I've been playing this game for almost a year now, am now a BR 39 on my main on Matterson, with about 90-100 ping; I really enjoy the game's concept. I was really not used to the shooting mechanic of this game early on and frequently ended the day with 0.2 K/D, but I think I'm pretty familiar with the system now and I'm getting 1.0+ K/D, even on a low end PC. Haven't been on "forumside" much though. -------- So the first question I have is about the factions. I'm TR, and I'm hardly exaggerating here, but I've been getting about 2.0 KD against the NC yet 0.5 K/D against the Vanu. This alone should deter anyone form saying "git mor skillz nub". Early on it wasn't quite noticeable since I died so often, but in the past few months it has become apparent to a point where if I wanted to farm, I'd go fight the NC, and if I wanted a challenge, I'd go fight the Vanu. The entire phenomenon makes no sense to me. My main (TR Matterson): https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428095401468343697/stats My secondary (NC MAttersion): https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428109895915124241/stats My turd account (VS Connery): https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428109895925143121/stats Admittedly, the K/D discrepancy is mostly caused by when I played each faction, but you can see the difference. I'm fairly sure this isn't just happening to me either. I've seen well-organized TR outfit platoons being farmed by a Vanu resistance half their size more than once. The reason I'm sticking with TR is because I like everything about it other than the fact I die to Vanu. I'm not switching. I've played a number of hours on both factions, and I can see why I kill NC (because they have 0 team work), but not why I die to Vanu. I initially thought Vanu weapons had no recoil, but I see that they have substantial recoil, and the default HA LMG is absolutely horrible. I have three theories on this. First, the VS are just more skilled. Their technological lore + purple spandex might attract the nerdy MLG gamer type who overlap with the brony and I-wear-pink-to-look-cool crowd. I see a lot more Vanu lvl 100's than TR or NC lvl 100's. Second - and I sincerely do not mean to flame or accuse any specific person - is that the Vanu in general hack more, for the same technological reason stated above. For one, Vanu is the only faction that I have ever seen blatant hackers in before. In sudden engagement combats, I've been HS'd much more often (I can hear the "plink" sound, which means you got HS'd, happen more than once, signifying that the recoil didn't kick in, which means it was either extreme recoil control or an aimbot.) Third is that I suck and the NC are UP. I don't like how the NC weapons handle at all, although that's just my personal preference, and the DPS and recoil seem like they are balanced with other faction weapons. So what I want to know is why I die to Vanu so often but not to NC. ---- Also, the Magrider is broken as s**t; this is the only major balance problem I have with this game. I've read some threads regarding this, and all of them basically say the Mag isn't OP, it's just that the other tanks require more skill (read: Mag is OP). It can strafe, always faces its tough front armor to the enemy, is the only tank that can take advantage of high ground (the other tanks can't aim their guns downward enough), has a much smaller hitbox, and is much easier to aim while moving. All these things make it impossible to kill at both close and long ranges. -- Yes I realize have about 5 minutes of experience driving a Mag but I was incredibly successful in it, and you don't need to be a pro to figure this out. -------- The second, unrelated question: I've been wondering how people can do thing like invite me to their squad or ask to switch seats and that stuff. The way I've been doing it is to squint at their name, hope I can remember it, open the specific menu, type in the name, hope it's correct and press enter. That is a huge hassle, so I did some research on the forums and found references to a "Q menu". So I went in game and looked at people while holding Q, but I can't get anything. Is there a special chat /command? How do I access the Q menu? Thanks.
To invite to a squad, right click their name in the chat or open the Q menu on a friendly (Hold Q while targeting them) and select invite to squad. To switch seats, press Y for Yes or N for No when the dialogue box pops up or Press the F keys to switch seats.
Hoo-boy. On Mattherson, your first theory could definitely have a bit of truth to it, but mostly, I think it's just confirmation bias, combined with a subconscious underperformance due to a learned subconscious lack of confidence when fighting Vanu. (Real psychological phenomenon, it's actually kinda cool.) Secondly, you did NOT just call the Orion horrible. Third, depending on the weapon, it's not at all uncommon to land two or three headshots at close range, especially if a fast-firing weapon (like the default Vanu LMG) is allowed to "ride up" the target. Fourth. Yeah, you probably do suck a little. Mattherson is generally considered to be the try-hard server by many, so there's almost certainly a skill gap. Just practice, practice, practice, and work with a team. Make sure your medics can reach you safely, and you'll find you're more aware of battle lines, and when you're overextended, when to charge, and when to wait. Fifth. You just have to like... nuzzle up to someone, intimately close, then hold down Q. It gives you a context menu, but I can't remember what it actually says on it.
Hmm. I tried holding Q at a friendly but it didn't work. You'd think that incessant spotting would at least open the menu accidentally sometimes. It might just be me though. It took me a long time to figure out the angle you have to hold E in order to hack something. Thanks for the response.
That makes a fair amount of sense. Unless they changed how the Vanu weapons work recently, that's not how I remember it. I'll go check it out again. Thanks man. Got any advice on the Magrider?
Your first statement, and to an extent your second statement, are rude and borderline insulting. As for the third, I don't know. I play on Waterson and it is my subjective feel that the NC wreck me more than TR. Magrider isn't OP. We can't aim our main cannon up worth anything. Our hitbox is only slightly smaller and, considering the Scythe and the VS as a whole, fits the VS and is sorta a trait for them. It can't strafe fast enough to avoid most things. Magburner, while useful, could help in strafing speed or have more juice. Also, the Mag is pretty weak considering both armour and power compared to the Prowler and Vanguard.
You think the Orion is horrible? It's a beast! I'm fairly sure you have no idea what you are talking about.
In all honestly, vanu weapons suck the most. NC weapons are great, and so are TR weapons. Aside from the orion, the rest of vanu weapons made me want to cry the one time I played VS.
In all honesty, I thought the same thing but it was mostly just my head playing tricks on me. I main Connery NC and occasionally we would get our *** handed to us despite having pop. However,I played a few alts and didn't really notice much of a difference. One thing was that it seemed like the VS and TR used prox chat to communicate more often. Connery VS https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428204126945437889/ TR https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428204126945438017/ NC alt (vr training toon for when I only had a 30 min and didn't wanna get sucked in) https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428191068399467521/ Mattherson NC https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428191068389449233/ Of course my main is a bit lower k/d wise since it was my first char and I was farmed pretty hard. These alts stats are not terribly different, not enough for me to think the ground game is unbalanced however they are all low BR alts and may not have had enough time to even out. If Mattherson NC are UP it might be a lot harder to find an even fight. NC recoil can be kind of a pain too, I just picked up the Gauss Saw again because I couldn't handle it when I first started. Practicing a bit in VR before switching to an alt helps a bit for me.
Sorry man. The third statement was a little insulting to me - sometimes you just have to say what you feel.
I haven't been on Vanu since the last patch, or I may have confused the HA gun with some other gun with crazy horizontal recoil. Let me go change that. EDIT: Ah well it looks like the edit button disappears after a while.
-I have gotten in many engagements against Magriders and in most of them i just die of: 1.-As stated before, they can easily aim while moving, once you start engaging them either you kill them or you almost always die trying to escape. 2.-Their turret: I haven't played Vanu, and i dont know the name of it, but its one that shoots many lasers one after another, it is, on my view good at any range (So that takes apart the good close-range power of the Vulcan) because it has no bullet drop (if that can be called a bullet), so if you aim it directly on your target it will almost always hit, you dont need to lead it with moving targets either for the speed. 3.-Many, many, many times my shot has gotten under the magrider, the fact that it floats in my opinion gives it an advantage. -The lasher (I think that was the name) 1.-That thing shoots at a light speed!, you can't escape from it! -Unknown by me turret weapon 1.-A few moments ago in Matherson many TR tanks were defending an Amp Station, covering behind the shield to not get oblivierated, out of sudden some kind of weapon shot some kind of plasma bullets that went trough the shield and killed us all! (3 prowlers, 2 lightnings, 2 sunderers, 1 with repair), none of us had any choice, coming out of the shield to engage us would kill us because of the army of magriders waiting outside, running away, what we tried to do was too slow for Vanu's bullet velocity and no drop. (Sorry for any grammar imperfections, not a native speaker)
Magriders have 2 glaring weaknesses; Lower health AND lower damage compared to the other factions. Your best bet in both prowler and vanguard is to minimise the one advantage they do have, agility. How you may ask? GET IN THEIR FACE. Run stealth, use cover, flank, use your superior speed (in the prowler) to bum rush their position, or your vanguard shield to weather the storm, close the range so that they can't strafe out of your fire. Simple as that, magriders are dead in the water vs prowlers and vanguards at short range. As for your last point, that was someone exploiting a known bug. Beyond certain ranges, some base shields stop rendering while the vehicles behind remain visible, allowing shots to land on them despite the shield. Also, Vanu MBT main gun tank rounds do have drop AND have the slowest velocity and subsequently, the most vertical drop. Vanu FPC (AP) : 225 m/s NC Titan 150 AP : 275 m/s TR P2-120 AP : 250 m/s or 400 m/s while anchored. Bullet drop is a function of velocity, the faster the velocity, the flatter the projectile shoots.
Vanu is not OP. TR is not OP. NC is not OP, but it sure ain't UP! And the Magrider skill cap is extraordinarily high. Most players (like myself) cannot fully utilise the Mag. But some can unimaginable things with it. "...the Magrider is broken as s**t; this is the only major balance problem I have with this game. I've read some threads regarding this, and all of them basically say the Mag isn't OP, it's just that the other tanks require more skill (read: Mag is OP). It can strafe, always faces its tough front armor to the enemy, is the only tank that can take advantage of high ground (the other tanks can't aim their guns downward enough), has a much smaller hitbox, and is much easier to aim while moving. All these things make it impossible to kill at both close and long ranges. -- Yes I realize have about 5 minutes of experience driving a Mag but I was incredibly successful in it, and you don't need to be a pro to figure this out." The "tough" armour is weak, at least compared to the Vannie, it is the same as the Prowler. It can only shoot forwards, is the slowest vehicle in the game (unless the flash is slower, but I don't think that's right.), hs tied lowest armlour, lowest DPS, worst ability, mostdrop/least velocity on it's main cannon. These at least are counters to it bing OP: a statement with which I strongly disagree.
LOL is it perhaps PPA that fires with that amazing speed and goes through shields? 1. Its the slowest secondary by far 2. It does NO armor damage at all 3. It WILL however go through vehicle barriers and spoil your day if you are a ground peasant!
Your hacker statement is just ignorant I'm sure all factions have equal amount of hackers and as vanu I know not to take on nc and tr in vary close quarter fights unless I'm defending. We vanu shine in medium to long range fights while nc and tr lose terrible accuracy At distance this is why an organized platoon can take out massive armor columns from a distance(laser power)
The Orion and the SVA-88 are literally the best two LMG's in the game for 90% of the situations you'll find yourself in as an infantry player.
I can't agree that NC are UP, they take a bit more practice than the VS who in my opinion are Easy Mode but NC are still in a better place than TR, where it matters. VS Bads will still kill you(Orion, HV245, Serpent, their MAX, MagRider, PPA). NC Bads might not, at least while on foot. And NC attracts lots of Bads(Who compensate with lots of InstaGib Shotties and MAX). As TR, Bad = Dead 100%. Perhaps you're experiencing this? Perhaps population differences also affect how you perceive things. After a year of TR, VS weapons feel like HitScan and I get way too many random HeadShots firing from the hip while ADADA. Their weapons are amazing technically but they don't feel good. The MagRider is excellent and it's an easy Cert ride, to the point of being boring after the difficulties I've had with the Prowler. NC feel OK in terms of weapons, in fact they handle the way I initially had expected TR weapons would, from the description of each Faction. I expected Ork levels of randomness for NC, instead their stuff handles fine if you've played enough BF while TR toys behave like they are ready to fall apart. We have wooden grips and we probably use a lot of duct tape. And we pray to the RNG God when fighting @ 15M+. Back to the NC; The VanGuard is average but its Shield is pure Win so there's that. I don't know what else to tell you if I want to keep this short and still convey my feelings on the Factions. Here's some food for thought ; My GF made a VS at one point, after 1Hr she said she'll focus on her VS so she can have an easier learning curve and a noticeable success to keep her going, despite being a complete Noob at FPS(Hope she doesn't read this >). She had played none before PS2. I watch her play VS and observe that in general it's a lot easier for her to kill others, than on her TR. She refuses to make an NC, she finds them too ugly albeit effective. Hackers... Hmmm... I can't say I see more in one Faction than in any other despite the population differences. At least not as many more as to agree with that part.
Red = False Also Mag can't point turret up as high as other tanks. "Also Yes I realize have about 5 minutes of experience driving a Mag but I was incredibly successful in it, and you don't need to be a pro to figure this out." If you have had 5 minutes in a Vs tank You cannot say anything. 5 minutes equates to a stock magrider and stock magrider is NOT an accurate representation of the magrider's abilities. Your Vs character is BR8 BR 8 And since it is your newest character, you probably are more skillful then when you first joined the game thats why you have a better KDR You're not the brand new noob, you have played the game before. You perspective is lacking and therefore your idea of balanced is twisted. (If anyone mistakes my post for saying the magrider is UP, know that I do not think the Mag is UP at all. )
