Why does the Flash still exist?

After coming back to PlanetSide 2 following a one year hiatus, I've noticed that Flash usage has reached an all-time low. I recently asked myself, "Why would I ever want to pull a Flash?" and was unable to come up with an answer.

You can travel faster (and for FREE) by simply redeploying, then spawning on a Sunderer or squad Galaxy or even base (if it's under your empire's control). Flashes also still control poorly on uneven terrain, are incredibly vulnerable to even small arms fire, and can't serve any meaningful combat role despite them being able to equip weapons on the front -- a neat idea in theory (a fast-moving ATV that can perform hit and run attacks) but one that falls flat on its face in practice. And when it comes to fast vehicles, Harassers, despite being more expensive and requiring at least two people to have any effectiveness combat-wise, are so far beyond Flashes it isn't even funny. They're faster, have much more armor, and can even be repaired on the move. It used to be that you could outrun even the fastest ground threats on a Flash (formerly the Lightning), but not anymore, so even that advantage is toast.

So why exactly does the Flash still exist in PlanetSide 2? Should it not be removed from the game at this point unless it receives some significant changes or a complete redesign?

Remove? Sounds too harsh, just refund all the certs and make everything free w/ no resource cost and respawn timer

• Usable as ***** flash with C4s.
• Can be used to get into a certain spot if ESF is on cooldown
• Wraith Cloak stuff.
• Cheapest way to run over your outfit mates.

wraith cloak or lots of afterburner is realy realy fun.


Also scout radar, you can pull a flash and park it and provide radar coverage to a whole fight.


Also you can get a flash just about any were you can get infantry. Watching a MAX turn a corner inside a building into a face full of fury will leave you giggling for days.

One thing they could do to improve Flash use is give the driver/passenger some damage mitigation. Have it give a certain % resist against small arms damage and each level of composite armor would improve that amount slightly.

I pull Flashes constantly -- they're the ONLY vehicle I really pull with any regularity (Once in a blue moon, I'll pull a Sunderer or Skyguard).

They're most useful for flanking into places where the enemy doesn't expect you to be. Infils with snipers, Engis with AV turrets, and LAs with C4 can benefit greatly from various Flash loadouts.

I've seen (or heard, rather) the occasional Wraith flash.
I've also seen one strapped with C4 blow up a tank, but only once.
They're a niche vehicle that's largely irrelevant at the moment. If you want to be a hipster, now's the time to invest in yours.

Flashes are for putting C4 on them, cloaking them, and driving them into a MBT.

Do you even flash OP? Ranting about its uselessness even though you havent unlocked its potential
(ie scouting, killing, etc)

Flashes are loads of fun, can easily get you from A to B, and can even prove useful on the battlefield if used correctly. No reason to take them out. I just wish they didn't flip over so easily.

Maybe i should put in suggestion to make Flashes spawn with the driver upside down.
Would certainly cut away some useless time since they allways want to go upside down anyway.

I play on Miller and i cannot sign the alleged "not being used" statement. They keep driving into my tank mines the tanks dont seem to but flashes do.

So far at least its keeping anti tank mines at least in some use. That is if you can fit in outside with all the flying contraptions spamming cordite and lead into every square inch around spawn.

I know, how about instead of getting rid of the flash, they just give me my old one back..

Old Surger Flash (this is not turbo, as you see I have scout radar):

Skip to 1:30 if you get board easily.

I miss my flash... They killed it when they added that rumble seat.. Then they buried it when they up it's cost 4x..


And yes that is mineguard, and yes running it and suiting up flak armor will save you from tank mines..

See a big infantry blob somewhere? Pull a wraith flash with Renegade shotgun or Fury and go do some farming. I would say Indar excavation is one of the best places for that. Running throught a big group of infantry and getting roadkills while blasting more guys with Renegade/Fury never gets old.

Also if you have a friend with Flash that has Fury and wraith or if your Flash has highly certed timer so you can pull yours for him you can go hunt some tanks with them:




And here are some things that you can do from the rumble seat:

Because it's secretly OP
can't wait for it to become FOTM

I use it to provide radar since no one else does it. I do it especially for attacks on frayr bases and tech plants. I use fury to get a kill or two. Sadly fury is nothing like it was 8 months a go.

I can agree on this. I don't see why they couldnt change the Armor for the Flash (mine guard, composite) so that it gave protection to both the flash and Passengers. Honestly right now armor is Useless on the flash because 99% of the time (pulling number out of my *** yet probibly very accurate) the Passengers of a flash die before the Vehicle.

That being said I at times still use the flash when I'm not running with a squad, because I find times where It is faster to get one to go to a new fight because the AMS's are being a bit slow/stupid.

Flashes can be a lot of fun and the most satisfying of all vehicles to go on a kill streak with.

They are just in need of some lovin' from the devs:

• Too easy to flip upside down while driving.
• Traction and Torque on them is pathetically low (same goes for the Harasser.) The hill climbing chasis seems to do nothing. An ATV struggling to drive up a 25 degree incline or sliding around like its on ice skates is just sad.
• Full Composite Armor seems useless at least according to the VR/PTS (does a fully composited Flash really die to a single dumbfire?)
• Full Mineguard seems useless at least according to the VR/PTS (AT-Mines are always placed in pairs; if a fully-certed out Mineguard Flash can't survive that then what is the point?)
• Stealth cert line is absurdly expensive.

Despite that they still have many current uses:

• Troll around and have some fun killing people.
• C4 suicide bomber.
• Tank mine suicide bomber.
• Quickly driving down the road to place some tank mines.
• Using Wraith Cloak to quickly get into a good position as a sniper.
• 100m radar

I can explain this to you in 20 seconds.

Last night, I was flying a Lib solo, and I strafed a Sundie near Allatum. I see a friendly Flash come screaming in and smash into it. I circle around to strafe again, very confused. Right as I line up again, the Sundy explodes and I get a solid assist. Turns out, the guy was an Engi with tank mines, lol. That one surprised me, haha, I wish I got his name, that guy had a brass pair.

The current Fury is garbage. The ammo pool is abysmal, the splash is lacking, and they've actually given it a cone of fire so it's inaccurate as piss at range. Whoever though the nerfs should coincide with a massive increase to its resource cost needs a stern talking to.