Faction balance is perfect at the moment.

People say some weapons are good for close combat, long range, mid range etc. I would like to be able to play with carv at least, stock carv is more accurate than em6. Im nc.

someone misses their mag

honestly its pretty balanced right now, its much better than it was a little while ago but it needs alot of work

VS pop on Connery is way down, so I'm guessing there's some combination of being stuck in the hell hole, having bugged Mags, the latest update, and having the suckiest MAXes, or something like that.

I'm not sure VS is balanced with TR and NC at all. I'm not sure they're not, but it's hard for me to know since we don't get to fight them much on Connery.

Learn aiming - when i play NC on my alt - I rock sheit with the infantry weapons and wished VS had the same punch in close and ranged combat as the TR/NC. Bulletdrop is not a matter of interest as long as the VS accuracy is so heavily distorted by recoil that you dont hit anything longrange neither with automatic guns while having to get along with 30% lower dmg on weapons which can not be compensates by cert point investments.

I play all 3 empires. There is no "our max" or "your max." They're all my max units. And yes, the Hacksaw is incredibly overpowered close range. Particularly against other max units. And yes I know about their weakness at range. But that's still poor design and doesn't excuse their ability to kill other max units in 2 seconds. Stop being a fanboy and thinking about it as your faction vs. my faction. A lot of people play multiple empires and know how to not be biased.

Or you could stop to think that maybe the NC MAX is the way a MAX should be and that the others need boosted up. My point wasn't about the balance. It's the fact that everybody cries for nerfs and never suggests alternatives.

SWAG RIDER.

Last time I used one is probably 2 months ago. And I do find it to be annoying as hell trying to shoot a missile at them when they easily strafe out of the way. I play TR and NC more than I play VS and your point is valid. However, using that point to try to discount my point doesn't work. I'm speaking as a Planetside player who sees issues with certain aspects of all empires. Not someone out to protect his own interests, as you seem to be doing.

My only concern about the hacksaw is its anti-max capabilities. I don't think the Hacksaw would be considered overpowered if it were as simple as bringing another max and having a 50/50 chance of killing the hacksaw in cqc. It's designed to be lethal in cqc against infantry, and weak at range. That's not a problem. But when enemy max units are at a huge disadvantage against them to the point where 9/10 times they will easily dominate the other max in cqc, that becomes an issue. Because then their counterpart is essentially useless in combating it.

Perhaps one solution would be to allow VS/TR into certing into much higher cqc damage at the expense of range. Similar to how NC max units have slug ammo as an option to give up cqc damage for ranged capabilities. But even if that is done, I think all non-explosive damage needs to be reduced against max units. Including from other AI max units. Your comment about buffing the others as opposed to nerfing the NC max is kind of pointless...because buffing the others would be equal to nerfing the NC max. Let me explain it this way:

Balance is about equality. You're saying, for example (completely hypothetical), that if this represents max unit cqc performance:

TR: 5/10, VS: 5/10, NC: 9/10

That they should make it:

TR: 9/10, VS: 9/10, NC: 9/10

Instead of:

TR: 5/10, VS:5/10, NC:5/10.

If all parts are equal after one is buffed or another is nerfed...what's the difference? Besides, I never said nerf. The question of the thread was if people felt things were balanced. I felt the NC AI Max is not balanced. As you mentioned...balance could be done in various ways. I did not advocate or mention any specific way to achieve balance. I merely pointed out that there was no balance with regards to the NC AI Max, primarily when it comes to their performance and effectiveness against other max units. You then jumped to conclusions.

Also default NC max will loose to VS default max even on close range... i tested it and hited every with every shot from scatercannon and Falcon...VS left with half of HP -.-
Don't know what about NC & TR or TR & VS default balance, but i just can't stand stupid "arguments" of some people on this forum like:
"this is a beast...if you put a ******** of certs" ...oh cammon Everything is much better if certed, but balance for default is non existant and unfortunetly this is not BF3 unlock-policy and most players will run with default loadout.
NC max is only good on CQB...and if CERTED, TR is usefull one medium ranges and VS is harder to hit (not mentioning camo but model itself is thiner) but i don't know how it goes if certed.

Overall...maxes are just poor class without real usefull usage other than mobile bullet soaker or weak AA. Give them mobile ammo dispensers, or turret on their backpack where engi could sit and ride max like a behemoth elephant >, or mobile shield so rest of squad could hide behind when assaulting/breaching...there is thousands of ideas ..but ehhh.
Nevermind, Regards ;-)