The "real" reason why ZOE is OP.

In that case, we think it's too good and would like it balanced, please.

It doesn't

VS whine about NC max back in the days?
VS whine about the lancer back in the days?
VS whine about the lasher back in the days?
VS whines about the Vortex back in the days?
VS whine about the magrider?
VS whines about the Striker?
VS whines about the fracture?
VS whines about the marauder?



Yet you believe only TR/NC whine? If you haven't noticed whoever has something OP they will be hearing whine from the other faction so don't talk like VS never whine.

You forgot about the Vulcan.

Everyone whines, but if the point about ZOE hasn't been pushed through at this point, it never will be.

I'm serious. This isn't the sentiment of some Vanu player who wants ZOE to be OP. I'll add "ZOE is OP" to my Forum signature, for cryin' out loud.

But please stop making threads about this. It's getting ridiculous.

Instead of nerfing the ZOE into the ground as is SOE's history with VS tweaks, how about a minor change and increase the other Maxes.

Give ZOE a recharge timer of some kind that is decreased by levels so you can't instantly flick it on and off as needed. Say 5-10s delay on and off at the highest level and scaling up. You could tone down the damage bonus but the manuverablity of the VS Max should be maintained to a large degree or it quickly becomes near useless.

To make NC Maxes more competitive using the shield the NC Max could use the shield in one arm and fire with the 2nd arm so the moving shield can do some damage while soaking up extra hits.

TR Maxes to help out their ability, give them 240 degrees of fire, toughen up the defense maybe with a enhanced resistance to explosions when planted and increase the rate of fire a bit more so they are more like heavy turrets.

Of course something like this makes too much sense so lets just kill MAX play altogether so no faction is happy with their MAX toys rather than trying to make the use of the ability more situational.

It's not really just the activation/reactivation delay but the fact that the negatives are so minimal when compared to the faction abilities of the TR and NC. NC Aegis has a massive list of cons and while TR has a smaller list of cons they are some pretty big cons, i.e. not being able to move at all. ZOE's only real con is reduced damage resistance and the MAX by default already has increased damage resistance and simply certing up Flak or Kinetic armor increases the MAX's damage resistance, so while a ZOE MAX won't have as much damage resistance as a NC or TR MAX with the same level of Flak/Kinetic armor, it still isn't a major flaw.

So is the list of long time players leaving due to balance frustration. It bears repeating until it's fixed, as does every other balance issue in the game.

And I'll pre-empt the response, because I know it's coming: yes I want NC to be balanced too, for the good of the game, even the Vanguard Shield which I love.

You know TR/VS was making never ending threads about the NC max dominating in CQC back in the days right?

Well that was true though.

I'm personally rather fond of Vanguard Shield, I think it's a good ability for a tank to have, and as long as it doesn't get double-blasted using an exploit, it's pretty balanced.

When a thread contains new information, that's great. When it rehashes the same old concern again without providing anything new, it's spam and deserves deletion.

Those are possibly valid suggestions. I'm not saying nerf ZOE MAX into the ground but it's painfully obvious in comparison to TR and NC MAX, there is a big imbalance and some tweaks are needed to either one or all.

I am very fond of it as well. However, it is unfair how strong it is for only 100 certs when the TR and to a lesser extent VS abilities, ramp up slowly with certs. There's really very little you gain between levels 1 and 4, very similar to the way ZOE plays out in its certing as well. I've always said that if you want to balance the Vanguard shield, the best way to do it is to have its HP ramp with certs as well. That way at level 1 it's maybe 1/2 of what it is now, and level 4 is the same as level 4 now, or maybe buffed a small bit. That's not really a nerf, just a posterity change that I feel would be beneficial to the game. The same might have to be applied to the ZOE to balance it, adding a new variable or making something else ramp with certs. But I say the best way to balance ZOE is to make it work like the Vanguard shield: on for a set amount of time and can't be cancelled, then once it's run, it's limited by a cooldown.

The problem is in pretty much the majority of these endless ZOE debates is that no one has actually bothered to point this information out. Most of the threads are simply, "ZOE is OP, hurr durr. You can't deny it." but lack an actual summary comparison of the pros and cons of each faction MAX ability or anything meaningful. You can't really cite PS2 API data showing VS get more MAX kills as a serious argument. While the NC and TR MAX abilities are predicated on a number of cons the ZOE simply has one single con and two pretty big pros.

Yes a CQC max dominating in CQC yes that was true.

ZOE runs faster than normal infantry movement speeds, and sprints at about the same pace as infantry sprint speeds. Seeing as sprinting in a firefight is usually a good way to lose any engagement you run into, ZOE generally moves faster than infantry.

It was NEVER this bad though. There are at LEAST 3-4 "nerf ZOE"/"ZOE OP" threads a day.


I totally agree with Morpholine. If they changed ZOE to do NOTHING but make VS MAX's glow (no armor redux, speed buff, or damage buff) and didn't tell anyone, you would still get 3 or 4 "ZOE OP" threads a day even if it was JUST the regular MAX lit up like a Christmas tree.


Imagine how much TR whine there would be if the Magrider was 15% more powerful than it is now? (which would put it back to between the Prowler and Vanguard instead of dead last, even behind the Lightning)

Now that you all have been thoroughly scorched by ZOE lets all put Jumpjets back on the table. >

Yes and Lasher arms please! Replace those stupid Cosmos with some Lasher arms!

While were at it lets bring back some starfire's.

Whats ZOE?