Have no clue what faction to pick.

Very important, don't listen to the people replying here.
Try out every faction and pick the one who fits you the most.

There can be no doubts as a member of the Terran Republic!

Loyalty Until Death!

You can make three characters and there are three east and west servers... why pick? Make one character of each faction, one per server, and when you log on pick the one that needs you the most and play your favorite if it's close. That's what I do.

you want easy mode and sweet rides, take vanu.
if you want to steamroll and spray bullets take TR.
if you want to be badass and rock and roll, take NC.

I would say you're getting your idea of what is under-powered and overpowered from these forums. A horrible place to get any information about that sort of thing is on these forums, the keyboard warriors and theory-crafters are missing one thing...play experience.

Sounds like you want to be a fascist TR, I say do it.

Don't forget we get to hear that sexy lady voice telling us to finish them off instead of a drill sergeant or some old cyborg dude. lol

yeah at least we have the soundtrack lol

I hope they are glow in the dark nipples. Then I might actually be able to see VS at night.

Let me give you a rundown based on my experience, lvl 12 TR, lvl 48 NC, lvl 20 VS.

I am only speaking Infantry here.

NC

(TL;DR? I'd only go NC if you particularly like the GD-7F which gives no grenade launcher addon BTW(By the way) or for the max's... All other weaponry VS or TR takes the crown in my opinion. I see some people say they actually enjoy NC's weaponry over TR or VS(Unsure of how much experience they have with TR/VS/NC they might've just put in 1 hour each for all I know) However my experience with TR and VS is more forgiving for bad connections/low FPS, etc. much more noob-friendly type of weapons for sure.

Carbine's - GD-7F tends to stand out among all the carbines for its TR-like ROF, solid accuracy, small COF, and low TTK(If all bullets were to hit for example the player would die in about .57 seconds from full health.

Sniper rifles - all sniper rifles are pretty much the same throughout all factions(correct me if I am wrong)

Rifles - I am not too familiar with the combat medic but the stats are attractive I plan on playing medic I see it's potential it's similar to play an HA(based on your ability to heal yourself, therefore causing you to be "tanky" like an HA's 3rd shield) and an engineer because you can sustain people in fights while also being a lethal force

LMG's. - In my very strong opinion with about 80% of my kills coming straight from LMG's(1300-1400 from the Gauss SAW) NC have the WORST LMG's (based on noob-friendly) I can see how they're very good however you need to be like an FPS vet or have really high frames-PS to really capitalize on their weapons. If you play VS or TR Like me and you're running 10-30 FPS in medium-large engagements their weapons are forgiving in that manner.

Heavy weapon- Only 1 per faction NC has the Jackhammer, which is the worse shotgun in all of the factions and the worse heavy weapon.I don't think many people will argue with that.

Max Weapons - In CQC NC holds the crown for highest TTK with Max weapons. Hacksaw's have small clips, medium reload times, high kill potential to any CQC ESF's or infantry(Yes, i've killed enemy ESF's that flew too close hacksaws shred em) There aren't too many downsides to playing max as an NC


TR
(TL;DR? TR seem's stronger than all 3 factions in CQC(Disregarding NC max's) I like their CQC LMG's/Carbines/Heavy weapons and their Max's are solid at slaughtering little infantry(AKA Engineer/Medic/LA) from CQC and medium.


Carbine's - I haven't had too much experience with TR's carbine's , however playing against TR's carbine's I'd imagine it's like fighting a player with the GD-7F they can drop you before you can even click F to turn on shields.

Rifles - TR are known for very fast ROF so I am guessing TR has above average ROF than NC or VS do.

LMG's - I believe TR has the best LMG's for heavy assaults, The Carv is arguably the BEST LMG in the game right now, the default Carv. Like I said though it's arguable but that gun is very attractive (I almost left my lvl 48 NC to go to TR just for their Carv,Prowler, T7 chaingun, and Max's)

Heavy weapon - The best at close-medium range of all the heavy weapon's, beating out the jackhammer. It's TTK is solid, ROF is high, clip is HUGE(100 round mag) now it does have a .5 delay before firing however the beauty of the T7's sound is just wow. If you accidently TK just tell them you have the T7 and they'll probably understand. (The lasher I'd vote for better at long range engages, based on accuracy and it's ability to "Flush" out enemies from hiding)

Max's - I don't have much experience with max's however playing against them their medium range is solid, they look AWESOME!!! and they have interesting choices of CQC/Medium combat type of weapons.



VS

(TLR? due to more bullet drop I'd vote for VS if you like to keep your distrance, everything about VS seems to be screaming "kite, or snipe" Mag riders mobility, infantry weaponry, etc. If you like the HA class and being fairly hard to see at night time, this would be the faction for you)


Carbine's - Similar to that of TR In my opinion, no bullet drop, etc. If there are significant differences between them please elaborate and enlighten me.

Rifles - Very similar to TR again, no bullet drop. If there are significant differences between them please elaborate and enlighten me.

LMG's - Other than looking pretty fruity I personally like the flare, the default Orion some may say is one of the better LMG's however it's all preference. If you like the HA class I'd say you have to play TR and VS to really decide which LMG's you enjoy more. My opinion would be TR > VS > NC CQC-medium range and Long range VS > NC > TR (ONLY TALKING ABOUT LMG NOW)

Heavy weapon - Lasher it's beautiful for landing barrages of huge orbs right at your opponents face it causes people to panic and run from you instead of shooting you(Depending on your range to them of course) A lot of times I cannot see where the player is shooting me from if the balls are flying at me so I will run and many people do haha. Super troll gun. However getting into CQC with enemies is... interesting really hit or miss type of situation I don't particularly like this gun in CQC-medium range.

Max's - I don't really like this max at CQC,medium, or long range. I haven't had too much experience with them however I wasn't attracted at all what so ever. The default Anti-Infantry weapon(AI) act's similar to a shotgun but really inconsistent. This weapon is really good if you got 2-3 engineers with you and there's 10+ infantry outside all your shots should hit and you'll be creaming people. It's mag size is decent however for killing little LA's/Engineer/Medic it's all that it's useful for, A devastator from the HA class will decimate your HP bar and will be able to tank your damage long enough to land one or 2. (However in a CQC with an HA enemy while playing NC will destroy them faster than the time it takes to swap weapons! NC max's that is)

aint nothing like a NV scope lol

Since noone likes the Vanu you only have to chose between TR and NC.


The NC are quite hard to controll, but they do the highest damage per shot. If you are able to aim and shoot only in bursts the NC weapons are very rewarding, but if you aren't very good at FPSs you can't really rely on the NC weapons. But if you're quite good in FPSs and you're able to control the NC weapons you can do a lot of damage to the enemies.

If you're not able to shoot in bursts and aim carefully and you still chose the NC you'll propably end up like many NC and whine on the forums that your weapons need a buff. Please don't be such a person and only take the NC if you ARE able to aim careful and shoot controlled bursts.


The TR weapons are a bit easier to controll, even though they shoot faster, but they deal less damage per shot. On distance you are forced to shoot in bursts just like the NC, but because of the lesser damage per shot you'll propably deal less damage on distance. Even if you're bad on FPSs you can do damage some damage since it's not that bad if you miss a few shots. But because it's overall harder to do the same damage on distance / small targets than with NC weapons (one NC shot is easier to hit than 3 TR shots which are needed to to the same damage) it takes a lot of skill to master the TR weapons.

Ignore the QQ bandwagon, go with what you like. You'll soon learn that people think everything their opponent has is OP and what they've got is UP.

LOL

I've painstakingly assembled this comprehensive guide to help new players know what faction to pick. It takes into account every aspect of real life gameplay and the types of people that join each faction and their metagame behaviors and playstyle. It's long and detailed though so put your reading glasses on and get educate, this is everything you need to know about the three factions.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/the-real-planetside-factions.109013/

Congratulations! Your Necro powers have gained a level!

necro, and 4th faction forever, (can they make a symbol for it please )

I am going to close this down as it was started last year. Please keep posts constructive.