Faction Loyalty - My first character was NC, but now I am Vanu. Help me!

Tatwi · 2012-07-14, 01:55 PM

So, I am kind of torn and I was wondering if I am alone.

When I first played Planetside last year, I rolled Tatwi on NC because the NC lore/theme seemed more "me". However, after very little time playing the game someone on the official forum suggested that I try the Vanu and join their outfit. I never did end up joining their outfit, but after playing the Vanu for a while I really got into being part of that faction!

Yet, I am torn.

I am torn, because IRL I really enjoy making due to with what I have, "fighting the power", and the whole religiously following an alien race thing of the Vanu is foreign to me. I am torn, because I don't think I gave the NC enough time. I'm torn, because I think at heart... I am an NC! However, I also really like the floaty tanks and the new Scythe and the energy weapons of the VS.

So what does this mean? Am I a faux-Vanu? A Vanposter? Am I just an NC who lost his way for a time? Or am I a true Vanu who just thinks a little differently? Is it even possible for a VS or NC or TR to "think differently" than their faction mates and still be part of that faction?

I'm just not sure...

What would really clinch if for me though is if the VS flamethrowers were not actually fire based. Ain't nothing like tossing out a wall of beautiful flames, so if I had to wear the yellow and blue to do it, I'd be all over it like Texas toast on chili!

mmm... Chili...

NumbaOneStunna · 2012-07-14, 05:22 PM

Just play whatever feels best to you gameplay wise, who cares about the story/lore.

Tatwi · 2012-07-14, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by NumbaOneStunna

Just play whatever feels best to you gameplay wise, who cares about the story/lore.

Fair enough, but where's the fun (aka "neurosis") in that?

Ninjacalypse · 2012-07-15, 03:24 AM

I heard the servers will be faction locked, i.e. if you pick NC on a server you can't make VS characters on the same server. That said, if you have a change of heart after some play-testing would you be able to delete your character and restart as a different faction, from PS1 experience?

Tatwi · 2012-07-15, 08:38 AM

In PS1 there is a multi-hour lockout on playing a different faction per server. It's really the main reason why I never logged back in to Tatwi on the NC. The lockout is there to prevent spying, trolling, and team killing, but when there is only one server for the game it's a little debilitating for new players who want to figure out where they'd like to play. Planetside 2 won't have this issue though, with many servers to play on.

Captain1nsaneo · 2012-07-15, 11:23 AM

TR: Order
NC: Freedom
VS: Progress

That's the draw storywise for each of the three. You could play NC but it will probably nag at you since you've been an VS for so long.

Neurotoxin · 2012-07-15, 05:18 PM

NC were started by corporations that wanted to profit off alien technology. NC soldiers are all corporate pawns. The freedom they will get if they were to win would be a different kind of oppression, but not freedom.

The religious / cultist elements within VS society do not represent the vast majority. We do not suppress any faith or religion or the lack thereof, so the more outspoken Vanu-centric religious groups are allowed to openly promote and recruit. That is because VS is the only truly democratic society of Auraxis, where TR is a draconian dictatorship, and NC is owned and funded and managed for corporate interests.

Canaris · 2012-07-16, 03:43 AM

Well what advise can I offer to a two time traitor? not much

Whalenator · 2012-07-16, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by Neurotoxin

NC were started by corporations that wanted to profit off alien technology. NC soldiers are all corporate pawns. The freedom they will get if they were to win would be a different kind of oppression, but not freedom.

The religious / cultist elements within VS society do not represent the vast majority. We do not suppress any faith or religion or the lack thereof, so the more outspoken Vanu-centric religious groups are allowed to openly promote and recruit. That is because VS is the only truly democratic society of Auraxis, where TR is a draconian dictatorship, and NC is owned and funded and managed for corporate interests.

Lies!
Propaganda spread by a culture of people that let aliens probe them daily.

Doxy · 2012-07-16, 09:06 AM

This should help you decide

Kitsune · 2012-07-17, 09:56 AM

From what I read about the lore, there's no "worshiping" of the Vanu race, it's just an obsession to use/learn from their tech. It said in the lore that one of the guys who uncovered the first Vanu artifact was cured of his mental social behavior when the artifact let him empathize with everyone he knew, making his life and personality better. He found a 2nd and it gave him a vision and the word, Vanu, but nobody knows what cuz 10 years later he killed himself for no explained reason. Maybe the artifact had an extremely dark and forboding secret, maybe he realized his findings would help fuel a huge war and kill many people. Maybe something simpler, or assassination, who knows?

The TR don't like them because they believe they are over obsessive about it, and they broke from the TR in the first place so meh.

The NC don't like them because Vanu support genetic manipulation to "better" the human race. NC think it's inhuman.

As for the genetic manipulation, I dunno if the lore writers mean changing their whole DNA structure to look alien, or just to be tougher, stronger, faster, smarter, etc. All I know is that if you can manipulate genes, then you can mutate the DNA to change your natural hair color. Great for anime conventions, I'm sure.

Most bad things about Vanu are the uncertain future and vague research they are doing. Other than that, there's no evidence besides rumors.

But like you I'm stuck between these two. I just talk about the Vanu more cuz they are the hardest to understand. I mean, heck, there's no word what government they are. Sovereignty is purely the trait of having lordship and/or rule over land/territory, which is basically what every faction in this game strives for.

PeterLawford · 2012-07-17, 03:27 PM

I think you've got to get on board with the Vanu philosophy, or at least roleplay a guy who's on board. PlanetSide is not a roleplaying game per se, but it is the game I find myself roleplaying most in.

I am die hard NC, and I have been for over nine years now (even when I was on hiatus from the game). At first it was about the ideals, but now it's mostly about the NC being my people. Sure I want freedom from the Terran Republic's oppression, but more than that I want to hunt down and destroy the TR and VS dogs who have been murdering my brothers and sisters for years.

Warborn · 2012-07-17, 06:48 PM

The backstory is fairly different now for Planetside 2 though. Instead of the TR being just a branch of a big, oppressive tree, the Auraxian TR leadership was pushed to become authoritarian due to acts of terrorism by the NC. Meanwhile, the NC are essentially fighting to establish a corporatocracy by toppling the TR. The Vanu, meanwhile, dream of an age of post-humanism. Their goal is simply power and control, which is probably the least sympathetic motive.

So it's not about "freedom" or any other ideals. It's a government fighting an uprising bankrolled by the rich and powerful, while crazy people obsessed with using alien tech to transform them into something more than human try to take them all out.

Baneblade · 2012-07-17, 08:49 PM

Well, on one hand you give me grief and a hate tell when my Vanguard runs you over and on the other you give me experience points and resources.

I know which one I want you to stick with.

Accuser · 2012-07-18, 02:43 AM

The TR are still the Nazis they've always been. If they'd have relinquished power to a democratically elected citizen after landing on Auraxis this wouldn't have been a war.

Taken to logical conclusions, the NC and VS should be negotiating to divide up Auraxis after the TR are crushed, since there's nothing inherently unresolvable about the NC being independent and the VS modifying themselves genetically.

So rather than seeing the VS as "religious fanatics", I suspect there's more religious motivation in the NC not wanting anyone to alter themselves using Vanu technology. After all, it's generally the people who believe in God who oppose "playing God"