Intended goal:- Mossie should be fastest. Reaver should be tankiest. Scythe should be most manoeuvrable. Changes that should be made for the Reaver:- Increase armour value by 7%, depending of different types of damage. So according to my calculations, ESFs have a resistance of 60% to rotaries, so the Reaver will be having a 67% resistance. (7% more armour should also apply to everything else such as flak, infantry weapons etc..) Decrease Hitbox size to be equal to the mossie or scythe or something in between those two. (consider a redesign) Reduce the AB to the point where it matches the AB of the Scythe. Reduce the v-thrust to the point where it matches the other 2 ESFs. ^- What happened to this design? Changes to the Mossie:- Give it the AB of the current Reaver (which are better) Allow it to rise to a slightly higher altitude (to give the best situational awareness to pick engagements) Changes to the Scythe:- Give it the v-thrust of the current Reaver Improving the pitch/yaw turn rate Dont go on the values yet, they can be changed later depending on how well 'X' ESF performs. What do you think about the general idea?
yes, i dream of the Reaver having a smaller hitbox, in my opinion, currently the damage output doesn't make up for the size of the Reaver, seen below:
I like the concept in general, but I do see a few issues. The Mossie being the hands-down fastest would allow them to pick and choose their engagements even more then they do now. Being able to enter or escape engagement range is tremendously powerful, and could become too much of an advantage. (Even with the small advantage they have now, I see Mossies escaping and ambushing more then other ESFs just through general observation.) The Scythe is already the most maneuverable in general, I see more forum complaints about this then anything else other then the vanguard shield. The Reaver is already quite potent, and handles like a flying brick. The sheer firepower systems such as the Airhammer posses would need to be rebalanced before any additional defense could be added. Short of scrapping the current ESF balance entirely, and starting completely over with new design concepts... I'm not sure how they could implement any of the above ideas. Granted, I am all for doing so... but I doubt it would be approved as a project, not with the Valkyrie coming out in a few months. Perhaps we'll see a bit of re-balancing after the Valk gets put through it's paces.
The mosquito should be so ridiculously agile and quick that nothing could catch up to it. The reaver should be really powerful and buffy and absorb more damage. The scythe can keep its floaty crap device.
Too strong asymmetric balance would be an absolute nightmare for this air game IMO. Right now they all have different strong points. The reaver and the scythe both fit their niches, and have a pretty good all round balance (maybe the reaver hit box could be tiny bit smaller, but then again that V thrust is nice). The only thing that needs further definition is the mossy. Scythe - small front hitbox/high velocity nosegun - great for 1v1s long range. Reaver - AB adv + burst DPS and high V thrust excels in close range. Mossy - Err, cruise speed and a high magsize. The cruise speed isn't that important tbh, and the mag size advantage could be a little better - right now the mossy is just a worse scythe + 15(?) more bullets. Give the mossy 10-20 more bullets in the needler. The reaver and scythe's asymmetric balance is virtually fine IMO.
I dont think it will be a 'Too strong assymetrical balance'. Since values would only differ from 5-10% on each advantage. At the moment the only balance is that how good an ESF is individually and how well it is used in groups. You are pitying the mossie because it currently is not the best in either of those. You can make your ESFs a bit different, for example a Racer Reaver will be able to keep up with a non-racer mossie. And a dogfighting Reaver would be as agile as the scythe. If mossies are given the AB of the Reaver, then hell yeah they will have a significant advantage. Allowing them to fly at a higher altitude, will let them get the best aerial view of the things below.
For the love of god don't never increase the yaw rate of an ESF without a choice in the matter. That is what the dogfighting frame is for. Also, you can't increase the pitch rate of an ESF, because that would make it extremely over powered. Currently I'm left agreeing with rguitar.
These are horrifying ideas and would pretty much guarantee ESF balance being thrown completely out of whack.
#scythe op shouldn't been the title of this thread the reaver hitbox it not an issue, use your advantages
Needler's fine, it already has more bullets than anyone knows what to do with. The M18, on the other hand, could really use another 5 shots in the clip.
Asymmetric balance. You don't want to normalize the V-thrust and AB of the three ESFs. And you don't want to normalize the hitboxes either. The ESFs are different for a reason: To keep the game interesting and give them different styles of fighting. - Reaver has strong AB and strong v-thrust...why? Because it's meant as a "quick-strike" fighter that is good at "smash-and-grab" techniques. It's got a big hitbox because it outputs a lot of damage. It also has huge engines to accommodate the idea of it being a "smash-and-grab" fighter. The reaver excels as getting in, hitting a target with lots of ordinance, and using it's AB to get out of danger if it can. It fits nicely with the "guerrilla style" of the NC. It's a bit more "all around" fighter. - Mossie is sleek, thin, fast, polished. Highest cruising speed, moderate damage with the noseguns, etc. It has small engines...to accommodate it's high cruising speed but also low-ish v-thrust and lower AB boost. Mossies excel at swarm-fighting and working together as a group...much like the TR's motto of "loyalty until death". It also fits with the TR's "sleek, polished, war-machine" mentality. It's practical and formidable, and specialized. - Scythe has good hover, a small hitbox (from the front) and excels at 1v1 fighting. It's a great lib/ESF hunter, and is considered the most "advanced" of the 3 fighters in terms of it's weapon quality and design (duh). It has average AB and average v-thrust, because alien tech would probably be a happy middle ground of "enlightenment" between the other factions. It also sports laser weapons and is a pretty good "surprise attack" fighter (those photon pods can dish out a TON of damage). All of this fits pretty nicely with the "holier than thou, you must be enlightened to our standard" mentality of the Vanu. A guy two posts above me mentioned: "Use your advantages." (Thanks Iamnotamazing)....he's absolutely right. Each ESF has advantages and disadvantages. Some feel more prevalent than others, but that's often just because the enemy pilot played his advantages perfectly and it felt like they were OP at the time. I'll say it again: Asymmetric Balance. It's literally (in my opinion) one of the only things keeping Planetside 2 my favorite game.
This would make the scythe insanely overpowered, and i'm saying this as a VS pilot. I think right now reaver seems fine, with the whole "raw power" style of strong noseguns, thrust and afterburners. Scythe is also fine, but i think the fastest velocity doesn't fit as a trait, maybe actually make it the slowest but increase maneuverability some other way, so it would be analogous to a magrider in a way. The mosquito on the other hand, seems like someone just thought of some nice attributes and put them together in a way they don't make sense.
