You underestimate people switching to the winning side of a conflict...especially with a single server since they pool all their characters their no matter the faction. Also, you seem to still consider the only method is perma-lock, which if thats the case, then I agree. I wouldn't want to be locked on a faction when all my friends are on another. Now if I willingly choose to go on another faction for an event then that is my own fault and I should not be babied for trying to chase the win over loyalty to faction or friends. The best realworld example is to read or even experience the fourth faction in Planetside 2...not based on assumptions or opinion its the reality of allowing swapping at anytime. Even with paid transfers like GW2 triple faction warfare people eagerly paid money to transfer to winning realms so that wont stop them in the case of a single server with a presumed free faction transfer (no penalty or money.) About the Eldar low population scenario: The Eldar being low population can't be helped either by leaving it open, as a matter of fact it will be worse simply because if they dont have the numbers going into a fight people will drop and go to one of the other factions who are more likely to win, or even perceived as more likely to win. This also happens alot in Planetside2...alot, and causes people of that faction to switch servers creating dead factions on certain servers. Fortunately dead servers arent an issue with 40kEC so it will just make those players main another faction most likely regardless of their main preference...no one likes losing and if given an out most people will take it. About Tyranid Balance: As I understand it, the Tyranids will pressure factions from the out edge of the maps, not directly in the battles between factions territory so this is a non-factor in balancing the real PVP world battles in the game. They will however be a welcome addition in my book adding a nice PVE spin and slight method to balance but should not be the reason to give up on balancing populations for a solid PVP matchup.
I couldn't of said it better my self Krage I merely made this as a suggestion to the developers to simply stop the creation of a fourth faction destroying this game as it did planet side 2, but not with a perma lock not one of my posts every suggests perma lock or supports it. I merely state that there needs to be a (my on opinion 4-6 hour) faction lock and then when the 4 to 6 hours is up you can then choose to re lock in as the current faction your playing or go choose another one not once am I suggesting we stop or hurt peoples gaming experience but through this feature it would preserve and enhance the gaming experience and not kill emersion like the fourth faction did across other games.
Faction locking is a necessity for a game like this. It creates a sense of loyalty and enhances the player experience by helping to prevent players from switching teams just to troll about, grief, and just because whatever team they usually play for is losing. Populations may even balance out better with a system like this in place. Permanent faction locking IS NOT an option, and was not the intended topic of the OP. You seem to think that it is. This is supposed to be a temporary lock-out to allow players to play all aspects of the game without allowing them to switch at any given moment. If one faction has such a low population that it can never win, that is a flaw in the game and with the community. Not having faction-locking would be another flaw in the game. You cannot and should not try to fix one game flaw with another; it only makes the game worse. I propose that the lock-out timer be a short one; perhaps 3 or 4 hours would be sufficient. That way many players will be able to play more than one faction in a day, but there will still be a lock-out in place to keep people from doing any hot-swapping.
To put it simple: the advantages of (not permanent ofc) faction locking are far greater than any disadvantages it could bring. Faction locking would prevent spying, switching to winning factions, trolling of all kinds. Actually, I don't see any disadvantages since nobody would be deprived of playing other factions, you wouldn't only be able to instant-switch, and who would need that? - only cheaters I guess.
Simple answer If you are going for PERMANENT LOCKING !!!!! then it's a big NOOOOOOOOOO!!! since why did I buy the founders full edition if I can't play with my mates that like the eldar or orks or whatever... As for the idea of TEMP LOCKING !!! I would say yes but the time of 8 hours is just to much 3-4 seems ok but for an hardcore player who has all day to play since most of the population has a job/life(family)/children and so on I would advise a lock timer to be put in around 1 hour or 2 hours max...... As for events lets say you get an 4 hours alert the factions should be locked for that period of time.... But I would still prefer that you can switch once in the alert in your let's say first 10 min of loggin in I don't know some option to allow you to switch if your squad mates aren't playing on and you don't want to do it alone
Incentivising people to play on low pop factions by offering higher base Stronghold and personal RP is a better solution than having free flow movement between factions during campaigns. There are other solutions but that's one.
... btw, would anyone have ethical issues with their sub-faction WC rep or even SF leader playing for a 2nd faction on the side or is that just me
But you do realize that there are other people that do see a reason? And you don't even want to address the very real problem that caused this suggestion to spring up... because? Because you... what, are one of those guys that re-log whenever the tide turns? Also, why the hell would there be a class lock? What does that even mean? People will still be able to purchase the whole game. Many people won't do that either way because they only care about one or two factions. And that's perfectly fine. What would you do? Encourage 5th faction people to buy the whole game so they can change to whichever faction is winning when there's a need? Also, you don't know whether a faction lock would hurt revenue. Unless you're psychic. Gary, are you psychic? Unless your not you might want to consider not writing like you know things that you don't know, despite the fact that they might be possible or even likely.
Lannshor that is exactly what planet side 1 did for populations that were lower then the rest that gave more exp and resources for those under poped.
