Prancer Glancer Lancer has now had its Cone of Fire removed, making it actually accurate! I think this is a tremendous step in the right direction. Now it just needs a 2x scope and I think we can call it a day. Either that or remove the giant blinding tracer, and obviously fix the hipfire to ADS charge problem. I'd probably prefer the 2x scope. It's one thing to see a plane parked on a tower, but on the ground it starts to get difficult to make out what's a vehicle, versus the tree it's partially obscured by at 300m+ at 1x view.
It needs a faster reload time, or at least a larger mag size, Waiting 5 seconds to fully charge a shot, then having to waiting another 5 seconds to load shots is way too long imo.
The lancer just does too little DPS and I don't think any number of QoL improvements can really make it more useful. Shorter charge time, transition from hip to ADS during charge, longer 'hold' time on a maxed charge and a better scope would all be nice, don't get me wrong. But at the end of the day a 6ish second wait (under relatively optimal conditions) to do as little damage as a 3-charge shot currently does is just not worth it, no matter what the effective range on the thing is. I definitely see why they'd be afraid to buff its damage, by the way. Maybe it could do more damage, but also have more extreme fall off or something. So at 500-700m it'd do what it does now, but from 200 and in or something be equivalent to the S1. I liked the lancer at first because I looked at it as just a kind of sidegrade to the annihilator. But after messing around with the other two factions' launchers, VS really got a raw deal.
I think it's fine now. I am definitely in support of the higher max scope (4x would be excellent) It fills a role i've often found myself in the past few days in.
With the CoF removed, I'm pretty happy with it now. Considering a skilled player can now ensure an almost 100% hitrate, the damage it does is pretty decent already. Would be nice if SOE would consider attachments / upgrades for the rocket launchers. Getting a better scope on the Lancer or an extended battery (+3 shots / 1 charge-up before a reload) could be possible options. Btw...switching guns during charge-up avoids wasting battery, in case your target disappeared. Just to put that out there.
I think the COF was blown way out of proportion. Considering the size of your targets, 0.3 is enough to get you excellent hit rates to rather long ranges. This isn't much of a practical buff, but it'll remove the occasional annoyance. Definitely more quality of life than functionality. Honestly, I wish they'd stop buffing it. It's a bit over the top right now and I'm worried it'll just get nerfed a few months down the road once people stop being drama queens about it because it doesn't one-shot MBTs frontally from across the map. The Lancer is the highest sustained DPS guided weapon in the game, and the highest spike damage AV ground weapon (2400 damage in < 1 second from initial hit, which ties it for first place with the Prowler AP cannon (!)), and the highest damage per ammo load. It is not lacking in any damage metric. Max charge time is 3 seconds, not 6.
I'd be interested in hearing where you are getting this data, since it differs fairly radically from any stats I can find or any testing I have seen (I'm also not sure what is meant by 'guided weapon.') I haven't played with it since the patch this morning, but the notes didn't mention an increase in its damage.
One 3-charge shot (1500) + three 1-charge shots (3 x 300 = 900) in quick succession right afterwards to empty the clip = 2400. Although I think it's more like 1.5 seconds to fire the last 3 shots. Not sure offhand.
Yeah, it's probably closer to 1.5 than 1.0. I'm not sure what the ideal ROF actually is, and it's a given you'll never actually hit it anyway due to human error, but it's a pretty savage spike either way. As for "guided weapon", sure, the Lancer's not technically guided, but it fits the same role, in that it removes target behavior from the equation. IMO the Lancer's high velocity shot is -much- better than being a guided missile. I've landed a huge amount of shots on vehicles in situations where the Hades would've never been able to score a hit.
I think that since they increased the accuracy from 0.5 to 0.3 the lancer was good enough... While I am happy they removed the CoF, it just makes the lancer go down a dark path towards overpoweredness. We need to be careful about asking for more out of the lancer, because as it stands now, the lancer is actually a little bit over powered. its just none is talking about that because of the Phoenix and the striker. Once those are nerfed into the ground, or the lancer sufficiently buffed, we will have our own backlash.
I actually like the Lancer now. A zoomed scope would be nice, but a better reticule would help me more, it seems the centre dot can be a bit vague, especially at night, compared to the bright purple charge indicator. Perhaps we can get a better scope when the 'nix gets its vehicle-highlighting vision. The removal of CoF means it is actually worth shooting at aircraft now (when they make themselves easy targets at least). A CoF meant you did not know if the shot you missed was due to you aim being out or the RNG. VS held the Crown all day today on Woodman, I think the Lancer had something to do with that. Not that it was particularly more powerful than engineer AV turret, just we were using it as an ideal place to test out the Lancer and no tanks got near as a result.
One functionality effect of the COF removal: the Lancer is now the ultimate solution to AV MANA turrets.
wait till we get videos of lancer squad instagibbing aircraft and tanks. Too powerful in groups. far more synergy than any rocket launcher
We could have taken a video of it last night. I logged in, said, "Lets get some lancers". Granted, we're an organized outfit, but we had 5 lancers, and with co-ordination, kept most vehicles at bay. NC can have their camera rocket, I'll take my lancer any day. On an individual basis it can't stand up to other weapons, but with a group using co-ordinated fire, vehicles just...die. As for aircraft, I'll admit I hit a couple at a fairly long range, but neither shots were hits myself, or anyone, would get on a consistent basis. I do suspect lancer squads being fully capable of keeping the skies clear of galaxies and liberators, however. Solution: Bring snipers, we stand out in the open.
I don't agree that it is too powerful in groups. The weapon requires slightly better coordination and better aim at long range than lock-on rockets. I think the idea of putting any sort of optics on the Lancer would push the weapon over the top, though.
Not hit-scan, just a ridiculously-high velocity. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AuOojvNLMApVdEtIU1NKenEzNzZOSWNaanFqSUVxLWc&type=view&gid=75&f=true&colid0=1&filterstr0=VS&colid1=2&filterstr1=ROCKET, ES&sortcolid=-1&sortasc=true&rowsperpage=250 First charge = 600 m/s Second charge = 700 m/s Third charge = 800 m/s For comparison, the hardest-hitting sniper rifles have a projectile-velocity of 650 m/s. Here's an example what one guy with a Lancer can do to aircraft (skip to 0:40 in the video): A competent Lancer squad could probably create a 700-metre wide no-fly zone . That's some scary ****.
As always, the same goes for all the other G2A lockons, except the range would be 500m. Share the lock-on for the projectile speed. Not sure about the visibility but you should be able to the lancers tracer. I didn't have much trouble with it so far. More likely getting hit by some NC phoenix.. But yeah, the projectile traveling speed seems to be scary fast.. if you got a feeling for where to aim at..can't find why vanu cries...
My proudest kill with the Lancer was when I was charging up to shoot at a TR tank zerg when I heard a mossie flying over just as I reached 3 bars. A quick snap aim up and I blew it away. Not the sort of thing you can count on doing, but funny when it falls in your lap like that. Against ESF, the lancer can get 3 hits at no charge if they fly right over or 1 hit fully charged if they are hovering or happen to do so when you are charged up. Against libs, I get about 40% hit rate under conditions where I would score mostly hits with bursters. It is only really an opportunistic AA weapon, those times you are guaranteed a hit, you could get a guaranteed instagib with a default launcher.
