Prowler's Vulcan is underperforming

at 50m it could still kill a lighting from behind with 1 full mag.

Indeed, Higby needs to fix it.
TRs faction trait in Planetside 2 is sustained fire. Its not rate of fire but putting lots of fire on targets for extended periods of time (so bigger mags then).

To me the Vulcan needs to be a large mag, high velocity minigun that is all about keeping it spun up and on target. It should be about blasting a small area for what seems like an eternity. Streams of red tracers reaching out across the battlefield, spitting up dust and sparks as they dance to the Vulcan's never ending Song of the Damned.

Right now I just can't figure out a situation where I would want a Vulcan on my prowler (but I see quite a lot of Vulcans out there that do pretty much nothing - probably just like the MCG, it sounds cool). Its pretty much like choosing the Hailstorm (SMG not the nosecannon) for long range infantry battles.

That's not what it was advertised at the start. As far as I know we should have had highest RoF (extra 50 RoF lol) and due to that a higher mag, the famed 10 extra more. No sustainability involved. But guess what, VS have 2 carbines that fire faster than the TR ones.

Regarding the thread, increased mag size is welcomed of course, but to be fair there are other improvements the Vulcan needs more. An accuracy and most of all max damage range improvement to be exact.

I would be totally fine with the Vulcan being a close range weapon if the damage was good enough to justify the risk of getting up close. I LOVED the close-range brawler style that the pre-redesign Vulcan enabled. I loved doing drivebys on enemy sunderers, using the prowler's speed to flank enemy tanks, run up and punch them in the rear armor.

But now, the Vulcan doesn't out-damage a halberd until you're touching the enemy tank. The Vulcan is now a ******** of risk for no reward.

I suggested changing the CoF Bloom to 0.5 from 1 and change the Prowler to a 4 second base reload for HEAT/AP (probably 5 for HE).

Then the Vulcan would be balanced against the Magrider. It would also force TR to run 2/2 and stop running 1/2.

Just want to point out that VS traits are mobility and accuracy.

Strange then that TR has the fastest tank wich imo is a huge part of "mobility", they also have less drop/faster velocity on their shells wich imo is a part of "accuracy".

Waaah waaah! give back the VS traits!

You don't nerf the Prowler in a way just to give the Vulcan a buff it needs right now.... The Vulcan just straight up needs the COF buff so it can be used at 150-300 meters like the Enforcer ML85. I see 1/2 Magriders and 1/2 Vanguards, and there is nothing "forcing them" to be 2/2. A 1/2 Prowler will lose 2/2 Magrider in a head to head fight, so there is already incentive to ride around as 2/2 in the Prowler if they want to defend themselves from a 2/2 MBT and have a greater DPS advantage in fights.

How many Lightnings can an Enforcer ML85 or Saron kill from behind in one mag?

Want the Vulcan to be "fixed"?

Die a lot while using it. make sure you don't kill anything beyond 10 meters.

All balancing is based on weapon performance (wtf on that!!!). Want it to get a buff? Show SOE that it sucks with data.

Lets say you are shooting at a long range target thats so you do the 125 minimum damage per shot. You still have 60 rounds before a 2.5 second reload(stock).

Saron does constant damage no matter the range, a massive 284 damage per shot(367 splash wich afaik doesnt hurt tanks).

So the big question is how many shots do you have to hit with the Vulcan to do about the same damage as the Saron since they seem to have different damage types?

Well shooting a Magrider in the side from farther away than 130m it took 110 shots to put it on fire while a Saron needed 20 shots to put it on fire. So by the power of math, for every Saron shot the Vulcan needs to hit 5.5 times, 33 times for every 6 shots from a Saron wich means you can still miss with 45% of your shots and still do as much damage as the Saron.

If you think about it the Vulcan has a 0.5 second shorter reload, 10 times as many shots before it has to reload and only has to aim slightly above the target at 300m away to score hits, why is the Vulcan considered a bad weapon?

Sure it takes longer to kill something at range with it but its far from useless at range and imo it more than makes up for it in CQC against everything.

Saron cant kill a Lightning from behind without reloading, it takes 11 rear hits to kill a Lightning while the Enforcer only needs 6 rear hits.

I feel like it's going to get worse before it gets better. It might get better first, I dunno.



Either way I don't think SOE knows what they want to do with TR right now.

The Vulcan is considered a bad weapon for several reasons, let me point them out for you.

1. It's soley used as a short range AV weapon. Short range AV weapons require you to put your tank at incredible risk, and the Prowler has neither a shield to soak up damage when it's at close range or a Magburner to burn away after killing the intended target. Why is the enforcer modified by a similar comparison also a bad weapon, because it's extremely situational and other weapons that do the same thing and clearly outperform it.

2. Currently it's either bad or mediocre against every type of target until you're right infront of them. The Vulcan used to kill pilots who tried to rocket pod the Prowler or Liberators who tried to tank buster the Prowler. That got nerfed so now the Vulcan is bad against aircraft. It's not good against infantry unless you're very close, C4 AV weapon risk, and it's not good against tanks until it's at close range which is normally a bad place for any tank to be other the than the Vanguard which actually benefits at this range in tank engagements.

3. A basilisk currently out performs the Vulcan except at close range, yes I said it, and yes I mean it.

4. It doesn't mesh with Anchormode at all. Ontop of that the Halberd does mesh with Anchormode and outclasses the Vulcan at every range but close range.

TLDR The Vulcan is currently a close range, tank mounted AV weapon, and a very situational piece of junk. I would rather have an Enforcer ML85 in every situation except if I'm 10 meters infront of an enemy tank.

A 2/2 Prowler will destroy a 2/2 Magrider before it's taken even 50% damage. If they were really balanced, it would be NEARLY dead itself.

Also, if you cut the CoF Bloom to 0.5, then it's almost as effective as an Enforcer and Saron but the Prowler's main cannon would STILL be WAYYYY more powerful than either the Magrider's or Vanguard's main cannon.

You just don't press the button and hold it down. You would shoot it in bursts. I realize the most of the people that play TR don't understand what "burst firing" is but you might wanna learn because that's how you shoot automatics at range if you wanna hit anything.

Not sure if 350m should be considered short range. Full auto Vulcan takes ~50 seconds to kill a Magrider on side armor and a Basilisk from the same spot took ~1min 28 seconds. I would use the Vulcan instead.

The Vulcan is the best AV weapon in the game at close range, you have the fastest tank in the game. Clearly there are no viable ways to use that to your advantage.

I'm not sure what range you're going up against the Prowler where you're losing so fast unless you're facing a Max Anchor Mode AP Halberd or Vulcan Prowler at point blank range or are facing off against the AP Prowler with your rear facing towards it. The Prowler has the same armor as the Magrider and an AP/Saron Magrider does a lot of damage up close and at medium range. 2/2 Magriders at medium range will make Prowlers miss and shoot them while on the move. If Prowler's were that OP against Magriders the VS community would be up in arms, and I know you're exaggerating from first hand experience in the Prowler.

People are ridiculous.... you don't burst fire a Gatling Gun! The thing that makes Gatling guns cool is that they don't have to stop firing for an extended period of time. Gatling gun's design allow for little to no recoil while firing fast and being very accurate at up to medium range. Stop bringing the Prowler's main cannon into the equation. The Vulcan is so bad there is no reason to pull it, and your response is basically that it can only become a real option if the Prowler takes a nerf first? lol ya okay....

Ya you try using the Vulcan effectively at 350 meter on a moving Magrider and come tell me how it went. Give me a break. I think it has a Max damage range cap of like 10 meters now. The Vulcan is best AV weapon at point blank range, but at short range I would probably choose the Enforcer ML85. The speed of the Prowler doesn't mesh with our ES ability, and ES weapon doesn't mesh with the Ability either. The Vulcan was already underperforming compared to the Halberd before the nerf, and now there is no reason to pull it other than within amp stations or maybe tech plants if you want to be suicidal.

A 14 round burst is more powerful that you seem to think. And NO you shouldn't just be able to press the button and have a perfect spray that is highly accurate whether you are 10m or 300m. If that was the case, the Saron would be MUCH better.

The prowler vulcan has the same problems that the NC max without slugs as, its only good at 10 meter range, but cant close the range quickly because theyre both slow, a problem that the harasser fixed, and thats why it got nerfed, but it should have got nerfed ONLY on the harasser

It's not about it being powerful, it's about it being a Gatling gun and it's about it being a viable alternative.... If you don't want the Vulcan to behave how it is designed as , A GATLING GUN, then just say so now. A special heavy caliber Machine Gun I could see burst firing but not a Gatling lol, and this is the gun that is currently attached to the top of the Prowler.

Usage statistics etc and all that rubbish are always going to be lower for a balanaced Vulcan, because it's a close range weapon and hence more difficult to use effectively. Ditto for the Saron HRB.

Gatling guns ARE used for full spray but not at 300 or 400m. If you wanna be able to full spray, you'll have to get a flat damage curve and it's going to end up being a lower damage.

Also, saying what real life is like doesn't mean it'll be true for this game because that's not how balance works.

I was saying 200-300 meters, not 300-400. That's a big difference. I've already said in the past that they could give it low DPS per bullet to make it work. While real life doesn't neceassily make for good game balance there are certain ways things behave based on how they are made. Jets are fast, ESF's are the fastest things in the game, Tanks are heavily armored in rl and in the game, however the Vulcan is a Gatling gun and yet it fires slower than the NC smgs. That makes no sense, and the Vulcan should fire a the fastest ROF the game can handle.