So, flyboys... What do you think of all the AA buffs?

Hmm...I can kind of get behind the fairness of this. It just feels alil sad *sniff* that I can't use my heavily certed Brick when I want. I never managed to hurt anybody much anyway. But as said previously there's always the other two types of arms to play too.

you must have missed the memo, tanks are already starting to crop up in larger numbers due to air no longer being able to keep their numbers in check.

In a few weeks everyone will be complaining about tank spam, and they'll buff g2g launcher and other anti tank features and put those on sale as well.

I mainly pilot a lib because its enjoyable to do a 3 man vehicle and have my two friends buzzing about with me and we haven't been hit too hard for effectiveness. My usual belly gunner is a good shot so she hasn't complained about the radius reduction for maximum damage and I agree with the change. I've been on the receiving end of zephyr spam or AI tanks just smashing my general area and its not enjoyable having no cover from it.

The biggest change I've noticed over the last bit has been the vast amount of lock on rockets being used. On Connery it's a rare night to move towards any area with squads or more detected and not hear the lock warning go off long before rendering any infantry. It can be frustrating, had a rough night tonight trying to find one fight where I could be effective but was generally reduced to outskirts. Can't complain, had a wonderful night prior to that. My lib isn't a multipurpose tool meant to excel at all situations, if the enemy is countering air hard enough to prevent our usefulness it's a sign to bust out the light assault and have some fun.

So what would be the point of being a mobile anti air if you cant move? This is not about attention span but intentions. I am not heavy assault to become a dedicated anti air just to have subpar anti air capability in case we happen to need it.

Not to mention its a horrible design decision to remove control of the player for any reason. Thats why i am also against cut scenes in games.

First time I've heard AA maxes or tanks can't move. Or do you mean you can't move while guiding your rockets? With wire/laser guided missiles you can, you just have to keep the dot on target. And it's also "mobile" as in "I can deploy wherever I want", not "I can fire on the move".

You want something to be effective - well, you have to work for it. That's precisely why lock-on is widely considered cheap. That and render distance in this game's case.


When I'm thinking about it, BFBC2 style locking on could be nice too. You can't lock onto something unless someone else on your team "paints" the target for you. That's nice too, I think.

I still lolpod-spam the infantry like before, if not even more.
I started trolling infantry after all the Esfs nerfs.
I think that a lot of pilots don't want to engage air anymore because you risk a lot for 200+100xp, while you could be pounding the ground and get even more with less risk and more fun (not running in a circle with a scythe ) half munitions to bring down a Lib? **** that!
Result? more Esfs and libs target grounds, no one cares about galaxies.
I usually not kill other esfs unless they are really crippled or are posing a threat to our ground units.
sometimes i'm like "meh... ok lets kill this reaver, so my empire can roll out"
i'm ok with scaring him away and patrolling my territory.

There are certain tricks to still be very effective.
the latest nerf made Air Vs Air more common, but there are plenty of enemy tanks and infantry around to claim.

there are less good pilots because most players are not committed in specialize in piloting. dogfighting is boring so they use Esfs as personal transport, beginners now get shredded by AA so it's hard for them to see the potential i guess.

mags on hills go down so fast...as fast ad they got there magboosting in the first place.
turrets can still be one shotted with a combo of rockets+maingun
Dogfights are still a chase in a circle, not that skill involved, just stick around allies and help them out, so they will be able to help you when you need it.
Air superiority is still there,i can see it from reactions on the ground.
the only units holding positions are dual AA maxes. everyone else tries to hide if they can.

the only thing bothering is the skill less people with lock-on missiles, obtaining nothing but disrupting action for 30 seconds.they only obtain attention. next pass they will be priority target and usually G2A is never a real threat if you know you will be locked.

beside, with a fully certed esf, if you die you can come back in few seconds, the time it takes to decide what's the best camo you want to use to troll them hard.

for people like me that flew during middle beta when AA and A2G was out of whack, this is kid's play.
So , yeah, doing good.

Wow. Have you perhaps played a game called Half Life? It shows you just how terribly annoying it is to shoot air targets with a guided missile and they did it superbly given the circumstances. The other option putting the camera from the rocket which removes the lack of depth of field is even worse.

Also yes i consider AA maxes and sky guards to be immobile. AA maxes can pretty much only wiggle their butts a little and skyguards cant shoot while driving anyway without missing the sky.

While you might not like lockon missiles they are by no means a threat if you do not challenge them. I just simply outrun the damn things in my slow *** reaver and iv seen the missiles simply fly past mossies and scythes because they are so slim. Even if they hit its not a big deal since you got plenty of time to run away and repair.

They serve their point of warding off aircrafts so they dont just hover around and shoot up everything. If you cant clear out the ground AA then why on earth would you expect that you can just waltz in with your aircrafts? They are SUPPOSED to be countered by AA not be an even match after all.

Well I can somewhat agree, to a point, that G2A Lock-on based weapons have the right to exist, all right. They have to travel really large distances after all, so good pilot (even I sometimes get lucky) can escape it.

Half life 2 had god awful overly maneuverable missiles, I had in mind something along the lines of BC2 AT-4.

Not precisely like that, of course, let it be locked, but only while you keep your crosshairs on target. Also let's you fire at any angle you want, I think that's fair.

Your main problem is the reaver.
It hates to fly.
Slowest of all 3
And its sound it makes it impossible to sneak up on anyone.
Has no benefits really what-so ever for all it down sides.
Compared with the reavers, the other two practically fly themselves.

As for making it harder... Not so sure.
AA hits harder but ideally you where already staying away from it.
Libs are easier to down now with quicker A2A lock times.
But libs can now sting a lot more with the AA gun buff it got.
Other then that, same game up there...
A2A missiles still viable
A2G rockets still viable
Dumb fire gun... always an option
Its the same game up there.

Terrible pilots are hit hard, very little changes for good pilots.

Don't forget we have a MASSIVE hit box.

I fly libs all the time. The AA missiles are my biggest concern, but survivable. It's generally not one person taking me out, it's four or five. Generally when I'm fleeing a mossie hunts me down. Even still I can easily get fly times of 30-60mins, better serviceability than anything else I play.

But I know how to fly, because I've put in lots of time practising. Would I mind if AA was nerfed, nope. Do I care if it is? Nope. Rather rely on skill and tactics than game balance.

War isn't supposed to be balanced.

Well that works because you are shooting at helicopters not planes and you only operate in fairly close distances. Planetside 2 has much further distances and the planes are much faster so that is not really an option any more.

SOE is more likely to fix things in the space of a month or two. Or sooner. They have a lot of data to work with and they can easily hot-fix a lot of things without waiting for a major patch. ESFs need to rely on speed and agility and picking off stragglers and unguarded targets. A solo aircraft in a contested area, is easy pickings. Just like solo tank or solo infantry in a contested area (unless they use tactics / cover).

- Lock-on G2A is possibly too good now that it is working correctly (maybe trim range by 20%)
- We still haven't seen the effect of MAX units rendering at longer ranges
- Composite armor on Libs should be stronger, but also impact speed/agility
- We also haven't seen the effect of "XP for damage"

Some existing AA is possibly too OP now. Some AA finally hit the sweet spot Some AA is still too weak.

Here is an option for ESF that would be nice:
Allow and armor upgrade or speed upgrade etc to be placed in a "slot" but then LoLpods can't be equipped. Would say the weapon slot but that would negate a2am also.
So you would get a2am and armor/speed upgrade so you could go fight libs, yet still primary infantry/tanks if got brave.

I do feel they NerfHammered the ESF way too hard. I do a2a to support our libs and tend to stay as high up as possible (attack libs and other esf from above) then run like hell when they run for the deck and there AA support.

Hope you intended to say - Composite armor on ESF should be stronger (should never been nerfed) as Libs do not need more armor

Or could do as i suggested for ESF have a Armor slot. If equip the armor you lose like "speed/agility" on lib and "lolpods on esf"
not a cert.

I don't really mind it. Most people who AA don't know how to the aim. They don't lead targets, and they fire at aircraft from max distance which isn't a deterrent it let's use know where you are.

Since the AA buffs I've actually been flying more.

Yeah we had something like that. SOE likes to run the rollercoaster. Air OP, AA Op, Air OP, AA OP.....same old story, and the whine will still goes on.
They will never learn, its more likely they make profit out of it...great times...great times...

I fly quite a lot(I'm a part time Reaver pilot) and I find current state of AA/A2G to be rather balanced. but I think skyguerd needs more love. Even being quite powerful, It's grossly overshadowed by the versatility of AA MAXes. I think it needs either a massive top armour buff or a better AI capabilities, that allow skyguard to be more flexible.