PS2. A tale from the perspective of Air Fodder

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by MuNrOe, Nov 23, 2012.

  1. MuNrOe

    Between getting farmed by aircraft in the game ,play in general I feel has swayed a little to heavy towards Air Dominance.

    While I do appreciate the comments that will follow from "ESF" pilots on how I need to L2P and how the game seems balanced for them the fact still remains that if you want a heap of easy kills, cert rocket pods, cert flairs win. I'm sure that none of you will disagree with that.

    That being said its as annoying as hell from the perspective of the ground to see multiple AA players shooting at aircraft only to have them unload their rockets get a few easy kills then run away and repair.

    So now it comes to potential solutions. In planet side 1 you would need to burn your entire payload to kill a tank. This means every bit of inventory in your bank. At current this is not so. Between the lib and the ESF the libs primary focus should be on killing tanks in PS2 while ESF should be primary anti air with limited damage rockets for vech. In regards to damage against infantry. The splash damage needs to be nerfed I do agree that if im hit with a rocket from an aircraft dead on I should get toasted but not from the random splash that currently occurs in game atm. Reduce the Rocket Damage.

    In regards to AA. Flares in general need to be removed. The anti air rocket of the heavy is inaccurate and unreliable in its current form against air and good pilots know how to outmaneuver these with ease. Decrease the range on these however but make them allot faster.

    I think in general ESF's have way too much armor in their current form but with the above suggestions I would not adjust this. You will want these pilots to survive but just make them work a little bit harder for their kills. It wont mean that your instantly dead but it means if your taking chances against a single AA target theres a high chance your going to die.Thats what AA is meant for. Killing aircraft.

    In ps1 6 AA maxs could successfully suppress an entire air force in PS2 they successfully scratch that air force while slowly getting picked off.

    In short the game is too heavily balanced towards aircraft and needs to be brought back into par. The lib is a beast and is doing a great job in its current form. Dont touch this vech. Its good to see these things in combat. But the ESF's need to be brought back into line.

    I know allot of ESF players are going to hate this suggestion and I really dont blame them because SOE like to balance thing's using the sledgehammer method. Just lightly touch it SOE so everyone remains happy and there is a little bit more balance brought back into the game.
  2. Vicis

    I didn't even read your comment.

    I play on the ground, in vehicles and in the air.

    At no point have I found myself to be "fodder" of any sort.

    If I want easy kills I go light assault. Or I hop in a mag. Or in a scythe.
    Either way I get tons of kills.

    L2P
    • Up x 1
  3. Agaac15

    A couple of updates before beta ended AA was OP and there were only 2-3 aircraft in the air at any given time, so take that into account.

    I agree though AA is somewhat overpowered now BUT remember the game has just launched and as soon as people unlock the AA rockets and weapons it will slowly balance out. The only thing I think should be bumped up though are turrets, there practically useless at the moment.
  4. PresidentOfButts

    I think AA Phalanx (and AV turrets for that matter) should be more effecitve versus their respective foes. Increasing their HP pools would make sense as well.
  5. raw

    I've said it time and time again, rocket pods do not belong on single manned vehicles.

    STRONG WEAPON SYSTEMS SHOULD NEVER REQUIRE ONLY ONE PLAYER TO BE FULLY OPERATIONABLE.


    Limit Ammo to one Volley, so ESFs that cert that weapon have to resupply frequently, or introduce a 2 seater helicopter and move rocket pods to there.
    • Up x 1
  6. MuNrOe

    Im sure the devs recognize this problem as it never really got fixed from the closed beta. Hopefully there will be some sort of update to adjust these issues.
  7. Fugly

    Rockets are meant as anti-infantry, not anti-vehicle weapons. Both ESF main machine guns unload more damage on tanks then rockets do. Between the beta finale and launch rocket damage was reduced to vehicles yet again. It now takes 3 full rocket magazines to destroy a sunderer, which is 3/4 of all available rockets with no upgrades. That's either three passes of the vehicle at high speed, or hovering and risking a tank blast or unguided rocket in the face (both 1-shots) while waiting for three 3-second reload periods. For battle tanks, depending on the attack vector or the battletank certs it takes 2 or 3 rocket magazines to destroy a battle tank. Lightnings always take 2 magazines. Should the ESF move off during reload preparing for another pass, terrain permitting, the tank crew often have time to reposition to fire back with either tank weapons or simply get out and repair. If it's a sunderer then the crew can deploy and switch to a burster MAX.

    The heavy AA rockets are at the perfect speed to allow skilled evasion utilizing terrain, especially so for ESF pilots who choose to use the extended afterburner secondary weapon. Reducing heavy AA rocket range is the opposite direction we need. The range needs to be extended. The most difficult part of heavy AA is maintaining a lock due to terrain. Should the range be extended it would let HA be more effective and only increase the skill required to effectively pilot an ESF.

    And regarding your statement that 6 AA maxes can't scratch an AA force... that makes me think you've never tried it. I say this because 3 AA maxes can easily defend any area against a dozen ESFs. 2 MAXes wielding 4 bursters can down an ESF in 4 seconds. 6 could clear the skies. Max ceiling height liberators used to be their only real threat, but since the render distance was reduced that is no threat either. Snipers are really the only counter, but engineers can easily counter that.
  8. Ranik

    I agree with the bold. But don't think a single load of ammo is the answer
  9. Sowahka

    As a pilot I'd just like to see some vehicle-mounted AA turret buffs, such as the one on heavy tanks or liberators, and a decrease in magazine size of rocket pods. However when playing as a soldier or in a vehicle I rarely have anti-air trouble unless the area is swarming with aircraft and nobody is dedicating themselves to anti-air. There has been an occasion or two where a fighter will land a whole rocket salvo on my vehicle, and it feels like they just shouldn't be able to fire so many all at once, but it has never frustrated me or made me feel as if I could do nothing. They're relatively easy to take down, in the worst possible situation I'd just have to spawn my own aircraft and take out the opposing one. I've had a lot of success in AA turrets by just waiting for the aircraft to come closer before unloading, firing early means a fleeing aircraft that is now aware of the AA situation in the area.
  10. Tross

    So then solve the "Tank spam" problem. Remove rocket launchers from HA or make it take 20 rockets to kill a tank. Add a cost to HA to respawn. Figure out a way to make ESFs not suck. Figure out how to not force a big part of your player base into an infantry solo roll or use the lightning without just flat out quitting due to boredom. You could buff the Lib but then peopel will just start queening about that too. Wich has been done.

    Of course no matter how you change the game the forum will still be filled with scrubs complaining about getting killed.

    L2P
  11. Tuco

    Don't worry, in a month from now, everyone is going to be flying around in rocketpod ESF's, that's all there will be: rocketpod ESF. You won't have to worry about being fodder for rocketpod ESF's when you're flying around in a rocketpod ESF. Sure it might be boring only playing rocketpod ESF's against other rocketpod ESF's, but you know that's the way the ball bounces.
  12. Sowahka

    If that were the case then I'd kit my Scythe to be AA and start farming vehicle kills.
  13. Antivide

    Go play A2A missile ESF for an interesting point and click adventure game.