First, thank you for turning this thread into something productive and two-way. This part is doing the topic a little bit of a disservice, though: You've been asked by many (and in many different ways) to elaborate on that part, but your response was that it would take a lot of time to cover them all. The thing is, we don't need them all. We just need some. So, please, seriously, provide some examples. (Not including "use NC AI MAX at less than 5 meters." We all get that one.) Better yet, ALSO provide a couple of examples that you'd expect most new players to understand within the first 6 hours of game play.
Jackhammer is the best shotgun and fills an important niche of "instantly killing people stone dead at <15m" Cyclone is boss as **** and the only SMG that doesn't feel like a wimpy VS spitball shooter Vanguard is, well, this doesn't need said. Vanguards rule Phoenix is highly situational, and in that situation a cloaked flash covered in C4 is a much better choice We have the best ARs overall, and the Carnage which is (arguably) the best gun in the game. Our defaults are crazy good. Gauss Rifle is just insanely good and the Mercenary is envied by VS and TR alike. I love the SAW but even if you don't like it, the GD-22S (which is basically the opposite of a SAW) is only 100 certs. The main things about thriving as an NC are 1) stop to fire and 2) control your engagement range. We used to have a deficiency up close but I don't see that now - Commish+knife is great and shotguns are great and the SMGs are great for close up work. Having a bunch of empire specific stuff specializing in something that's available to everybody as common pool is dumb. Having empire specific stuff be tailored toward mid/long range? Too great. Anyway the short of it is use slugs ya mo-rons
Yes run slugs so you are not as good as the other guy at medium or short range. Brilliant. Cause being half *** at everything is win. See guys this goon has solved our problems. Now go to Matherson and watch them play and prepare to lol.
i like many others would like for you to elaborate on that comment you made. basically it translates into a developer telling the player base to L2P. example: an NC rookie is stucking using the gauss SAW. its a specialized long range weapon. the capture point in the base is contested heavily by TR. he has no choice but to engage in CQC with a weapon that is pretty awful up close. what does he do? spend station cash on a CQC LMG like the Anchor LA1? dump 1000 certs into it? the TR/VS player doesnt have to make such a choice. they can just go right on in without spending a dime or a single cert with the stock T9 or the Orion. also the impression im getting is because of the amazingly smart NC players (which are a minority...) the NC empire are going to be looking at a fairly lackluster balance pass. ive said it in another post. NC players are betting their chips on this upcoming patch. when it is unsatisfactory they'll either swap to the TR/VS because they're tired of having to L2P, or just quit. now to answer your questions. 1) NC doesnt have the general all purpose weapons the TR/VS have nor a starter LMG to help the rookies learn the game 2) i would change the NC being heavily specialized in 1 task and being junk in another whereas the other 2 empires dont have to worry about that 3) my favorite aspect of NC balance is nothing since the empire is seen as the whipping boy of the game
1. Running toward a fight and realizing I am using a nc lmg that is going to be terrible in cqc. And knowing my tr and vs counterparts have higher dps and lower ttk weapons so I will be at a severe disadvantage. Ohh and I can't use my max for anything but a door camper. 2. simply giving nc a real cqc lmg (ha is the most popular class) like the Orion or any 750 plus rof weapon would balance the game quickly. Also our maxes need ranged weapons. 3. I don't really like that much about nc other than the medic weapons like the carnage br etc.
I pity the mods if SOE doesn't come through on the balance pass. NC will probably start a virtual riot. NC is already incredibly frustrated since we feel as though we've been ignored for the last year.
Epic, unfortunately, most of that was just a list of, "this is good," and commentary about weapons all the factions have. Not that I necessarily disagree, but it misses the whole point of my post. That, however, is the start of one example. All factions get shotguns, though, so a better example would give more detail about when to use burst mode vs. single-fire, or how its low spread factors into its play, etc. I'll give bonus points for this part, though: I haven't heard anything in the tutorial about weapon strengths and weaknesses to date, (and I don't want to go into misleading tooltips in-game) so I'm very interested to hear what the devs think new players are supposed to be learning during their game-time (as opposed to what the more experienced, reddit-following and -filtering fans get there).
What makes you feel that NC is unbalanced? We are the only one with a starting weapon on the most used class (LMG) that has (and is balanced around) a full range of attachments, Our "asymmetrical balance" advantage is having situation specialized equipment in what is probably the most dynamic shooter to date, and our equipment theme of high alpha isn't realized, probably for fear of how much harder it is to balance gear that functions differently (IE you say asymmetrical balance but you are afraid to do it) Nanoweave causing our slower weapons to take an extra 2 bullets to kill just like every other faster firing weapon is also very noticeable. If you could change one thing about the NC's balance, what would it be? Switch the Gauss Saw with the GD-22S. Give us gear that can perform better as we get in closer, making it a good at long, OK closer thing rather than the great at long terrible everywhere else thing we have going on, the nanoweave nerf can be a simple reduction in HP bonus to 145-150, not the convoluted mess you are thinking of now, and lastly take the full plunge on our faction trait, 200/500 with 25 round mags should have been our base for AR and carbine, not 167/600 with 30 rounds which gives us neither the fire rate to compete up close in a face to face, nor the damage to gain a significantly greater advantage when we play to our alpha strike "strength" over alpha striking with other faction equipment. What's your favorite aspect of NC balance? I like the air hammer. even though it was nerfed with other infantry shotguns (?) to the point that it handicaps you to equip it for A2A, it still is nice to at least have an option outside of the standard machine gun for dog fighting. TR get a rotary, a slower firing needler, or a slower firing and lower damage rotary, there isn't any variety in play style, as they are all machine guns.
Realization that devs don't weigh enough how much netcode impacts any combat situation, while higher rof and less situational weaponarry compensates for it's misplays more than lower rof, positional combat requirement (you can't take cover with this netcode as effectively as in LAN enviroment, so you can't use standing accuracy to it's best never actually) and our directional shield. Start with changing all starter gear with NS weapon variants, while letting players spec more into empire specific weaponarry down the line instead of starting with asimetrical balance from the get go and doing minor tweaks to NC infantry, while reworking their shotgun masterace to railgun faction. AF-4 cyclone, only real NC high dps weapon, more of these please.
1. What makes you feel that NC is unbalanced? I don't find the NC to be unbalanced, but a lot of the people whom I've squadded with have complained about it. 2. If you could change one thing about the NC's balance, what would it be? Add a medium/long range weapon for MAX AI work as it is silly to have to use AV or AA weapons in the field as a MAX for AI work. 3. What 's your favourite aspect of NC balance? I love the concept of the Aegis Shield, and feel really badass using it to offset the range limitation and reload times on my Hacksaw MAX.
1. What makes you feel that NC is unbalanced? Hard to use weapons. 2. If you could change one thing about the NC's balance, what would it be? More gauss-ish weapons, less shotgun-ish. 3. What 's your favourite aspect of NC balance? Shielding, but it should be improved for the MAXes (better coverage).
I agree. These are the first things that SOE needs to address. For the most, NC weapons are great. I should know because I've got every single one (and have dumped a crap ton of certs into each). They may be slower firing and harder to hipfire, but they shine where intended. The problem I see is the average player's skill level/latency/hardware potency makes NC guns just a little harder to use. This is what Higby is referring to, I gather. Players like me have spent enough time with NC weapons to figure out how to best apply them. We've learned how to be competitive. Give us the same weapons with less recoil and faster rof - we may have an edge. May... Really epends on the gun and what degree of alteration. I don't want my guns to be watered down so sucky players can use 'em - I like the learning curve - but if the changes make the empires more balanced then fine. Do what needs doing, Higby. Hopefully, I'll hear less whining every time I play NC. Players doubting the fairness between teams is to be expected with asymetric dame design (I used to play Enemy Territory: Quake Wars). This will be present as long as each faction has differences. Plus, the devs will never get it perfect. They will always be readjusting. Still, I wish obvious imbalances could be addressed much sooner: ZOE, Enforcer modified, Striker.. etc. It only took a few days before the Phoenix's ohk againt infantry was removed. Why did it take so long for the Striker to be changed? Everyone knew that weapon was stupidly op. Sheet... it made many NC pilots, that I knew, defect to TR.
What makes you feel that NC is unbalanced?: Low RoF+Heavy Recoil+Lowest DPS+Some of the Highest Bloom - These factors turn Infantry CQC into a handicapped fight at best, where we often need to ambush our target to win... or suffer a string of headshots against us. If you could change one thing about the NC's balance, what would it be? Even out the damage so we keep up with DPS compared to other factions while losing the damage maximum range advantages. What's your favorite aspect of NC balance? I like the slower rate of fire - if the damage was on an even maximum dps compared to other factions, I feel we'd be in a lot better place. It feels like we're stuck ambushing and that shouldn't be our only option.
1.) Our small arms focus on performance aspects like first shot accuracy which are not an advantage in the game's CQB-focused reality, and several of our max-mounted and vehicle-mounted weapons suffer from very poor performance and over-specialization compared to other empire's. 2.) Substantially improve the accuracy and damage falloff range for NC shotguns to complement our primarily long-range and burst fire oriented rifles to make the faction competitive in close quarters while preserving the "big guns with big punch" flavor. 3.) Our standard issue machine gun is mediocre as a machine gun but makes a remarkably effective sniper rifle.
1. I don't think the situation is as dire as most people make it out to be. Tweaks need to be minor and not exaggerated (like ZOE was). 2. I do feel that the staple weapons of NC (200 dmg/500 rof) need to be redesigned/buffed. As it stands now, most of the times you need similar amount of shots comparing to standard 167/143 but you're at an disadvantage of rate of fire. Enforcer modified need to be remodified aswell. 3. I find Vanguard to be one of their strongest assets.
What makes you feel that NC is unbalanced? Our infantry combat is clunky and slow compared to the other factions. I Understand that long range and ambush are the NC's calling cards, but you cannot ambush a cap point, and you cannot take a base from 200 meters. If NC want to hit anything with our Infantry weapons we MUST stop and ADS, or our bullets go completely wild. The same story holds true with the Phoenix, we have to stop and fly it, which makes us completely vulnerable. Our greatest weakness I think is an almost complete inability to fight on the move in close quarters. Improvements to the shotgun theme could help this. The Jackhammer while underused is a good example of a solution, though the magazine is punishingly small, the T7 and Lasher can both control a room, the jackhammer fires 4 times and is out of ammo. On the vehicular end I think the shotguns again just need larger magazines, up close they are and should be scary, but at range once the spread starts to take effects they're laughably useless, a (much, to the tune of the Enforcer MOD and airhammer should have a 20ish round magazines IMO) larger magazine would alleviate this. the PPA is 50 or 75 I forget and the Marauder is 15, they have infantry suppression weapons, we do not. faction infantry weapons in general need faster ADS, since for us ADS is mandatory. If you could change one thing about the NC's balance, what would it be? We are the Gauss rifle faction, Give us some Gauss rifles. Right now all that means is our muzzle flash is blue, It should mean high velocity, low bullet drop(realistically so little it wouldn't be noticeable within render range, but that is Vanu's thing) and maybe over penetration of soft targets(I've no idea if this is realistic in engine or not/how hard it would be to model energy lost traveling through a harasser vs through a soldier for example), this extends to the Enforcer too, in its current states its passable, But its nothing near as versatile as the saron or vulcan. Its supposed to be a railgun, but really its just a micro rocket launcher, give it some speed to make it dangerous at long range, since long range is our thing. And for the love of Tesla replace the rockets with some kind of kinetic shell, rail projectiles should bear a strong resemblence to lightning bolts. What's your favorite aspect of NC balance? I love the long range/alpha strike oriented feel of NC, we're all about the ambush, however a lot of out stuff is so focused on that single purpose that it turns into a case of if you are are not camping, you are losing. We need improvements in short to mid-range infantry combat. I think the solution to that lies in better ADS tuning, we are and should remain slaves to aiming, that is the tradeoff for the high damage. That paired with higher velocity across the board will give us our niche in infantry combat. TLR Vehicle Shotguns and Jackhammer need larger mags, Infantry weapons need more velocity and faster ADS. NCs faction trait should be Low rate, High damage, High velocity fire.
1. What makes you feel that NC is unbalanced? You gave the most situationally dependant tools to the faction with the least battlefield mobility (e.g. MAX shotguns, Jackhammer, Phoenix >300m, SAW indoors, C85), maaking the player either disadvantaged for 80% of situations or in need of constant visits to the terminal 2. If you could change one thing about the NC's balance, what would it be? NC ES weapons with less situational dependency 3. What 's your favourite aspect of NC balance? Vanguard, but it is overspecialized for AV
NC are great, because having highly situational weapons is great right I am not going to even bother to elaborate on NC balance if the Devs are so out of sink with common sense.
You dont get it! The Dev think that NC should all buy the AP Turret, Cert shield and only use the NC tank for Tank v Tank combat The Guess Saw is great at plinky at long distance targets, why should it be good the other 90% of the time? The list goes on and on, and cannot be addressed without looking at the better weapons, vehicles and abilities of the other factions and there impact.
1. What makes you feel that NC is unbalanced? Overspcialisation of NC arsenal. I am ustilising atm depending on class almost every loadout slot. Including weapons i would propably not use for that class if i had better options. I have shotgun on my HA for places where i expect point blank combat. Since i find anchor still lacking in sub 5m ranges compared to orion/carv. This is gimping my ability to fight multiple enemies or scenarios where they show in short delay since there is a high propablity they will catch me reloading or force sidearm switch(at least starter pistol is good). Also having this many specialised loadouts ends up inevitably in spawning with wrong one sometimes. ES gear is showing similiar issue. Shootgun on a tank rly? I dont think i EVER wished i had it on Vanny and you dont want to get in a harrasser close enough to use it to anyone with a brain rocket launcher and good movement prediction. Phenix is another weapon 300m is not much especialy if you try to shot anything that is flying. Rockets are very sluggish compared to TV guided weapons in other games and horribly depending on lag. There is also no option to relase it in free flight(70% peoples dont even try to dodge it) and its damage vs time spent guiding it to targert/reloading is bad. Our maxes are another example i find myslef quite a lot playing LA and there are offen see skilled ZOE, and to lesser extent TR maxes litteraly ****** 5-6 guys in a very short span at 5m+. While i am siting safe at perch hoping to find a window of oportunity to C4 bastard. My toughts are usualy i Wish i could that with NC max, i would have to reload at least 1 time and at least 2 of them would propably get to safety while i was reloading. 2. General balance pass on NC ES weapons. Particulary MAX weapons, vehicle secondaries and Phoenix. 3. Some guns can be very rewarding if you are in the zone.(right gun, at right time and place with skill high enough to use it)
