I'm glad you said that, because stats show the reality of it, being NC max having way more kills, better k/d so on and so on. Only reason ZOE is being nerfed is because of forumside, nothing else.
Why is nobody talking about the completely uncalled for lockdown nerf? Why are they insisting on making an already nigh-useless ability even more loathed?
Cause the TR FANBOYS AND THE TR ARE FAVORED AND EVERYONE HATES THEM LONG LIVE THE NC Geez. These devs need to start taking a neutral stand on stuff. It really doesn't mean anything, but it does increase our faith in their decisions. Right now everything seems like a titanic change to features.
@ Gav7x, as of the 12/5/2013 PTS update, it hasn't happen yet. A cool-down period in between each toggle, would fix the situation in your favor, and the favor of other non-VS players "significantly..." Maybe even overkill-nerf it to the point of that it becomes less valid or usable because it becomes much more "situational" then it needed. As a result, I see an outcome where the NC MAXs will regain their prior superiority over the VS MAXs and even the TR MAXs. Two perks to note that NC MAXs have. One is that all their AI weapons almost have no vertical recoil, and the fact that they can insta-kill within 8 meters of any kill box to infantry. When the dev's imply balance between VS, TR, and NC MAXs, typically, there's a formula. A = B = C. All sides are satisified. This implies on a mathematical point of view that all factions are balance by some numerical evaluation. You can associate A B and C with any Faction, in any order you choose. Lets say A is Vanu. Here's my other point. Developers who work under SoE, typically don't see "balance" as an equivalent equation. It's more like Day 1, nerf A severely. It reminds me of the idiots who worked for Blizzard when they tried to re-invent the wheel 10 million times in between TBC and Cataclysm. So eventually, B and C will be an issue. 50 Days later, Nerf B and buff A. Again, another nerf occurs, and there is still imbalance in the system. 40 days later after that, nerf C, nerf A by half, and buff B. See the repetitive, oversight in the equation. Nerf 1 thing, don't balance the other factions. One change leads to more problems. It's the same old Balance-B.S. song and dance. When one change leads to more problems, the use of the object declines, the value of the spec or special ability declines. So it gets un-used. Remind you of the old spec tree back in World of Warcraft, before Catalysm. When players actually had 3 specs for each class, and they would cookie cutter specs that pushed the most DPS, HPS, or Damage Mitigation. Guess what, a lot of other abilities didn't get used in each of the branches of the 8 teirs. Some you had to because they would give you + % to hit and additional range to "pew pew." What I think is balance, typically a radical one, is just keep on buffing the other two. Never implement a nerf unless ZOE would make a VS MAX run the same speed as a Magrider. Nerf under those extremes. If 2A = B = C seems like an imbalance, push out new abilities for NC and TR give them the following balance: 2A = 5/2B = 6/2C. C = NC, TR = B, VS = A. Just keep on pushing tweaks that go up, or give them new abilities. ZOE is only a 30% damage increase, a increase in damage taken, and the mobility part. Why not give TRs a damage increase with Lockdown by 35%. NCs can't shoot with their Aegis Shield on. Why not give them the ability to Smack targets. Give it a 10 to 20% damage increase when the NC Max takes a swing in compared to the other maxes taking a swing, or allow them to fire off their right-hand weapon with the shield enable don the left hand. VS ZOE is only really an issue for Infantry more than anything. Anybody who plays it right understands it's pro and cons. Anybody who stands there, at CQC, and shoots you with ZOE on, is fails... ZOE is now more for hit and run tactics, and non-max players are extremely vulnerable. Especially with dual Cosmos at CQC, hit and run tactics, is going to have a very low TTK when they flank a bunch of TR from behind. Aim for the head, 2 to 3 shots in under a second, people will be dropping. Now if a TR with a heavy just insta-aims and shoots that money-shot missile at you, that VS Max is either down to less than 1/6 health, or dead... You can't make a claim that VS MAXs are extremely OP. Their is a balance. You may not like their mobility factor, or the fact that they do a little bit more damage. By the design, that's how the PS2 Devs made them because ultimately, their thoughts were the VS MAXs were the weakest before the steroid injection aka ZOE. Asking to do a nerf on them is asking to change that back to a point in between what it once was, or what it was before the implementation of ZOE. Bottom line, don't nerf ZOE. Just buff the other two MAXs. Make the game that much more fun. All nerf bats, down-sizing of specs and abilities in a game, ultimately leads to the games death, in due time... WoW is a prime example of that.
I believe the cooldown was always intended, because the zoe has the fuel icon like charge and HA shield. I think it is the wrong way: the op feature is the super speed, untoched. But vanu 4th factioners are stupid, they will believe the MAX will be useless and finally will stop spamming it so we will return to a normal planetside2 instead of the ordinary maxside2 Yeah, this is the real issue: infantry combat killed by max spam.
I very much doubt that people will stop using VS MAXes, even if they erase ZOE. VS MAX had a rightfully bad reputation at the beginning of it's life. Buggy weapons combined with under performing ones when it should have been identical, contributed to said reputation. Then the MAX balance pass came, bugs were fixed, weapons were normalised, but since the reputation was there and the changes were significant but subtle, VS still did not use MAXes to the extend the other two factions did. So ZOE was introduced and besides being a good ability, it was also an excellent advertisement of the updated MAX. People started realising that the VS MAX was no longer under performing, so they started using them in numbers the other two empires never had to face (gone from 60% to 120% of the most pulled MAX in the game, the TR one). That lasted for a couple weeks, until TR gained again the throne of most MAXes pulled. Now, coming back to present day. No amount of ZOE nerfing will undone the advertisement that was made to the VS MAX, so I very much doubt VS will lower the amount of MAXes pulled, even if they completely erase the ability tomorrow. In fact, considering how anti-MAX this ability is, it will make the VS MAX even stronger when people stop rolling with tier 1 ZOE and the huge armor debuff. I'll be here expecting people to demand that the VS MAX itself is nerfed, once ZOE is properly decimated.
You are right, because the ZOE problem is son of the MAX problem, more general and OT. My general opinion is that the ZOE lowered too much the learning curve of the MAX, that should have been higher since the beginning of the game ( make the MAX expensive was a short term solution).
I'm NC and this is overnerf. Stop it SOE. Just stop, clear your head and think it over. Lol necro thread struck me hard.
Guys, i'm not trying to come off as rude - but I welcome the change because it puts the VS MAX back down to our level. It now makes it so that the VS MAX has to pop ZOE to deal with larger threats, like armor or aircraft. It makes more sense to have a short time to deal maximum damage, than it does to have an indefinite ability to run in, cream a mass of infantry, and leave with a pocket full of certs with ease. All that's left now, is a change/redesign of Aegis and Lockdown and we're made in the shade!
Let's see how many VS will switch over to TR or even NC (After the Nanoweave change) after this ZOE BS comes to an end.
I'm against meaningless nerfs and forum wars, but ZOE has been obviously out of control for all these months. It's one of those things that was so clearly OP against infantry that one must be completely blind not to see it. What VS players did not realize is the power of their Max Units after the skill had been introduced was not the skill itself, but the fact they suddenly started spamming it like they had never done before. Remember when Higby stated on Reddit that the biggest change after ZOE's introduction was VS suddenly doubled their Max Units? The cooldown was needed, they should do that on day 1. For the rest if VS keep spamming they will remain effective the same way. Concerning the TR Lockdown... who cares? I'm a Skyguard user so more to do for me!!!
It needs it. So you VS dont magically walk around with ZoE on all the damn time, while the return fire means little cuz you can simply put KA and flak on to mitigate that extra damage. 50% damage? Makes the thing alot less.....likely to be spammed as badly? I hope the recharge is 60s......
