Hey there people, So I was watching some Planetside 2 videos about the different Jump Jets and came across some very worrying comments regarding comparisons between drifters, defaults, and Icarus'. Here is one particularly worrying one: Quoted verbatum: "Drifter jump jets 4 life. I like drifters just because they are so much more versatile in what you can do with them. -You can use them to scale things though at a much slower pace. -You can use them to travel long distances in the air which is INSANELY useful. -You move faster while drifting than spiriting even with adrenaline pump, meaning you are the fastest infantry unit in the game. -Once you get stilled with them you can use them on the ground with shotguns in combat for extreme strafing speed. -once you master them you can achieve God-tier speed if you can learn to abuse the diagonal turning momentum. I have LITERALLY outran aircraft with this technique using a booster pad, and outran many vehicles on the ground just using the technique by it self. To try this out in its most basic form, attempt to move in a circle with the jets on the ground while staring at the center of the circle you're making and you will see that you start to move EXTREMELY fast." Ok, so this guy clearly has some misconceptions, or I'm totally wrong, but there is NO WAY drifters are better than default, and the same goes for Icarus. Icarus is worse: (Quoted from my comment) There is no way that Icarus is better. Here's why: 1) Versatility. In Planetside you are never able to know what situation you may find yourself in, and, let's face it Icarus jump jets just aren't as versatile as the base jets. They have less horizontal movement, and roughly the same in vertical heigh, the only difference is the time it takes to say scale a wall. However, if that wall is on an incline/slope, or you haven't actually reached it's base, the lack of horizontal movement on the Icarus will mean you will run out of fuel and fall to the ground, just like Icarus did in Greek legend. 2) Price. Default jets cost nothing for the first level, then 30, then 50, then 100, then 200, then 500 certs. This is much less than the BASE COST of Icarus being 100 certs, which is equivalent to level 3 jump jets. If you don't have the certs to spend, Icarus is going to take a long time to upgrade and it will be very expensive, for a sub-par jump jet. The same sort of things can go for drifters disregarding the point about prices. They are only really good at (as far as I know) drifting over tanks and being a C4 fairy. That is ONE SITUATION, and so why would you use drifters otherwise? In my experience all they do is make you more exposed for longer, say if you are climbing a wall, it takes twice as long as with defaults. Honestly, either I am completely wrong ,in which case forgive me, or people haven't used the right jets enough? Let me know guys, Cheers.
You are correct. There will always be outliers that enjoy a certain playstyle more. For example, belthazor3547 sees LA as exclusively C4 delivery system. Since these outliers have by definition a vastly different opinion, they feel obligated to voice that opinion everywhere they go. So basically one drifter main will make more noise than 10 default jets mains. It's fully within one's rights to play however he wants, but that doesn't change the fact that for 99% people default jets are the default choice. Drifters are absolutely impractical for infantry combat, their single advantage, sustained speed, is nullified completely by the fact that you can't fire accurately and can't change directions rapidly. Maybe if we get a weapon or a system that allows us to fire accurately while flying, drifters will have a renaissance. And another silly fact that nothing, absolutely nothing, prevents the player from using Jump Jets in the same manner. They're fully capable of speed drifting, though for not as long.
Awesome, I wasn't saying people couldn't use drifters or icarus though, incase you though I was trying to superimpose my agenda, but it's nice to see you are a clearly active community veteran. Cheers
Iridar is a default Jumpjets man. Default Jumpjets are good, they are versatile and will help you in many situations. Seeing how Iridar's playstyle seems to mostly rely on staying within his allies sphere of influence and sticking to a relative small area the default jumpjets are definitely the best choice for him. Drifter jumpjets get tactical, sure climbing takes a bit more time and you can't do Iridar's "fall off the wall+reload and return in a flash", but in everything else the drifters are far superior. People only say "you can drop on tanks more easily with them" and completely ignore the power you have against infantry. With some situational awareness you know where your enemies are and where they move and where your friends and where the fights take place. Then it's a simple matter of picking the right spot, landing there and wreaking some havoc, a flanking attack guaranteed almost! It doesn't matter if I'm shotgunning (land right in their middle/behind them/at a back-entrance of their building when you see no one will accidentally stab you in the back) or when I'm using a carbine (land behind them/their back entrance/a nearby building overseeing their routes) I can make tremendous use of it. And even after I've gotten down and am on the ground I can still get around easily and more safely than I would with drifters. I rarely ever have to come down from a building/buildings roof/tree/rock/mountain, I just float to the next one! Default jumpjets and Drifters simply have completely different styles. The Default is for the more CQC combat scenario's where you want to be up and down buildings and cover constantly while moving along with your allies, the Drifters are the one's for planning ahead, breaching your enemy and hitting them where it hurts with a calculated (often suicidal) attack.
That's probably the main turn away point for me. I don't believe suicide attacks are interesting or skillful or sportsmanlike. Sure sometimes situation deteriorates so much that the player's only choice is to sell his life the most expensive way. But I don't like planning for it. Interestingly, this type of playing is where I had the most success while using a shotgun. I would simply float down (on jump jets) to an enemy controlled building, and run around killing everybody I could, and killing all witnesses, until being eventually cornered and killed. Sick killstreaks and somewhat enjoyable to play, but completely braindead and somewhat useless to the faction. Not to imply that this is how I think of drifter gameplay in general, just related to suicidal attacks.
Different jets are for different playstyles, and certain styles are better for certain situations, so in the end situation will dictate. I've been using Icarus more, exploring that angle. They are better for some things but need a change in playstyle to take full advantage of. For instance in biolabs I normally get on top of the little building in front of the spawn and from there fly to the A point building, which is fine with defaults but with Icarus you really should be staying on the ground to close and using the greater upward thrust of Icarus to make up the time taking a less direct path, this leaves you with less time spent in a defenseless state and is overall safer, but I still catch myself trying to play as I would with default. Defaults cover the unknown better since they are more versatile, but Icarus is better for when you have a team you can rely on to cover the unknown, and want to be ready to create hasty crossfires (mostly for urban environments but I can think of a few bases with outdoor elements where Icarus is still good. There are also some places where you cant climb with defaults (because your character doesn't stick and running into the wall only holds you for a few moments) that you can get with Icarus, and structures with a lot of platforming can be climbed faster with Icarus (tech plant legs for example) although with less room for error.
Belthazor was gone a long time ago. Now he talks about politics. Not sure if hes still gonna do ps2. But yeah. C4 fu
Imo, it's all about the flight path. Defaults are for mid-close range fights in building-heavy bases. With it, you can ascend and descend with ease and make flanking with them on the spot safer. Drifters are more for wider spaces and for maneuvering in a fight without it turning into a game of duck hunt. This is best seen with shotgun LA as the jet's affect on the CoF is negated by the fact that shotguns (without slugs) don't really need to be accurate. I personally use this around rocky cliff faces and building corners to break LoS. I don't really see a use for Icarus jets, though. As a speed focused, ascension jet, it should have the shortest refill time (if it does, ok cool) but overall, it makes you a foot soldier with the added ability to get up to that balcony and surprise that engine (possible with defaults) or to throw c4 and nades over that wall (also possible with defaults). Although quick, without horizontal movement it's very limited in what it can provide.
Actually it all comes down to playstyle. If you want to flank fast and go for kills only, drifters are the way to go. They let you get around faster and are super effective with shotguns. If you want to be versatile and cap objectives, jump jets are the way to go. You can get to objectives much faster, move very well around towers and techplants. If you are a emo and like to suicide, icarus is the way to go. Since there is no /wrist command that works.
I use Icarus jets because virtually anywhere I want to go that's vertical I can run right up to. They're basically good as a super jump and minimize time spent floating and vulnerable. They're only really a hassle when climbing hilly terrain, and that's mostly just a learning curve issue. They're ironically awful at softening touch downs from long falls though. Not nearly enough fuel to negate momentum to a survivable impact once you reach a certain speed. If an LA finds they mostly use their jets to climb to a vertical point, icarus is the way to go. If they're sleazy tower farmers, default are probably best. In most cases though, the lay of the land doesn't really benefit defaults any more than icarus jets (or LA in general, class is pretty niche really.) Drifters are only good with a high vantage point to begin with, which is kind of a catch 22 for an LA outside of towers, bases or hilly/mountainous regions.
i use drifter jump jets exclusively because all i do with them is AV with C-4. if i want to do infantry gameplay with AV turret and not C-4 always go with engineer i don't really like infantry gameplay.
I only use Icarus. I was once a default Jump Jets LA, then I went to Icarus and never went back. Having the vertical thrust to use UP as an escape route, is awesome. Jump Jets leave you dangling up there, slowly putzing around the sky. Icarus moves you quickly, and gets you the heck out of the way of fire. Love love love Icarus. My credentials are I have the Auraxium Carbine and the Auraxium Armor plating for LA. Doesn't mean I'm right, but I've played a lot of LA.
Personally, i use Drifters when I'm running my A2A ESFs. Drifters work like a faux parachute when flying, as they will slow your fall speed greatly and quickly when used in midair like that. Just mind you don't run out of fuel. I also use Icarus jets form time to time, but not very often. Usually, it's to go hit a spawn beacon up on a roof, or an infiltrator that wall-hopped his way up an ammo tower or something. In my opinion, the default jump jets are the most versatile out of the three: They can slow your fall as well, although not as heavily or as long as Drifters, and can still scale buildings, thought not as quick or high as the Icarus. As for these Tokyo Drifter people? I honestly lost count of how many of those guys I killed.
Drifters for me they're the most versatile once you learn how to best use the environment around you as you can get up high yes maybe abit slower but not by much, they're more useful for av and once you get use to them and learn how best to use the horizontal momentum they're great for quickly flanking or throwing off opponants and winning gun fights. The other jets are fun but don't have the all around versatility of drifters. Drifters have a higher skill level to learn to do well with which puts most off them as they are unaware of how best to utilize them. I believe even Wrel prefers drifters pretty sure he said as much in a video about the subject.
Kudos to the OP. With the shrinking playerbase we really cannot afford anyone to fall into incorrect or suboptimal playstyles. Everybody has to pull their weight during their recreational activities! Joking aside, I always recommend default jets to new players, but I'm personally more of a Drifter guy. If I'm somewhere I can't have fun with Drifters, I might just pick some other class, go medic and rez people or something. Edit: Does it count as necro when the replay is 20 days after the last post but the thread is still on the top half of the front page??
fixed it for you x'D jokes aside... drifters aren't that bad. i like them to troll ppl with the drifter knife xD the momentum you get from them (crouching helps you to keep that on the ground) helps alot to avoide gunfire and you are fast enough to catch ppl offguard with the knife xD (not sure if thats still possible tho haven't done that in a long time)
