Certification Points

Certification Points, commonly shortened to Certs, are the primary currency used to unlock Certifications and purchase most non-cosmetic items in Planetside 2. They are earned through various sources, and can be spent at will.

Characters can hold up to, or up to if their account has Premium Membership. Most Certification Points earned while at or over the limit are lost, though Certs earned from Medals bypass the limit, and players do not lose any Certs if they have more than their current cap.

Experience Points
The primary method through which Certification Points are acquired is gaining experience points (XP). XP is rewarded for performing nearly every action within PlanetSide. To earn a Certification Point through this method, you simply must earn 250 XP. This has no limit on the amount of times it can be repeated and will always reward a Certification Point, unless you reach your character's limit.

The rate at which you earn Certification Points through this method can be directly increased through modifiers, which will increase based on the situation you are in, among other sources. The most common form is through experience boosts, which will increase the amount of XP earned from any action by 50% for their duration, and are primarily acquired through purchase with Daybreak Cash.

If you are rewarded more than 499 XP in a single tick, you will receive however many Certification Points you are owed. For instance, earning 1500 XP in one tick will reward.

Service Ribbons
If you repeat a certain action several times, you will eventually earn a service ribbon for that action. For instance, achieving 10 kills with a specific weapon, you will earn a service ribbon for that weapon. Service ribbons reward 250 XP immediately upon being earned, which is exactly enough to reward. Service ribbons have no limit on the amount of times they can be earned, and will always reward at least 250 XP, subject to the character's experience boosts.

The requirements to earn a ribbon are based on what action is being performed. You can view your progress towards most service ribbons within the ingame Stats menu, under your profile.

Medals
Medals are awards earned whenever you reach a certain amount of kills with a weapon, rewarding a chunk of Certification Points based on the specific milestone. Each weapon can potentially reward up to from the rewards granted by Medals. Each medal can only be earned once per weapon, and will always reward Certification Points even if the character is at its limit.

The requirements for each medal are the same regardless of the weapon used, and are listed below. The kills totals listed are the cumulative amount of kills needed with that weapon.

Battle Ranks
Each battle rank between battle ranks 1 to 100 will reward each. Battle ranks past BR 100 will not reward any Certification Points, nor will battle ranks achieved after entering the Advanced Specialization Program. Cumulatively, you will receive from these rewards by leveling a character from BR 1 to BR 100 (characters start at BR 1, which thus does not reward Certification Points).

Passive Certifications
All characters on account with Premium Membership will generate over a period of 24 hours each day ( per 30 minutes). These Certification Points will not automatically be added to the character's Certification Points pool, with the player required to log into the character to claim them. Characters cannot generate any more than at any given time, and any Certification Points generated past that point are lost. If the account's membership lapses, all characters will retain any generated Certification Points but will immediately stop generating more.

Elite Recruit Bundle
Within the first 72 hours of a player creating their account, they have the option to purchase the Elite Recruit Bundle for. After this time limit passes, the player will no longer have the option to purchase this bundle again.

The Elite Recruit Bundle rewards the following items upon purchase; The camouflage and all weapons in this bundle are unlocked for all characters on the purchasing account, including the NS-10 Burster which is typically faction-specific even when purchased with Daybreak Cash. The experience boost and Certification Points are only unlocked on the purchasing character. This bundle can only ever be purchased once per account.
 * MKV-P Suppressed
 * MKV-P Attachments
 * NS Annihilator
 * NS-10 Burster (Left)
 * Solid Dark Green Camo
 * Squad Experience Boost - 7 Day
 * Squad Experience Boost - 7 Day

Refunds
There are only two occasions through which a player will have their spent Certification Points refunded.

The first occurs once a player reaches BR 15. They will be given a one-time opportunity to refund most Certification Points spent on certifications. They will be prompted for this on their first death after reaching BR 15 and, if accepted, they will have all eligible Certification Point expenditures undone, and returned into their pool.

Only Certification Points spent on infantry abilities, suit slot enhancements, and utility slot consumables, as well as on vehicle utilities, defense slot modules, and performance upgrades, can be refunded. Any other expenditures, such as on implant packs or weapons, will not be refunded.

The second occurs whenever an item or ability is permanently removed from the game. All Certification Points will be refunded to all characters which have invested any in said item or ability.

History

 * May 19, 2015 Update
 * We felt the cert gain rate at low levels was too restrictive for new players trying to grow their characters. With this change, each battle rank achieved through BR 15 now provides 100 free certs to help new players get their characters rolling.
 * August 28, 2019 Update (Dead or Alive)
 * Players now receive 100 certs at each new Battle Rank through BR100, instead of the first 15.