Scheduled Maintenance February 28th, 2014

The Vandal is pretty comparable to the HSR-1 scout rifle, which is just a AMR-66 battle rifle with a damage buff. While you could argue that those are just weaker semi-auto snipers, they are supposed to be used in a more versatile manner and at closer ranges, which is why they only have up to a 6x scope.

Also, wtf is with the NS-11 platinum rifles? They are now with my unlocked weapons, but they are not usable.

What's the point of the railjack now?

So will the voice callout bug be fixed? There are a lot of people who don't hear ANY callouts after playing for like 10 minutes (which is really annyoing if you want to ask something for ammo).

Will this patch address the PS2 client-closing-by-itself-not-downloading-patch probem?

Perhaps you have a point. After ~4 hours of playtime with it I can say I am kind of getting the hang of it. I've just continued to lead targets where I would stop when using my LA80 so the bullet would actually fly out at the right spot. It does have a fast cycle rate which is nice, and a reload which may be longer than the EM4's but definitely not as boring to watch. But this is not to say the state of the weapon is good.

1. The sound is unsynced and is just confusing me right now.
2. Using this required prolonged exposure for the charge time during duels
3. You cannot shoot and immediately strafe with this weapon providing the enemy enough time to counter-snipe
4. With the mag size going down to four, I feel that there is going to be reloads every 1-2 kills
5. Only has faster travel time than the EM4 near render distance, and most engagements occur between 100m-200m
6. Contrary to popular belief this thing does have bullet drop, only the scope seems to be zeroed to ~150m (haven't tested this) and at close range the shot flies above your target which can be a bit annoying

All in all, time will tell. I'm definitely not looking forward to the lower magazine count though. The biggest selling point for me was probably that large mag. What if SOE just reduced the amount we had in reserve?

ALSO: Where is my straight-pull bolt? It was one of the things that wasn't broken and ready to release on PTS this patch and arguably the thing I looked forward to the most.

FREE TO PLAY: WHAT IT REALLY MEANS
A certain liberty is perceived bye SOE regarding their accountability of items/products because the game is free to play.
If you had bought said items from SOE in a non free to play format i guarantee that a large number of laws would be broken if the item was not as it was advertised. Yet, it is commonplace for an item to come out very OP, with a huge zerg rush to buy it and then it gets nerfed (responsibly, of course) after purchase. In any other exchange you would be entitled for your money back or a replacement or other option, however because the initial contract is 'free to play', even though large amounts of cash are handed over, there is absolutely no right to ownership. At some point in time, someone will simply turn off the last server and you will own.....nothin. It's not SOE's fault, its just how the market is developing but have no doubt the term 'free to play' actually means 'loose agreement where you give me money for a product that may or may not be what you expected or was advertised for an undefined period that makes us money, no longer'. In other exchanges of contract it would be totally illegal. Imagine buying a porsche and at the first carwash the paint comes off as does the badge revealing that it is in fact a toyota corolla, a fine car btw, just not a porsche..whilst you are staring at it gobsmacked it in fact disappears. That is the extent of your rights for free to play. Amusing to think that modern gamers are encouraging this reduction of their rights and ownership.
Anyways....
I still love planetside 2 and SOE, just stating the obvious. Big business has a commitment to reduce its accountability to the common man. How else do you get better margins with the same investment?....
I have spent over $300 i think. Don't get me wrong it was worth triple that. The most expensive game ever that i have purchased. Not sure how 'free to play' accurately describes it...for me at least. I am sure the other punters appreciate me paying for their share whilst retaining no rights whatsoever.

Please fix the Phantom, the faster iron sight transition is not affecting on it, its still having low ADS speed while KSR-35 was brought to the same level with Impetus.

Please leave in Physx ;_; It works so well for me currently, and looks soooo much better than before in regards to base teleporters and medic heals. I love it D:

Are these new sniper rifles not available on the 30 minute try-before-you-buy trials?

I can live with and understand the lowering of ammo ...

But totally have to agree with the following.

It beggers belief that after holding back the ESSR for further tweaks and testing they totally ninja add a new untested mechanic for Live ..
It seems like something added on a whim at the last minute with zero thought or testing .

I'm sure if asked or giving the choice a lot would take a drop in velocity by 100-150ms in exchange for removing the delay .. Which honestly feels like it was just attached on asap to try and make the weapon " different ".

This thing might be annoying in the USA, but in Europe they are a necessity, not everyone speaks English and they are a good way to communicate.

Downtime 2 days in a row and on a Friday yippie ...Your Devs will showered with love by the eu..

Just to be clear. Those 0.11s means a 42% decrease in drop (0.06125g vs 0.1058g at 300m with constant acceleration) and a 22% decrease in leading.

+1 for Physx, it works

Jep with the new Physix driver it works great and look beautiful too.

WORST ----- TIMING ----- EVER

Not only are they available for trial, but you can test them out in the VR, and they've been on the test server for quite some time (where the Railjack has a 4 round mag). People have the tools to make informed decisions about what they're buying, they simply don't and then blame SOE when the gun they buy doesn't perform the way they want it to.

The trial period, VR, and test server are all ways for y'all to test out things before you buy them. It's not SOE's fault that you didn't take 30 min to trial the Railjack, or just take a few test shots in the VR (which would've made the shot delay obvious).

Changing the mag size might not be as straightforward, but it's had a 4-shot mag size in the test server for quite some time.
Everyone ought to download and install the test server, as it would allow y'all to give SOE feedback on things to come (Hossin ) so they can figure out what the community wants, and implement it before live release, allowing for fewer hate threads on the forums.

Ultimately SOE's not doing everything perfectly, but there's a great number of things we as a community could do to make this game better. Using all the tools and resources SOE has given us to make informed decisions about our purchases is definitely one of them.

Do you really think there is any point in using a sniper with a high velocity as its "unique trait" when its made mostly irrelevant due to the shot delay? Why would any one in their right mind use this over the Longshot when there was little drop under 250 meteres to begin with, what allows to the Railjack to stand out against the other factions ESSR? If low bullet drop is now the only thing which makes it special I'm afraid the Phaseshift has that covered.

....