I've been trying to figure out why a game like this would be seemingly going from nerf to over buff. As a TR player I feel I got shafted more times than I can count now starting with the Carv/Carv-s stealth nerf, and it just doesn't make sense. Using things like "empire bias" by a dev makes a lot of sense if this were a small free game like a MUD, back in my youth days that sort of thing was typical, but this is a multi-multi million dollar game and people working on it depend on it to feed themselves and their families. It doesn't make sense just how bad the balance swings. Unless they are doing it on purpose. Due to the awful F2P model that is currently the rage in online gaming, they need to keep making sales. Take for example me. I've spend just about all I'm going to spend on my TR guy. I might buy a weapon here and their in the future if I decided to keep playing, but most of it is gone. I have enough certs that I really don't need boosts or premium subscriptions either. Having me play TR makes sony zero dollars. My only "value" to them is as a sort of content for other players to shoot at. But being I spent somewhere around $100 on this game so far, wouldn't it be great for them if I decided to try VS instead? Now why would I do this if I liked my empire and my outfit? I might putz around as a VS on a server now and then, but spend money? And more so why would I buy boosts? But if I was actually switching sides, then yes I would pay for the guns, the camos, and the boosts to get the certs needed to play at a high level. If anything I'd be more willing to spend so I could "catch up" to longer term players. Now this will illicit tin foil hat posts, but it makes the illogical logical here. I don't think the designers are clueless when it comes to balance and what makes a good weapon. If this is true, I expect some TR love in a coming patch. TR is going to be the low pop empire after GU7, thats very apparent. Once sales of VS weapons/vehicle weapons is back to baseline, this is what we should expect if my hypothesis is true. I welcome your well thought out and reasoned responses.
Getting the SE warpgate at the same time as a prowler nerf didn't really impact the TR population (unlike what happened to vanus), so I don't think it will change much, there's no quit in TR.
From what we have seen of SOE implementing changes in this game, if they wanted people to join a different faction with each patch so one is always on higher population we would have 33/33/33 across every server.
On F2P models: There have been aweful ones (Directly buying items.) There have also been ABSURDLY good ones, like WOT: Items that can be bought with money are inherently worse, but earn more EXP. And then money is used for the ability to transfer EXP and items around on an account in a way that makes not too much sense, but makes sense. (For example, taking an engine upgrade that you bought in game off a M2 light tank, and putting it on a T34 heavy tank. Or taking panzer IV research, and using it to level your tiger.)
The existence of the 4th empire most certainly a design decision, and a good one at that. If it was impossible to roll multiple characters across multiple factions they would loose a particular group of players that don't like to be railed in one direction with no choice to play different teams. The idea with the exp boosts for lower pop factions is to use the 4th faction as a balancing force to keep populations as even as possible. We all know the current exp boosts are made totally redundant by the alert system and the power of the zerg but I still support players playing whatever faction they like when they like. Most players have 1 character in their main faction of a high level, and characters in the other 2 factions that are a lower level mainly for testing equipment and weapons. There is a substantial group of players though who have characters on all three factions of a roughly even level who will play for whatever team they feel like at the time. That SOE need to do is fix the exp reward structure to ensure that playing for the lower population factions are still the best choice for the 4th faction to make if they want to level up their characters and unlock certs and gear. As it stands now it's quite the opposite, joining the zerg is far more rewarding than helping out the underdog.
I'm not sure I expect a TR buff, since they're still doing overwhelmingly well on Miller (largest server, I believe) and in the stats overall. Here's hoping anyway; not sure I could handle them being any more OP than they currently are On subject, to be honest, SOE have -always- balanced this way, because of the corporate idiots pulling the strings. Even long ago when balance -was- in their financial interest and imbalance wasn't (on subscription games), they'd always HUGELY nerf 3 characteristics of one thing that was mildly OP, and buff its counter 8 times in the same pass. Then they'd avoid revisiting that for 5 months because they couldn't go to their paymasters and say 'Sorry, we can't do X, Y and Z like you wanted us to for the new expansion ($$$) because that last balance pass the community begged for completely ****** everything up even more than before.' The problem is top-down mentality instead of bottom up. If the people on the bottom made the changes and set priorities, the game would be going well. Instead, it's being milked by idiots at the top who are using PS2 to support SOE's other games that cannot be anywhere near as profitable, and a level higher, SOE is being milked to support Sony's failings in other industries. Explaining to a corporate type that people are more likely to spend money on something if it's NOT super-over-powered is incredibly hard because they have 'winners mentality' instead of 'competitors'. They're not interested in competition, they're interested in winning, basically. What happens if you go into a board room and ask to push back an expansion to balance this horrifically overpowered weapon? One of two things: 1) They've had a bad morning so far. The wife didn't give them a kiss on the way out because they complained the coffee was too hot, the car was too cold, the traffic was bad and the first piece of post they opened was ****. You tell them you need to spend time balancing old stuff rather than developing it. 'Well sir, why on earth did you make it imbalanced in the first place? Fired.' 2) They've had a good morning, and all they can see is $$$ signs. 'You say a tank is performing 50% better than the other tanks?' 'Yes' 'And this tank has what? Weapons? Upgrades? Cosmetics?' 'Yes' *$$$$$$$$$$$* 'I wouldn't prioritise that fix just yet Higby, it seems a lot more like your time would be better spent on X Y and Z...'
