the only time I tag ESFs with the phoenix is if I notice they've hovering really aggressively; even then it's easy to miss if they move even a little bit. But the few times I've killed one felt soooo good
My thoughts? FUN AS HELL to fart around with, but it doesnt really pay the bills. cert wise. Yesterday I was cracking up. Fired one at a Vanu and chased him around a corner with it. Was just like that movie "Robin Hood Men in Tights" where the arrow was chasing the dude.
Could probably do with a possibility to be detonated on the fly, and keeping you crouched when you fire it crouched. I don't know if a dumbfire mode would be OP or not. To be tested, probably. My main launcher on HA now. I love it. Exactly like Lancer is my main launcher on VS. I love it too.
I switched back to the Shrike, from the Phoenix. In the past couple weeks, I see a lot of Lancer rockets hitting me in every vehicle I use, and when I'm flying I find Strikers locked onto me a lot, though I find them less scary then the standard faction-specific AA lock-on rockets. I don't see many of my friendly HA's using Phoenix that much anymore.
I've felt it was annoying but pretty balanced since the last set of changes. I hated it, as a VS, before.
Fun for sure. Losing the OHKO on infantry sucks, but it's tolerable. Now I wouldn't mind the rocket's low damage, travel speed, and maneuverability if the launcher could fire them faster. Having the same reload speed as the Shrike while firing a rocket that does less than half the damage and takes longer to reach targets doesn't do much in the way of justifying its use over the Shrike or even the lock-on launchers in some cases. Before the last update removed the "reload when firing" bug/exploit, the weapon felt usable over the Shrike, now it doesn't. If the reload speed were adjusted in a way that gives us a comparable (if not slightly longer) refire time than what the bug gave us, it'd be worth using with its current downsides. Now its range apparently can't be improved due to technical limitations (I've watched terminals and various bits of scenery have to reload after my rocket flew max range). That's bad, but it would be nice if we could fly the rocket around within a 300m radius with a greater fuel reserve while still retaining its current distance limit. The ability to detonate mid flight seems to be a popular suggestion as well, so long as it's detonation radius and damage are better than the rocket striking a target directly. Being able to boost the rocket for greater speed at the cost of maneuverability and the ability to slow it down to gain maneuverability would be excellent additions if nothing else is changed. Not saying all these should or could be implemented all at once (because loloverpowered/technical issues), but any one of those could make it more practical than it is currently. The easiest one being the reload speed. It makes sense at least, as weapons with lower damage per projectile tend to fire or reload faster than their harder hitting counterparts. It doesn't quite feel like an NC weapon though. As loud and slow as it is, you'd think it would do more than scratch the paint off of a Sunderer once every 5 to 10 seconds.
