This is not true. I made characters on all three empires, and while I mainly played one I logged on to both the others to get the membership daily certs. When they hit the 10,000 limit I spent it on things. They were both level 1 with maxed out ESFs and other items. It is entirely possible for people to have the certs and not rank up. I'm not saying that it isn't happening, I'm saying please show me where you got that data from so I can review it. If however it is purely speculation on your part, please say that. This is a good argument as to why someone might only cert Rank 1. Rank 1, aside from the speed increase, is silly as the damage increase at that level is so low as to be non-existent for AI use (which seems to be in the sense that most of the people complain about). That damage received increase starts out at 30% at Rank 1, so the downside is in full force from the get go. Again, it seems as if just swapping the incremental level increase for damage with the increase in movement speed would fix the entire problem with the ZOE. This is assumption and speculation. It doesn't belong in a honest discussion about bringing balance to something/anything. I'm not saying this to be rude. I'm saying this because too often people make statements like this on the forums, another person reads it and accepts it as truth, and then builds upon it making suggestions for changes and posting complaints based on the original assumption. All it does is cause frustration for players as it feeds their existing bias without being honest to the subject.
To your first point, you COULD log in each day for the passive gains but that's only 12 (?) certs a day if you don't have a sub which means you'd have to login EVERYDAY for three months to afford ZOE 4 at BR 1. So that idea is HIGHLY unlikely to happen. Second point, the increase in speed and decrease in armor as rank scales would work JUST fine and I've said that since day one. Third point, actually sampling ingame isn't assumption or speculation. Random sampling on servers is actually how REAL world data is gathered and as long as the sample size is sufficient and you have enough samples (from different servers), it's not only valid, it's the correct method for data collection (without having the fidelity that the dev's have) to construct a population estimator. If this method is wrong, I hope you can refund and/or rewrite all my statistics textbooks (including my grad-level ones).
I just said I did exactly that, though I spent those certs on my ESFs. And I know of a few others who did as well. And since we're members, we get 48 certs a day. Again, I'm not saying this happened with all of them, but don't discount it as even highly unlikely. Ok, since you want to get snarky. You have a good understanding of data collection and I have no wish to rewrite your statistics textbooks, but you might want to retake an English Reading Comprehension class or two. This is what you wrote, "I also know that most people have ZOE 1 because if you simply ask what rank they have, around 9/10 people say Rank 1 and have no interest in dropping more certs for any ranks higher. "You know" because 'if I" do something then you think a certain ratio of the people would respond in a certain way. That is both speculation and assumption, and leads to presumptions made by others based on your statements. Please don't ask me to buy or write a dictionary for you, either. The developers collect data, but they don't share that with us. To my knowledge there hasn't been anyone who has released such data for the public to see. I don't even think DA's site states how many certs someone has put into something. And considering that the developers haven't made the change to ZOE which you and I agree would fix the problem if we are correct in our speculations, then perhaps it's because the data doesn't support what we thought was true. Of course that is just a guess on my part. If you did such a survey, if you collected the data, then please provide it (this is the second request). If you haven't done that, but are making an estimated guess, simply state that. There is nothing wrong with giving your opinion in feedback to the developers. There is something wrong with presenting your opinion as if it were fact. It is dishonest and confuses other readers into thinking it is a factual statement. This starts a chain reaction and discussion on the subject goes no where. This very reason is what brought me to this thread in the first place.
I took a tally one day (during the July 4th weekend), jumping around to different servers throughout world wide prime times, asking what ZOE rank people had. I only went to big battles with 60+ VS. Of those that responded, ~9/10 had ZOE 1 and the rest had something higher. I didn't track the other ranks because I cared only about ZOE 1.
While I agree the ability is to be nerfed, you lost all credibility when you stated that rate of fire is increased. Mistakes are made, yes, but if you're attempting to get a point across, you should always double check the facts before making statements. I am left with the feeling that you lack the basic knowledge on the topic of which you are discussing, and as such, there is little reason to listen to you further, at least in this field.
So you're not going to listen to his point because he may have made a mistake? Very mature. Anyhow OP I think your video was refreshing, you calmly talk about the problem and why it's an issue and I totally agree with you. Max has been my second most played class since beta after engineer, and ZOE (which I fully certed out) does turn you into a crazy killing machine. The first time I tried the ability I actually laughed when I realised you could toggle it at will, thinking this must be a mistake. However I do have a point to make. VS maxes had nothing special about them before ZOE so I hope any tweaks or a replacement ability in this upcoming balance pass can still be an appealing option to use instead of charge. I also think NC and TR abilities could use improving.
It's not the possibility that he made a mistake, it's that he did. If I made a thread on how anchor mode is too good against enemy armor because it increases the damage of projectiles, would you consider me to be a reliable source of information and reinforce or change your stance on a matter based on my arguments? If you knew this to be false and continued to follow onward with my words without a sense of doubt, then you'd be much susceptible to the plethora of falsehoods that this forum spews. Credibility is key, if you lose it, you lose an audience as well. Besides, though I did hear him out, it's not like I would be missing out if I didn't. He's just reiterating the arguments of others.
True that wouldn't be reliable, and you have a point. However talking on a video is different to writing a considered post, and at least I find it easy to say the wrong words sometimes. I still think OP has a strong point though and hopefully the balance pass will address it. I'm sure we're all sick of seeing the whines to balance it (which is why this thread is refreshing, there's no whining) I want to see this forum become a constructive place for discussion again and I hope that can happen. There's some really good ideas here which get lost in the clouds of....you know.
Gave a thumbs up. Anything to nerf the class that has no reason to be in this game in its current form.
