Please Buff the NC

NC is both fine and screwed as a faction.

Purely on a mechanical level you have the most well-rounded arsenal in the game.

The Vanguard is the most durable and the most hard-hitting tank with very capable secondary options and an ability that is a clear upgrade with no negative effects. Compared to, say, the TR Lock-down you are clearly better off.

The Reaver is balanced around your faction traits. People complain that it's boxy and slower than the alternative, but it's also far more hard-hitting, more durable and has the best afterburner duration and thrust in the game that has it's own advantages for you to use.

Your arsenal of infantry weapons are well rounded. You have a weapon for every conceivable situation and need, CQB, mid-range, long-range, best pair of SMG's (ffs you get an SMG with 50 rounds in a mag, good stability, good ROF and decent damage, and I'm not even talking about the Cyclone. The Blitz has 10 rounds less than the TR's second-gen SMG, but the Hailstorm has no-where near the ROF or the raw damage of the Blitz and simply don't compare. It's widely considered the worst SMG in the game - the Blitz is often considered the second best, with the Cyclone being the undisputed king of SMG's. Hell, it's basically a mid-range carbine in SMG form. That Infils can use.

You have perhaps the nastiest MAX in the game, and the Raven AV weapons are infamous for being kill-joy cannons that will ruin any decent tank fights, because even if you arrive on an NC tank force with your own and have a good slugging match back and forth, the NC will simply pull a handful of Raven MAX'es and destroy you without mercy. Winning against an NC tank force is almost pointless. And when all your tanks are destroyed, they change to dual shotgun maxes - often with slugs - and come for your base as well - and in CQB - the range where most fights are decided - the NC Scat-MAX is notoriously powerful.

Your two faction-specific heavy weapons are a powerful CQB monster in the form of a 12-round mag semi-auto shotgun able to burst fire, making it lethal in it's intended role and the single most unique infantry carried Shotgun. The Phoenix is sadly very buggy, but otherwise a REMOTE-CONTROLLED AV MISSILE that you can fire over corners to hit tanks (and low-flying aircraft, I have died to and killed ESF's with a single Phoenix missile) all without their ability to retaliate. Hell any NC or VS armor inside of 300 meters of an NC spawn room is in mortal danger.

Your arsenal is fine, you have all the tools at your disposal you could ever want - but that's only the mechanical side of the game.

PLAYERS however is a bigger concern. Your population is on average the biggest in the game. You have no problems getting more bodies to recruit from, but the quality of their skill is often low - because you also have the highest number of transients and pass-alongs and new players in the game. This is due to a slanted advertisement (you see it almost everywhere, from the log-in art to the trailer) and the lore paint the NC in the most positive light of the three.

People are more fond of the 'brave rebels against the system' than the 'weird religious folks' and the 'evil enforcers of the old system' - on the face of it, the NC looks downright benign, with it's positive sides showing and their negatives well hidden. Hell, we have had people on these very forums arguing that the NC's draw-backs and negative aren't even issues or negatives at all, in an attempt to white-wash the faction because to some, the NC can't have any flaws at all, they are after all supposed to be the REBELS AGAINST THE SYSTEM, right? The revolution will not be vilified. Even if it won't be civilized either. Or is a lie, for that matter. But people hardly care for this because few care to dig any deeper into the lore.

A result of all this is a constant state of idealistic nubs running around everywhere. NC is on average the home of the most untalented, disorganized and clueless players around, with the people that defy this trend constantly trying to pick up the slack and fishing out the few who stick around and don't leave the game or join the VS for an easier time, or sometimes TR for a change of pace. (and less TK'ing) On average, more NC die than TR and VS, on average they TK more than TR and VS, on average their battle-rank is lower because, on average more NC leave the faction than staying around. Luckily, there are always plenty - PLENTY - of replacements.

Your problem, as is the problem for all dedicated NC, will be to snag all those hopeful potentials and make a competent force out of them. I've seen often what even passably skilled NC can do. It's almost fortunate that the NC's issues have been systemic since day one, but the same conditions also led VS to suck up most of the talented players out there, so there is that.

Personally though I may be a biased little tool, I find the TR's situation funny. We are squashed in the middle by the two of you, NC and VS - relatively many and well armed with good weapons and the relatively many with user-friendly weapons. The only thing that keep the both of you in check is the NC's lack of higher organization (there are only a few outfits on Cobalt worth of respect because they manage to pull off decent results and team-work) and the VS' lack of... wow can't think of anything at this time, lol.

Anyhow... TL;DR: NC is mechanically fine, you have little to nothing you can legitimately complain about when it comes to your arsenal. Your issues are primarily caused by an erratic and at time utterly incompetent player-base, and that is your problem to fix. If you can.

LOL. xD

Oh look, this meme again.

Have you been playing as NC at all recently? TR and VS are just as dumb as anyone on NC. TR and VS have just as many BR1-30 running around as any other faction. Lately Emerald is overflowing with new VS and TR players. Not faction hoppers, new players. You can tell when you fight them.

Your entire screed is so 2013. NC no longer gets to bulk of new recruits. NC is not possessed of more TKers and idiots.

Idiocy knows no faction boundaries. It is the most egalitarian of all human conditions.

NC is tough to play with because the starter guns have horrible recoil you need to cert away and learn to compensate...and then they are great. By the time you are BR50 that is. Same deal with the Vanguard (it's slow and gets you killed until you cert a chassis and the shield) and the ESF. End. Of. Story. Harder to learn, harder to master, ends up being pretty balanced in the end.

But keep up the myth other factions are smarter and better and have more experienced players. I love the nostalgia.

Oh look, this again - miss-reading a post and responding to what is effectively a straw-man.

I didn't say they have the only untalented disorganized and clueless players - I said, quote: "NC is on average the home of the most untalented, disorganized and clueless players around."

Highlighted the important bits. It's still true that the NC is home to the majority of the low-end players. It's to bad if this offends you, but it's still the case, and likely will until DBG goes out of their way to change things.

No, that is simply not true anymore and is a false statement. Look at the new player stats. NC is not gaining 'the majority' of new players anymore. Full. Stop.

You also do not know what the phrase "Straw Man" actually is...I know people like to use it to sound smart, but when you misuse it, it has the opposite effect.

Some directive reward weapons need to be changed everything outside that is just fine with nc.

Were maybe the faction that is less starter friendly (cus low firerate high damage will make you punish for a miss).
If you struggle as nc just play with it more and youll learn that were balanced enough in the game.

No it's too dangerous, I might raise my KDR.

In answer to each point you make.
No.
No.
No.
No.
And to conclude, please No.

Hard mode needs to be hard, take pride in the effort

Dear OP,

The suits and I are in agreement: you're not a good fit for this organization.

Here's your last check. Please clean out your work area and return all es equipment on the way out.

We wish you luck in your next faction career (you will need it).

Which server are you basing that off on? If you look at Emerald, it's close but the TR are gaining slightly more. But on other servers, NC dominate in new players. And yes, I do attribute it to the slanted advertisement.

Yes, please buff NC player AI, it's terrible right now.

Emerald from my own experience and server stats. The other servers, looking at sub 15 BRs on Dasan Fall:

Connery: ~9000 for TR/VS. ~10500 for NC
Miller: ~6000 VS, ~7000 TR/NC
Cobalt: ~6000 VS/TR, ~7000 NC
Briggs:~3500 TR, ~4000 NC/VS

Maybe on Connery you can argue that the numbers are 'dominating', if ~37% to ~32% is dominating. For the the rest, one faction tends to lag while the other two are very close (Cobalt a minor exception). On two of the four servers the number of new NC players matches another faction.

Overall there is a slight bias to NC for new players. But this is hardly 'dominating'. These aren't the days where 40% of a server was NC anymore.

Of course, the numbers do not break down actual new players from re-rolling players (experienced players trying a new faction, etc).

But yes, let's see people (not saying this to you, Goldmonk) continue with the fiction that "The OTHER guys are idiots, we're all so smart and cool and MLG-pro in OUR faction." It's called confirmation bias...or put another way, egotistical ********.

I laugh everytime I see this

They're making MAX NS HMG's

So NC MAX will have all the advantages of having the only instagib door camper, while getting the ranged MG option.

Maybe they'll someday finish those flamethrowers, though they're still grossly inefficient compared to shotguns for point guarding.

Straw-man argument, definition:

A straw man is a common reference argument and is an informal fallacy based on false representation of an opponent's argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.

The so-called typical "attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and then to refute or defeat that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead of the original proposition.

My original argument, shortened:

...Your population [NC] is on average the biggest in the game. You have no problems getting more bodies to recruit from, but the quality of their skill is often low - because you also have the highest number of transients and pass-alongs and new players in the game.... [reasons for why the NC has more pass-alongs and transients] ...A result of all this is a constant state of idealistic nubs running around everywhere. NC is on average the home of the most untalented, disorganized and clueless players around, with the people that defy this trend constantly trying to pick up the slack and fishing out the few who stick around and don't leave the game or join the VS for an easier time, or sometimes TR for a change of pace. (and less TK'ing) On average, more NC die than TR and VS, on average they TK more than TR and VS, on average their battle-rank is lower because, on average more NC leave the faction than staying around. Luckily, there are always plenty - PLENTY - of replacements....

High-lighted in blue the only part you responded to, and you responded with this:

Oh look, this meme again.

Have you been playing as NC at all recently? TR and VS are just as dumb as anyone on NC. TR and VS have just as many BR1-30 running around as any other faction. Lately Emerald is overflowing with new VS and TR players. Not faction hoppers, new players. You can tell when you fight them.

Your entire screed is so 2013. NC no longer gets to bulk of new recruits. NC is not possessed of more TKers and idiots.

Idiocy knows no faction boundaries. It is the most egalitarian of all human conditions.

NC is tough to play with because the starter guns have horrible recoil you need to cert away and learn to compensate...and then they are great. By the time you are BR50 that is. Same deal with the Vanguard (it's slow and gets you killed until you cert a chassis and the shield) and the ESF. End. Of. Story. Harder to learn, harder to master, ends up being pretty balanced in the end.

But keep up the myth other factions are smarter and better and have more experienced players. I love the nostalgia.

You have apparently taken it very badly that I have refuted the long tirade that you made from a single line isolated from everything else I said in my post - you miss-represented what I said by simplifying it and shortening it, then responding to the one line you quoted. This is how straw-man arguments work, you did not respond to what I said, you responded to only the one line - out of it's context and ignoring what it really said - that you quoted and you did so by twisting the meaning. I never said that only the NC team-kill, that only the NC has low-end players, or that only the NC have disorganized forces - those are all things you implied that I said - what I said was, the NC has the most of that on average, and explained why that is.

Finally, if you want to prove me wrong on this with these claims:

NC no longer gets to bulk of new recruits. NC is not possessed of more TKers and idiots.

And finish it with hyperbole like this:

NC is tough to play with because the starter guns have horrible recoil you need to cert away and learn to compensate...and then they are great. By the time you are BR50 that is. Same deal with the Vanguard (it's slow and gets you killed until you cert a chassis and the shield) and the ESF. End. Of. Story. Harder to learn, harder to master, ends up being pretty balanced in the end.

You will have to prove it. Show me the stats that demonstrate that the NC don't get the bulk of new players in PS2. Show me the stats that prove TR or VS have more TK'ers or derpy players. I will believe you and change my position accordingly when you demonstrate your claims to be accurate, because last I looked NC has always, since launch, had the majority of the fresh players and the majority of players that leave after a while to quit, or join TR/VS. I have never seen this trend end. Show me when and where it did.

Having to wait for BR50 in order to learn the way NC weapons act, and cert your favorite class ? Hope you're not serious.
You can almost fully cert your favorite class and weapons before lvl 20-25. After that will remain 1000 Certs costs equipments.

Nc weapons hit harder. Recoil has to be learnt, and it can be learnt is a short time, before BR20 if you're slow.

Learning curve is great in this game. Learning curve is different from faction to faction ( yeah,while a Vanu,i often have to run after those damn opponents to finish them...please tell me i'm not he only one having this trouble >< )

Learning curve is an essential component of any great game. That's why Ps2 "seduced" me : because you have to be patient, and to learn how to be competitive.

You don't like different factions, different weapons, different stats based games ? Go try Counter-Strike. About same weapons, totally same equipments, totally same stats. But you'll have to learn how to be competitive as on PS2, how weapons act, or you'll be farmed by other players....Learning curve again.

Constantly crying for buffs or nerfs for no real resason will only bring us a poor game. Just train !!!

The best way to buff the NC would be to lower the recoil of most of the NC weapons as well as reduce the bloom on some of the weapons as well. As far as vehicles go, the vanguard could use a slightly faster reload or higher velocity on all tank shells and the reaver needs something to mitigate it's massive hitbox. Other than that, most of the 'new' NC weapons are actually pretty balanced and have their select role where they do rather well.

But none of this will ever happen because apparently NC is completely overpowered and in fact use vangaurds for anti-air instead of bursters or skyguards because of how effective they are and NC MAXs are literally demi-god suits that absolutely slaughter everything and nothing can kill them or run from them. The NC are so overpowered in fact SOE had to NERF the canister! (you know, the literal worst gun in the game) The only reason why NC maintain almost all the lowest scores in the game is because all NC players TK everyone and are all just bad players.

Source? I didn't hear anything about this.

Twitter. I'm not looking it up.

They have the models for it and started a lil work on it. AFAIK it's back to back burner for a lil bit while they work on other stuff... prolly needs some animation or code work they don't have time for yet.

I highly doubt they'll throw away the work they've got on it though... it's definitely something they were actively pursuing only a couple months ago.

IDK, this thread kind of shows having models doesn't mean anything in terms of when something's coming out lol
https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/new-weapons.223962/

Edit: I see the NS Max LMG there