Devs asking for opinions regarding problems with NC

Discussion in 'PS2 Main' started by iLLmavic, Dec 4, 2013.

Devs asking for opinions regarding problems with NC

Discussion in 'PS2 Main' started by iLLmavic, Dec 4, 2013.

  1. iLLmavic

    iLLmavic .

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    The Dev's recently asked for player input regarding NC problems.
    This is just some food for thought for those who might respond to it.

    Obligatory disclaimer - I'm aware that they're *supposed* to be more rewarding at high skill levels, but at the moment I don't think they are and there are less than a handful of people in the game with higher accuracy than me.

    Infantry Weapons:
    There is obviously a problem with the learning curve for avg players with the higher recoil and poor hipfire....but for me the larger problem is that at the highest skill and cert levels, they go back to being poor choices to actually get a job done other than farm. Nanoweave and heavy shield especially negate the NC advantages because the extra bullets needed create more room for misses due to bloom and flinch, the NC have long reloads, and the extra shots needed actually make things like the SAW with a theoretical short TTK much longer than an Orion or MSW/SVA with softpoint. Throw in inconsistent hit registration and things can quickly snowball. ADADADA dominates the landscape at higher skill levels and that is something the NC weapons are terrible at.

    NC weapon's main advantage is most often a "win/farm more" advantage at typically irrelevant ranges, not a win a close fight you might otherwise have lost while the disadvantages(longer equip times, poor hipfire, poor accuracy after taking significant flinch damage) are definitive, not even close losses. They're best at standing still with superior positioning mid to long range while shooting at someone not ADADA shooting back at you, but these conditions are such that you should already win with any faction or weapon! The extra random horizontal recoil kick that TR and VS receive will at certain distances let the occasional player escape with low health when an NC weapon would have finished him off, but at that range the NC person can't really do anything about medic revives and there's probably a sundy very closeby for the person to respawn at. Since you need to be stationary to take advantage of your strengths, you'll get shot more by worse players compared to ADADAing around them and when you're forced to sprint around a corner for cover....you're totally screwed if there is anyone nearby in that new direction because the NC equip after sprint times are terrible and you'll often die before your second bullet is out, not to mention the worse hipfire even if you did start shooting at the same time.

    Maxes: Slow acceleration of falcons and random convergence/divergence of ravens make their AV/antimax capabilities total #($*&#$ compared to Vortek/Comet or Fractures. The shield is worthless against good players because it slows you down and there's a headshot hitbox hole as well as another at the feet, and a comet/fracture max will actually drop the shield while laughing. Slugs with good aim will deal with 3 infantry out to 25m or so and typical maximum of 5 close range, at the high cost of needing to reload to kill a max close range, compared to blueshift/mercies dealing with 8-12 infantry at those ranges and taking less than a second more to kill a max in closer ranges. The TTK adv vs maxes totally disappears when facing someone with mercy/blueshift who is capable of mostly headshots.

    Vanguards - best AV vehicle in the game, worst AI vehicle in the game, in a game where infantry is the largest threat to vehicles pretty much sums this one up.

    Reaver - large hitbox and poor hitbox change rate while dodging due to the center of rotation for the hitbox and relative pixel location as well as incredibly misleading offset tracers makes the skill ceiling AND floor very high. Having a weapon that is harder to aim with a small bullet capacity, long reload, AND needing to aim with it at smaller hitboxes with much greater rate of change of those hitboxes if the same maneuver is performed is a double sided combination of disadvantages. These things scale with larger fights very poorly for the NC. The Reaver is rewarding for those who've spent countless hours in one.....but not having the support of other aircraft because players with less time prefer a mossy or scythe means you're outnumbered and have a giant hitbox for the noob zerg to hit.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2013