My max has 2x bursters with extended mags, 2x hacksaws with extended mag, fully certed combat shield, and high lvl if not fully certed explosive resist armor. With the addition of the combat shield I have been having a lot more fun playing the max compared to before the shield. I have been able to survive a lot longer from incoming fire. The shield also acts as a tool to draw fire while my allies shoot whats shooting me. You can also reload while holding up the shield so it helps mitigate a pretty vulnerable time frame. Far more useful then the sprint was due to wonky mechanics of the sprint. The Flak dispersion at long range nerf was not cool in terms of usefulness for air defense, but i still manage to get kills while doing AA duty. I dont really feel like ive lost effectiveness in close combat with the hacksaws. they throw so many shots that I have not really noticed any less firepower. I dont mind not having a good AI long range solution. Overall im happier now with my runs with a max. Of course going into the fray alone will get you very easily killed. When working with at least a few allies, then its a much more stable experience. I dont feel like ive wasted any certs that i have put in. Oh........yea.......350 certs...........totally dont like that change at all.
Definitely when it was released. It was quite underrated, barely any other vanu maxes to steal your farm and it was quite fun to duel against TR maxes. Especially against iEnzo
As a fellow hardcore MAX player, I'm really curious about why you don't pull the MAX anymore, or just use it for camping. I've been playing the VS max before it was "the thing", and I'm still not a fan of the ZOE because Charge is an intrinsically very powerful ability. After swapping over to my NC alt and putting a good amount of certs/xp into it, I just don't see why veteran MAX users consider it ineffective. I ended up 44 / 2 going solo with dual mattocks on a completely stock MAX unit, while fighting outdoors. I had no shortage of engineers to keep me up and moving even though I was a stock MAX with no armor upgrades, and I just pretended my Mattocks were Nebulas with great upfront burst. So I just used charge to sprint from cover to cover or generally just exploit terrain in general until I got to the piece of cover that the enemy was huddled behind. Then I'd just sidestep around the cover, blow them all up, then step back to safety while I reload. With Kinetic armor / Extended Clips / riot shield I can only imagine it getting better from there. Not only was it extremely effective for farming kills, but it also continuously dislodged the TR firing line and ultimately helped my allies push up. It's a ton of fun, and I just don't get why NC don't use their MAXes this way. It's not a playstyle that's as intuitive as the other two MAXes, so I can understand why casual NC Max users or new players would dismiss it, but I don't understand why a hardcore MAX user would stop.
No. I dont enjoy my MAX, or PS2 in general, as much as i used to. My favorite thing was Burster. Didnt get many kills, especially not early on. But it was a fun weapon to use, with some nice weigth behind it. It just felt fun to use. And then Burster got nerfed hard, now its just a silly weapon where you just need to be lucky to hit anything. It feels unwieldy and its just flat out less fun to use. No one likes to sit there spamming a weapon and praying to hit something, knowing there is nothing he can do about it. When the patch hit that nerfed Burster and upped the resource cost to 350, i played once. Got out, pulled Burster because the sky was littered with pilots. Despite getting more then usual kills because of all the awefull pilots, it just felt much less fun and i wasnt enjoying myself as much. Then i got killed, I respawned and instantly got run over by some idiot on a quadbike. And noticed i'd have to wait an outrageous long amount of time just to recover the resources to pull another MAX, i logged out and havent played since. Just happen to come across now, checking every once in a while to see if anything changed for the better. Obviously nope, so i'll check back in another month or two. Thing is, im not even bored without PS2, plenty of fun games competing for my spare time.
Overall no. Max shotguns are way too niche that unfortunately require a GU nerf every month so they become exponentially more of a niche weapon. Slugs could be viable if they could do something about convergence. Meanwhile TR and VS continue to to kick *** regardless of range. ZOE enabled and you have cream of the crop. TR maxes are the most balanced. The fracture is a beast, but I'd gladly offset it with pre-nerf falcon. Also old awesome falcon > raven > ****** new falcon. The raven isn't bad persey, but it doesn't hold a candle against the old falcon. Currently regarding NC, our jack of all trades max really is the raven max. It's "weak" zone is really only 20 meters and closer. Unfortunately if more NC rolled raven maxes it would be nerfed in an instant.
I think you overrate old falcon a bit in it's performance but it sure was more useful and fun to use back then.
They are tired of vehicle farming so they nerf bursters and propose giant bubbles over the bases. wtf?
I play now most times my VS char and i feel that NC MAXes are only in very small rooms a real threat, in biolabs and new-esamir bases they are little to no-threat, i only lose 0.5-3.5% of my SHIELD if a NC MAX is on 6-8m range and i can easily shoot it or escape. Such stupid things that Maarvy and similar people say about ZOE are completely a lie. VS MAXes are in overall fine balanced just like the NC MAX should be(not to be a slow, big and no-range target). PLS DONT NERF ANYTHING I NEVER fear a NC MAX as TR/VS and i speak from experience. The shield ability should reflect bullets OR be like the HA shield(slower but more health while active) And its a joke that i survive longer with a TR/VS MAX without ANY upgrades like extended mags or flak-armor. All-in-all i survive MUCH longer with TR/VS MAXes than with NC MAXes
To address the post title "Do you enjoy your MAX now more than at release" I'll simply answer with, as long as ZOE exists, NC and TR will never enjoy their MAX suits.
MAXes most unbalanced thing in this game. Reasons: 1) Anti-infantry weapons. MAXes most used in two situations: first - defending point, second - MAX crashes. In both situations NC MAXes are twice better than VS and TR. Anti-infantry MAXes designed for fighting inside the buildings, so I will say "NO" to NC whiners which is screaming "NC MAX is worst!!!". 2) Abilities. What the hell... TR lockdown. Incredible overpowered with fractures (against vehicles) and incredibly useless in all other situations. NC shield. It was useable for reload... some patches ago . VS ZOE. See the "1)". ZOE forcing to use kinetic armor to compensate debuff. Can be used in MAX crash if you want to take 25% higher damage from all sources. Absolutely useless in defending point. Very powerful against lonely infantry. So this is summary: 1) MAX anti-infantry weapons unbalanced. The idea to give shotguns for NC MAXes and water pistols for VS and TR is failure. 2) I don't know what developers thought when they designed these abilities. P.S. As VS player, I prefer dual comets and auto-repair (Dual comets is better AI than all AI weapons ). And I don't. using. ZOE.
Well lets give some more accuracy to vanu and terran MAXes. Then you will be happy yes? ZOE comets can be great against vehicles when you have some cover. ZOE is great. Outdoors comets can be better AI yes, but indoor it's at best guilty pleasure.
VS/TR MAXes are fine in some way, only thing that needs to be changed is NC MAX weaponry, it cant be that i havent any fear against NC MAXes with my VS and TR char. Stop crying about "bad" ZOE, I play NOW my VS char and it doesnt seem that the VS is OP and NC is up, NO, its VS is ok and NC needs to be buffed.
No I don't. 350 resources is far too much for what you get. It's really not that hard to kill a MAX suit and it sucks spawning this walking tank and being afraid to actually use it because it's too damn expensive. There's also the issue of ZOE. It just doesn't seem to have any downsides to it and is a clear and superior choice to the standard charge unit for every Vanu maxes. This though isn't really the problem. The problem is Lockdown and Aegis are so comparatively inferior. Lockdown especially is the short end of the stick. It really needs to generate a forcefield or something to increase the ability of the MAX to hunker down in a position defensively. At the moment, it's just asking a Heavy to drop a decimator in your fat, immobile face for a pretty poor increase in fire power. I've largely resorted to charge nowadays - it's simply more useful more of the time.
I like it more, why? People know what to do against Max's which means you need to adapt, which makes the game harder, and a lot more funnier. As for people complaining about the NC Max. Yes I do believe they need a buff, and that's the reload speed. It's way to damn long, need's to be shortened. As for the damage and range of the Max. It's fine.
I hsd a fair bit of fun in my tr max today. Dual mutilators, face plate and ogre armor in the indar rock camo. It was all fun and games till i got rocketed. Three guys is to much for 1 max...esp when 1 is an la with c4...lol. But otherwise unloading with dual chainguns...fun stuff.
Watch NC MAX shotguns stats. They have shotgun in each hand. Watch TR and VS MAX weapons, they have half weapon in each hand. So yes, water pistols. 1) Accuracy? Are you kidding me? You think if one side will have high damage in close range and other - better accuracy it will be balance? No. MAXes need a total rework. No more shotguns, or shotguns analog for TR and VS MAXes. I have some ideas about it, but current abilities not suitable for this ideas. Maybe I will come up with new abilities and post it later. 2) Maybe, but i'm not sure, that you will survive tank direct hit. 3) To be honest, using comets indoors better. I can shoot and hide for reload. Also, with infantry support cometMAX have no problem with killing enemies. You kill they or maybe your allies finish them. Also, it is important, cometMAX very effective against other MAXes.
No... the NC have significantly inferior shotguns, just like the TR and VS have significantly inferior automatic weapons. Individually all of the MAX weapons are really weak. The infantry shotguns all have faster reload times than the MAX shotguns, as well as the ability to add attachments that add versatility (IE extended mags). Infantry shotguns also have larger magazine sizes. If you do not think magazine sizes matter... you have never compared the NS SMG to the Sirius. I do not like the NC MAX and I do not like that it has shotguns. Getting killed instantly because you turned a corner is annoying, and NC MAXes really should have a mass driver-like weapon to choose instead of shotguns, but the MAX shotguns are not better than their infantry-based counterparts. The VS and TR MAX weapons have significantly larger than their infantry counterparts, and are very similar if not better in some other aspects. Let's take a look at the VS' Nebulas, in comparison to the VS' LMGs. So, firstly, the combined fire rate of the Nebulas surpasses that of any VS LMG available, at 852 RPM. That is also faster than any SMG, Carbine, or Assault rifle that the VS has access to. It also has a default magazine size of 50, which is the same as the Orion. The Nebulas also have a higher standing still hipfire accuracy than any of the VS LMGs, as well as a higher moving hipfire accuracy. With the Nebulas, you are basically getting a Serpent with a giant magazine, better hipfire than an LMG, an option to increase your magazine size further, more backup ammunition, all mounted on a suit which can traverse at the speed of infantry while still having more health. Did I mention that the Nebulas also have a faster reload speed than any of the VS LMGs?
I've never enjoyed the NC Max. I don't like shotguns so . But they are a necessary tool at times like any of the other classes. Just wish it had a range weapon (seriously, don't bring up slugs before you have tried it vs other maxes or anything moving, reload reload reload..zzz) that could compete with the other maxes. I mean, why 4 shotguns, what's the point? Remake one of them into a full auto version. Give the other maxes a CQC option as well. Balance!
