Do you think SOE went overbourd on the ESFs?

Removal of pods would make me so happy.

I hate air right now 'cause they seem to primarily be used as cheap infantry farming tools, and they just stay away from most heavily populated bases(unless the base is already overwhelmed them they spam it along with armor) with AA and you pretty much get to pick off any infantry outside of buildings - or sometimes in buildings through doors/windows.

ESF's are in a good position right now balance-wise. They have probably the highest skill ceiling of any vehicle in the game, which means for most users they won't be very good, but a very skilled player can do a lot of damage with them. They still have a fall-back point to offer use to the less skilled players; The rocketpods will almost instantly destroy any non-Sunderer ground vehicle in one volley of missiles when hitting the rear of the vehicle. This fact alone actually makes them rather powerful, but there are a lot of ways to clear the skies these days so it sort of balances out again.

No comment on air-to-air combat from this tank driver, though.

The ESF is the most powerful and versatile solo vehicle in the game.

Like everything else, there is a time in every battle when an ESF is the right tool for the job. People just need to learn that the right time can't be all of the time. Most of the complaints about AA come from people that want to sit in an ESF for their entire gaming session. It's up to them how they play the game. But they have to realise that Planetside games are all about the shifting face of battle and having the right tools for the job at the right time.

I've played ESF long enough to get a sense of their power now. Even in the hands of a skilled player they are a non-factor for almost all battles. Even the best pilots isn't gonna live against an AA max longer than 2-3 secs before they have to repair which is pointless, takes them out of the battle for nearly minute. Liberators are just farmed if they enter the battle, their best chance is to play the edges mopping up stragglers. Galaxys are a joke too slow, too big, not enough armament whenever one shows up its a mad dash not out of fear but who can get the exp from the kill, the ESF literally ram themselves to get the xp.

This doesn't stop people playing ESF, its a great way to get certs just fly around with the zerg hopping from zerg to zerg collecting xp.. but actually made a difference in combat? Nah I've not seen that happen for months. It's fun if u just want to dogfight but to contribute to the battle, when a single AA max can keep a squadron at bay, its a joke.

The problem is the rocketpods. That's the root of most AA/ESF flamewars.

1. You suggest to buff the lolpodders to counter flak armor which is a certed feature against exactly this source of damage? Why do you just not suggest to remove flak armor entirely?

2. You wanna increase the splash radius? If at all i would say increased the direct hit damage.

3. I'm just asking - but you know that you do have a main weapon on your ESF which can kill infantry much faster than rocket spam?

NC Reavers have not been upgraded.

Burster Max, was also imo not upgraded with its change to flak. It might now be easier for noobs, but the previous version was much more deadly for those that could lead a target well.

I do agree that rockets are now rubbish against infantry, but I actually think in the long run that might be a good thing for balance. Perhaps the Galaxy will get a cert option to carpet bomb.

Infantry do have it to easy now imo. Ground vehicles are really only good for transport or zerg.

ESF should hunt sunderers, armor and other ESF.

SO NO! No bigger blast radius.

Lolpods are SoEs worst planetside 2 decision by far (and they've made a few bad ones), without them the air/ground balance would work pretty well.

Even if SOE won't either buff airpower or nerf AA, some new ESF weapons would be really nice. Perhaps dual miniguns in place of rocketpods, or modules that let you carry unguided cluster bombs, or a grenade launching nosegun, however gimmicky that may be.

Good pilots don't spam lolpods to kill infantry, it's waste of ammo. Therein lies your problem.

Sunderers take way too much time/ammo to be considered a primary target for a solo ESF. Giving the Sunderer a love tap to encourage some engineers to try to repair while you farm them is the name of the game

The so-called 'lolpods' don't even do a lot of damage to infantry, at least not from my experience using and being on the receiving end of them. It takes multiple volleys of rockets to down one person, and no one in their right mind is going to sit there waiting to be rocketed that many times. This is also assuming there is no AA present, which is a near impossibility these days.

All though woodman experiences Air power a lot differently due to it's lower concurrent population density. AA isn't as anywhere near as prevalent as on other servers so ESF's get away with a lot more. I would feel that ESF health should be buffed against all infantry based attacks but Rocket pods be turned in to a pure AV weapon. Liberators should also get a resistance to flack but not missiles.

My favorite death in this game is at TI Alloys. The Reaver must have hugged the hillside to the North and come up to a hover right next to the spawn room. I was running back to it, looked up at the sound of a nearby aircraft, and see it coming to a hover right there in front of everyone, maybe no more than a dozen meters away. "Oh wow, that Revear is ridiculously lo--" Nose gun practically instagibbed me and then cleared the capture point courtyard (old capture point location) by panning. A situation like this would be inconceivable these days, you would probably say, and even back then before competent GAA a manuever like that at close range would be dangerous; but, I implore someone who has that opening to take it.

It's the origin of my mantra about how this game works: "Great risk for great rewards."

When I fly, I do my strafing of infantry with the main cannon, not rockets. Rockets are supposed to be awesome or something?

Rockets don't require as much aim-time, which is handy when the AA hordes are around, i.e. most of the time.

Wut.