How do we feel about 4th faction / NSO?

Returning player after several years absence, playing on Emerald server. Primarily NC but I've recently created VS and TR characters.
Whenever I log in I typically pick whichever faction has the current lowest population. If an alert pops up I don't switch characters.
Since NSO, a literal fourth faction designed to even out numbers was released, the game seems to be inching towards a healthier state in terms of pop balance.
How is the general player attitude for people that play multiple factions? I remember on launch there was an extreme disdain for anyone who did adhere to a single faction. Is that still the case or have people mellowed out by now?

To be honest, I don't care. The only thing I think of whenever I see NSO is, 'Oh hey this player is a member'. That's literally it.

Unless you have 10,000 certs you can buy your way in. I have been thinking of doing that but not sure what the Pro/Cons are or how it effect's my character or do I get a new character?

As for playing both side's of the field I have had no problem's with squads knowing but some squad's will take issue with it as they mite think your a spy. So to be safe just don't tell anyone.

You need to create it as a new character, it uses one of your character slots.

I have never, ever seen anyone who cares about this. The number of people paranoid enough to have this train of thought could probably be counted on one hand. Just play the game and don't worry about what people think.

I think it's quite a stupid idea.

Not only are NSOs limited to only some players, they don't even serve their intended purpose half the time. They are functionally flawed and serve no purpose.

But what's worse, in my opinion, is that they present unique gameplay content locked behind a paywall while people are acting like they're a legitimate fourth faction and expect to be treated as such. They only exist to try (and often fail) to balance out faction populations. They don't need special equipment or buffs or anything of the sort.

NSO is the best thing that happened to the game in my opinion. Coming from a Miller VS player where NC is absolutely dominant at the moment in terms of population, it is nice to see the 33% population split at peak times, at least it makes you feel like you list because you got outdone, not because you got outpopped.

A fun way to play the game once you get tired of everything else and/or feeling like you want to jump on the lop pop faction but don't want to start new character for that faction. Plus, it is a nice nod to people who pay to keep the lights on without giving them anything that's overpowered or unfair.

The thing is they help "balance" overall continent pop, which doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. A faction can have 10% pop and still own the whole continent just because the other two are busy farming each other at a bio, or a faction could have 40% pop and get absolutely destroyed due to double teaming.

It's a placebo, just like the queues. I don't ever think I've seen a continent have "balanced" fights thanks to queues or NSOs, hence why years after their implementation people still complain about zergs and a faction "dominating" the map.

When I see NSO I think "that person hates themself."
They're paying to always play the losing faction,
But not even play the losing faction with all of its assets, only a tiny undeveloped selection.
Remember when Wrel told us they were releasing Javelin in a useless state
but they would work on it in the future? HAHA you believed Wrel, idiots!" Let's add more explosions instead!

NSO is for masochists,
Play the losing faction with a fraction of the weapons, no mbt, no esf, and no max (no defuktor doesn't count it's freaking useless.)
Wrel/ Michael (bay?) Is too busy adding crap that makes explosions, because that is how 5 year olds think...

True.

Playing NSO is -from a pure gameplay perspective- quite restrictive and sometimes frustrating: you have far less options or flexibility when it comes to air/ground vehicles and especially infantry weapons: NS weapons are, all in all, not so powerful in terms of damage, not sporting high ROF (quite the opposite) and lack specific weapons for specific scenarios: no CQC bullet hoses, no ultra-precise and powerful long-range rifles/LMG.

But there is a flipside: personally I play a lot as NSO because I believe it will make better players, because we poor robots have to rely upon awareness, precision and movement (NS-15M2, Naginata, NS-11C, NS-11A/Diamondback) as opposed to spewing bullets hoping to get a kill.

The only NS equipment that I absolutely refuse to use is the Yumi. That weapon is an abomination with the 250ms delay before starting to fire and in-between burst. I simply hate it.

You pay real money for NSO. It's ASP you can get access to by paying for membership or spending 10k certs.

To answer your question, you have to make a new character.

If you have spare cash. Join NSO. I suggest sprinting to BR100 asap while the faction is still underdeveloped.

Cons:
Half finished faction with missing ESF-MBT and faction specific weapons.
MAX unit has 1 weapon, and CANNOT shoot outside of spawn room, or through any shielding.
Default voice is stock for whatever faction you join. If you join TR, you have TR human voice etc etc. We're robots and we deserve to have a default robot voice. Like clap trap or something.
Harasser doesn't have a faction specific top mounted turret. So gg on getting pwned by all 3 harasser factions.

Pros:
XP bonus from membership + being on underpop. Typically, you start out anywhere between 60-100% xp bonus by default. If you buy double xp packs, You'll have a +160-200% xp bonus all the time. On double xp events, 260-300% xp bonus is amazing.
MAX units toss grenades that insta explode on impact. Great way to splash around corners and farm infantry. Kills enemy max quick, and decimates armor.
Infil gets to unlock a bolt action that has x4-x12 scopes, buttstock that COMPLETELY deletes weapon sway (no more holding breath), and it has minimal weapon drop so it's easy to CQC and longrange headshots.
If you're a solo player who enjoys doing your own thing, NSO is a great faction to join.

------------------
Side note, it's a given they'll add more features that will balance out the faction. The robots are clearly in an unfinished state. I'm looking forward to the 5 man tank coming out next month.

NSO is completely misguided in it's implementation.

A "neutral faction" only works as a F2P entry point for a B2P game (maybe Planetside 3 sometime), not as a premium bonus.

People still play the faction?

Lackluster weapon selection, because let’s face it in America it’s all about the guns. No Empire Specific vehicles, Subpar max suit with limited options, to many bugs for instance ammo belt on sniper rifle NSO version don’t work. Lack of anything really where they have a niche.

I have NSO and have had little motivation to play them outside of the honeymoon phase. I think they ought to be F2P unlocks after like BR 50 with a MBT and ESF added, others have suggested this as well as making members able to choose the faction they fight for on NSO while F2P are assigned low pop faction like it works now.

I always wanted the black ops faction even if I never played PS1, and I guess NSO are similar? Since it's locked behind continuous membership (do lifetimers get permanent access at least?) can't play it.

It's so low in numbers that I fail to see how it's supposed to balance pop. Would probably make zero difference if NSOs got to pick who they want to fight for on character log-in. Also, how do NSO outfits and teaming with friends work if they're on a different faction at the time?

The NSO Pay2Play helps fund the game, but being ASP100 on TR & VS it would be nice to have some entry to play NSO since, really, the alternative is boredom and not playing at all due to a lack of anything new. As in, say, you reach ASP100 on all 3 factions and pay 10K certs, while those who ASP NSO can keep access permanently? I donno, just throwing ideas as it's kinda crappy to have content out of reach, and any healthy multiplayer game needs not just funding but also players to play with.

I like NSO. Given there's not many differences between the main 3 as it is, its about the same as the other 3. I do think the "population balance" mechanic tastes like a f2p mechanic rather than a premium one.

NSO is a great idea for population balance, despite being locked behind Membership. Unfortunately, for all the "unique" tools they've been given (Defector, Javelin) they still lack a lot of basic functionality, such as being able to pull and pilot an MBT or an ESF.

Otherwise, I'm perfectly fine with them. It gives people who are willing to pay for a membership the ability to just hop in and play whenever they want, without worrying about population queues since they'll always be at the front of the line (both because of member priority and because NSOs are always placed on the lowest pop faction)

I would say the only remaining problems are playing with friends and encouraging balanced play on the off-pop continents, and maintaining pop balance on the main continent. Both could be solved by offering NSO players the option to switch sides while in-game. Call it the option to "Renegotiate Contract." NSO players are then rewarded for choosing to switch sides mid-game to play with a lower-populated faction, and are penalized for switching to a higher populated faction.

Naturally, playing as a faction with lower population should always net extra rewards, but switching mid-game using an NSO character should have added bonuses.

My outfit kicks those scabs from the Platoon.

1. They don't communicate on the mic. (Too cool to talk to anyone)
2. They don't follow orders. (They know better than anyone else)
3. They like destroying friendly sunderers. (Helping their Faction on the other side)

And these are the chosen ones, the stewards of PS2...the "Members". LOL

Ultimately incredibly boring yet best used as infiltrator mains.
They really shouldn't have been members only imho but what can you do. I think there should be a secondary way to play them. Like getting a character to br50 on each faction it something.