Maybe the feeling is biased by the power it used to have. We NC MAX veterans loved how powerful it was in old times. The only thing for sure I can say is that our slugs have disappointing accuracy and our falcon is boring and annoying to use.
I'd second this really. The Aegis shield is far more situationally useful than the awful lockdown for TR Maxes and the shotguns make a joke of anything unfortunate to come within reach of the NC MAX. Played to it's strengths it's a virtually unstoppable killing machine, but those strengths are very limited. You won't get far taking an NC MAX into a more open battle, whereas the other Maxes can at least contribute. Personally, I'd like to see SOE give all MAXes some version of a devastating close in weapon like shotguns and a longer range alternative for field battles. A lot of the crying from the other factions, my own tears included is that as MAX users, we're supposed to be leading the charge giving us little choice but to charge in on the shotgun wielding murder machines guarding the point. Still, I'd over all gladly take a different factions MAX for general use. It's just more convenient.
NC maxes aren't bad, just less useful than TR/VS maxes in most situations and I don't think trading OHK vs .3 sec TTKs is fair compensation. Better if they remove the OHK and equalise range between factions. Though in any case, I think all AI MAXes are in the wrong place being a bit too squishy and with far too much damage output.
NC max seems to be the worst when compared to the VS ZOE, which has a wider variety of situations where it can be used. Nevertheless, the NC max, when encountered inside of its effective range, is a force to be reckoned with, and seeing as how Aegis can block C4, if you have enough awareness you'll survive situations that the other maxes probably wouldn't anyways. It is crippled by lower ranges, always has been, but that didn't make the thing any less lethal, just meant you had to play it differently. The only reason the NC max is in a bad spot right now is because SOE keeps nerfing it without reason.
No because triple barrel shotguns, with mincro mags and long reloads are really OP and insta gibs you in close quarters. Who knew that shotguns were deadly in close quarters?
Sad thing is the difference between one hit kill and .3 seconds for infantry is difficult to notice because average human reaction time and general latency means people can't really respond to either. It's always been an absurd argument to use for why NC maxes are the way they are. That being said, they could easily keep me happy by increasing our default and extended magazine sizes. TTK would remain the same at all ranges, but at least we'd have a decent pool of ammo instead of expending ours in the span of less than 1 second. They could also do with shortening reload time. Hitting these two in the big nerf a few patches ago was a bit overboard.
Yes, the NC have the worst MAX in the game, and it has been this way for quiet a while. The problem is that it has/had one powerful niche weapon which has created a skewered perspective of the item as a whole. Any time any one gets into these debates and arguments it quickly polarizes around that niche weapon and its one and only niche. One side will complain that the Niche weapon serves no role outside that niche and results in the thing being useless, the other will complain that this Niche weapon is extremely powerful and will desire its nerfing/removal. it will go no where ultimately because SoE has long since ignored looking at problems from a logical and analytical way, and every one here are so dug-in to their respective outlook on the thing that there is no changing their minds.
NC maxes, terribad because we get to have shotguns (and wired guided missles aparently) be our special thing, not the fact that we have Gauss tech. Why do falcons move slower than thrown frag grenades? I could go on but the rub is this, Maxes used to have long, medium, and short style load outs... and they need to come back.
You can farm like a boss with any MAX in a biolab. Every MAX will insta-gib in the range that a NC MAX is supposed to excel at. Yet the other factions MAXs can also excel at medium range without even having to swap weapons.
Delicious NC tears... The NC max is still the best max at protecting objectives like generators and capture points when infantry has to go inside a small room and you can 1HK them and hold a door with your shield while being repaired.
Problem is, other MAX units easily defend these close-quarters Objective rooms just as good as the NC Max, leaving no real advantage to losing ranged viability. Running face to face with a MAX always hurts, but the other MAXs don't really have to aim carefully because they have automatic weapons with better magazines. Often times I find myself killing mostly players that didn't notice big blue me (on one such occurrence, the C4er that killed me ended up blowing up the rest of his squad)
A locked down Onslaught MAX will do it just as well if not better. Besides, if it's a confined space all you really need to do is fill that room with AV nades. lol
And there is the fallacy of it all though, the NC Max does not scale well with enemy power. The NC Max is at home waiting behind a door frame to an objective room where there are a no more than a squad of enemies (12) in the whole facility. In this setting, every Max performs relatively evenly. When an enemy Platoon or more shows up and people start clustering and moving in coherent micro-herds, the inherent design problems with the NC Max become magnified and the other two Maxes step out ahead because they're better fitted to deal with masses of enemies at once. The NC Max is a PvP Max by design. If you fight more than 1 enemy at a time, you are going to have a bad time, but that one enemy will think you are OP as hell. Bottom line, this "role" really only works until the facility is hotly contested, then normal NC infantry units can defend the point just as well and at less personal risk/greater mobility.
After having played the different MAXes a bit, I have found that the NC MAX is best at short range with support. TR MAX is best at mid range with support, and the VS MAX is the best unsupported, and generally good everywhere, even at range. The shotguns are pretty damn good at short range, but that is largely due to enemy stupidity. Don't stand toe to toe with a shotgun wielding MAX. If he's reloading, don't keep standing in front of him! Cover at medium range makes the shotguns really hard to use. And concussion grenades make scatmaxes into kersplatmaxes. The NC really do need some sort of machine gun alternative rather than all shotguns all the time. Either that or make the shotguns have variable chokes and then make the magazines like 2 shots with a pretty fast reload time. That way they are still deadly at short range, automatically good at medium range, and as useless as most MAX weapons at long range. Make the shotguns able to be select fired between slug and shot ammunition so they have some flexibility, if the autochoke can't be implemented. As it is, the NC MAX is a face melter in a few situations, but not as useful as TR or VS MAXes in many others.
Cert your Scatmax to slug then you can do comparable dps to TR max at range. But TR can't cert to instagib people at close range like a shotgun.
Its true. A NC MAX can make a grown man pee his pants at <8m. Problem is so can the TR/VS MAXs and they don't have to continually sit through 4-5 second reloads or watch infantry standing a mere 20m away survive their entire magazine dumps. And no Slugs do not make the NC comparable to the TR/VS MAXs at longer ranges. In fact, slugs are so awful that if I could I'd take my 300 certs back in a heartbeat.
Make a VS/NC char, then jump in front of a TR MAX..... it will instagib you. It will also be able to instagib far more infantry without having to reload as much as a NC Max. It can also kill people quite easily at medium range....
