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Fixed it for you.

I think that the TR are the least balanced faction, whereas the NC and the VS are well-balanced. This is because the NC and the VS have an equally strong ground and air presence, (especially in a vehicular sense - the Reaver/Vanguard are well balanced and work well against each others, as do the Scythe/Magrider for the VS). The TR has, without a doubt, the best MBT for tank killing, especially when mounted with dual AP guns and a Gatekeeper as its secondary. However, the Mosquito feels like the weakest ESF, and also the one that does the least damage when regarding apparent feeling. Moreover, the TR standard guns are also the nicest to handle, in my opinion, and feel like they do sufficient damage with a rewarding ammunition per magazine count, (the NC punishes misses far more heavily, which TR guns don't. The VS is more of a middle ground). However, their rocket launchers and side-arms are the worst, as are their MAX weapons - these feel underwhelming against NC MAX weapons especially, and the VS MAX weapons are also arguably too powerful. Overall, I'd say that the TR is underpowered. Though they have extremely strong elements in some respects, and are alarmingly weak in others.

On a final note: VS popularity is not down to us being the easiest faction to play. It's because of Community hype that lulls experienced and newer players alike into a false premiss that they're amazing. The VS is good. Though our popularity boils down to Community over-hype, which in turn encourages more players to join the VS to see what all the fuss is about.

VS mostly win the off-peak alerts, whereas the during prime-time NC wins the most alerts(NC 35% and VS/TR roughly the same with VS having 1-2% more wins). Basically, when the different factions end up with similar population(3x33% with a queue) the result tend to be evenly matched.

During off-peak hours, when the pops vary the most, I think we need to look at individual fights more than alert data due to many players at these times will usually just deploy where a good fight takes place. I mean, most cont locks at off-peak is a faction all going to one continent and ignoring the rest for an easy cap.

In short, we need to look at alerts when the pops are even to get meaningful data.

Firstly, the default sniper rifle for both the TR and the VS is a short-ish range semi auto rifle, compared to the NC's bolt action. The bolt action can kill in a single headshot, the default semi autos cannot. The NC has literally over two and a half times the kills with their default sniper compared to the VS / TR, as it's extremely potent in comparison. Many new players stick with the NC due to the sniper rifle alone, from what i've seen. The current starter-weapon-advantage the VS have is the LMG (Orion), and the TR have the best overall starting Assault rifle (medic-only weapon)

As a general summary

The VS have:

• Generally the easiest to use small arms (Default LMG is the best for CQB, it currently leads in terms of overall stats)

• A high range Empire specific rocket launcher, it's essentially a charge-up, no-drop anti vehicle sniper rifle.

• The worst overall starting pistol

• The slowest ground vehicle in the game (Magrider) - It's extremely potent overall, don't get me wrong, but the skill cap is the highest compared to the other faction's MBTs (Main Battle Tank). It hovers over terrain, but is still slow - it's best on rough, but not too rough ground. It lacks a mobile turret, making aiming / looking around a massive pain, as you have to rotate the entire chassis to look to either side. On-mouse DPI / Sensitivity adjustment is almost necessary.
• The easiest to control ESF (Empire Specific Fighter) due to high hover power. (None are easy to control, I suggest hitting the VR for each faction and seeing which feels best to you. Scythes (VS) have good hover, good AI noseguns, Mosquitos (TR) have excellent rocketpods and are fastest by default, but harder to control, Reavers (NC) have the best afterburners, but you are flying a brick.

• Broken / nonfunctional Empire Specific: Max ability, Anti Infantry secondary. There's years of drama attached, but that's the current status in a nutshell.

The TR have:

• Somewhat weak damage per shot, but high magazine-size small arms - this can be a benefit or a drawback. I personally love the TR weapons over any other faction's due to this, but many dislike the tradeoff.

• Sucktastic Empire specific rocket launcher, it's gotten better recently, still not in all that good a place.

• Weak infantry-based long range Anti Vehicle capability (Long range MAX AV is innacurate), in exchange for the best overall damage output MBT, with the easiest to use primary cannon.

• The fastest ESF with the narrowest profile, anti infantry nosegun has been nerfed into sucking, but the Rocketpod secondary option is best overall at anti infantry (compared to other rocketpods)

• The best ES pistol option (Repeater)

• Currently the best ES secondaries overall, for both AI and AV. Paired with the best primary cannon, TR have the most evil armor in general at the moment.

The NC have:

• Very high damage per shot default sniper rifles, the best long-range ES sniper rifle, the best SMGs... Generally, NC infiltrators get the best of both long and short range capability, overall. The Desperado is an amazing Pistol as well, which makes their Stalker cloaks that much more potent. Generally speaking, the NC have the best weapon lineup (or close to it) for infiltrators overall.

• High damage output small arms (Including tiers of 200 damage weapons that no other faction has) ... But generally slow fire rate for most things, and high recoil, making NC weapons difficult to control, but extremely potent for the skilled infantryman.

• Laser guided, high alpha, high output MAX AV (Ravens) - If you want to shred tanks with an armored suit, go NC, no one does it better.

• MBT (Vanguard) has a faction-only ability that shields you from the next few tank-shells worth of damage - the shield has a long cooldown, and only lasts for a few seconds, but it's more then enough to determine 1v1 fights in many cases, or allow you to back into cover. The tank itself handles like a drunken refrigerator doing it's best hippo impression.

• OHK (On-hit-kill) Anti infantry nosegun for the Reaver (ESF) that's also fairly good against armor.
• TV-guided Empire Specific rocket launcher, this is the only one that you can drive over cover and smash into things, very satisfying, but reloading takes a geological epoch, and it's range-limited to 300 meters (despawning projectiles)

If you want to know good ways to earn certs on any faction, this will work for any of the three.

• Pick a class to be your main. Medic and Engineer are best. Ideally, focus on one to feed your basic initial cert-spending, then cert the tool for the other, so you can swap between them.
• Max out your class's tool (Repair gun or medic gun) soon, repairs / healing / resurrection will be faster, and the medic tool will have higher range for both. Be sure to put a few ranks into your Ammo pack as Engineer, due to the way these work, if two ammo packs are sitting atop one another, the higher rank one will take precedence, the other will earn you nothing at all.
• Resurrection grenades for the medic are VERY worth it, throw this into a room of fried friendlies to gain your own zombie army, and a pile of certs to go with it. Playing support for your team is VERY worthwhile, and the certs add up faster then you'd think. I've intentionally gone days without scoring a kill, and yet I earned multi-thousands of certs.
• Whichever you pick, Engie or Medic, hit up the VR and try every weapon available to you. Engineers generally use carbines, Medics should use Assault rifles (The strongest weapon type in the game small-arms wise, overall)

Vehicle starting advice:

• The FIRST thing you should do upon looking into vehicles, is go into each and every one, and purchase the 1.25x zoom for 1 cert. Yes, all of them. No, it's not too expensive. You will save yourself (and your gunners) infinite frustration by doing this, and if you do it now, you won't have to hear players telling you to do so over and over and over. If you have a few extra certs, toss 1-3 ammo ranks into your Basalisks, especially for your faction's tank - they have a teeny weeny amount of ammo to start with, so the extra 50-150 rounds makes a HUGE difference.

• If you want a good starting vehicle for cert-earning for any faction, cert your Sunderer. If you want to deploy, and let people spawn, grab a Deploy Shield (Also, cert the AMS option, if you haven't already.) If you want to earn loads upon loads of certs, invest in the Proximity Repair option (NOT the auto repair option for this vehicle) - Higher ranks are extremely worth it, i'd go up to rank 3-4 before swapping your focus. The last rank is rarely worth it (on any vehicle) when you're just starting out, due to diminishing returns and increased cert cost. Merely existing near friendly armor will repair them at a reduced rate, but with no interruptions. You can sit there and watch the certs roll in for hours, when it gets busy enough. Drive around Amp stations near the outer walls (and spawn room) to repair turrets. You can make a few easy certs this way, as they are usually blown in fights, then ignored. It's worth putting 1 or 2 ranks in the Ammo option for your Sunderer as well, for vehicle ammo resupply... but the experience cap is insanely low - while it won't earn you as much as repair, it will make you very popular in prolonged armor battles.

Something non-obvious to consider. If you buy a Nanite Systems weapon (The Commissioner / Underboss / Blackhand, Liberator weapons, Lightning weapons, Sunderer weapons, Flash weapons, basically any common-pool infantry weapon, or any common-pool vehicle secondary) ... Buy it with DBC, and it will unlock for all characters. Buy anything with Certs, and it will unlock only for that character - if you plan on swapping factions here and there, it's worth the global unlock to have a few extra good weapon options for each character.

A few community things / preconceptions that may or may not be accurate for you...

• Play the VS, and everyone in other factions will hate you for having overpowered gear that stopped being overpowered months, if not years ago and is now unused due to being completely nonfunctional. Generally best leadership overall.
• Play the TR, and have the best armor, but the worst infantry-based anti vehicle capability - everyone can do AV up close, but the TR lacks man-portable gear for the job, save for common pool launchers, the Engineer's AV mana turret is a good pick... but fractures / striker still stink. Everyone will complain about how good other factions have it, while stomping all over them with tanks.
• Play the NC, have great weapons that don't fire where you want them to, overall excellent armor and air, and an extremely high incidence of being teamkilled out of nowhere, repeatedly, for hours on end.

Depending on what server you play on, everyone's community is different. I play VS and TR on Emerald, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, both have great communities, and plenty of platoons to join in general. It's easy to hop in one, and go with the flow, just follow the glowing beacons on the map, and your platoon lead will be happy. I play NC on Connery, and... it's fun, but it's not Emerald-grade population density. Overall, I very much like all three factions.

In a nutshell
VS = easy to control small arms, tank with unique mechanics and a high skill cap. Long range AV is easy.
TR = Good small arms in general, weaker at range due to less damage per shot, but high magazine size is excellent for spray and pray. Best overall Tank primaries and secondaries, fastest ESF.
NC = Durable bruiser of a tank, great armor / vehicle weapons in general. Excellent max based AV, fun ES rocket launcher. Small arms are harder to control, but there's a top notch choice in each category.

Just a few initial thoughts / pieces of advice. Whichever faction you pick as your main, Happy hunting, and welcome to Auraxis.

Excellent summary of the three factions. I've been playing since launch, and this is 100% true.

OP, you do realize that your opinion isn't new, right? Accusing VS of being "easy" and generally denigrating the faction because "purple" has been a common refrain since... oh... I dunno... PlanetSide 1. Regardless for any changes to the faction, VS is always "easy mode."

"OMG NO BULLET DROP!"
"SWAGRIDER!"
"WTF!PURPLE!"
"SARON OMFGBBQ!!!!1"

Seen it all.

You're like one of those people who read some quack news article about how flouridated water is poison, backed up by all kinds of pseudoscientific claptrap, completely unaware that alarmists have been grousing about it for almost a hundred years without a single prediction of consequences ever proving to happen. Ever.

VS players go PEW PEW PEW, wear sexy purple spandex, are fabulous, here to stay, and don't give a **** about your new-old opinion.

Deal with it.

You sir are a scholar and a gentleman.

Reposting whole quote to bump the bs.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...

Probably the best post I've ever seen on this forum, at least when regarding the differences in Empires...

When playing a SciFi game, always choose to play the SciFi faction.

Hey, my divorce is almost complete. Marry me?

lmao it's pretty well agreed that having the bolt-action sniper rifle as the stock infil weapon is actually an advantage for NC....

The semi-auto's are crap honestly. You want to use either Vandall (the NS semi) with irons or RDS, or you want a BASR with good HS kill range. Or... of course... SMG is best (another NC advantage)

VS do have an advantage when it comes to default Heavy Assault LMG though. That's the main one that draws the most people to VS, and applies the most salt to other peoples eyes. Besides the Lancer, I'm pretty sure it's the only thing left on VS even remotely worth crying about... and then not by much when the Anchor and MSW-R are both great competitors (you just gotta drop some certs on em, and for TR, the Carv is honestly pretty good.)

No faction is "OP". They each have minor advantages in this or that, but nothing really worth making a big deal over.

It helps many people to blame the game instead of taking ownership of themselves.

Victim Complex ftw

You forgot to write NERF. Me disappoint, much very.

There is no purpose to this thread:

-Nothing constructive

-Nothing new

-Nothing useful

-Nothing entertaining

...Well I guess the comments will be funny to read, but it doesn't solve the issue

Wow man, thank you, that must have taken you like 30 minutes to write at least. I actually did a lot of that last night on my own accord, but will be implementing your other suggestions, particularly the rez nades.

Yeah I haven't felt yet that there is serious imbalances but I imagine if I do it will be after hundreds of hours of play.

If you only play 1 you will. If you play all 3 you probably won't.

You'll see differences, but they just give the factions a little bit of flavor, and you'll realize a lot of the equipment is actually incredibly similar (the defaults all are a lil different, but you can unlock guns that are more like other factions, and there's a lot of common pool in vehicles as well, and the unique stuff there is ultimately doesn't make enough difference to break the game ever)

There can be only one Vanu masterrace. Spandex ftw.

Wow! These forums are saltier than a salt mine in the middle of a salt plain full of salty salt miners! XD

its a first person shooter, they are made of salt.

Welcome to the forums, where people would rather abuse you than congratulate you.
Most people on here are here purely for arguments, some dont even realise they do it, which is sad.

My advice: whenever you get a argumentative response that just for the sake of arguing, ignore that person (click on the profile pic and click ignore) youll never be subject to their crap again and the forums become much better.

Funnily enough my ignore list is very small, and most of the crap has disappeared....

Ah oh k den mate.