NC low win-rate - where is the balance?

Hello Daybreak,

I dont know if you already noticed that NC has the lowest win rate on EVERY SERVER. My question is: WHEN do you finally start to balance the NC?
On Miller and Cobalt you have to fight from 07:00 - 24:00 against overpoped TR and VS. And when you fight a 50%/50% you still lose like the links below are showing.



http://www.ps2alerts.com/
http://ps2.fisu.pw/alert/

Oddly I'm seeing slightly different data from PS2alerts.com.

Connery has the TR leading by a slim margin.
Genudine and Ceres both show the TR leading.

In the end of course the NC are performing pretty poorly, but it seems like the server alert victories go like:
TR- 4, VS- 3, NC- 0

Um, player ability and faction population both come into this comparison but generally, if something is a feature on every server then it is a universal factor. Can NC be strategically or tactically inadequate on every server? Or consistently out-popped on every server?Possible, but it bears further analysis.

NC is perfectly balanced, if anything, NC is currently the faction with the most weapons that stand out and which are almost OP.

The greatest problem with NC though, is that their weapons function much differently than TR/VS ones. Higher CoF bloom and a slower rate of fire with a higher damage profile forces you to burst and take breaks in between bursts so you don't miss a ton. Unfortunately though, average players don't do this often, let alone new players, which leads to a lot of missed shots and more stray shots hitting teammates (Which leads to the highest TK count in the game, after all, high damage weapons don't care where they hit, they just do a lot of damage).

Another gigantic problem are the teammates, because I swear that at least 50% of NC players have IQ as low as a room's temperature. They constantly stand in front of ****, constantly cluster near doors waiting to get C4d, never notice that I'm firing my weapon and just walk into my bullets, and they have the least awareness out of all the factions, period. I don't know why, maybe it's that they're portrayed as the "hero" faction, so the younger demographic gets attracted, who in turn do stupid stuff and are overall dumber (Which seems to be true, most TKs, they use vehicle horns much more than TR and VS combined and they're the reason why I've turned proximity chat off).

It takes significantly more effort and getting used to get good with NC weapons than to get good with VS and TR ones, but once you do, I can say that they're the best in the game, which is why NC is also somehow lacking in true pro players (from my observation).

In the end, NC isn't total crap (KAIN and MCY are arguably the best outfits in the game, and individual players know how to kick ***) but most of it is crap because the weapons require getting used to and the playerbase is full of morons.

Maybe give NC starters weapons with less recoil control?

It COULD be an imbalance between weapons, it COULD be players, it could even be a combination of the two, but all the statistics on EACH server? That points at something game side, simply blaming playerbase is just bad logic. Maybe new people don't like how much recoil are on NC starters, maybe they never get tips on how to control, maybe the NC is actually less powerful in one area of the game that comes up in large battles often.

Don't get me wrong, I like NC guns, they feel like guns instead of pellet shooters, but if the effectiveness is lost on less skilled players then there needs to be a rebalance of some sort.

I think it's mostly because of empire specific secondary vehicle guns. NC anti-vehicle gun(enforcer) is really bad from distance because of its bullet drop. Gatekeeper and Saron hrb are easier to use and destroy vehicles.
NC tank is slow as hell, and its fire rate is garbage. (has very low actual usage dps compared to the other two MBTs)
NC Reaver is also really bad in air to air combat due to it's huge hitbox compared to other two ESFs. That means NC can never have air superiority. ESFs determine the airgame.
NC vehicles are inferior, and that leads NC to lose. Infantry weapons doesn't really matter that much they are generally balanced somehow. All factions have counterparts of small arms. (No counterpart for lasher though, another point for VS)
As you see, it's not a server specific thing, in all servers NC lose.
They should allow us to transfer between factions, it seems really hard to farm all those certificates again if we want to play VS.

I got to agree with that... I've been an NC main since late 2012 and I can say without a doubt our largest downside is our players. There really is no kind way to describe the sheer stupidity of the common NC soldier, whether they are shooting you in the back or darting out in front of a tank... they know how to make your job harder. I'm by no means a "pro" but I've always been a top end Engineer, mainly demolitions(With C4, not that cheap AT mine method all the idiots use) and it is frustrating how many times I have been killed before destroying a critical Sunderer spawn or having my flank ruined by some idiot thinking they can take out a hill of Prowlers with their carbine.

What has been true since the beginning of this game is NC has always been Hard Mode, it's not easy to use the weapons and you get less cooperation... in the early days VS was considered Easy Mode, which now TR has that title... but NC is still Hard Mode. People realize how much work they need to put into to play this faction so they quit immediately, those who stay don't care enough to play intelligently and the ones that leave just bolster the VS and TR numbers.

^This. The faction is good, and i wouldn't want anything to change. The faction differences are what makes them cool, else we could just give evryone the same kit options and call them Red, Blue and Purple team. And rename the game to Team Planetside 2.
Random plebs like me don't control the alerts, the large outfits do. I am but one man, pulled into countering a zerg wich has armor + air overweight, communications, some leadership and has the momentum of battle. A lot of manpower doesn't make an army like alot of building materials don't make a house. And i won't deny that NC maybe (but like a very sure maybe) attracts some of the lesser gifted people in the fps wasteland. (God i feel bad for saying this :L)

Yeah, NC is the only faction where you see people firing their primary weapon at an armoured vehicle.

NC is weak in one field and one field only.

Uncoordinated pushes.

What this means is during off peak hours when NC is unlikely to have a coordinated offensive.. they falter. Without a strong leadership the NC fails.

I played NC for 3 years. I've seen them at their worst and at their best. I've also noted that NC wins most of the Server Smashes as well as the World Record event. In addition I remember a time when ADK on Genudine-PC/Helios held the TR at their warpgate while COLG and 666 held the VS at theirs on Indar for months at a time.

NC weapons and vehicles are unsurpassed when used in a coordinated manner. Tank zergs melt under Phoenixes, infantry drop like flies against a few shots from multiple 167/200 damage weapons, and the high burst damage from their ESF rotaries tear even Galaxies apart when used in mass.

However...

When operating in ragtag groups, cat herds, and lone wolves. NC doesn't stand a chance against the TR and even LESS so against the VS. CoF's bloom out before a kill shot can be made. Tanks and ESF alike are too clumsy to make a clean getaway. And even their AV options leave a single user vulnerable and exposed.

So.. during Primetime Hours. NC holds a better than even chance at winning. During the other 18 hours of the day, they do poorly.

So yes, there is an imbalance. 75% of the time, NC sucks. To put it shortly. But this begs the question. Is it a time that matters? Its the proverbial philosophical question, "If a trees falls in the forest with no one around to hear, does it make a sound?"

From what I've seen in the last 2 weeks. NC does win about as much as the TR during Primetime. Maybe 2-3 less in a 48 hour period. VS actually loses most alerts during Primetime. At least on Connery. VS tends to make up the difference in offpeak hours.

I'm not sure if this applies to all servers. But population densities and group/solo efforts factor into the equation greatly.

NC wins when it matters. VS wins when it doesn't. TR is the only one who wins and loses consistently throughout all time zones. However the time that doesn't matter makes up 75% of the day.. and skews the stats.

Interesting take.
I jumped in just to say 'hahah hitbox hax fixed!!!!111'

The overall feel of the NC is what got me to only go a little ways into the faction. The clunkiness of it all, as above.

So the 3 possible reasons people are saying the NC is on last place on every sever is...
1. NC underpop
2. NC poor players/leadership
3. NC empire-specific stuff is generally inferior

Now that the severs are forced to balance faction populations, it will be interesting to see if the NC win rate changes significantly. If it does result in a higher NC win rate, that would prove reason #1 as a major culprit. If it doesn't result in a higher win rate, then we're left with options #2 and #3.

you see some NC guys getting shot by enemies they werent expecting, they dont do anything about it.

I shoot TR from a direction they werent expecting about 40% of the time they will turn and fire back at me in some way.

I shoot VS from a direction they werent expecting, almost 90% of the time you see literally all of them including several that were not even taking fire, turn to look in your direction and start dropping you.

that kinda makes the difference.

From what i see, looking at my Server cobalt, both nc and tr are on even grounds.
This Chart prooves what most already feel and said before. The Vanu hav the most balanced Arsenal, if anything their weapons are aleady too accurate. Looking at the Betelgeuse, it is way even too good.
Their Maxes mow down Infantry with ease, while on a TR Max a lot of infantry gets away. More Dakka doesnt help if most shots miss. More accurate Weapons are clearly better than more bullets.

If the you ask other TR Players, who they want to fight, it's always NC. Nobody wants to fight the vanu, because it will be a battle already lost before begun. It is not fun to fight vanu.

don't let Hoothers see this, he hates statistics and facts.
remember, VS are underpopped and weak!

I lmao'd

he seems more like a russian bot than a person to be honest.

As someone playing VS on PC and PS4(and used to play TR on PC), I can say this with quite a bit of certainty:

If I have to pick which team I want to fight against, it is ALWAYS NC. Why? For the same reasons other have mentioned. I can(and often do) stand right next to a NC sunderer and farm their players for a good 10+ kills before even one of them tries to kill me.

I can shoot at NC all day long without them turning to fire back at me. They don't coordinate and flank. They don't switch to the classes they need to have the advantage. They just keep making B-Lines for wherever they are going and seem to tunnel vision on it.

They are easy kills because they don't even react most of the time.

NC is good at beating one empire.


NC

NC is the only Faction without solid Extreme Range AV. This really limits NC's ability to perform in certain engagements, and to poke/harass enemy Vehicle Zergs from many bases.

the TR is leading on genudine ONLY because im there ohterwise we would be trash lol i say this because im just that good and ive been leading platoons off supr noobs and they just overpop a base and rip it to peices and tear it apart i did it last night on indar we started wrecking when i got on