There's no 4th faction, huh?

So when are we dealing with the fourth faction issue? I can go on and propose a solution like I did here: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...ing-with-alts-that-tk-for-an-advantage.74789/ back when it would have been easier to implement before Alerts and "4th faction" as a common terminology didn't exist, but instead we exacerbated the problem.

To be honest, I don't understand why people would even bother switching factions for 'temporary' gain, If they aren't playing it - I don't see the real reward of 'beefing up' a character without any real progression or sense of earning it; especially when you aren't even using it... So to me, it was never really attractive to switch; even when tonnes of my fellow factioners switch across when we happen to lose our last biolab, tech plant or whatever.

But the problem still exists and I think it is time to address it PROPERLY because it really is annoying to think 'okay, we are all even' at the start of an alert and then when someone is coming out on top, they steam roll us like a boulder in an Indiana Jones movie and there's no hope of turning it around, that everyone (including myself) give up on the alert and go 'elsewhere'. We are actually starting to *hate* alerts... and don't get me wrong either, I also hate it when we are *winning* because of 4th factioners, really makes you feel like you didn't earn it.

Let's fix it guys.

Here's a picture of an alert that just ended 10mins ago.

Is that from Matherson?

Earlier today when populations were closer to balanced (VS were at 36-38%) VS still dominated an alert for amp stations, because my fellow NC were too busy trying to take over the ghost towns of Indar. VS on Matherson are too organized for NC and TR to deal with. I just avoid that server now and play on Connery.

Where do you see people saying there is no 4th faction?

You beat the crap out of that straw man.

There's a pretty solid consensus that there is such a thing as 4th factioning. The debate generally centers on two things: how widespread 4th factioning is, and whether or not detrimental to the game.

There is no 4th faction.

Really, is that why BWC pushes the VS to basically their warp gate on Indar almost every night during prime time?

It has nothing to do with organization since both TR/VS/NC have skilled outfits which all can go head to head with each other and that is clearly seen at primetime . Only when TR decides to go to bed do the VS steam roll over everything with massive overpopulation, and there is no honor to be had after prime time on Mattherson.

you need better statistics then the continent population

buh bye

That was Global Pop, jerk.

Augrunt is right Codeak, if you look at his pic it says world pop, not continent pop.

Just because there's no 4th faction issue during primetime on mattherson doesn't mean everything's okay. Due to my work schedule i rarely get to play during primetime, so i'm left with the 12-man TR night shift VS a sea of purple.

We need bigger guns! And more bullets!

Whoah easy there. Lets try and avoid sounding like Buzzcutpsycho. Warpgate VS every night prime time? C'mon Eskimo lets not exaggerate.

It's true we don't always warp gate you and I and BWC have a lot of respect for the outfits on the Vanu. A lot of times I wonder if command during OPs decides to simply push you down to your last few territories forcing all your best outfits to fight us at once so we may engage in the epic battles we so desire. I can say I personally love it when we get you guys down to like 2-3 territories and all I see are AT, GOTR, NNG, and the likes of that. Since the 4th faction it's harder finding quality fights with the VS because your overpop spreads out the good outfits. Back in the day all the VS really consisted of were excellent outfits and some pubs so the good fight was always there.

Uh...guys...we're talking about Briggs here, not Mattherson.

What DOES fumble my brain is where did all the NC 4th factioners go? I mean a couple of months ago NC was basically THE guys to be. Then suddenly they all left, and even with NC gaining the North Indar Warpgate, they didn't go back.

I mean sure VS has population now, but come 8-9pm it WILL even out or lean in TR's favour.

I think they migrated away from NC when NC got SE warpgate and decided to go VS when ZOE was introduced. Although they nerfed ZOE I don't think 4th faction really cares, they just want to stick whatever faction has highest pop. It' typically not that bad on Briggs during prime time but off hours can be frustrating when VS has over 10% more server pop than TR or NC.

It's sickening -- this shouldn't be happening at all. We need a TWO hour lockout timer. If you sign in as NC, you can't sign in as VS or TR until TWO HOURS after you logout of NC. Simple as that.

Two hours encapsulates the Alert's duration; problem solved.

Lockout timer would be a step to right direction but it would be better to implement something that gives benefits for lower populated faction. The problem here is not the people switching factions but unbalanced populations that result from it. I would prefer some mechanism to help pop balance all the time, not just during the alerts.

lockout timer would be great. decreases as the BR of both characters increase, e.g. switching between two BR70 toons will have little to no lockout timer, while switching between a BR 20 and BR 40 would have a significant lockout.

Also, hope IP lockouts can be implemented

saw vs server pop go to 58% one night on mattherson. i just play connery now since there are way more players to kill and they're mostly all bad

Its quite easy to see the fourth faction effect on Woodman, watch the pop just after an alert and watch the NC and TR players all log over to vanu for some easy points.