Another dev AMA on Reddit, Higby Answers!

[HereticusXZ]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/1zfi39/ama_request_anyone_at_soe_who_will_answer_some_of/cftp3g5

I can take a crack at it!

1 - Why was ADS removed from jumping?

In PS2 bullets fire from the center of the screen and when we need them to be "inaccurate" for some reason we have to use a cone of fire. When players are moving, jumping, etc the cof kicks in to keep the bullets from going dead center. In order to give people some idea of where the bullets are likely to go in the CoF while they are ADS and can't see their CoF bounds, we made the reticule move off center a bit within the bounds of the cof in order to provide some feedback about the inaccuracy. You could see this really clearly when jumping while ADS - you had a massive COF, bullets flew everywhere, and the sight veered wildly all over the screen, so you had no real expectation of accuracy. Several months ago threads like this[1] started popping up with people questioning why the bullet isn't hitting where the reticule is at all times and saying it was unintuitive, based on this feedback we went about removing all the places where we were using ADS sway to simulate inaccuracy, so when you strafe now, the dot is significantly less offset, etc. The cleanest solution for jumping was to drop ADS while jumping. We discussed making bullets follow the sight line of the weapon instead of the center of the screen, but that was a several months long revamp of our entire projectiles system, so it wasn't a possibility.

| 2 - why harasser sucks?

The nerf was too harsh. We are doing a general balance update in April that will include a restoration of some of the Harasser's legendary maneuverability.

| 3 - population balance

We don't have a magic bullet for population balance, but we do have more and less subtle solutions. More subtle is things like XP bonuses, which really don't provide a huge motivation for joining a losing fight, less subtle would be things like respawn timing adjustments for heavily over populated empires - something we don't really want to institute and luckily haven't had to. Most suggestions we get here just straight up don't work, or punish paying players who want to play on a single account and do nothing to stop free players with multiple accounts. Right now population numbers are pretty cyclical, driven by factors like balance and tuning, and our plan is to keep addressing macro balance issues between empires to make sure they're all competitive. In terms of game systems, the resource revamp we've currently got scheduled in June is doing the most to try to provide a handicap to under popped empires, by dividing resources between the number of players on each empire, giving the smaller forces an advantage in resources and force multipliers. I'm excited to see how that works out, but I have some concerns about it's effect on moment-to-moment balance, especially for newer players.

| 5 - cap xp changes to help fix zergs

Setting up rewards so they better represent risk/reward is definitely something that many of us have been discussing. I don't have an exact answer for you right now, but it's something we've talked a lot about, and something that we're talking about potentially addressing with the 2nd phase of resources (Facility Power).

| 6 - rewards for platoon / squad leaders

I want to, we've discussed giving squad leaders some % bonus of all XP earned by their squad within a certain radius, but don't have a final plan yet except to say that this is something we want to address.

| 7 - ZOE isn't very good right now

Joshua and I were discussing the MAX abilities this morning, we want to fix them, and may make some tweaks in the April combat tuning update, but no promises yet (the changes we were discussing are probably too big to fit in for that update). We do agree that ZOE is a bit too limited right now (So is Lockdown, and to a lesser degree the riot shield) and want to improve all three of them.

| 8 - State of the Striker

The Striker is in a tough spot as a weapon. It's basically the opposite of what we want out of a great feeling gun in PS2, or at least it was before it got over-nerfed. That is, when you're playing against them it's impossible to deal with, when you're using one personally they're unsatisfying. We will have some buffs for the Striker in the April update, stay tuned.

[HereticusXZ]

All I gotta say on this is Pop Balance/XP/Zergs can all be solved IMO with one thing: Incentive.

"What reason do I have to bring my squad to a Alert on Amerish when there's a good giant fight with great XP farm here at Allatum Bio-Lab? I can get just as much XP if not more by staying and enjoying this fight instead of slugging it out and gambling on the team-work of the Empire in a Alert."

There's to much incentive on XP value, where it is important because it gets you certs. There's to much value in XP that forces players to group up and zerg to overwhelm facilities as the easiest method to get quick XP, especially for new-players and this promotes unhealthy gameplay in the long-run/grand scheme.

Players need a physical relevance to play with that gives them incentive.

Tech-Plants limit MBT's, Amp-Stations should limit Liberators, Bio-Labs should limit MAX's. Such limitations create incentives for Squad/Platoon leaders to care about attack/defense, especially during a Alert.

Furthermore continent control can be more relevant by giving actual physical toys for players to play with. Ideas include giving the controlling Empire a Skylance defense turret at main facilities on all continents, allowing the controlling Empire to spawn NS-MBT's on all continents, I know there's rumors about new aircraft, could even finally show-off a Bastion Command Carrier, anything except bland XP!

Bio-lab passive heals, Amp-Station turret CD, Tech-Plant resources.... This is all irrelevant incentives that go mostly ignored.... Empires need to quite literally be completely robbed of a asset when they lose something as important as a Main-Facility.

I know they don't exist in PS2 but I'll exaggerate this as a example here and say: If you lose a radar-station then your Empire should lose the ability to have lock-on. You can keep the rocket-launcher, it will be switched to a dumb-fire option, but you cannot, at all, lock-on without X facility in your control!

That's what it means IMO to have a facility have relevance and give players incentive to capture/defend.

Physical rewards, toys, This is incentive to care about the importance of facilities/continents, NOT exclusively the XP.

[ChipMHazard]

Wonder what kind of improvements they could give the Striker without either revamping it or just making it too effective, again.

[HereticusXZ]

At the very least I'd like the range on the Striker to match the grounder...

[Vashyo]

I would really like shared squad XP back like it was is PS1, it just makes teamplay lot more rewarding.

Would never have to think about whos driving a tank and whos gunning and such, also if part of your squad is going to do some tactical maneuvers they still dont miss out in XP for being away for doing something.

[Boildown]

Players need a physical relevance to play with that gives them incentive.

Tech-Plants limit MBT's, Amp-Stations should limit Liberators, Bio-Labs should limit MAX's. Such limitations create incentives for Squad/Platoon leaders to care about attack/defense, especially during a Alert.

This is fucking brilliant. And it should be implemented asap IMO.

[War Barney]

*to a lesser degree the riot shield*............................To a lesser degree...... to a lesser degree...... to a..... lesser.... degree.........................................













TO A LESSER DEGREE!!! ARE YOU INSANE! have this guy EVER played as the NC, the riot shield is worthless, I ranked it up to 3 cos I thought it might help but ALL i ever use it for is standing in doorways and laughing, sure its fun doing that but its not help at ALL, every good MAX user has charged slotted as it lets you charge in to get into range for our awful awful shotguns and you can charge out or a fight while the shield will just leave you slowly crawling away then dying in 1 shot to a rocket which seems completely unaffected by it.

Do NOT give us this *to a lesser degress* crap, its the worst ability in the game, sure lockdown isn't great but its helpful for making a beast of a AA MAX, ZOE is brilliant VS are just to use to having all the most OP things so having a balanced ability compared to all the OP crap they have makes it seem bad. I swear if they buff the zoe back to being OP and just ignore the worst MAX in the game again I'm going to go completely insane...

Sadly this is soe we're talking about, so be prepared for the zoe to last forever and not make you take more damage while our shield gets its health reduced by 50% and the ability to reload while using it removed.... and thats if we're lucky.. it could be worse

[bites]

*to a lesser degree the riot shield*............................To a lesser degree...... to a lesser degree...... to a..... lesser.... degree.........................................













TO A LESSER DEGREE!!! ARE YOU INSANE! have this guy EVER played as the NC, the riot shield is worthless, I ranked it up to 3 cos I thought it might help but ALL i ever use it for is standing in doorways and laughing, sure its fun doing that but its not help at ALL, every good MAX user has charged slotted as it lets you charge in to get into range for our awful awful shotguns and you can charge out or a fight while the shield will just leave you slowly crawling away then dying in 1 shot to a rocket which seems completely unaffected by it.

Do NOT give us this *to a lesser degress* crap, its the worst ability in the game, sure lockdown isn't great but its helpful for making a beast of a AA MAX, ZOE is brilliant VS are just to use to having all the most OP things so having a balanced ability compared to all the OP crap they have makes it seem bad. I swear if they buff the zoe back to being OP and just ignore the worst MAX in the game again I'm going to go completely insane...

Sadly this is soe we're talking about, so be prepared for the zoe to last forever and not make you take more damage while our shield gets its health reduced by 50% and the ability to reload while using it removed.... and thats if we're lucky.. it could be worse

While I agree with your points ... (eg the shield sucks ass) I can assure you he does play NC since hes run with us a few times.

But in complete agreement the shield in its current iteration is a shiny "shoot me with rockets to mitigate the point" Ability.

IMHO needs a minimum 180 degree front cover AND actually blocking explosives properly ... because due to Client side right etc ... it currently sucks outside of VERY organized/planned play. Least ZOE and to an extremely lesser extent Lockdown .. is fun/useable outside of organized squads.

[War Barney]

I can only assume he doesn't use the shield then, the shield is slowly becoming something you only see used by new players who think it looks cool, eventually it wont be used at all, hell it could be said its even worse as we need charge for our MAX to work, a VS and TR MAX can work very well even without it letting them keep lockdown and zoe as an option when they need it.

Hell I see the zoe used a LOT so its obviously not that bad, so why is that put as *needs a lot of work* while our awful awful shield is being put as *minor work needed*

[bites]

I can only assume he doesn't use the shield then, the shield is slowly becoming something you only see used by new players who think it looks cool, eventually it wont be used at all, hell it could be said its even worse as we need charge for our MAX to work, a VS and TR MAX can work very well even without it letting them keep lockdown and zoe as an option when they need it.

Hell I see the zoe used a LOT so its obviously not that bad, so why is that put as *needs a lot of work* while our awful awful shield is being put as *minor work needed*
Completely agree .. I basically never change from charge myself. To my knowledge I can't recall seeing him in a suit ... he has rezzed me a few times as medic tho :P.

[Snoopy]

TO A LESSER DEGREE!!! ARE YOU INSANE! have this guy EVER played as the NC, the riot shield is worthless, I ranked it up to 3 cos I thought it might help but ALL i ever use it for is standing in doorways and laughing, sure its fun doing that but its not help at ALL, every good MAX user has charged slotted as it lets you charge in to get into range for our awful awful shotguns and you can charge out or a fight while the shield will just leave you slowly crawling away then dying in 1 shot to a rocket which seems completely unaffected by it.

Do NOT give us this *to a lesser degress* crap, its the worst ability in the game, sure lockdown isn't great but its helpful for making a beast of a AA MAX, ZOE is brilliant VS are just to use to having all the most OP things so having a balanced ability compared to all the OP crap they have makes it seem bad. I swear if they buff the zoe back to being OP and just ignore the worst MAX in the game again I'm going to go completely insane...

Sadly this is soe we're talking about, so be prepared for the zoe to last forever and not make you take more damage while our shield gets its health reduced by 50% and the ability to reload while using it removed.... and thats if we're lucky.. it could be worse

I'm sorry, but do we even play the same game? Are you that bad of a player that all you can do is complain about everything, because that's all I ever see you doing... From having a sulk about infiltrators that you "can't see", to medics reviving people :cry:, NC max not having a ranged weapon, etc.

I don't see any body using the lockdown mechanic, and very few people still use the ZOE module nowadays. However, go to any biolab and there is plenty of NC maxes using the shield for cover as they reload, or to retreat from firefights - as they should. It's a great defensive tool... That's right, defensive. Your problem seems to be that it isn't offensive, thus, it's useless?

I play all three factions and have no problems with any. They aren't meant to be identical, and aren't all supposed to excel in the same aspect of the game.

Maybe you should go back to Call of Duty, or whatever it is you came from...

[Rivenshield]

I would really like shared squad XP back like it was is PS1, it just makes teamplay lot more rewarding.

That's from the old game. Like AMS's and lattices and stuff. Until and unless the screaming need for it shoves its way up the dev teams' collective ass, it'll lay there unused.

[War Barney]

I'm sorry, but do we even play the same game? Are you that bad of a player that all you can do is complain about everything, because that's all I ever see you doing... From having a sulk about infiltrators that you "can't see", to medics reviving people :cry:, NC max not having a ranged weapon, etc.

I don't see any body using the lockdown mechanic, and very few people still use the ZOE module nowadays. However, go to any biolab and there is plenty of NC maxes using the shield for cover as they reload, or to retreat from firefights - as they should. It's a great defensive tool... That's right, defensive. Your problem seems to be that it isn't offensive, thus, it's useless?

I play all three factions and have no problems with any. They aren't meant to be identical, and aren't all supposed to excel in the same aspect of the game.

Maybe you should go back to Call of Duty, or whatever it is you came from...

Its funny cos all I ever see you do is ignore the arguments I make and just throw insults around, I never said lockdown is good but they can at least slot it as charge isn't essential, I see ZOE used a lot, and I explained why the shield is used by people who think it looks cool but in effect its worthless. I wont even go into inf and medics as I went into that in great detail already so I'm not going to re-explain it so you can completely ignore everything I say again (hell I expect you to ignore all of this and just throw insults again, its more just so people realise you are just a troll).

While on the question of do we play the same game, obviously not if this is the first time you've ever heard a NC want a gun that has a range beyond 5m for our MAX, its what I hear non stop while playing NC as our MAX is nigh on useless right now, its only saving grace being charge in biolabs and other indoor style bases which, while it IS suicide, at least lets us clear rooms enough hopefully for people to follow us in and mop up (though that requires a good team work, random never think to follow MAXs).

How anybody could try to compare a skill which lets your MAX move very quickly and one which slows you right down and only protects against small arms fire from right in front of you is a complete joke. One is useful in a lot of situations the other will only get you killed, and I can already see you trying to say *ye zoe does hur hur* but we all know zoe saves lives and makes MAX rushes a lot more effective, shields only serve to make you a sitting duck.

[Falcon_br]

I really don´t agree with a bio lab requirement to get maxes.

TIW on Waterson held Rashnu for two weeks.
For two weeks I couldn´t use c4 or maxes on Indar.
Everytime we tried to take it, they deployed 50+ scat maxes on it.

Now, think about getting that bio lab back without maxes!

Maybe, just maybe, if we do some kind of rotation, like, you need Bio lab to have liberators, you need amp station to have tanks and you need tech plants to get maxes (all outside the warpgate of course), maybe you can use tanks to get tech plants, maxes to get bio labs and liberators to get amp stations, like most guys do today.

Harassers are useless right now, I tried to use it twice yestarday, on the first run, a single titan AP shot set us on fire, so his secondary gunner killed us right away, on the second run, a magrider AP shot took more then half the health we got, and the secondary gun killed us in 3 shots out of 6. In both runs we killed one single tank from far away using a halberd on the back of damaged tanks.

Harasser dead to one tank shot is too much, also lock on launcher take half this health with maximum composite armor! Two annihilator is the perfect anti harasser combo, just two!

I already adviced my outfit to don't use decimators (unless inside bio labs) and strikers, the default launcher can hit past 30 meters, the decimator can´t, and with all missiles lost from lost lock on and run aways air units, the annihilators will do more damage and shot faster them the striker right now.

The NC doens´t like the shields? Lol, I will change my lockdown or zoe on shield anytime!
Lockdown is useless because of the fracture nerf and the buster nerf, the faster you fire with the buster, the worst the aim gets, so lockdown + buster = you cant hit past melee range!
Zoe is still with some use, I still see some maxes inside bio labs cleaning rooms with zoe active, Two day ago I died to a VS BR 100 maxes that using the vortex on melee range plus zoe, made me impossible to hit him because of the strafing unpredictable at high velocity at close range.
But we all agree, the Vulcan is over nerfed, badly over nerfed! The basilisk is better at everything the vulcan should be used at! The oracle of death already proved that the VS is the best, with the NC close to it and the vulcan forgotten far away from all other weapons.
The VS has a no drop, perfect precision AT weapon that can be used at all ranges, the NC is not so easy to use, but because you have 10 shots you can use the first two aiming at your target so you should hit the last 8, with no recoil, usefull at all ranges but not so great at long range as the VS one is! The vulcan got a shotgun spread system that makes you imprecise at all ranges! It is only good at melee range where all other weapons will perform the same!
The worst part is that the Oracle showed that the vulcan was getting the same KPU as the other ES AT weapons, so no nerf was needed, but because this game is ruled with kids crying for nerfs on the official forums, the harasser, the striker and the vulcan are by far the worst weapon on the game!

[War Barney]

You want shield? have it we'll take lockdown =) sure lockdown isn't great but you can use it to become a AA monster, the shield just gives you the ability to be a sitting duck, so its kind of like lockdown except it doesn't give us more damage. I really don't get what your on about with bursters, perhaps lockdown makes it go insane but iv never had a issue with hitting with the bursters

[KesTro]

I love my shield as an NC MAX. The problem with it though is exactly as BITES has described. Due to client side limitations 1 in 4 bullets will still damage you through it and explosions do the damage to you around the shield. So It's a nifty little thing for a 1v1 MAX duel to mitigate some damage but it's not going to save your life too often. All we really use it for is to stack up on SCU's in Biolabs.

Also, Hereticus check your inbox. :(

[War Barney]

Even then though the zoe is better as it lets them quickly get around your shield and its a huge risk to use against infantry as they'll throw a C4 at you for the 1 shot kill =( and ofc you lose charge so you wont be hitting much

[ringring]

Even then though the zoe is better as it lets them quickly get around your shield and its a huge risk to use against infantry as they'll throw a C4 at you for the 1 shot kill =( and ofc you lose charge so you wont be hitting much

All I can tell you is that the other days I spawned at a base on Amerish to attempt a resecure and as I looked out of the spawn room I saw 5 NC maxes with their shields up and looking right at me and I thought "nah, I don't think I'll bother".

:)

[War Barney]

all you needed to do in that situation was shoot a rocket or run up with some C4, it takes so long to get rid of the shield you'll often blow the C4 and kill all the MAXs before they can run or pull a gun and a rocket will just bypass almost all the shield. Shields might look scary but when you get use to them you realise it doesn't block the damage you want it to

[ringring]

all you needed to do in that situation was shoot a rocket or run up with some C4, it takes so long to get rid of the shield you'll often blow the C4 and kill all the MAXs before they can run or pull a gun and a rocket will just bypass almost all the shield. Shields might look scary but when you get use to them you realise it doesn't block the damage you want it to
Kill all the maxes? How many bricks of C4 do you think I can carry? Besides, NC maxes are more lethal than e-coli!

Still as a max user myself I never use the lock down, charge is the best thing. And I never complain about maxes, unless I get into a stupid position I hear nothing but the lamentations of my opponent's women.

[Illtempered]

These devs crack me up...

[War Barney]

Kill all the maxes? How many bricks of C4 do you think I can carry? Besides, NC maxes are more lethal than e-coli!

Still as a max user myself I never use the lock down, charge is the best thing. And I never complain about maxes, unless I get into a stupid position I hear nothing but the lamentations of my opponent's women.

You can carry 2 which is enough to kill 5 if they stand close together, and a NC MAX isn't that lethal really, the shield takes ages to put away so you have plenty of time to thrown down a brick of C4, that or hover out as a LA, if you use the lift to get some height even if they spot you the range will be so long they wont be able to hit you.

[Snoopy]

Its funny cos all I ever see you do is ignore the arguments I make and just throw insults around, I never said lockdown is good but they can at least slot it as charge isn't essential, I see ZOE used a lot, and I explained why the shield is used by people who think it looks cool but in effect its worthless. I wont even go into inf and medics as I went into that in great detail already so I'm not going to re-explain it so you can completely ignore everything I say again (hell I expect you to ignore all of this and just throw insults again, its more just so people realise you are just a troll).

Ignore the arguments? You gave an opinion, and as some body that plays all three factions, I happen to disagree with it.

I'm not bothered by what people on here think of me.

While on the question of do we play the same game, obviously not if this is the first time you've ever heard a NC want a gun that has a range beyond 5m for our MAX, its what I hear non stop while playing NC as our MAX is nigh on useless right now, its only saving grace being charge in biolabs and other indoor style bases which, while it IS suicide, at least lets us clear rooms enough hopefully for people to follow us in and mop up (though that requires a good team work, random never think to follow MAXs).

No, it's not the first time I've heard that the NC want a ranged weapon and I have no problem with that, provided the other two factions get a shotgun for CQC in return.

Riot shield definitely isn't useless, though as I said, it isn't an offensive mechanism like the other two.

How anybody could try to compare a skill which lets your MAX move very quickly and one which slows you right down and only protects against small arms fire from right in front of you is a complete joke. One is useful in a lot of situations the other will only get you killed, and I can already see you trying to say *ye zoe does hur hur* but we all know zoe saves lives and makes MAX rushes a lot more effective, shields only serve to make you a sitting duck.

Again, we clearly have very different takes on the various abilities, but I don't think the shield makes you a sitting duck. If anything, that goes to the TR's lockdown maxes. I don't agree that Zoe 'saves lives', because they fall incredibly quickly if they're stupid enough to charge at a room full of people while in overdrive...

As I've said, there's a way to combat everything on this game, despite the factional differences. If you're after a perfectly balanced game - you have the wrong one.

In all honesty, if I had my way, Maxes wouldn't even be in the game. I don't enjoy being killed by any of them.

[War Barney]

Well I can agree with you that MAXs would be better out of the game.. but then again I also think the game would be better without revives and stealth for me they are all things which might be fun to play with but playing against them is no fun at all.

I don't get how you've never heard people complain about our MAX, theres a ton of threads on this forum about it, hell I even made a thread asking about slugs which ended up turning into a discussion on how awful our MAX is, hell we've ALL said we would be happy to give the other factions shotguns if we get a long range option, hell I'd be happy to lose ALL our shotguns, they are far to restrictive for such a slow lumbering unit.

And I didn't say the shield is useless but its uses are few and far between, to few and far between to use instead of charge considering we also have shotguns which require us to get up close. Hell it would have made more sense to give US the ZOE so we could get in close to use our shotguns, unless we get a long range weapon I don't actually see any skill which could be better than charge, that huge burst of speed is just to useful to get into range for them and its great for escaping which in my opinion makes it superior in every way to the shield

The ZOE definitely saves them a lot, sure if they rush into a room full of enemies alone like idiots they'll die, but so would anybody, the extra speed lets them quickly get out of a fight though while also being able to avoid shots while in a fight thanks to the extra agility it gives.

[Falcon_br]

You want shield? have it we'll take lockdown =) sure lockdown isn't great but you can use it to become a AA monster, the shield just gives you the ability to be a sitting duck, so its kind of like lockdown except it doesn't give us more damage. I really don't get what your on about with bursters, perhaps lockdown makes it go insane but iv never had a issue with hitting with the bursters

Lol, you can have lockdown with a shotgun max anytime you want, it will be fun to see that.

As I said and you didn't understand, the buster has received a cof recoil nerf.
the nerf is not a great thing, but if you are using lockdown they are insane!
The truth is, checking the oracle data, if you want a plane down, you last resource should be the buster, they are the less effective AA weapon in the game.
Other the using lock down with buster for anti air, I don't see any other use for it on the game! Also you even if you don't have lockdown you need ammo to use it, and with lockdown, you get out of ammo really fast!
Defending a room? A scat max will still kill you faster and he can even get close to you with the shield to kill you easily!

[Snoopy]

I don't get how you've never heard people complain about our MAX, theres a ton of threads on this forum about it, hell I even made a thread asking about slugs which ended up turning into a discussion on how awful our MAX is, hell we've ALL said we would be happy to give the other factions shotguns if we get a long range option, hell I'd be happy to lose ALL our shotguns, they are far to restrictive for such a slow lumbering unit.

I have, as I said, but I tend to hear more complaints about NC Maxes and their ability to instagib people than the other way around. NC Maxes excel in close quarters, where they absolutely dominate.

Every faction bitches and whinges about every other faction. Every faction thinks they're the 'hard-done-by' faction and believe they constantly draw the short straw.

And I didn't say the shield is useless but its uses are few and far between, to few and far between to use instead of charge considering we also have shotguns which require us to get up close. Hell it would have made more sense to give US the ZOE so we could get in close to use our shotguns, unless we get a long range weapon I don't actually see any skill which could be better than charge, that huge burst of speed is just to useful to get into range for them and its great for escaping which in my opinion makes it superior in every way to the shield

More sense to give the NC the Zoe mechanic in what respect? People don't use Zoe to charge the enemy though, they use it to increase their damage. If you wanted to charge the enemy you would use... charge, and in doing so, you're not lowering your defenses.

I still think that charge is the best ability for each and every faction, whether you use it to propel yourself into a firefight, or to flee.

The ZOE definitely saves them a lot, sure if they rush into a room full of enemies alone like idiots they'll die, but so would anybody, the extra speed lets them quickly get out of a fight though while also being able to avoid shots while in a fight thanks to the extra agility it gives.

I have to ask whether you've ever even used a Zoe max? If you're able to strafe to avoid shots, the problem is your enemy are a terrible shot. Especially after the nerf.

[Blynd]

Hey barney get a grip zoe is a pos outside of a biofarm. Because you have slot of medics to revive you everything you die.

The riot shield is decent as many have pointed out and you have ignored it DEFENCIVE ffs.
I have seen themselves offensively by outfits using a meatshield of maxes with riot shield up and 2squads behind them pushing to the gen then scu in biolabs. Maybe you just such at the game cause you do nothing but complain.

[KesTro]

Gimme some MAX-V2's, fast mech like vehicles instead of suits.

:(

Not to be confused with BFR's of course.

[ringring]

You can carry 2 which is enough to kill 5 if they stand close together, and a NC MAX isn't that lethal really, the shield takes ages to put away so you have plenty of time to thrown down a brick of C4, that or hover out as a LA, if you use the lift to get some height even if they spot you the range will be so long they wont be able to hit you.

Well, I could ask them to arrange themselves nicely, like we're taking a group photograph with the tall ones at the back.

And I reckon I'll take that 'NC Max isn't that lethal anyway' remark under advisement.

[HereticusXZ]

Concerning the AMA thoughts on the MAX ability things, I think the problem is inherit in the abilities themselves...

The Riot Shield is unique because it's just that, a Riot-Shield that is only directionally-protective over the generic vanguard or heavy shields.

It's flaw is that it can reload while the shield is active (unless it's been fixed yet?) and the fact that the occasional bullet or splash damage get by it so you become frustrated about chip-damage. Patch and fix that problem and we're good...

I don't even think it should be a cert-line with a damage-limit considering you can just flank the thing.... Give them unlimited damage mitigation with the shield. Fix the reload w/ shield out and this is good to go...




TR Lock-down is frustrating because they can't move and can only fire 180 degrees infront of them.... Rule of thumb in any FPS, mmo or not, is you need to stay moving to win so you have a clash in ideology. Buff the TR max damage resistance ONLY while in lock-down and you won't have so much frustration, that or buff the lock-down speed to deploy/undeploy....





VS... Right out of the gate ZOE was OP, for quite a long time... so your going to have that mindset that it should always be as powerful as it once was... I don't want to say special-snowflake but maybe ZOE should be recalled back to R&D and come out with a brand new ability for VS MAX...

I really don't have a problem with VS MAX having the option to jet-pack.... It's still a big, slow easy target just like any other MAX, just cut it's jump-time in half from what a LA default can do, limiting it's jump ability to small fences and obstacles....

Where's the problem in that?

[Shamrock]

Every faction bitches and whinges about every other faction. Every faction thinks they're the 'hard-done-by' faction and believe they constantly draw the short straw.

Never a truer word spoken. I always say to my guys that they should make alts on other servers to get the feel of how the other faction plays, i.e its subjective. Occasionally a faction will have an advantage in a set area, but I accept that difference as I want each faction to be distinctive and not carbon copies of each other.

[KesTro]

It's flaw is that it can reload while the shield is active (unless it's been fixed yet?) and the fact that the occasional bullet or splash damage get by it so you become frustrated about chip-damage. Patch and fix that problem and we're good...

I don't even think it should be a cert-line with a damage-limit considering you can just flank the thing.... Give them unlimited damage mitigation with the shield. Fix the reload w/ shield out and this is good to go...

I don't think that's a bug. 60% of your time as an NC MAX if not more is spent reloading - And that's not an exaggeration. One of the key reasons I use a shield over charge is for that. I could care less about whatever other strategies people have come up with it. Without the shield we may as well forget about trying to Max V. Max. The only weapon that can reliably one clip a max (two if you coutn both arms) is the grinder with extended mags. Every other shotgun will leave a max standing with about 10-15% health left if he was at full life; even more if the NC max is using slugs (like they should be).

So without the ability to reload with the shield up - we run out of ammo and throw it up and sit there and wait for our inevitable death as the shield won't stop 100% of damage from the front due to client side.

[War Barney]

Hey barney get a grip zoe is a pos outside of a biofarm. Because you have slot of medics to revive you everything you die.

The riot shield is decent as many have pointed out and you have ignored it DEFENCIVE ffs.
I have seen themselves offensively by outfits using a meatshield of maxes with riot shield up and 2squads behind them pushing to the gen then scu in biolabs. Maybe you just such at the game cause you do nothing but complain.

Uhu no a lot of people have NO been saying its good a couple of people have said it can be used while reloading but that still doesn't make it worth using over charge with such short range guns especially when explosions ignore it and a zoe MAX will just walk around your shield.

The only people who think the shield is good are those who haven't used it properly or people who don't realise 2 heavies can destroy 6 MAXs with their shields up in a few seconds. Hell 1 LA with C4 and slaughter most of them

[Illtempered]

The only people who think the shield is good are those who haven't used it properly or people who don't realise 2 heavies can destroy 6 MAXs with their shields up in a few seconds.

lol get a grip...

So any NC max that uses a shield isn't using it "properly" eh? Therefore any NC that uses a shield must be an inferior player to you. Maybe they should get on your level.

[War Barney]

No anybody using a shield just hasn't used it enough to realise how bad it is, I never said they are worse players you just added that to try and make me look bad as you know you're wrong so its the only way you can think of to get people to agree with you.

I've explained clearly why its inferior, explosives bypass its almost entirely, it slows you down to a crawl making you a sitting duck, you don't get access to charge so shotguns are far less effective.

Of course I expect these sort of cheap tactics from you, a person who claimed to be getting almost 100% head shots at 40m with mattocks when aiming carefully in another thread. From your obvious attempts to keep the NC MAX awful I'm guessing you are a VS or TR, perhaps you have a BR 5 NC and even played a MAX for a couple of seconds, but you obviously have no experience playing a NC in the long term.

[Illtempered]

lol as I said get a grip. You're flying off the handle now.

Yes my main is VS, but here is a link to my NC character stats.

http://www.planetside-universe.com/character-5428066778527932961.php

[War Barney]

Assuming you've not just linked a random person its still obvious you don't play him much, everything you say stinks of a VS, there are constant discussions about how bad our MAX is.

Still I'm just going to ignore you from now on, your lack of EVER explaining anything you say shows you're just trolling or trying to keep the NC MAX as the worst MAX, I explain why I think our MAX and shield is awful all you do is respond with insults.

[Kirotan]

No anybody using a shield just hasn't used it enough to realise how bad it is, I never said they are worse players you just added that to try and make me look bad as you know you're wrong so its the only way you can think of to get people to agree with you.

So what about people that have used it as much or more than you and have a different opinion? I see a few NC players do find it useful. (doesn't mean they don't think it needs some improvements/tweaks though).

[Illtempered]

They should get on his level really

[KesTro]

Charge is better on an NC max if you find yourself soloing a lot but for coordinated play there's really no reason not to bring your shield. I think your hate for the shield is an honest case of l2p.

[War Barney]

So what about people that have used it as much or more than you and have a different opinion? I see a few NC players do find it useful. (doesn't mean they don't think it needs some improvements/tweaks though).

I honestly don't know how anybody could come to that opinion, if it wasn't bypassed by all forms of explosive then it could be useful in some situations as long as you intend to never get kills on your MAX and just be a shield, but the fact that a couple of rockets kill you while your shields up, and in fact your shield makes you a easier target to hit, makes it empirically bad.

The only real upside to the shield is reloading while its up but as chewy has mentioned a bug which makes you ammo vanish while doing that makes it not that help, and even then while your shield is up your very vunerable its a huge sign saying *I'M RELOADING SO CAN'T HURT YOU!* which people will use to get behind you and blow you up.

And of course those are issues you need to put up with if you are happy not killing anybody, if you want to kill people having a shield is a HUGE problem, you move so slowly with a MAX as it is, trying to use a shield to get close enough is just suicide the only option is charge. I've used shotguns a LOT recently as I enjoy them and the secret to shotguns is all about getting close either through rushing in or using a LA to get into unexpected positions then drop behind a group. With a MAX those options aren't there, you are a HUGE very slow object, sneaking behind enemy lines wont work and people will just walk backwards while shooting you if you try to slowly walk into them.

The only people I imagine who have trouble with our MAX are people who fight soley in biolabs where its huge flaws are lowered somewhat and the shield is almost useful for blocking up the SCU room (though that tactic lasts only as long as it takes for the enemy to realise 4 heavies can clear out the MAXs in seconds). Outside of those situations the very slow speed of our MAX makes it incredibly easy to deal with especially if people nerf themselves and use a shield for that extra slow movespeed.

<sigh> no kestro I'm afraid its not, would or are you going down the same path of explaining nothing and just throwing insults around? I've explained why the shield is useless, all you did was insult me and not even attempt to say why you think something which slows you down a ton and is bypassed by explosions is good.

[Illtempered]

Dude relax. Noboby's insulting you. We're just saying(or I am saying since I can only speak for myself) your lack of experience and understanding of the game has led you to a false conclusion that you seem unwilling to reexamine. There are multiple situations where the NC max can do a lot of damage, and that goes for all three MAX units. I'm not debating which max is better. I'm just saying they all have their niche. If you are intent on using your empires MAX, practice more, and L2P.

[Snoopy]

Dude relax. Noboby's insulting you. We're just saying(or I am saying since I can only speak for myself) your lack of experience and understanding of the game has led you to a false conclusion that you seem unwilling to reexamine. There are multiple situations where the NC max can do a lot of damage, and that goes for all three MAX units. I'm not debating which max is better. I'm just saying they all have their niche. If you are intent on using your empires MAX, practice more, and L2P.

Exactly! SOE have done a pretty freaking good job of balancing, considering factional differences and empire traits. This game will NEVER be one of equals and if that is what you are after - then move on to Battlefield or Call of Duty or what ever.

People have given counter-arguments to Barney and he just blows them off saying "How could you hold that opinion?! Clearly, everybody on the NC tells me our max sucks, therefore it must be true!" before rehashing the same old "The shield makes you a sitting duck, yada yada, slow this, slow that, yada yada" :doh:

I don't know what we're expected to think when he's complained about nearly every aspect of the game now...

[ringring]

Wow
MAX ability adjustments

NC: We’re adding the ability to sprint while the shield is active. Coverage will be less while sprinting.

TR: We’re speeding up the Lockdown entry and exit so that it can better react to changing situations.

VS: General balance adjustments so that the reward more closely matches the risk
These all sound like buffs to me, I reckon there's a big danger that they are overdone.

[Blynd]

Uhu no a lot of people have NO been saying its good a couple of people have said it can be used while reloading but that still doesn't make it worth using over charge with such short range guns especially when explosions ignore it and a zoe MAX will just walk around your shield.

The only people who think the shield is good are those who haven't used it properly or people who don't realise 2 heavies can destroy 6 MAXs with their shields up in a few seconds. Hell 1 LA with C4 and slaughter most of them

And a heavy with a rocket launcher or a la with c4 can't kill zoe max's???
Zoe turns your max into paper so using it against a nc max with shield is dumber then dumb.

Last night there was a great fight in indar vs took all points at the base alatum sub base. We held the points but 8 nc max's with shields pushed out from the spawns across the gantry and put up a strong attack with the troops behind them and if it wasn't for our superior numbers they would have got the point back and pushed to hold the base.
So used correctly in a team those shields can work very well.

[almalino]

Wow

These all sound like buffs to me, I reckon there's a big danger that they are overdone.

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/april-overall-balance.176747/

[Snoopy]

We’re removing all jump penalties (both the post-jump speed penalties and removing the player from iron sights) when players enter the fall state unintentionally without jumping. This will prevent annoying situations like losing accuracy because you hit a small ledge in the terrain.

Hallelujah!

[bites]

The Riot Shield is unique because it's just that, a Riot-Shield that is only directionally-protective over the generic vanguard or heavy shields.
Except those shields actually work .. and block damage ... the Riot shield bleeds explosive damage through to the user ... even if you clearly, put shield up prior to the explosion or rocket ... more often than not you're still damaged ... making you wonder "why the fuck am I using this thing outside of an organized play".

It's flaw is that it can reload while the shield is active (unless it's been fixed yet?) and the fact that the occasional bullet or splash damage get by it so you become frustrated about chip-damage. Patch and fix that problem and we're good...

I have good news for you ... despite the commonly touted "you can reload while shielded" thats also not factually correct, here is a timeline:
Shield UP Button GO!!!
Shield going up ....
Shield UP!!
Push reload .... Nadda.
Try again?
Nope still don't work.

What people do however is this:
Reload Button --> Animation begins for reload
Shield UP Button GO!!!
Shield going up ....
Shield UP!!
Shield UP!! (added for slow ass reload time :B)
Reload completes

So to "Reload while shield is up" ... you would have to do the following:
Shield Button GO!!!
Shield going up ....
Shield UP!!
Shield UP!!
"OH SHIT I FORGOT TO RELOAD!!!"
Shield Button
Going Down ....
Going Down ....
Reload!
Shield Button GO!!!
Shield going up ....
Shield UP!!

If that is considered "Reloading while the shield is up" then in theory you can also reload while charging ... or most if not all other similar activated skill sets.

I don't even think it should be a cert-line with a damage-limit considering you can just flank the thing.... Give them unlimited damage mitigation with the shield.
Agreed ... its even more frustrating when you add in the fact .. due to the previously mentioned items it makes the shield a very frustrating "I AM A MOVING BLOCK" ability only.... which is why I'm welcoming the new changes as a possible reason to use it more :)... which I Want to do .. but it is constantly trumped by the plethora of anti-tank/max items available to nearly every class ... forces me not to.

VS... Right out of the gate ZOE was OP, for quite a long time... so your going to have that mindset that it should always be as powerful as it once was... I don't want to say special-snowflake but maybe ZOE should be recalled back to R&D and come out with a brand new ability for VS MAX...
Word .. I lost a lot of my MAX and outfit (prior current) to the hordes of purple people eaters ... a lot of whom we're adamant that ZOE wasn't OP ... still makes me laugh, and I agree ... the jetpack ... at least imho would have been cool/useful and a lot less pain to balance while providing interesting (low altitude/speed Vanu steel rain would be epic... and bad .. well for me ...)

The shield .. all in all .. is very situational .. but definitely still useful if you have backup to assist you. Outside of that however .. the known and commonly used tactics to beat the slow moving brick is easy to defeat.