colossus tanks, and the mighty bastion fleet carrier. More members means more resources, so most outfits would love to have you regardless of your skill level.

This guide is up to date with redeemable codes:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?l=english&id=1740190742 Real-time alert information and statistics. Useful if the game isn't displaying the current alerts when you load in:
https://ps2alerts.com/ In-depth personal statistics and various other data:
https://ps2.fisu.pw/player
https://ps2.fisu.pw/ Stats, stats, and more stats:
https://wt.honu.pw/ Game-wide weapon tracker so you can see what your peers are using. Also various other data and news:
https://voidwell.com/ps2/oracle
https://voidwell.com/ Outfit statistics and rankings:
https://www.outfit-tracker.com/ Browser-based announcer that plays funny sounds whenever you earn a kill:
https://bobmitch.com/ps2/ Whitelisted mod that tracks your session stats and displays in-game badges and achievements. This is the mod that you will see most youtubers using:
https://recursiontracker.com/

Please log in I don't want this game to die