- No ESF - No Heavy Tank - No AA Max. - Thanks for all the NS weapons? But with no access to any faction based weapons, it is still limited. There are only a handful of perks I am aware of (and please someone correct me if I am missing any) - Javelin which is basically a flash that floats. - The Defector which is not much of a perk compared to faction maxes. At the very least give NSO access to the faction vehicles & weaponry for the faction they represent. I don't even care if they need to be unlocked. How in the world could all this dev time be spent on campaigns & NSO remains unpolished, unfinished and just outright a disappointment. If NSO was designed to be this limited, then there is a seriously disconnect in what is viable in this game.
Oh and dear me, I forgot to mention any event wearable like this weekend's The Schnoz which is a 20%XP boost wearable that isn't even useable for NSO
Apparently dbg are working on NSO now, theyre also thinking of ways to make them work differenty than standard infantry (This was what Wrel was saying on a recent stream, I can't remember which) the sad part is that when they finally finish NSO they're going to make them F2P. Why is this bad? Well it means us subbers have been paying the last year and a half to be nothing more than alpha testers of something barebones and riddled with bugs which when finally finished and worth the $$$, will be given to all of the freeloaders. This will simultaneously devalue membership massively (I'm only really subbed for NSO) and also throw away the huge boost in monthly cash that would be made from a finished NSO as a subscriber perk. So it's a lose for the guys paying the bills who no longer have their 'exclusive' robot perk. Its a lose for DBG who will be throwing away a goldmine by making finished NSO F2P. But hey, it's a win for the freeloaders who DBG won't make a single penny off. Lose lose, the perfect business strategy!
NSO was designed to fail. NSO's are forced on the faction with the least population in a game with little mechanics to make being outpopped enjoyable for the general population. This might have worked if everyone could join the NSO so you have a large enough population that helps balance low-pop factions. Unfortunately the devs hoped to spicen up their monthly memberships with it instead so they made it members only. Then there's the fact that its limited in it's arsenal, not to mention bugged, and that anything you make for them will see much less use than other thing making it inefficient to spend time on it and you've got a crapstain supreme of an addition. The solution as I can see it: - Make NSO available to everyone. - give the NSO access to the faction-equipment of the faction they currently belong to. Perhaps let NSO's unlock any weapon as a bundle: if you unlock a high-ROF CQC Carbine on the TR then you get access to the equivalents on the NC and VS as well, so the NSO does not have to unlock items on all 3 factions seperately. -- as an alternative to the above, let NSO characters use any weapon unlocked on the other characters on the same account. Simultaneously if an NSO unlocks something it becomes available on the character of the respective faction. - give NSO members a perk that's really worth it: they get access to all unlocked equipment across all 3 factions regardless of the faction they play as (although an NSO Vanu Prowler would naturally have VS colors for example). This would be a great help for an NSO that is supposed to be on the lowest pop faction. The devs should look into ways of making being outpopped more fun anyway.
Due to the UK lockdown I had actually considered resubbing for a month or two with the interest in NSO... but then I remembered all the issues it currently has with it. The plethora of bugs. Limited weaponry. Limited uniqueness. I decided to give it a hard pass. Paid for just 500 SC and bought some extra cosmetics that were on sale. I could have paid a bit extra to have 500 SC per month, 50% XP on my account, access to the member's daily sale, SC off in the depot... a bunch of other stuff. My main already has enough certs to fill a pool so I don't need the XP boost. I already bought a bunch of stuff I'd wanted from previous sales and the stuff I actually want rarely goes on sale during a time I have spare cash to pay for it. While they benefit from getting £4 out of me, they could have benefitted from getting so much more had NSO be made interesting. The idea of it really appeals to me, but all the drawbacks just put my wallet on brakes. Imagine all the other players who think the same. Imagine how much money could be made if it were more viable and interesting a faction to play. I'd still like to play NSO, but only when things are drastically improved.
The lack of a decent carbine sucks. LMG & ARs are fine but yuck on the carbine version of NS-11. The jump pads being broken for NSO at howling pass is !#$ intolerable. It's been broken for at least half a dozen patches and no fix in sight. Having very little defense against A2G sucks too. Some banshee ****ter comes along and you can't pull an ESF to dispatch them, nor a burster to make them go away. THE WORST though is trying to do anything remotely related to friends. Try and try and you finally get into a squad with buddies then the continent ends and you have a 1/3 chance of even being allowed on the same faction. And even then you're kicked from the squad automatically. Yes. It sucks. And they are screwing over the people who actually pay for the game too. Amazing.
