Is the game still horribly unbalanced?

So, after almost a year away, I decided I'd give the game a shot again. I rolled up a new NC char to get into the swing of things and nearly every time I've played I've just seen a huge population bias on the TR. I'm talking about almost 50% TR with VS and NC just getting wrecked. Is this the new norm? I don't remember it being this bad when I left and that was pre-nerf gatekeeper times. So what gives?

Simple, people don't wanna be zerged, so they join the zerg.

Yeah, kinda. Just makes things easier if the enemy just doesn't have enough players to really fight back.

Yes, unfortunately, the "All aboard the TR for zergs and ez farm" bandwagon is real right now.

The only way to avoid it is to become a part of the problem and join TR.

If you're talking about the population numbers on a server or continent being unbalanced (as opposed to the game being unbalanced) I can say that VS population on EU servers seems to be very small (<20%) most times when I log on for the last few weeks...........the kind of small that I have only seen before when a huge outfit moved server or faction.

this is not always the case though; sometimes I see VS 30% plus like the other factions (on Cobalt IIRC) and unusually, TR were in the minority on one of the servers a couple of days ago, at around 20%.

And that's because the game only keeps track of kills and deaths. If deaths counter was removed and focus shifted on ALL the activities of the game, people would probably feel less punishing being zerged.

Together with the critical mass update it could make a difference. But we have to move away from the e-sport model asap.

Well the way that things are looking so far, it seems like TR will have enough pop to win those alerts, soundly.

It's still early to figure out if new alerts will be good for the game, but it's positive they are going to award iso-4 and cosmetics to the winners: maybe after almost 5 years people will eventually care if the alerts are won or lost.

But what we really need in my opinion is a change of mindset. The game does not reward players for playing together and achieving objectives, it's still too much around kill farming. It makes players feel like they are not good when they die, and it makes them feel ok when they farm the enemies. It leads to completely wrong behaviors like people spawning dozens of tanks to shell a spawn room, but only one undefended Sunderer. While Medics do not revive because while they use the medical applicator they cannot shoot, Infiltrators not using recon darts because it's all about sniping... everything that is not strictly connected with kills is not popular.

And together with Redeploy it's a mix that harms the overall game experience, because it's not an arena shooter and population can be uneven. In a game that emphasizes KDR so much, why taking the risk to be farmed? Why even TRYING to stop a zerg when you can just leave and search for a more balanced fight where your precious stats won't drop below a certain threshold?

The whole rewards system of the game is such that players are basically encouraged to zerg but at the same time avoid being zerged.

Population disadvantage aside, we still win alerts often enough, though sometimes I wonder if this game would be better if it just didn't track deaths at all.

Of course it would. PS2 needs to scale back on the CoD.

I agree with alot of the things said about removing K/D entirely, its just makes everyone stat padders who are afraid to be useful teammates because "muh KDR". But honestly I cant imagine TR is going to hold very high pop when the prowler nerf hits live, all tankers are going to find a new faction or just quit entirely.

Well, it's a bit depressing that not much has changed. Although by the sound of it there's an update on the horizon that may make a difference.

Although I wonder if it's truly an issue of "muh K/D" or if it's about being able to meaningfully contribute. With the generally high TTK of this game, population advantage can mean that the under-popped people cannot actually do anything. That's always been a concern of mine. Do people zerg because they want their numbers to look better or because defensive play is unrewarding?

Anyway, thanks for the info everyone.

Zergs are GREAT! I LOVE EM!
They are huge balls of certs that get farmed like a huge ball. Avoid meeting them head on, and you are good. Learn the nature of guerilla warfare and control your aggressiveness.

It's because of the Vulcan. And the devs' refusal to acknowledge how utterly ridiculous it is. TR has become the easy mode faction for farming. Worse even than the VS ZOE or the NC Scatmax OP-ness ever were. At least maxes cost tons of nanites. Massive TR vehicle zergs are now the norm. Though they still lose alerts because they tend to focus on one lane at a time, in terms of battles, they are still almost completely unstoppable.

When even the most expensive vehicle you can spawn can get shredded in seconds by a 150 nanite superfast vehicle, you lose incentives to stop TR zergs. Unless it's open space, then maybe a lancer squad can stop them. If you can aim well enough... And they can be replaced faster than you can kill them.

Vulcan harassers are immune to mines. They are highly accurate, with ridiculously large magazines and low reload times. They can take down everything, from tanks to aircraft to infantry. Even trying to repair something with 2 people as it's being attacked won't save it.

It is especially damaging to VS magriders, because mags can not fire behind them and they do not have the shields that Vanguards can use to prolong their lifespans at the vulcan's second magazine. This is what "balance" means for DBG apparently. Whatever happened to the Rock Paper Scissors design philosophy? It's been years now so I'm not holding my breath. But no DBCash anymore from me either.

People still believe Vulcan is the best AV? What is this, 2015? Mjolnir and Vulcan have nearly identical DPS and Aphellion outperforms it on medium range. Does it need to be reminded that Vulcans effective range is within 10 metres?

ObsidialSoul your post is just so full of lies and misinformation it hurts. Immune to mines? It is lag related bug, ANY Harraser may pass through mines on full speed. Unstoppable? Just engage them with Mjolnir or Aphelion on longer range or in area with many obstacles where they lose DPS by either stopping the burst or shooting at those obstacles. Two engineers reparing vehicle will be outdamaged only when that vehicle is a harraser. Low nanite cost is a global problem, any faction can spam AV harrasers.
Being bad is not an excuse to call somethign OP.

Depends on the server. Miller has constant over 40% NC pop.

So game balance has nothing to do with it.

My belief is that it's both.

Try a Vulcan harasser vs a Magrider with Saron and let me know how it went down, sincerely.

The vulcan is very strong on a harasser but it is also very short range. If the TTK on it versus a mjolnir or aphelion seems shorter, keep that in mind as I know very well that the mjolnir and aphelion can kill at much longer ranges.

What you need to focus on is that these weapons are tank secondaries but are being used on a non-tank. This was a mistake from the start. Harassers need their own weapons, or at least weapon versions that are tuned a hell of a lot better than they are now.

Personally, I think using anything short of a long range weapon on a harasser (i.e. halberd or saron, or very possibly walker) is idiotic and I play accordingly. I've always felt that harassers are support vehicles designed to fill in gaps, using their speed and long range weaponry to HARASS the enemy. I may get less kills but I also get blown up less, which means I am actually doing my job.

Not that I think it's particularly relevant, but I cannot tell you how many times I witness someone just park a harasser next to my sundy and remain stationary while people spawn and ignore it as it blows up our only spawn point.