Dogfight Lock-on Flaming

Yesterday I was using tomcat lock-on rockets on my mosquito, locked onto a scythe (out of common decency I will reluctantly not name this player) hit him, needled for a second and then collided with him after wrongfully expecting us both to avert course, which killed us both, whereupon I receive the message: "f###ing noob", and was told that only noobs use lock-ons and that I lack sportsmanship for doing so. The EXACT same thing happened with the exact same player today, except that he successfully rammed and only I died - same messages and abuse, though.

This was likely just a young rager, and I'll get over the QQ, but what exactly IS the problem with using lock-ons? Balance exists for weapons being OP, and weapons exist to enrich and actually be used in the game, no?

yes but lockons are overpowered and people get mad at the players instead of the devs

Just ask them if it is so OP then why don't they use it. If they say they too much "honor" just simply reply that if they are willing to do what it takes to win then prepare to get wrecked and it will not get nerfed unless people actually use it.

People who fly straight at me and end up ramming are infinitely more annoying than lock on users. Though this rarely happens given how easy it is to hit things flying straight at you... it's moreso the curvy swervy ones.

Of course coyotes are the worst in my book.

It's a bit because using them doesn't take any real skill.
And a lot of the sky knights are the kind of player who, well, gets off on mastering something they consider to have a high skill ceiling. In other words, they derive their enjoyment from the challenge of making their own personal skill count towards winning a fight.
As mentioned, tomcats don't really take much skill, and have a very low ceiling on how well they respond to it.

Me, personally? I can see it from both sides.
On the one hand I can understand the desire to make skill the ultimate deciding factor in determining the outcome of a fight.
On the other hand... I can also sympathize with people who may not have that level of skill, but still want to stand a chance.

I'm not going to say one is more right than the other.
I like that skill matters, but I'm not agreeing that it should be the only real deciding factor of an engagement. Give everyone a chance, however small.


Disclaimer: I'm not saying the Tomcats (or coyotes) are balanced and fine overall.

Honestly, I think a big part of the problem is how the air controls are set up so you can't use your guns and missiles at the same time, plus the fact that flares take up a slot instead of being standard equipment like they should be.

After all, plenty of other games have much stronger lock-ons and manage to use them well. Sure they still generally cause the nose-gun to take a back seat in dogfights, but that's kind of the entire point of having an A2A missile in the first place.

If nose-guns were the end-all be-all of A2A, there'd be no reason to equip anything besides lolpod+A2A nosegun. Pod anything on the ground, gun anything in the air...

And that'd be kind of lame, because it'd just be One Loadout to Rule Them All.

It's probably not intentional from your side, but do take that line to the logical conclusion.

One loadout to rule them all.
One loadout to find them.
One loadout to bring then all,
and in the darkness bind them.

I just find it has this perverse undertone to it. ;D

A2A lock ons are very powerful and very easy to use. A lot of long time players don't like facing them, because they feel they are unfair. They also don't like using them because they feel it makes flying simple and boring. Therefore they stir up some strong feelings among certain players.

So if you want to use A2AM you'll have to learn to ignore the hate tells. Because really, what did that hate tell accomplish? Why are you so hurt you're coming onto the forums to make a post? You could have just typed '/ignore add name' and moved on.

And also get used to being hunted down by better pilots who see you firing one.

Tomcats right now are absolutely poor and easily countered by utility slots, if lock-ons are you worst fear, go cert stealth and decoy flares, see for yourself how useless pilots with tomcats will feel, they need a buff. Kifsator don't worry about the haters.

You're Vanu, of course you'd find it kinky.

I'd bring up the fact that I am using something I have to track you with, not shoot in your general direction.

actually from what i have heard the lock ons themselves besides coyotes pretty much require that you keep the target in the crosshairs of your ESF, so while not requiring lead to use, there is a decent chunk of control involved.


as for the OP being called a "newb" the other pilot is the pathetic one. lock ons give plenty of warning before they fire allowing you to begin responding AND the missiles generally are not fast so if you after burn and dive, as long as you are somewhat near some form of large cover (trees, mountains, coral, tall buildings, etc...) it isn't difficult to peal off a missile, i only just barely got into the air game and i can already do that.

and no i don't use lock ons, i prefer after burner tanks. in fact i don't think i own any of the secondary ESF weapons. check my stats ( http://stats.dasanfall.com/ps2/player/LawnGnome ) none of the ESF secondaries should have any kills and i haven't used any flavor of lock on weapon since closed beta (back in the days before the AA hand held launchers had drop and were incredible for long range vehicle shots.)

Well, as one who have used the lockons let me tell you that they're very easy to use. In a way they're even easier than the coyotes.

Like camping they are considered lame. No point in raging about it but tell that a 14y old. And altogether there is just a lot of hate for them because they changed the airgame a lot and not necessary to the good.

My view of general ESF commentaries since beta:

2012 - "How the fork do I control this thing, and why can't I rebind my keys? Rocketpods OP!"

2012-2013 "Ok, I think I can control this thing now, maybe - but only by exploiting the game's physics, but it's ok, because it's a feature now. Also, why can't I rebind my keys? Rocketpods are OP!"

2014 - "Weapons are OP, being able to control aircraft is OP, keyboards are OP. Lock ons are OP. Also, ESFs are UP, higbypls."

SOE should really listen to player feedback more, but at this point, i'm not even sure where they should start.

Flaming against lockons is pointless. They might give you a huge leap on dmg when you are new to esf flying, but past a certain
skill level, it will hurt you much more, NOT to have these afterburners with you.

Why do you think every serious pilot flies with nosegun/externals? You can reverse thrust much more frequently, rush in and out of fights, outrace g2a lockons ...

In large fights the tomcats are actually one of the strongest weapons. Imagine it's 30 v 30. One side using tomcats, the other fuel pods.

In a single salvo they can kill 10 of the fuel pod users.
If they all have flares, the 2nd salvo will kill 10.... I'm sure you see where this is going.

My original point was that the PS2 dev team in charge of balance ARE actually working for salaries and probably actually DO their (quite complex) job. I think that something not requiring skill is equatable to it being OP. Hence, if it was OP, it would have been nerfed.

That being said - between my a2am loadout and my fuel tanks loadout, I honestly can't distinguish which takes more skill. The time it takes to lock on (during which you are shot the hell out of) is one thing, maintaining line of sight while locking on is another. On the other hand, being able to fire a rocket and then disengage before it hits is a massive advantage.

Youngblood made a video about it and I partly agree with it. It is sad in two ways how
a weapon like that ruins a big portion of the air game but it's equally sad when the anger
is directed towards the players rather than the game/devs.