It's down to preference. I had much more success with the NC rocket launchers as I did with just about everything else. The TR are so bad in this respect that I cannot bring myself to play Heavy Assault and attempt anti-vehicle attacks because their infantry AV units are so poor. I've had much more success across a number of NC characters I've made in the past. My present one, however, has not even touched Heavy Assault. I have another test character for that. Moreover, other rocket launchers of the NC feel much better than those of the TR when in VR Training also, albeit that this only gives a little taster of each weapon. I find the TR anti-vehicle weapons the worst when it comes down to infantry by miles; you may think differently. There are loads of different ways of looking at it, and sadly I did not have enough time nor enough mental energy to meticulously analyse more possibilities, which I aim to do in the future. Though what some players fail to grasp is that there is no black and white truth value of "It's OP" or "Not OP, be quiet". Moreover, there are more shades of grey than most of us, myself included, can comprehend. It's also largely down to opinion. I feel that the Gatekeeper being the way as it is is justified by asymmetrical balancing consequences that has worsened other elements of weaponry, which in itself generates a given factor for balancing something indirectly. Others will feel otherwise. Sadly, I'm not intelligent enough to comprehend all of the answers, and all aspects of it. Still, I gave the element of asymmetrical balancing a semi-decent crack at the whip, and at least it sort-of makes sense to someone.
You're misinterpreting what I said. Shooting enemies from the rear provides the same benefit for all three factions. The problem with the Magrider is that it doesn't have the option to go head to head at all, it has to flank to overcome it's underpoweredness. But if the Vanguard or the Prowler flanked, they would perform even better then a flanking Magrider because they have the tools and the damage to make themselves more effective in combat. A lockdown Prowler flanking a tank zerg could easily decimate an entire tank column, and a Vanguard would vaporize individual tanks with ease, and be able to use the WINshield to wrestle victory from the jaws of a 2-3v1 defeat. The Magrider still has the lowest TTK, the slowest speed, and an ability that is only moderately useful in navigation, generally being useless in actual combat.
Would it even be possible then, with the Aphelion, to try and actually MBT with the maggie, using front armor, FS, Rival, Aphelion and max reload on the FPS? I still doubt it, but it sounds actually really fun to me, as I'm kind of bored to death of agonizingly long flanks and picking off unaware tanks.
That actually makes the Gatekeeper look very balanced. Since the Halberd has alpha damage and the Saron can mag dump on top of all this.
TR have the best tank and best harasser with the Gatekeeper, Vulcan and Prowler 120mm, most DPS, highest top speed, same armor as the Magrider VS have the worst tank with the Magrider and when the Halberd has better DPS then the Saron at range, and has no functional AI turret unlike the TR and NC, slowest top speed, most arc and slowest projectiles (same as a Lightning) but it goes side ways in a laughable attempt to dodge shots (try dodging Gatekeeper rounds you have to be 500m away at least). NC have a good tank for purely AV work but due to some insane balancing ideas which have never been looked at the HE shells reload slower then the Mags but have the same splash, go figure that one out, so is weaker against infantry. TR Easy mode for tanks and harassers. NC Hard mode. VS Hard mode. Gatekeeper is relatively balanced except it doesn't need the 500m/s velocity 0 CoF and 0 drop, then give Saron zero CoF (except when rapidly spamming) and Enforcer the same drop as the Gatekeeper (ie none). Then fix the bl00dy PPA its a joke, and the Mags main gun, its somewhat lacking compared to the other two tanks. Fix the Fractures they are pathetic, in fact the Fractures and Vortex could do with a look at seeing as the supposedly brilliant Vortex is about equal for kills as the Fracture is... Sort out the Striker, make it an uncharged lancer clone with more in the clip if you have too (without any lock on against air if they want that). Or watch the game dwindle away
You pretty much nailed it. I use the Mag a lot, and it's booring to use the same tactic over and over. I wish the MBT combat in this game was balanced at all ranges (close quarters especially).
The magrider is great in actual combat though and there are plenty of people who prove that. Even more so now with the Aphelion. You just downplayed the magrider hard lol.
There was no "little" bloom when they nerfed the PPA, it was a ****ton. Now the gun is bad - the day after the nerf it was pretty much unplayable. Did you even use the PPA before and after nerf? The bloom was mind-boggling out of proportions. Tbh, besides how it's a bit more close-ranged than the Saron you really have to judge the choice of rival, armour, stealth of whatever in much the same way as before. After all, you're not top dog with the gun, you still have to rely on being sneaky (or better).
You say it's great in combat, but then I ask, how? I gave solid evidence as to why it's not, with indisputable mathematical facts, like how the Prowler and Vanguard both can still kill faster, and how the Vanguard is significantly more survivable, and how the Prowler is significantly faster and has far superior TTK regardless of what angle you fire from. You are free to disagree, but you gotta give a better support then "muh downplay".
That is all based on raw data that doesn't account for player skill though. I'm not disagreeing with you as such, but you're definitely downplaying the magriders potential. It's not as simple as some stats as decent players do very well with it, regardless of how it looks in raw stat form. The magrider has alot of mobility and always faces the direction it's attacking. It is also easier to pilot as there is no turret to turn and it can strafe. It's basically a floating gun turret lol.
Forumside, let this thread die. We have a overload of salt and the ANT's are not finished being built, meaning no Salt transportation. So please settle down & go bicker about which Chaos God is better.
Those having trouble with the gatekeeper should grab the Halberd (it really is the best secondary option for the Mag) and peek-a-boo, their sustained damage is useless if you're only popping out from cover between shots. Try change the cover you attack from if you can even if you need to do a wide flank because being predictable is a good way to get yourself killed. I don't really mind facing the gatekeeper it's annoying getting tickled by it from that hill way over there at render range but all it does is re-enforce the old rule when fighting TR "don't get caught out in the open against a locked down AP prowler" only now it's pretty much every prowler and harasser you can't face without cover. From an overall tanking PoV it is abit worrying that this dumbed down style of weapon is what they decided to add, shallow gameplay is bad for all sides in the long run. First it's 500m/s point and spam next...Lock-ons. *shudders*
Don't forget that the NC or TR tankers can be good too, not just the Mag user. That aside, all skill levels has to be taken into consideration not just the top players. Also, the "always facing the direction it's attacking", well that also means you're prone to tunnelvisioning without good coms with the gunner. It's not always an advantage.
Pretty much, just look at the KPH for MBT AP guns, it's currently 18.4 for VS, and 23.0 for TR. Sure, if you look at only BR 100 VS, now the average BR 100 is 23.4 higher than the average TR, but then the average BR 100 TR is at 27.8... Vehicle kills likely follows the same pattern.
There are 2 types of people in this world. Those that think the Gatekeeper is OP and those thoroughly untalented people unable to use a weapon that requires skill. If someone were to suggest that they should take the basilisk, remove it's recoil, more than double the DPS of it, remove all traces of drop and COF bloom and COF, remove its damage drop off and be able to put it on a vehicle that costs around 1/3 of what an MBT does and completely stabilise the turret. You'd slap them in the face and call them a crayon eating sperglord. Sadly this is EXACTLY what DBG did and it's unfathomable the stupidity involved in this decision. Still some people are blind enough to not recognise the sheer idiocy on display here and keep defending the indefensible by denying how broken the Gatekeeper is.
I remember something about AP values being changed. Though I thought before that while the NC had lower DPS, they actually had a higher TTK because of the improved alpha damage, though this could be when combined with a secondary of sorts. When talking any real MBT AV You have to consider the secondaries, and how they interact with the primaries of the MBT. Also, that test was done on a vanguard only. Most vanguards aren't shooting other vanguards(Most of the time, they are getting TK'd by C4), so you'd need to replicate the test for all tanks on a maggy or prowler. The armor values may be skewing the test results. But even still, the difference is one second, but the Vanguard secondaries have better DPS, which may very well mean a significantly faster TTK, as well as the WINShield which pretty much means RIP Magrider if you aren't putting an entire saron clip+AP round to the rear at the start of the fight.
Of course, i don't have a nerf whine agenda. All 3 turrets can make bad players prone to tunnel vision. Likewise , having to move a turret separate from a chassis is not always and advantage.... I don't care about that noise lol.
