Is it just me or does NC have like literally the best items hands down?

I've played and checked out all 3 factions but man I gotta say NC has the weapons/systems with the most perks, compared to TR which is worst of the 3 in my opinion.
Like jackhammer, rail gun, albatross, reaper, scatter pistol, tank shield, max shield, raven, phoenix, enforcers, even canisters have exceptional anti personnel power compared to the other 2.
Have heard rumors that they were favored by SONY entertainment and hence the carry over results.

Actually, the NC do have a lot of really fun weapons. But statistically they're usually (But not always) the least effective. The NC tank for instance, is the least performing tank of the 3. But yeah, the phoenix is a gas, even if it's not usually the most practical choice for launchers. Jackhammer is pretty good, but it just got buffed recently, so I think it may be into "terrifying" territory now.

But as for the rumors of NC being SOEs pet favorite are just that: rumors. The PS2 community gets plagued a lot by faction diehards that pick 1 faction and refuse to play any others or keep an open perspective on the fact that another faction may be a bit better at something than their favorites.

I stopped using Forumside a long long time ago for various reasons, but I logged in just to answer your question and you are absolutely right. There are very few reasons to play VS/TR when NC has literally the best of everything. I guess it's a relic from the Higby era where he openly favoured "Space 'Murica". NC has so many broken toys that I don't even know where Devs would start fixing if they actually decided to balance all 3 Factions with each other.

My personal favorite is the M96 Mjolnir-H for the Harasser. Simply a joy to use as you're melting vehicles.

Sounds like you haven't played multiple factions yet. Shotguns and flavor aren't immediately the better options.
I much prefer the TR Inquisitor and pocket-SMG over NC Mag-Scatter and VS sidearms.
Also Railjack has a high skill floor due to the extended exposure after uncloaking, it has damage but then one negative gimmick and no positive ones plus huge bullet drop.
I left TR for a better community, then left NC for several AV weapons I'm addicted to.

A-ha-ha.

Then play NC and find out.
Jackhammer: dropped one pellet, no drop, still meh.
Railjack: Delay but best velocity, just use a longshot.
Atross: sniper AR for medic
Reaper: Near exact same sniper AR for medic
Magscatter: Garbage, a commy, underboss or just bestperado is a better sidearm.
Vanguard shield: 2k burst hp to make up least top speed, maneuverability, acceleration and lowest dps.
Aegis: because going into a long range fight with shotguns is generally a bad idea.
Ravens: They're good but I'd not say best. I prefer vortexes to snipe vehicles at 500 meters.
Phoenix: Epitome of situational use. Cannot be used as a default, does not respond to air well, or harassers or maxes butgives deci damage over a camera
Enforcer: Gatekeeper and saron equivilent.
Cannister: Its good AI, but that's mostly because I don't believe the other two are good. PPA is outclassed by fury and maruader is a fury clone.

NC has great guns, it just has terrible players unable to pull down the mouse, or to use their brains in general (hi there BR 10 medic not reviving). The tross has literally the same amount of horizontal recoil without a foregrip than most terran guns who have one equipped, just look at the mercenary, same deal, and so on. NC arsenal is just way more polyvalent than TR's, for example, when talking about assault rifles. The long-range options are limited to the SABR for the TR, and there are arguably 3 long range guns for NC, while also having the Carnage (beast gun), and the default gauss rifle in the middle.

I just love NC, I have wet dreams of having NC weaponry on my TR char. All that accuracy is just insane compared to the ******** horizontal recoil I'm dealing with everyday.

As pure infantry I personally prefer the TR dakka weapons (Jaguar, Lynx, TORQ9, MSW-R, T4 AMP) and Claymores but there are certain NC weapons I really do like:

• Bandit Carbine (I play a lot of engie and a fair bit of LA) though it can suffer a bit from lower RoF in CQC if you miss some shots. GD7F is super nice too but the Bandit 0.75 ADS and medium range killing power does it for me.
• Desperado burst pistol (for my stalker). Some say the VS Spiker is as good or better in burst mode but I do better with the Desperado for some reason.
• Phoenix, for occasional long range or not-in-line-of-sight Max killing although I'm finding it harder to control after the changes. Blowing up an esf was hugely satisfying (I understand they have less resistence to Phoenix rockets) but it's harder now. Still fun to try though.

It's all flavor and preference really. Some people like beef, some like chicken, still others like fish. They all have their merits.

As for actual performance NC seem to lag behind the other 2 factions with TR having the "best" toys. At least according to the statistics. In the combined arms game NC "seems" to do worse over all on my server. Mostly I feel because vehicles are necessary and I see far far more NC foot zerging then TR or VS.

There really is no best faction, just whichever one you like the best.

TR have plenty of "bests"
prowler is almost always ontop of MBT performance and has the highest sustained damage in the game.
claymores are usually regarded as the best anti infantry mine due to how they can be placed out of view and still deal the damage as if they were in the middle of the doorway, and until recently they were instant.

arguments could be made for Repeater being the best faction specific sidearm and Striker being the best source of resource free AA on demand.

as for VS, those guys have rocket launchers that can easily hit any target in render range and an MBT that can get literally ANYWHERE.
also their power knife is far quieter than the other 2.

there are good and bad things in each faction and overall i think they're pretty well balanced,
if i had to pick a "this faction has the best stuff" i'd pick TR.

The T1 Cycler is incredibly accurate too... So is the TORQ. Add in your close range ARs and you got a very complete selection of top tier ARs. The T5 AMC and Cougar are two other strong ranged weapons. Also, the Jag is love, the Jag is life(but more for closer ranges). TMG-50, Bull, and the Rhino are also really solid weapons.

The Bull or CARV are my go-to weapons depending where I am. Also, the TRV is brutal at mid range once you learn how to burst with it and I've gotten numerous hackusations for my accuracy with it(around 30% ain't that bad for someone who engages with it as range, I'd say). All you need to do is pull a little bit down to the right as you burst and before they even know what him 'em they've taken quite a few hits... In CQB I feel comfortable going up against HAs with it... Then there is the sound of it... Such a sweet song of dakka.

Praised be the dakka for the dakka speaks true! Well, until I play another faction. Proud 4th factioner here, always playing for the underdog.

due to the factional nature of the game you will find some opposing faction weapons that perform better than yours. I think some of it comes from the thought process of adding that gun to your arsenal as apposed to asking what would i give up for it? I would love pounders for the nc max or a chaingun for the vanguard. On the TR i wish i had a phoenix and so on. On nc sometimes i wish i had cyclers or blueshifts .. scary I think.

NC vehicle equipment has absolutely no synergy with foot soldiers, that's why. Vanguards being the prime example. They're decent at killing vehicles, but can't do much against infantries due to their slow reload and sluggish handling. That also rendered their roof top anti-infantry canister turrets to be largely ineffective, since fighting infantry in close quarter in a fat, clumsy and slow Vanguard is literally death sentence. Canisters are certainly wonderful on a hit and run Harasser, though.

Ultimately, killing infantry is what wins you the objective captures in this game. So unless the NC is under constant vehicular threat, you won't see them pull much Vanguards at all. For NC, Lighting is their only real choice for infantry support. Where Magriders and Prowlers mesh beautifully in combined arm assault in cases of VS and TR.

Thanks for the input, I suppose grass is always greener on the other side. I main TR (for loyalty to my starting faction and the better guy in lore perhaps?) but played all 3 faction to a decent BR/period and was able to try out most weapons for those who said I've not played all 3. If you are basing it on the fact that I couldn't recall the name of the sidearms at that time then that's a pretty poor assumption, since I can't recall all TR weapon names either so I simply describe them in my own terms. I wouldn't be putting in my 2 cents if I haven't tried anything, and again, everyone's opinion will differ as this is just me sharing my opinion from experience instead of presenting black and white figures.
I do agree that TR and VS have some great weapons as well but in general, NC is almost jack of all trades imo with a master in cqc, which will mostly award players with accurate aims but has quite great advantages consider where a good majority of the fights take place.

Epitome of exponential power with multiple users, epitome of unused potential because rt-ed players.

Been playing my NC the last couple of days and as several players have stated NC have a bunch of great weapons to use. The population just don't know how to use them right and doesn't organize to use them to their fullest.

Vanguard is the Second Fast tank of the MBTs, behind the Prowler by 5 kph. While it does have a slow acceleration this is quickly compensated for by gear skipping. As for damage output of the main gun that actually goes to the Magrider, as even the Python 100 AP out dps the FPC.

Aegis when you walk into a room and don't want to take a sudden alpha when the enemy knows your coming; also great for when you just mag dumped and need to reload while a couple threats remain.

Enforcer, a better version of the Saron for targets outside of 100m, and better at Anti-Infantry play.

Because everyone went to VS where you don't HAVE to know how to shoot. NC has the highest skill-cap, and the weapons are pretty much even (more damage, less ROF), so many players went to the easier factions to play. TR get screwed as jack of all trades master of none.

Acceleration is supremely important for surviving close quarter fighting against infantry, though. Since that's really where the canister turret can be most effective. This is why canister turret is such a horrible match with Vanguards, yet functions beautifully on a Harasser. Before Vanguard can be redesigned to mesh better with infantries, NC will continue to lose in combined arms scenarios.

If enemy knows you're coming, they would've surrounded the room. Aegis might be nice, but it only blocks damage from one direction.

I think I'd rather have three Lancers than five Phoenixes.

Heh, even just one guy with his pistol could knock all five rockets out of the air.