MAXs start off with an AI weapon on their left arm, and an AV weapon on their right arm, right? And for the starting survey, if you choose the MAX class for whatever reason, and you're a new player, you'd get another AI weapon, right? So, when you get your new anti-infantry weapon, your initial reaction is probably something along the lines of 'Wow, I got another anti-infantry gun for my MAX! Now I can have two anti-infantry weapons equipped at once!', so you go to the MAX right-arm weapon selection screen, and you see that you don't have an anti-infantry weapon able to be equipped on your right arm. Obviously, when you figure that out, you get VERY FRUSTRATED and possibly want to delete your new character right then and there, make a new character on the same faction, and choose a different class on the starting survey. Now, people are able to buy certain MAX weapons for 250 certs (I'd assume these weapons are the AI and AV weapons you start off with but on the opposite arm from the one you already have them on). Please SOE, for the convenience of everybody who wanted to complete their MAX certification faster, please have the AI weapon you can unlock for your MAX (for free, I must add) be unlocked for the RIGHT arm of the MAX instead of the left arm like it is now.
Better yet, let us unlock both arms at once. It's "obvious" that when you unlock a weapon, you get to equip it to whatever arm you want, so it's a nasty surprise when you find out that that's not in fact the case. It feels like a cheap cash grab and alienates new players, who can't be effective with their MAXes without dumping thousands of certs into them (especially NC, who have to spend and extra 1,000 certs for every pair of AI weapons for the extended mags).
You can be effective with a pounder/machine-gun max, I have dual AI set for my TR max, but I often go hybrid, even for indoor fights. And I've seen BR 100s from other factions using Hybrid sets too. Sincerely, a MAX is a heavily specialized kind of "infantry-machine" unit, which costs resources and can be compared to a vehicle. The more you put certs on it, the better it will perform in certain tasks. 2.720 is the amount of certs I need to spend on my mosquito to max out fire supp, NAR, extended ABs and hover airframe. So it can be as effective as possible on A2A duty + 1.742 for maxed out needler 1.75x zoom which I use 1.5x in 90% of the situations. That makes 4.462 certs for an ANTI-ESF mosquito, let alone the ground loadouts, radar loadout, stealth... If you want to go specialist, be ready to spend serious certifications. I'm comparing max to ESF because it costs resources and timer. Oh, forgot to mention the timer. No use if you can't pull your unit in time, right?
It's a fair comparison, but I'd argue that the entry cost for aircraft should be lowered, too--in fact, they're probably a lot worse than MAXes in that regard, since new players are struggling to not crash the damn thing on one hand, and then their vehicle is totally outclassed on the other. I say this as someone who doesn't really do any flying, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Mate, there's a good reason for this. The MAX is SOE's cashcow, they want people to buy the weapons. Nowadays it is a lot cheaper to run a MAX than before. We get 250 cert guns that are effective, and 500 cert extended mags. But the MAX still remains one of SOE's cashcows.
I would define entry cost, as of now: 1st Timer certs -> 20 minutes is too long!! (will be removed at resources revamp) 2nd Extended ABs 3nd Airframe, at least level 2 You'd need around 300-700 certs depending on how you decrease the timer If you don't worry about Timer, then go for Extended ABs, at least 40 certs. It certainly doesn't sound cheap for a new player, same for the max. Still, you caaaaan go stock (harder with aircraft), the thing is that you'll find players whose units have been certed into, and specialized players tend to have things maxed out. Personally, I only run 4 figure set-ups (more than 1,000 certs spent) on very few loadouts (hence, specialization), most of my loadouts only have the basic "to get it done" and to decrease disparity between specialized players. In practice, my Prowler; It is not an AV build, its versatile. Has basic certifications (still, easily more than a 1,000 set up considering the gunner gun). It doesn't mean I will be able to easily gang a 14,000 set up Vanguard, even less likely chance of success considering the player who spent that to max things out will probably be way more experienced on me. You gotta chose were you spend the most, it will make you stand out. But don't panic! Planet Side is a game where you can play evenly in most situations even with a 0 cert loadout. My final advice? Make certs a consequence of gameplay, make fun the ultimate goal, and certs will pour win to feed it naturally
Talking about cashcow. What do you guys think about unlocking extended mags for your bursters and finding out that every faction has different mags in for the NS bursters. Just ridiculous.
Wait, seriously? A common-pool weapon with different mag sizes across the factions? That is weird. Are you sure that's not a bug?
How about this... DELETE AIRCRAFT, or make them weaker than the Beamer. That would be nice, knowing that aircraft can't ruin your fun so easily:/
I dont read the whole Threat, but the Gun you can pick 4 free, should be for the right arm, because it would really HELP newbies to get into maxes!
