The NC vs TR/VS Weapon Problem Explained Simply Using Fantasy MMO Concept

NC Weapons: Slow fire, high damage.

TR/VS Weapons: Varying degrees of medium to fast fire with medium to low damage.

NC Weapons = Two-Handers

TR/VS Weapons = Dual Wielding (arguable TR DW daggers, VS DW swords)

Every time a two-hander misses, it is worth several DW misses, because each swing of the two hander is more damage.

Hence, every time an NC misses, it is like the other faction missing 2 or 3 times in a fire fight.

With VS/TR are hitting us with a swarm of bullets (which further destabilizes our aim) we currently sit at a slight disadvantage.

Also shotguns are kind of bad (across all factions) and our special weapon is a shotgun, but that's only a small complaint.

We're not brokenly underpowered, we're at a slight disadvantage mostly due to aim destabilization combined with TR and VS rate of fire.

The other problem is that the difference to kill is literally one bullet, and on some less, but when your gun fires several more bullets 'each second' it adds up.

The other other problem is that as soon as you start including the possibly of 'crit hits' (headshots) that difference starts to become less than one bullet of difference, especially when any amount of time spent lined up with the head is rewarded more by having more bullets spat out at it.

That's why you aim for hitcap in "Insert random wow" MMO game to make sure you hit, if you shoot slow and hard, make sure to burst instead of spray and pray (which doesn't work that well in any FPS that is any good)

Under 100 metres bursting is almost pointless, especially when the other guy can still full auto you down while you're doing it. Engagements over 100m are A:far more uncommon and B: disadvantageous for both sides, NC rifles aren't snipers by a long stretch.

The problem is due to the aim destabilization.

Every time you or I are hit with a bullet, our aim jumps.

Every one bullet I hit you with, you probably hit me with 2, meaning my aim destabilized twice.

Since I already have an inaccurate weapon to begin with, you can start to see the problem.

Imagine in a normal MMO if a DW class could stack a hit debuff with every swing, and the 2H class could do it too... the DW hit debuff would quickly overtake the 2H user before his swings did the same to the DW user.

That's where the problem exists, aim destabilization from damage.

Yes. The aim destabilization is a huge problem. Quite frankly it should be based on how much damage the bullet does. A hit from one of our guns should send their aim to hell, but it doesn't. Meanwhile my recoil + them slapping me with 1000 pennies is shaking my screen like I'm having a seizure.

I actually prefer the removal of the mecahnic.

It is more realistic, but realism does not necessarily equate to a good gameplay mechanic.

Aim destabilization gives a further advantage to the first shooter, who already has an advantage by being the first shooter.

It's kind of like overkill.

on topic: great example

general comment:
why keeps every non NC saying that we need to burst?
guys we all do unless its CQC. bursting in CQC is just pointless and thats the only realy problem NC has.
in a CQC duel, we are likely to loose.

in perfect duels (each side startign to shot at the same time) i keep shredding people with the GDF (low dmg, high ROF) while i keep dieing with every other carbine i have. so i cant my my lack of aiming (which i have )

Yeah, the few NC weapons with high ROF are good examples of where the problem is.

I use a GD-22S, which is an LMG that handles like an AR, with a fairly good ROF and lower DPB (Damage Per Bullet) and that weapon SHREDS people. I'd even argue it's possibly OP.

Yet when I go back to using NC weapons that go by the low ROF, high DPB, the aim destabalization problem rears its ugly head again.

They should just go back to the way it was originally intended to be.

NC = powerful, accurate/slow, low ammunition
TR = less powerful, less accurate/fast, ample ammunition
VS = moderate damage, no bullet drop/moderate speed, moderate ammo, other sci-fi gimmicks a la the Lasher

Don't know why it had to be changed. Balance is well and good; completely changing the playstyle of a faction, however, seems a bit much.

I'd go with harder hitting weapon = bigger adverse effects to the target's aim.

That would allow shotguns to be a very good short range weapons without making them one hit kill guns, machine guns could suppress the enemy and the game feels more convincing when getting hit means getting pushed around a bit.

Same thing for flak vs planes.

I definitely agree that the impact adds a kinetic feel to the game, but I still feel that the gameplay would be better without the disruption from damage taken.

Sometimes realistic or "feel" features are bad for the actual gameplay from a purely mechanical standpoint.

Remember, a pro gamer tends to turn the game down to "super ugly", and turns off a lot of flavour options (like screen cracking in Tribes Ascend) because they're focusing on mechanical excellence over a kinetic or realistic experience.

Pro CS players play the game so ugly they pull 200+ FPS, because every little Frame they get could mean the difference between when their reaction time affects the game.

So, in the end, the game should be balanced around being a competitive game, and then you add flavour from there.