I play both TR and NC. NC is superior in that the shield is much more useful than the TR special. Also in close range I can defend a point better than a TR would. Also the AV guided missiles are superior in my opinion / taste. Mercy is great. But one thing the NC has is anti-max with heavy's Phoenix. I got many TR max-s today ... 2 shot and they are down. over the hill. very funny.
I'm guessing you're judging by Higby's released numbers? Where TR max has highest pulled number and falls behind NC with lowest pulled maxes only pulling ahead in KDR by 0.3 ? The main drawback for NC max is the shotgun. Shotgun is all about mobility and taking your oponent as fast as possible and moving on. You can't do that with a max. Yes you can rush it with a max, if you don't value your resources, but really, how often can you do that now? I do respect you, Kevorkian, but NC max is worst, it's worst at AA, with or without burster nerf, quite bad at AV considering both weapons require high aim players to operate effectively and shotguns don't really have that many places they're dominant, I'd say, only towers these days, everywhere else, you need to be damn careful with them. As far as I remember too, it was lowest average scoring max with in not few cases fewer pulled prior to ZOE (funny how ESA patch it's practically better called pre ZOE, but nevermind that), so how can it be mid tier now after shotgun, burster and cost nerfs?
The NC max is fine. It's awesome up close and the Aegis shield scares the crap out of me as a Vanu player. The NC max does need a decnt medium range anti persoanl weapon though.
I think TR Maxes are not so strong anymore because they lack strong anti Max features. They are only strong against common soldiers but crap against ZOEs and against NC MAxes. That's the main problem of TR MAXes
You cannot use a NC MAX without heavy certing. NC MAXes are of no use in many situations even in Biolabs because a lot of fighting took place at 10 to 20 m. If point B for example is conquered there is no good chance to fight against the TR or VS MAXes which hold the stairs. I also often see poor MAXes try to get out of spawn rooms only to be ripped apart without any possiblity to get in range. In the open as a NC infantry soldier I often feel the lack of support by our MAXes while my foes have it from theirs. I don't care that NC MAXes are king at extreme close quarters. The other MAXes are not close behind. I would be pleased if NC MAXes would get a longer range weapon and the situational OHK ability toned down a bit.
After the recent MAX class changes... yes, NCs is the weakest one. NC doesn't have anything nearly as strong as fractures or ZOE+comet.
Er... only 3 LMGs have a RoF of 750, none has a RoF or 800. Most are in the 570-690 RoF range. The highest RoF LMG the NC has is 652 (and the gun is rubbish). LMG hip CoF is also much higher than a MAXs CoF, where as a NC AI MAX CoF is the same as a shotgun hip fire. Which means in reality a TR and VS AI weapon is landing a LOT of DPS in a direct comparison with a LMG. So the maths isn't what you're making it out to be.
I don't want this tripple-nerfed shotguns, I want 2 Mutilators for 250 certs each. I buried 5000 certifications in my NC MAX. I hope someday NC MAX will be useful again.
And how many of the important objectives are located in small rooms? No AI MAX is useful out in the open.
The fact that Higby and SOE believe that NC and VS maxes are "balanced" right now, sort of throws your limited perception out the window. Their decisions are based off statistics, encompassing more than just KDR. Unlike its two counterparts, the NC max is highly specialized, and excels at CQC. Alot of NC players want to claim lack of versatility equals inferior max. To be balance, nothing "requires" the highest score. And as for the ammo capacity problem, that really only hinders lone wolfs. Since this game is a team based one, I doubt we'll be seeing any buffs/fixes for NC ammo capacity any time soon. You gib infantry within 8m. Long reloads are offset by pulling up Aegis while you reload. Slow RoF and CoF doesn't matter when you're wielding dual shogtuns. If you want increased range, use Dual Mattocks. NC max isn't as bad as NC players claim it to be.
TR AI MAXs gib infantry a whole 0.3 seconds slower at that range (actually at 8m it might even be less as that range pellet scatter is starting to have an effect).
You say the NC max is "specialized" and "excels at CQC" while also saying that the stats are similar to those of more versatile maxes. If NC maxes are pulled during instances of CQC and only averaging the same score as TR and VS maxes while still having the disadvantage of being less useful in a larger variety of situations, how is that balanced? You get the same score at close range with no ability to engage at medium-long range. How do you justify being more niche while not having an advantage in that niche as shown by the stats? VS and TR maxes also gib infantry within 8m, unless you deem .3 seconds to be a sufficient advantage for all the disadvantages the NC max brings (not to mention the recent damage nerf that may require you to take 3 shots even at very close range depending on pellet spread). Long reloads are not offset by aegis because you only negate a percentage of frontal damage for a limited amount of time while removing your ability to charge and rendering yourself unable to shoot or melee. The aegis is also an indirect nerf, since it neither improves damage nor mobility, causing even common pool max weapons to be inferior on the NC max. RoF and CoF absolutely matter with shotguns. RoF directly impacts DPS which is why NC maxes struggle against enemy maxes even at closer ranges, assuming they've spent the required 1000 certs to not auto-lose that fight in the first place. CoF and pellet spread matter as well, becoming a liability even as close as 8ms, requiring you to fire at least three shots to kill infantry, an issue compounded by the slow RoF causing NC max dps to rapidly decrease beyond 5-10 meters. Dual mattocks have been nerfed again significantly, making them worse in almost every situation. Saying mattocks are better at range is like saying fire is better than lava at cooling your drink. There may be a small range window where they're more effective, but in exchange you would be losing far more in using them.
Know matter the statistics, you still have the problem of the NC max being used in CQC while VS maxes can be used in a more variety of places. This could make the maxes look "balanced" but in all honesty it just means the NC have compensated by only pulling the maxes when they will be effective. I would also like to see the numbers that show that they are "balanced" after another month to see how the resource change has effected them. The biggest problem with the NC max is that it is so situational when the other maxes can be found in almost any other situation. TR Max can nearly always be found running around using AI or Fractures. I have seen the VS max in almost every battle running around destroying Infantry and maxes with ZOE on(now ZOE is a different subject all together). However the NC max is regulated into using shotguns and hidings as its only real tactical use with AI weapons. The only reason the NC max even stays close is the fact that Ravens are awesome at killing infantry, even then the Ravens can only fire so fast while being accurate. Niche rolls are nice only when the other factions have there own niche rolls but currently the NC is the only max with a defined roll while the others run around all day destroying infantry without remorse. Also when it comes to the lack of versatility equals inferior is because it does. If you haven't seen the commercial. We just want more versatility for our max not because we believe that the max is bad or good but because we want to be able to do things similarly to other maxes like pushing with infantry up a hill to help take a point. More is better. We do not want OP Hacksaws just a max that performs closer to the other maxes in the same rolls.
The least pulled MAX that is only pulled in situations where it is optimal is in 2nd place for KDR, far behind the VS MAX and barely above the TR MAX (the most pulled by far)? Totally balanced... Having information is one thing. Understanding that information is an entirely different matter. The NC MAX is one that is not often pulled, and only pulled in situations where it will perform extremely well. Therefore, it should be the highest score/hour and the highest k/d, which it used to be for those exact reasons. Instead, it is almost identical to the most pulled MAX (TR) in terms of performance, while the VS MAX performs quite a bit better than both.
Fractures dude... Fractures: Slaughters infantry. Huge DPS to vehicles. Slaughters an enemy MAX. Can even be used to hit aircraft.
zoe max with whatever awesome-o AV weapons they have can take down a full-blockade deployed sundy faster than a tank... i think it was 4 shots double-wielded. we lost a sundy before we realised what was hitting it, and another as we were engaging it. we had nothing that could do significant damage back at the range the zoe max was, with him straffing back and forth. I'd love a max with that kinda ranged power
Nice to be treated as a noob on this forum. Typical of... say..... americans? or just young people? Have fun guys.
