Anybody else delete their Vanu character after the new update?

[Emperor Newt]

I doubt that the Empire Showdown still has to do with dropping Vanu numbers. That seems a bit far fetched.
That might have been an reason early on (that VS didn't get the pop "buff" like the others did) but I don't see how that effects the current trend of VS pop going way more downwards then the other factions.

VS seems to do pretty well with new characters, but they do not seem to stick with it (active characters). Why that is, I don't know. But it might have to do with lacking faction identity. I doubt that another glorious (failure) pr leader will change that because new players aren't the VS problem. For some reason they don't stick with playing VS and SOE should go and find out why that is.

[Qwan]

I don’t think I will ever delete my Vanu character, I do have a TR and a NC character, both BR 1, I just made those, since they put up the Virtual training area, for checking weapons. I will admit, I don’t like the tank design, with the fixed gun, I don’t like the max weapons either (compared to the NC and TR one or two shot maxes). But I make do with what I got and we still win battles. If you’re a VS and you come to this forums to brag about deleting your VS character then you never were VS. So please don’t bother calling yourself a VS, it’s an insult to those of us that are VS. We win fights, and loose them; we lock continents and sometimes get locked in. At the end of the day it’s not the most powerful weapon that wins the battle, it’s the coordinated attacks and defenses put together by the outfits that make it happen. I’ve defended positions from NC and TR Zergs and won, and fought against some very good outfits and won. So if you come to this web site and post about deleting your VS character cause you think there nerfed then maybe you should go back to BF3 or CoD were you KD rate really matters, and your 64 player maps with time limits make you feel like you’re more in control. Leave the large scale battles up to the real men.

[ThatGoatGuy]

The VS that are complaining about pop problems, once they introduce server transfers, haul ass over to Miller. We currently have the indar bonus and we wg-ed each faction again last night. It's great. Also, if you think about it, with more TR and NC, it means more certs to gain with a Zephyr lol.

BTW, libs are wicked OP still TEEHEE.

[CraazyCanuck]

I've have my VS characters and also a character for TR/NC as well. IMO I think its the infantry weapons. Both NC and TR's infantry weapons feel more effective then the default VS. I'm only into the teens with my TR/NC characters but I already prefer their default weapons over the VS.

And I don't think the showdown or aesthetics has anything to do with it. Most people will gravitate to the side that has the best chance of winning and in turn a better return of certs for their time invested. NC and TR outnumber us the majority of time on the two servers I play on. For a new VS player, being outnumbered the majority of the time would no doubt get frustrating and I bet many are saying fuck it. I'm going to go to where the grass is greener.

I like having more guys to shoot at, but it can get tiresome when it starts becoming too lopsided.

[Mietz]

I switched to TR after the first month of VS from launch for two reasons:

1. I was VS in beta for many months so I sort of got tired of it
2. The Prowler, pre-buff

What can I say? I love the prowler more than the Mag and I do love the Mag to bits.
A prowler with the right driver is an absolutely devastating killing machine, especially countering Mags themselves (mostly because I know how people play Mags and how to read them).

[almalino]

I always was NC even before all the buffs, never was Vanu and I do not understand why people leave Vanu if at all?

On Miller Vanu is pretty strong and kick our NC ass some times pretty effectively.

[Rothnang]

I think the Vanu faction is pretty unappealing at that point.

They have the worst overall aesthetic in the game, since their gear looks more like a flight of fancy than functional alien technology, and two thirds of their stuff is common pool which gives them no unified look at all.

They also have no game mechanics that really stand out or make you feel like you're on the high tech faction. Their guns have no drop and high accuracy, but their cone of fire bloom is higher than the other factions and their recoil is the same or worse, so the weapons really aren't any better at hitting things. With the NC you genuinely feel like the weapons have a lot of power, and with the TR you genuinely feel like the weapons shoot more bullets, but with Vanu you don't really feel anything different in the weapons.

The Vanu MAX sucks, and again, the common pool weapons look stupid on it, while looking great on the other MAXes.

The Scythe is second best to the Mosquito and doesn't really stand out in any major way. It's weapons are a bit worse than the other fighters.

The Magrider used to be pretty feared, but now it's just a paper tiger, and it's further hamstrung that the only top gun on it that looks good is the Saron, which is simply inferior to a Halberd in a lot of ways.

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by Rothnang

Their guns have no drop and high accuracy, but their cone of fire bloom is higher than the other factions and their recoil is the same or worse, so the weapons really aren't any better at hitting things.

Actually your guns are suppose to be the middle ground bloom wise, with the TR blooming slower but having greater initial recoil while the NC are the reverse...

[Chaff]

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It's a lot of factors. Snowball effect is one. Once Pop starts to drop, the reality is a lot of guys are front-runners & quitters. The POP is so low on most servers, it seems like the snowball efffect is something Sony has to work harder to counter.

Low Pop Empire should get a more disproportionate percentage of XP. Sony needs to incentivise XP% as Pop flows to steer Pops into closer numbers. SOE, at least try to get the Servers more equal. Cont % should be driven by players & Empire Strategy, not SOE.

Also, I hope no one wants 33% vs 33% vs 33%. Being the low Pop is fine, unless it has deevolved to occuring 75%+ of times you log on to play.

I do think VS "look" like a cross between Cirque-de-Soleil & Alien Trailer Park Trash. After getting 3 Extra Character slots, I made two VS & one NC. I am a long-time TR. Their current "look" is not anywhere near enough to stop me from playing VS.

However,
The VS Max looks like he has teal house slippers that only Andy Dick would readily choose to wear. They don't look very "cool" to me. There is some design work to be done with VS. T-Ray is talented. He needs to get his team together & try some more dangerous looks for VS. Try. Experiment more. Go back to the drawing board. Can't hurt. Pops seem to be saying aesthetics are wanting more for VS than other two.

I had fun playing the "other Empires". Odd thing, I found VS the easiest. Nothing seemed horribly better or worse than the other Empire. My biggest surprise is what a SLOW turtle shell the Mag is. I don't remember that from playing all Empires in PS1. Mag needs all three of the Speed performance boosts.

I like the underdog aspect of the VS. The thing I liked best was the guys I happend to link up with in the VS were noticably more fun to play with. (lot's of bitching with the NC guys when a battle was not in their favor). I assumed all three empires would have the same personality profiles. I definitely clicked better with VS players. Maybe being career underdogs has humbled them more. They seemed happier to have a good fight. No one likes to lose, but VS had better attitudes - which is surprising given their Pop.

I can imagine it has to be old for them at this point. If Pop shifted to where either TR or NC were always in the low 20% range.....there'd be hella crying, or Empire jumping.

My initial first few days as VS & NC will lead me to continue to play both. I'm more interested in playing VS due to the fact I found "the guys" on VS more level-headed & more fun to spend time with. (except the ONE VS guy who sounded like he was 6 years old - he ANNOYED me to no end).
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[DviddLeff]

I fight for the VS because I always have.

And always will.

If we are the underdogs good! It makes victory all the sweeter.

[maradine]

I don't mind being under-popped, though my outfit has more mixed opinions on the topic.

I really think this can be mitigated by increasing the experience modifiers by a factor of 10. Make playing in 20% circumstances like a double XP weekend and I think you'll see the problem sort itself out very quickly.

[Snydenthur]

Originally Posted by CraazyCanuck

I've have my VS characters and also a character for TR/NC as well. IMO I think its the infantry weapons. Both NC and TR's infantry weapons feel more effective then the default VS. I'm only into the teens with my TR/NC characters but I already prefer their default weapons over the VS.

True. I got tired of hearing this "vs weapons are so easy to use" thing. I made nc character to test this. I didn't really see much difference. And my weapon was default without any attachments. Shooting was as easy as with vs weapons. Only thing different was the damage (and sound of course). So it is true that on paper, vs weapons are the easiest, but in the game, weapons are the same with different damage and rof. So, vs actually has the worst weapons. Not by much and normal player wouldn't even see this. But nc weapon was a little bit more effective. Tr weapons I haven't tried yet, but they have 40 ammo per clip, so they are more effective that way. And I'm talking about carbines only, since engineer is the only class I play. But because the difference is very very small, I don't think weapons are the reason for any population difference.

[Thunderhawk]

Originally Posted by maradine

I don't mind being under-popped, though my outfit has more mixed opinions on the topic.

I really think this can be mitigated by increasing the experience modifiers by a factor of 10. Make playing in 20% circumstances like a double XP weekend and I think you'll see the problem sort itself out very quickly.

This is it, problem solved.


You need to dramatically increase the modifiers so that low pops get much much larger XP bonuses, soon you'll have people with high pops relogging to low pops just to get that free XP....

[BlaxicanX]

The Vanu aesthetic is just ass. Their guns all look and sound like nerf guns, and their outfits, both for infantry and for MAX's, looks like some reject from Halo's Covenant. The whole "purple spandex" thing with their "pewpew" lasers is just whack. Even their announcer is boring; some old "intellectual" white guy...

Instead of going for the cheesy Twilight Zone look, they should have gone for something more obviously "futuristic" and militarized. Like the Tau from 40K, almost:



I'd play the shit out of a MAX that looked like that ^



Same with their infantry.

[Emperor Newt]

Originally Posted by Snydenthur

True. I got tired of hearing this "vs weapons are so easy to use" thing.

I think this is a common misconception because people misunderstand "easy to use" with "good" or even "better".
VS weapons are definitely more "noob friendly" but the thing is that NC and TR weapons have a higher "skill cap". With VS weapons there is little to improve with. But if you get good with TR and NC weapons you can siginifcantly improve your kill ratio. There is a place to learn and master the weapons. And doing that is actually rewarded. And at this point they start outperforming VS guns.
With VS weapons there is little room to get good with them. They are decent and they stay decent. There is little to no room for individual improvement except aiming for the head, which applies to all factions.
But I also think that the strength of the guns is not the problem, design and sound surely is more of a factor. TR and NC guns just look and feel right. VS guns on the other hand simply don't feel like you would expect a gun to sound/feel. Not even a pewpew-laz0r gun. As strange as it might sound but most VS guns are simply not fun/satisfying to use.

Because of that I have turned over to mostly playing HA with the Lasher and/or NS weapons and shotguns. The Lasher even is not a very good gun in many situations one will encounter and you are getting friendly fire warnings like all the time but it actually feels unique and satisfying to shoot with.


Also pop bonuses are and most likely will always be a problem in this game. I have been beating this drum for like forever. It's already the case with continent balance because nobody wants to fight for 12% bonus xp when you are outnumbered 2-3 to 1. Maybe one magical day SOE comes to the same conclusion. We'll see.