The factions are fine as they are

I play all 3 factions.
NC secondaries could use some love.
Other than that I think things are pretty well balanced.

TR and VS both have multiple things that are OP... NC doesn't have OP things.

What about the c85.. I think complaining about the c85 is legit.

You know OP, It might be easier just wearing one of these shirts instead making these "Im so great I dont have issues with anything" egoboost-posts.

Sure there I things that need changing and tweeking, c85 being one of them, probably at the top of the list too. However saying 1 faction is straight up better then another is just silly and unfounded.

No? Hmmm...

If everything was fine, you'd see an equal amount of threads calling the opposing factions OP.
However, the majority of threads are calling the TR OP.
A much smaller number of threads are calling the VS OP.
And there is an almost complete lack of threads calling the NC OP. The most the NC gets are 'NC is fine' threads.

Grass always seems greener on the other side and stuff. And now other factions don't see the NC grass as greener, but on equal footing. Which, following this line of reasoning, would imply that the grass on the NC side is actually a lot less green then the grass on the lawn of the other factions.

It's anecdotal 'evidence' tough. Just like the WDS scoring, the leaderboards, populations, etc.

I agree with the OP. I think one of the problems we, as a player base, have is this concept of 'balance'. Many people seem to think it means each tool MUST be equal. It doesn't. It means the factions themselves are balanced. There will be situations where NC kick buttocks (mostly fighting in buildings and such), and places NC lose. Same is true of TR and VS.

Which doesn't mean I don't think there is some tweaking that needs to be done. I think C4 should be weakened. Or at least not quite as easy to plant. And I'd love to see the Phoenix do a little bit more damage...especially since it's pretty much the only weapon (and I could be wrong) where the operator is completely defenseless while using. Among many other things. But otherwise, I do think many people blow the issue out of proportion. Which makes sense, people hate to lose. But this IS a competitive game...and in order for someone to win, someone's gonna get the tar kicked outa them.

Not so sure about that- I think it is an arcade in a competitive wrapper.

Noooo...I don't think that's true. To try out that hypothesis I've been droping quarters in the slot on my computer and nothing changed. Well, except now my CDs won't go in......
<rimshot>

OP, I am successful with all three factions as well. That in no way, shape or form, means the factions are balanced.

I play all 3 factions very seriously and have for a while now. The source of all of the problems is poor faction balance. The developers' dream of achieving asymmetrical balance is a noble endeavor that is not even close to being realized in PS2.

Poor balance begets population imbalance, which then snowballs. The simple fact is, it's human nature to not enjoy getting roflstomped 24/7. So, when imbalance is allowed to persist for an extended period of time people tend to bleed over into the OP faction, a phenomena that increases exponentially over time as more leave to play with their friends that left, and so on and so forth.

There is a huge disparity between how each of the factions' various weaponry performs relative to their counterparts on other factions. When it comes to core weaponry that have been left in a shattered and broken state by the developers, NC win that contest hands down. On the other hand, when it comes to core weaponry that is overly strong relative to the counterparts on other factions and have been left that way for a long time, well we all know which faction that is...

As someone mentioned above me, the faction traits SOE arbitrarily decided should trump all other factors affecting balance favor TR tremendously and VS to a somewhat lesser degree. The nature of internet gameplay and the extremely quick time to kill are not kind to inaccurate, hard to control weapons. Even if a bullet does 10-20% more damage, that does no good if twice as many bullets miss as the other guys' or you have to burst fire while he does not.

Furthermore, the free, stackable extended magazine a lot of TR weapons have and their larger mag size in general, is a HUGE advantage that is a boon in every plausible situation. Compare that to the VS with no bullet drop on most of their weapons, that only becomes a factor if you're engaging targets well over 100 meters away, a very rare occurrence in PS2. As far as I know, NC don't even have a 2nd faction specific trait like TR (high RoF/big mags) and VS (no drop/fast reloads) do.

It's almost like NC are an afterthought, which makes sense when you look at all of their faction specific weapons & equipment. With the exception of the 5 time revamped Jackhammer, The Enforcer Modified, Phoenix. Falcons, broken Aegis Shield and Ravens are woefully mediocre by a dramatic margin compared to their TR and even VS counterparts.

Furthermore, there is not even a whiff of a hint from developers that they have any intention of modifying NC stuff to synergize better with their game mechanic paradigm. Frankly, I don't trust them one bit to do a good job of it anyway, look what they did to the poor falcons, that were fine the way they were anyway. They spend valuable coding time to break the falcons for no good reason, but leave the Enforcer modified a bad joke. Then in the same brushstroke, they think it's a good idea to put the Vulcan on the TR harasser!...<boggle>
So, it's no surprise NC are getting stomped and their population shrinks daily. They've been given every indication by SOE developers that their plight is none of their concern.

As a case in point and to prove I know what I'm talking about, here are my 3 characters on the three factions. Keep in mind, I play the TR toon "free", I haven't spent a dime on it, so no Fractures, Striker or Vulcan. On the other hand, I've purchased almost everything in the game for my NC and a lot of weapons for my VS.
NC; https://players.planetside2.com/#!/5428011263360929041
VS; https://players.planetside2.com/#!/5428059527817570145
TR;https://players.planetside2.com/#!/5428059527817569889

Except the best ESF, the MAX that rule all CQC which is about 80 % of the game and 90 % of the objectives and the shielded tank killer that is known as the Vanguard.

An problem?

Biggest Issues in Planetside 2:

1. Performance
2. AV Turrets
3. The Skyguard being trash
4. Being able to hack terminals at bases that aren't capturable.


Yeah, NC could use a better Phoenix, some Gauss Arms for their AI max, an enforcer modified buff and a Falcon buff. Or if the Phoenix can't be fixed buff the Raven.

Just like TR needs the AMC, Bull and Rhino to stop being trash.

Just like VS needs a pass on the PPA, the Magrider main cannon, the beamer and the Corvus.

You forgot the effects of NW5 against NC 200 damage weapons.

Also, just want to highlight the ACX-11 and Reaper since those are trash.

So, now, the list of NC woes is Pheonix, AI MAXs, AI vehicle secondaries, AV MAX, and the iconic NC trait weapons.

At least the AMC, Bull and Rhino are all doing okay in regards to KPU- of course, KPU is a confounded variable but it is what is referenced in the most recent comparison I have seen among infantry weapons where the KPU for weapons pulled (those with over 100 hours playtime in a 24 hour period iirc) shows 9 NC, 14 TR, and 6 VS weapons (with most VS clustering towards the highest ranks).

What I find a little humorous is that the above means the only things that are really OK for the NC is the Reaver and Vanguard. While I agree the Vanguard is in a good spot, I do think we need to bear in mind they need to adjust the XP rewards while in MBTs because the Vanguard is way outscored by both Prowler and Magrider thanks to being good at AV and bad and AI (you get a lot more certs farming infantry with an MBT than going after other vehicles).

Imagine if Vanu is redesigned as "high damage, fast RoF, pitifully small magazine size"...

Not sure if it will work well in balance, but it will certainly fit the Vanu theme of advanced alien tech.

I know some people are hesitant to reveal their character names for fear of being griefed for their opinions on here, I know Ive been trolled before in other games for it, but if your going to make any kind of claims of this sort then you better be prepared to back it up or your just helping further make the case for NC and come off as a troll.

I absolutely understand that people are hesitant to share character names and with good reason. Like you say, however, if you come to the forums and say "I know everything is fine because I play the different factions" then this is a meaningless statement without sharing those characters.

Just look at another similar recent post where someone was making the same claim- turns out they were lying. They were either lying in a previous post from July where they say the same thing or they were lying in that post because they claimed that they just that day played NC for the first time. Not only this, but they went on to make claims about kills with weapons, headshots, etc., and many of these claims were utterly refuted by looking at the actual character stats.

So yeah, I do not like asking about people's characters but if you are going to create a thread, not just a post but an entire thread, to say "my anecdotal experience with these proves this point" and then not provide any factual information about your actual game play then what can I say...

Ultimately, the only reason I even asked was precisely because of all the recent "L2P" posts where I have discovered blatant lying, hypocrisy, or exaggeration. In other words, this other guy who blatantly lied, another "L2P" poster who was trying to claim TR were just better players when previously in response to a VS making the same claim back during UES had said that such posts should be removed because they are nothing more than insults, and another "L2P" poster who claimed they do just as well with NC as other factions despite performing far far worse with NC than either VS or TR. I am just disgusted.

I remember months ago I claimed that NC was the faction to typically complain the most and people called me crazy. It still holds true to this day.

I got to BR88 before completely dropping my TR character (Naterian) for my NC character (Naterain) which is now BR100.

I wholeheartedly enjoy playing my NC more and like their vehicles/weapons the most.

For competitive matches I much prefer NC. The jackhammer is good, the vanguard is good, the reaver is good, their weapons are good and the phoenix could use some work. The only other faction specific thing I can think of is the MAX which I rarely ever play so I can't comment there.

NC are fine but there are balance problems that transcend NC just being weak such as the striker and ZOE max being globally too strong, not just when compared to their NC counter-parts.