Is NC underpowered or harder to learn?

Yes, the margin of error is pretty large at the end of the curve(s). Unfortunately there just isn't a lot of data for top BR characters.

Grass is always greener. Never judge other factions from personal experience. When I log in to my NC alt, I find that the SAW and the Merc absolutely rock compared to the CARV and Trac-5, but a lot of people say that the Trac-5 is the best starter carbine. Play only that faction for a week and you'll see that everything is pretty well balanced (aside from the NC getting all the cool stuff and us TR being stuck with glorified annihilators and the VS being stuck with stupid charge up weapon)

2 different weapons for 2 different play styles, that's all.
The saw and the TMG-50 are burst fire weapons, the carv and orion you can just spray with while pulling down a little and kill dudes.

I prefer a weapon I can spray, so I love my carv and my orion and don't feel the need to buy another gun.
The EM6 is my choice weapon for the NC heavy, I hate the saw.. I don't want to let off mouse 1 till the enemy is dead.
Some people prefer the dead on accuracy of burst firing the saw.. I am not one of them.

The faction that consistently has 45-50% of the world's population is anything but underpowered.

NC fire arms: Primarily high damage, low rate of fire. Have in general greater vertical recoils than the TR and the VS, but far lower horizontal recoils. Additionally, many of their weapons have a single directional pull. This can mess up newbs hard, but experienced players love this kind of recoil pattern. Still, with low horizontal recoils, even left-right pulls are marginally difficult to counter at best.

VS firearms: Primarily low damage, moderate rate of fire. Have in general lower vertical AND horizontal recoils. Really, their only real flaw is the ammo capacity: they have the lowest damage potential per magazine, so arguably, that accuracy is to make those rounds count. The bullet drop is bullocks. The longest range engagement a rifleman might see on average is over 100 meters, even SPA doesn't really drop to the ground until after that distance on most guns.

TR firearms: Primarily low damage, high rate of fire. Have in general lower vertical, but higher horizontal recoils. The carbines and rifles, save for one, all use 40 round magazines as opposed to 30 round magazines. These weapons also tend to have greater or equal DPS values than MOST NC and VS weaponry (this only matters when lag isn't much of a factor in the battle.) The trade off is, unfortunately recoil and a naturally faster CoF bloom. Forget what the NC might say, TR bloom the fastest just from RoF alone - the 200 damage weapons just start off with a ridiculously huge hip-CoF to begin with, so they're not making an accurate claim. The worst thing about the horizontal recoil is that for much of the TR arsenal, their weapons have a left-and-right pull. It's not a 1:1 ratio, but rather randomized to pull in one direction any random number of times before pulling in the other. For the most part, TR just pull back on their mouse and hope the RNG gods favor keeping their barrel facing the target.

It should be noted that the accuracy attachments on a TR weapon tend to bring it up to par if not slightly better than the stock variant of a similar VS weapon. The VS weapons just become exceptionally accurate with attachments. One could say TR weapons were designed to be more role specific depending on their kit than VS weapons, which can get away with a more general purpose approach in terms of attachments (and possibly contributing to their "generic" feel.)

That all said, the Carv is mostly crap. A fore-grip helps a bit, but beyond 50m it's still a PITA to work with. If I equip the Carv, I put on a laser pointer and 1x reflex (really should have access to a 2x,) start firing the target's general direction and let the RNG gods sort out the details. It's actually... surprisingly good at hip-fire with a laser pointer, but that's because of bullet volume, not the CoF being very tight. The MSW-R is still the better option of a CQC LMG however.

P.S. EVERY weapon is a burst fire weapon. Even in a CQC strafe duel, burst firing from the hip > full auto.

I find the NC weapons easiest to use.

I don't know why exactly but whenever I try to play as TR or VS I always do worse than I do as NC.

Maybe it's just because I have got used to how NC weapons work over the 6 or 7 months I have been playing

Neither. No one faction or the other is any harder or easier. I play all 3 and see no difference.

NC guns are the hardest to start with due to the higher recoil and less spammability (totally a word now), but once you get the hang of how they work you can do a lot better than other guns thanks to their high accuracy and controllable recoil.
VS weapons are easy to use thanks to their accuracy and low recoil. Thanks to that, once you learn to burst fire and control the little recoil you can pull off a lot of headshots in a row easily, compensating for the lowish dps.
TR weapons are also easy because they're forgiving and allow for a spammy spammy gameplay... Although the random horizontal recoil is frustrating because you can't compensate for that aside from "get a grip", so their skill ceiling is probably the lowest of the 3 factions, although the VS isn't that far above.


I wish for a higher skill cap for all 3 factions...

Ah, then the correct sign is >, not =.

Stats showing the same kills and such don't really mean anything, are they balanced? Yes. Do most people still consider the EM6/Gauss SAW superior to Carv, Orion? Yes.

You have to remember that the majority of people who use the gauss saw are noobs, because it's a default gun, with no attachments, and most people end up landing on something like the EM1 or EM6. Gauss SAW once it has it's attachment really shines. ****, I consider the Orion THE best VS LMG, and when you mention it a lot of VS are like "what? Orion? that's the starter gun though". That's how it works. The Gauss SAW is still a superior gun to the Orion/Carv IMHO. You should use the Orion and Carv for extended periods of time, try hitting anything at range with the Carv like you can the Gauss, while the Gauss still performs in CQC perfectly well.

I haven't played Vanu, but by the looks of how enemies play with it, it seems EXTREMELY accurate, much so that I think they seem to have trouble in close quarters battle.
NC weapons for me seem to have vertical recoil indeed, but the bullets go everywhere when using a LMG, it goes up and I'm not sure but I think I seen some bullets just go right out of the reticle, HUGE spread, so much that they hit 1 or 2 bullets at 3-5 meters away with hipfire.
TR weapons? I disagree that Carv is crap, I think it kind of seems like one of the best weapons hands down, it's point-and-shoot, recoil seems minimal, and shoots a LOT of bullets, more hit, somewhat doing more DPS and the hits screwing the other guy's aim, without attachments.
I don't think burst fire even works in CQB, I have the Gauss burst and it's not that good at close range, plus I cannot burst fire, especially at close range when there's someone at 3-5 meters, obvious panic ensues and someone would only press M1 until the other guy's down.
I find TR weapons easier to use, but I don't main TR because they don't hit hard, plus I like NC's aesthetics better, Gauss rifle burst is awesome, but then how do I CQB when the NC LMG is for long range when my playstyle's close range and a tiny bit of medium range when I'm using the Gauss burst?

Hold on... You "don't know much about that LMG", meaning the Orion (the default VS LMG), yet you have the nerve to argue that the NC's default gun is subpar compared to the other factions? Is this a troll?

Also, if you're using an LMG to hipfire then you're doing it wrong, you shouldn't be hipfiring an LMG at ANY range other than absolute point blank, there's really no excuse or caught completely off guard, you're just looking ignorant about the game now.

IMO Carv is actually the worst, you can't use it consistently at range, AT ALL. While the Gauss has great range and does fine in CQC despite what you might say, and the Orion has a little better range than the Carv, and performs quite well in CQC. Again, if you're claiming that you only hit 1 or 2 bullets at 3-5 meters with the SAW, you either haven't gotten any attachments or your aim is plain awful, it's as simple as that, I don't know what else I can say to you.

It's like you're not getting it about the ESF models, the way you say it makes you sound like you think that the Reaver has the same profile from EVERY ANGLE as say, the scythe does from the top. You can keep claiming you dogfight but it's apparent you don't do it much, unless your server is utter trash, because next to NO ESF's turn and run in a straight line, they duck and dive, even Mossies which have the highest top speed, so why would the profile of the back of an ESF ever even concern me.

Check my stats out, I'm doing just fine despite people saying that VS are the subpar faction currently, yet I don't make threads on it with NOTHING to back up my views.

I mean, seriously, you claim the Gauss SAW is subpar compared to other faction defaults yet self-admittedly don't know much about the Orion. That's blatant ignorance, and there's no excuse for it after coming out with a "why do we have it so bad" thread.

These are the kind of comments I can't STAND on these forums. It looks "EXTREMELY ACCURATE" - are you kidding me? Just throwing out a statement without having even taken the time to experience it.

Ridiculous. I really don't have time to argue with your "it looks extremely accurate" "it looks like they have it way better than us so it must be true" arguments. It's a simple case of the grass is greener on the other side. No point wasting my time when you've already convinced yourself without doing your homework.

Enjoy.

Soooooo close to getting a thumbs up.
It's as much about play style as faction benefit. If you do well in ADADAD CQB battles, than the better hip fire guns will feel OP. If you never miss, than the slow ROF/high damage guns will feel OP.

This used to chap my a$$ about the SAW. Only gun in the game that can shoot at right angles to the barrel. I'm guessing that consistent burst fire would solve the issue, but that's pretty hard to make yourself do when you're shooting a gun with a slow ROF.

It's not just being Harder to learn.

If we don't blindside people and headshot them at the same time, then we basically DESERVE to lose that fight the way basically all of our stuff is designed. However the times when that's really underpowered is when our stuff gives everyone in the vicinity huge WARNINGS that we're there. ....Stuff like the Neon Pizza Mines... Our 'SCREAMING EAGLES" lulztacular Pheonix Missiles. And especially the glow-in-the-Dark suit trim; plus Cloaks on our Infiltrators that people are hearing over the sounds of Jet-engines & Chainguns. And don't even get me started on SCOUT RADAR

It means that even when we "Learn" our Ambush weapons, they're still only as effective as our opponents are Deaf Dumb & Blind.

But.. performance is even for all BRs, not just "noobs"? Oh right, stats mean nothing. Opinion is king.

It sure seems like it.

People adapt. You can't MAKE your weapon be better at distance, you have to play differently. This is what you fail to understand.

But its cool, continue your "stats are king" crusade, I can't do any more to help you understand basic stuff.

Ok i'll bite.. harder to learn? Uh its just like every thing else in the game..foot zerg , foot zerg, shoot stuff, foot zerg. Do it all over again. If thats too hard there are pump shotguns in the game to make an easy mode game..even easier!

I'd suggest getting out of the VR and stop measuring and writing down facts. heh in the actual game none of that crap will work like it does in the VR.

Those "facts" wont stop you from being one shotted by a PA or murdered back to back by an ADAD macro'er.

That was a bad attempt at a joke, with the Striker and Lancer =P

Anyway, I agree, it depends on playstyle, but you also notice the positive sides of the other weapons. For example, when I play NC, I noticed the less horizontal recoil compared to the CARV, but I do not notice the smaller DPS. Same when NC play TR; they notice the positive sides of the TR weapons (higher ROF and DPS) but not the negatives (less accuracy). Essentially, when you play another faction, you pay attention to what you don't like on the weapons on your faction and you get the illusion that the other faction's weapons are better.

NC hard to learn? Lol, ha ha ha.

I was talking about EM-6, I meant I don't know about it since I haven't bough it.
And you're just looking like a bigot about playstyle, with CARV it is viable since you have advantge of spread and RoF, run in and shoot., ADS in close range? enjoy being so slow the fight turns into whoever shoots first, range doesn't matter anyways, it's CQB, you need to hit not hit farther, and the NC LMG's spread makes it almost impossible, plus attachments make close range actually worse, considering one's specifically says "reduces hipfire accuracy", and it's not like I'm gonna snipe with a machine gun, especially when my playstyle is at close range.
The Reaver does have the same pretty much the same easiness to shoot from every angle, look at it's model: It's a box, Mossi has a straight shape which makes it hard to hit except from above or the front (where the main chasis is), Scythe? flat and sleek as a pancake, not only that but's got some pretty big holes at spots, it's got high agility to boot, why would the back? surely no one is going to get fron the front or the side where it's easier for their enemy to retaliate instead of shooting form where they can't see what's going on, some do attempt to stick to the enemy's tail, and it becomes key when it's about dodging.
It's called perspective, You don't have to obligatoriely be on the other side's to know the results, most of the Orion's fire hit whenever they shoot, like a tuned-down Carv.
If you're doing fine then good for you, but I haven't seen people saying "VS is subpar", actually the opposite, and I don't see anything to back up yours either.
The gauss IS subpar compared to the Carv and Orion due to that spread problem, I've played with the Carv, seen people using Orion (videos and in-game to see if playing VS would be worth it), fast and accurate respectively, NC is subpar on close range to Carv because of the low hitting rate, not so much to Orion but Orion still hits faster, it's not "the grass is greener" it's "Why the heck can he hit me so much and I can't?!".

I REALLY think I need to get a Shotgun, but I don't have the certs for that, I mean, 1000 certs.
I don't use a VR either.

Wait what? low accuracy?
That was one of the problems I mention the NC LMG to have, how come I hit so much with the Carv then?

I must have been born to use the Carvs then