Category Archives: PlanetSide 2

Infiltrator Cosmetics in Darkness

PlanetSide 2

While working on my Nightshade Loadout Guide, I got curious whether having a certain cosmetic item can be an advantage or a disadvantage in darkness. So I took a few screenshots.

Notes:

  • All of the screenshots in this article are taken at my Suggested Settings.
  • You can put the mouse over a screenshot to see the name of the cosmetic armor equipped, and you can click on a screenshot to enlarge it.
  • Screenshots with Standard armor also use the default helmet. Other screenshots have a random helmet just to demonstrate that some of the cosmetic helmets also have glowing elements. 

Terran Republic

  • Standard and Composite Armors have prominent glowing elements on the waist, back and feet.
  • Gold Trim has all of the same plus some additional glowing from the gold elements, especially on the shins.
  • Pathfinder is okay from the back, but it has the same glowing elements on the front side as the Standard Armor.
  • Havoc offers the best concealment, only having glowing elements on the feet.
  • AVA has a lot of glowing elements.

New Conglomerate

  • Standard and Composite Armor are the least visible. Sigma is just as good.
  • Gold Trim does not glow by itself, but it can sparkle and reflect light, potentially drawing eyes to your position.
  • Pathfinder has a large glowing element on the backpack, and Nomad Armor has a couple of glowing elements around your waist.
  • Important to note that the default helmet has glowing elements on the back. Replace if possible.

Don’t be worried about bright yellow lines – they are not bright in third person:

Vanu Sovereignty

  • Standard and Composite Armor are least visible. There are a few glowing elements on the back, but they are not visible outside of close range. Pathfinder is almost as good.
  • Darkstar has a couple of glowing elements on the knees.
  • Other armors have clearly distinguishable glowing elements that make the player easily visible in the dark, with Lumifiber and Auraxium being the worst.
  • Important to note that default helmet has a clearly visible glowing triangular element on the faceplate. Replacing the helmet is highly recommended.

Camo

  • No camo or any non-bright camo will work just fine.
  • Bright camo will make you more visible.

Decals

Some of the decals also have glowing elements. For the purposes of concealment, it’s better not to run any decals at all.

Known Alert Rewards

PlanetSide 2

Meltdown Alert Rewards

ISO-4 Reward

Participating in a Meltdown Alert earns you ISO-4 and Certifications Points. The longer you participate, the bigger are your rewards.

  • If your faction triggers the alert and wins, you get up to 300 ISO-4 and 250 Certs.
  • If your faction does not trigger the alert, but still wins, you get up to 100 ISO-4 and some Certs.
  • If your faction loses the alert, you get up to 50 ISO-4 and some Certs.

Loot Reward

If your faction triggers an Alert and wins, and you participate in at least half of the Alert, you will receive a Random Loot Reward.

Note: the Alert Reward system was overhauled and it’s currently unclear what triggers the loot reward. We know it’s possible to get the reward even if your faction doesn’t win, and you participate for only ~half of the alert.

  • You can’t get an item that you already own.
  • Some of these rewards cannot be obtained any other way. 
  • “For most item rewards, a player is required to have participated in at least half of the alert, and certain rare items require even more time participated to become eligible for them.” – Critical Mass Patchnotes
  • If you participate in an Alert for some time, log out, and then log back until the alert is over, then the game will remember how long you participated and will reward you properly. However, if the alert is over before you log back, you will not receive anything. – DBPaul

Reward List

This list is not complete, but it should give you an idea of what kind of items you can receive.

(1) Random decal. It could be specific to vehicles or infantry, or universal.

(2) Unique variant of Drakon Armor with pre-placed Camo, such as:

(3) Composite Helmet or Composite Armor for one class or MAX. Same items can be purchased through in-game shop. For example:

(4) Vehicle cosmetic. Some (all?) of them can be purchased through in-game shop.

(5) A weapon:

  • NS-44L Showdown – a unique variant of the NS-44L Blackhand.
  • NS-357 IA – a unique variant of the NS-357 Underboss. 
  • NS-AM8 Shortbow – a unique variant of the NS-AM7 Archer.
  • Note: you need to already own any version of these weapons to have a chance of receiving them as an alert reward (source, at ~29 min)
  • You need to participate in at least 90% of the Alert (source).

(6) A Boost:

  • +30% to Nanites and Experience for 1 Day
  • +50% Experience for you and +5% Experience for your Squad Members for 1 Day

(7) An Implant Pack with 2 or 3 random implants.

(8) A camo:

  • Paradise Camo is a rare item reward for winning an alert on Hossin with at least 90% participation time.

(9) 100 Certs

Event Rewards

Participating (or winning?) in Events grants you one or several random implants. 

If you know of any other Rewards, please inform me and they will be added to this list.