[Suggestion] Give NC Heavy Assaults the GD-22s as starter LMG

Change it up like the construction system? Sometimes changes are good. And your goal is to KEEP new players. My suggestion is a better way to do that.

What happens when that player gets finished with the GD22 and wants to use the SAW? Is he going to miraculously be better with the SAW? I don't think so. This is one of those things where you either get it or you don't. And the stats back it up.

10% retention rate. About the same across all three factions. Does that mean the Carv and Orion are noob unfriendly too? No.. the issue goes well beyond the Gauss SAW, and LMGs. There's easier weapons available. but it doesn't matter. The issue is the unintuitive nature of the weapons.

The only ones sticking around are the ones who realize their opponents have the same issues. Since its 'fair' we stick through it and try to understand it. The ones leaving don't realize that the grass isn't greener. They have no evidence in front of them that shows it.

I have to disagree. As a main heavy myself and as someone on the forums once said very accurately, playing NC Heavy for the first time is like playing Doom 2 Hell on Earth at max difficulty, (and that is in the 1995 game context btw). The gun is not noob friendly, I only started getting better with it after I Auraxiumed the GD-22s. At that point I had sufficient knowledge to figure out where the bullets were going to go and had the right attachments for it. For new players to even begin to use the gun proficiently they need to drop 300 certs on the gun into the comp and adv forward grip, and even then they still need to tame the beast, and I can trust that they aren't going to be happy with a gun that is still unwieldy, even after they dropped some dough on it.

If anything the devs should at the very least add a notice to the new character selection screen that says "NOT RECOMMENDED FOR STARTERS" when the NC is selected.

Like I said, go for the Mercenary or Guass SAW. Think about it, have you ever seen a new player guide suggest a Heavy over a Medic or Engineer (be it NC or otherwise)? And if you're going to sit here and tell me the Merc and Rifle are not noob friendly, I'm not going to be able to take you seriously.

That isn't what I said. But the whole faction and their weapons are more high risk high reward skill based. The other two factions and their weapons are not. As far as new player guide, with heavy on the NC, they always suggest the GD-22s.

Personally the Merc is okay, I don't like it but it is easier to understand. The bolt action I can't say much on cause I suck with sniping. The Gauss Rifle is good for new players but it still falls into the high risk high reward idea, you can't miss a shot. The Gauss SAW is horrible for new players, the recoil makes it too difficult for new players, casual or otherwise to get in and understand off the bat.

Having high risk, high reward in a game is fine but for the usual FPS player, they want to hop on, play for a few hours and have fun. They can't do that if their gun is not cooperating with them and they are getting frustrated with it.

So, new players HAVE to start as an HA ? HA is supposed to be the 1rst class a new player will pick up and cert ?

No but considering that the Heavy is the main "work horse" of this game, it might as well be a bit easier for new players if they didn't have a gun that was so punishing.

That's my own opinion. But my 1rst char. was NC 3 years ago. I didn't know anything about the game. I tried different classes. I found the HA class messy. I swapped to the other classes, made my certs, leveled up. I went back to the HA later. I kept on playing the game until today. Result is i didn't play HA during 2 years and a half. I'm still here, my KD is positive and i had tons of fun.

That's still my own opinion, but i find Tr Lmgs way harder to manage compared to a fully equipped Gauss Saw, due to that damn vertical recoil.

Nowdays, new players have a boost of 1.5K Certs + the synergy brought by zergs, outfits and veterans.
You need 230-330 Certs for a fully equipped Gauss saw.

I still think this mess is a bit useless. If new players want to "win everything asap" without being a bit curious about the other classes,about the game and its learning curve...welll...

Okay you got me on that one. It would be nice if they added tool tips on the guns to help new players understand the weapon better.

To hell it is. It can spray a ton of bullets before reloading (the only 'noob friendly' thing about it), and fire rockets that no noob can hit with anyway.

Medics have a means of healing themselves and others at any time with no need to spend certs to do so (doable at BR1). They can rez. And assault rifles are far better versions of the LMGs minus the ammo capacity of the mags.. traded off by better accuracy.

Engies have decent Carbines (which is used by LA too, so they learn TWO classes at once), repair vehicles, maxes, terminals, and construction, have ammo packs for unlimited ammo, and have a pretty decent no-recoil turret.

Both classes earn certs far quicker than a heavy. Both classes highly desirable in squads.

Sorry but the Heavy is not the backbone. Its a dude with a rocket if its needed. That doesn't scream noob class to me. Hell as a vet its largely useless.

Here's another counter suggestion. Lock Heavy Assault behind BR 30. Then only new vets will be exposed to the Gauss SAW. Makes better sense then flipping around established weapons.

That is also an option, but that will cause more flame wars on the forums than switching the guns around.

NC has been behind in firearms pretty much forever since newbies were given the best but the hardest weapon to use in NC arsenal.So giving them this freebie is a balance that was going to put NC with TR and VS with decent firearms for starting so there is a fair fight with HA for NC.Do TR and VS need something when/if NC get a new starter weapon ?No because they already own awesome guns,Orion hands down one of the best LMGs when it comes to control and in general,TR have a pretty smooth LMG T9 i think not sure but its a decent weapon and it fits a newplayer like a glove,while NC get THE SAAAAWWW the all hell that exists on Auraxis but also the Grim Reapers own creation built from his sythe.Anyway the point is,the new starter weapon is the balance,to put even odds for NC HAs to fight against TR and VS without a huge learning curve from the start,is that challenging to use GD-22 ?No not really,and thats the point,we want NC newwbie HAs to love what they get then they will use it without problems,only thing they get to do is learn how the mechanics of guns work and they get basics of the game to pave their way to constantly addicted to the game.

The GD-22s and ?
Then people will keep on whining because the GD22 has only 50 amnos clips and that it induces frequent reloads ? That's THE problem with this weapon. "Need Buff GD22 clip size 4 NCs 2 win" ?...Come on...

If you don't get why HA are the "work horse" because it sounds atractive and its what woulda new player chose,his idea is "So lets see,light assult jetpack nice,medic alright so doc;engineer-so fixer and guy with ammo;infiltraitor-sniper pretty much,and heavy assult-LMG?RL?That sounds strong,ill take this guy for sa spin" reason why would you pick a heavy over say medic or engineer is that players don't know whic his better yet,they need to try it to see if THEY like the class or the gun.HA is the only class that allows for "Spray 'n pray" tactic and TR and VS can do it jolly well but NC...get a AA like gun (i mean it fires slow but hits hard) so its not something a newbie expects and which ever newbie hasn't yet or doesn't care about classes ,probably just about the guns he would probably go for the guy with a BFG and RL because
1.He looks like he can dish out a lot of damage.
2.He has an extra shield which means he will survive longer (thats the way they are presented)
3.He has an LMG which are known for mowing down people,like enter a room,BRRRRRRRRRRRR-Clear!
4.He fits the all around need-it-have-it class because,high capacity,high DPS,big ammo reserves and an AV weapon which comes by against tanks,aircraft,maxes or overshielded heavy you name it HA will kill it,he is just a jack of all trades unless you decide to play him like AA or AGV (anti ground vehicle) or both who knows.
5.He may be the least usefull but he is easy to understand and play and for newer players thats what they want at first-easy to understand and then they look at LAs "Oh man i should try that,maybe ill be good at it" or medic"I should switch to a medic to help my team mates out " or "Better grab a medic so i can get the Xp",same with engineeris for tankers and pilots,pretty much the vehicle friendly class and team support,while infiltraitor is pretty much sniper or backstaber (its an expression meaning he attacks you when your not looking) and HA is in 2 words a good class:
-Simple
-Generic-ish
And you don't even need to learn anything from him ability wise,only learn the weapons for a start and your a good player for your team,if your not being a dummy and killing guys ,its what gets you kills at the start.

Not likely to happen. The VS Orion has 50 bullets and few people complain about it and the NC aren't known for having "Big Mags" on their guns. If anything it's bringing some things in line with the lore with the TR having the big mags.

Hum, you're right.

I mean let's be frank here. on a psychological level, 50 vs 100 bullets have a very different affect on someone's mind. 100 bullets say I can hold the button down and mow everyone down with the gun (in the case of the NC6, this is NOT what you want to do) whereas 50 says I need to be more conservative with my ammo and make sure I am actually hitting the target.

For those who still cling to the PS1 concept of empire differences; the SAW is true to design. Low RPM, heavy hitting. Granted it isn't the easiest gun to start with, but then you do get the option of the free EM1 when you start if you play the question minigame right (unless they've taken that feature away?).

I think it fits better for stater weapon,but there a thing I need to know: If already have the Auraxium medal on my Gauss Saw,do I loose it and have to start again or what?

GD22S would make a good basic starter weapon because easy to use. However, the low mag size, though offset by quick reload gives it a different character to the other NC LMGs.

EM1 is forgiving as well though it lacks the NC high damage per bullet with low RoF trademark.

Overall, the EM6 seems closest to the concept of a starter gun for NC- big mag, 167 damage, reasonably easy to master. Not sure if it has attachments that you normally only find on sidegrades though, like HVA.

CoF is in the game for a reason, though people don't all agree what that reason is. I think it is to avoid super accuracy causing large increase in quick kills by more experienced/accurate players as it introduces an element of randomness - including some differences between weapons.

Removing it for starter weapons would distort the game somewhat - and bork players who then possibly go on to buy a weapon that has CoF as a built-in feature. I find that burst control cures both recoil and CoF problems to a reasonable extent - and almost completely with burst carbines and ARs (my current favourites ).

I think it should stay for all weapons rather than dumbing down the game by selective or global removal.

I guess you already know the aswer to this one - the default class for new starters is LA. which is weird in itself because I find it the hardest class to play without dying all the time. Probably why so mnay new players switch calls quickly. I imagine the superficial attraction of the HA to new players is the overshield and the free rocket launcher. The cert gains of playing a support class are nowhere near so obvious - hell, I didn't even know you could get certs from an infil recon dart until some time after I started playing.

That feature has gone now. One of my avatars got the EM1 when it was still a thing and I think it is a good weapon for HA in CQC - anyway, I like it - but it would probably not have occured to me to buy it if I was looking at the catalogue. It is only fairly recently I have got the bug for higher RoF weapons in CQC and I play Engie or Medic nowadays.