Balance Pass Post 1: Vehicle Weapons and the Harasser

I actually think that is maybe what the Harrasser needs.

The ESF and the Harrasser both have similar issues; they are both hunted by nothing, and both basically hunt everything.

Both IMO need a predatory that preys on THEM to balance them out.

same

+1

The "faction-specific" bonuses for MAX units sounds great in theory, except that:

- You gave an offensive ability to VS (+damage), plus higher mobility (+defense)
- TR got the middle ground (+damage, -mobility)
- NC got pure defensive ability (-damage)

If each faction got both an offensive ability and a defensive ability, i would have been much more balanced.

*cough* Striker *cough* (talking about the ESFs)

Harassers:

• AT mines are basically useless because they are now the size of small moons. Their size needs to be reverted and/or give engineers a way to bury them.
• Harassers can move so fast that they are long gone before the tank mine explodes, which gives them a free pass to drive where they please.
• Harassers can run over infantry and take very little damage. Running into a MAX unit should be like hitting a brick wall and should do a lot more damage to the harasser. Running over squishies should do more damage then it does now.
• Being able to repair from the 3rd seat needs to be removed.

Moin

First, i largely agree with you. But you shouldn't inflate the term "skill" so much when talking about harassers. Driving and gunning a harasser does take a huge amount of skill if you don't want to end up as debris after 2 minutes, but so does every vehicle in the game.

@the quote: This is exactly the problem with "modern games" for me and what takes away the fun: Casual gaming & low skill floor/ceiling. The new generation of gamers doesn't want to invest time and effort to achieve something. They want to have it now and easily. "Noobtubes" are introduced to games as a chance for scrubs to compete with top-level players (I don't want to imply I myself am top-level). And the worst thing is, most people don't understand that they lose because their opponents simply outplay them. We have guys here on the forum who think it's the harassers fault when they lose in a 2/2 MBT against it. No, it can't be because the harasser crew simply played better, it must be because the harasser is overpowered. It is a powerful vehicle, no question, but losing in a 2/2 MBT against a harasser proves a huge gap in skill between players.
But who can blame the devs for catering to low-effort and casual players? Nowadays they make the biggest part of the community. And a company has to make money, right?

Grüße,
regards,
the Toast

Or rather, instead of an "utility" slot, they need to add a "sensor/electronics" slot where you could pick between:

• Proximity RADAR
• Night-Vision for the driver (sundy, harasser, galaxy)
• Chaff/flares/smoke

As for the whole "jack of all trades" sunderer... they need to put in a "cargo" slot where you can carry only one of the following:

• Seating (to carry the full 12)
• AMS, reduces seating to a total of 6 seats
• Ammo, reduces seating to a total of 3 seats
• Repair, reduces seating to a total of 3 seats
• Nanite hauling, reduce seating to only 3.
• Early-warning RADAR, seating 3, 300m range against aircraft

Some of those same concepts could apply to the Galaxy where you trade out seats in exchange for the ability to haul cargo or install large modules.

S-AMS/Proxy Radar would be viable.

Good thing I never certed it on my lightning/MBT or i'de be asking for a cert refund.

"We're making your most certed utility and moving it into the slot of your most used defensive option. Please pour more certs into a new utility!"

Mostly, it's to avoid being C4'd. When you run a Skyguard, you need to be looking *up* and usually out at ranges of 200-500m in order to be effective. The prox-RADAR lets you keep your eyes on the sky where they belong rather then having to look around constantly at every little bush, rock & tree nearby.

Yeah, but that's more to do with the amount it is carried and the DPS, and it results largely in area denial (like the Skyguard), but people don't really go hunting for ESF with Strikers (or Skyguards even) so much as they'll chomp them if they come to them.

Certainly if G2G lock-ons gave Harrassers a similar amount of area denial it would help, but Harrassers are probably the least threatened by any infantry based AV system in PS2.

With the recent changes in lockon system of the striker, whoever gets caught by more than 2 or 3 strikers rockets in a row is at fault. Anybody knowing the system can now easily dodge most of the rockets if properly located on the battlefield. Striker is now mostly only effective against "bad" players.

i dont use VS Maxes much but i see ZOE is probably getting a nerf, while TR's powerful tools like Striker/Marauder/Vulcan/Fracture probably get away like that


ah i dont miss the game yet...

Sounds good, but why not complete the EFS balancing before you jump onto new balancing activities?

The Fracture is getting a nerf against infantry.

Do we get a refund on our proxy radars? Because if we don't I'll have a thousand certs just wasted on proxy radar for my Lightning... And I don't really see what other options are "vastly preferred" for the Lightning...

smoke or fire suppression most likely.

We don't use it because they're not viable for most of our loadouts so they force us to use them as our only options, no thanks I don't require either of those on my skyguard.

Will you be re-certing those that maxed proximity AND another defense cert line? It's kind of annoying that I maxed both radar and stealth, and used them together to great effect, but now will be forced to pick one and have the certs I used on the other wasted.

Give tanks and lightnings coax machine guns and you won't have to nerf harassers so much.

Oh I know that, I even mentioned that in my post I think. The point is that it is something that should never be an issue to begin with.