Absolutely no reason to use HEAT anymore, use AT instead

HE lightning is the only lightning that makes sense
What are you gonna do with your AP lightning if you run into an MBT? Or two ligtnings?
If you want to hunt armor, you need AV MBT with stealth. A lightning won't cut it there.

EDIT: I don't think your SPM has much to do with the number of vehicle kills. So, tell your SPM not to worry, we'll leave it out of it.

What are you going to do with your HE lightning if you run into any vehicle running HEAT or AV?

As an AP lightning I have a good chance of handling most opponents (pretty sure I just need a one-shot lead over a solo MBT to come out the victor.) It's only infantry that can be problematic (but since infantry players are near-universally terrible -- because they've chosen to be infantry in a battle outdoors with vehicles -- that's not a problem too often, plus I can outrun them if I don't one-shot them.)

SPM has an awful lot to do with vehicle kills actually, but if you want to get to the root of it then sure my VKPH thanks you too (which is what's generating all that XP.)

It's simple - I run away back to the flock of allies MBT's.
Now, regarding infantry - if you suddenly meet a flock of heavies in open field, you will get eaten up by dumbfires/lock-ons pretty fast. Having HE helps a lot there.
With AP, when you run into infantry, you mostly just retreat.

Also, you have 185 vehicle kills in lightning. And you've been playing for half a year now. That is not nearly enough to keep up that SPM. That is like 1 vehicle a day on average. So, don't try to tell me you get all that score from vehicle kills. It just doesn't add up.

"If you sudden make a gross tactical blunder, you'll get eaten up pretty fast."

Helpful advice that! I suppose I'll just avoid directly engaging a bunch of infantry in an open field then, yeah? Simple.

The account being a year old is irrelevant. Only playtime is relevant. Which is why:

VKPH (lightning-only stats)

• 13.3 Vahlken (my old primary)
• 13.2 Axehilt
• 5.1 quarbumbum

SPM

• 577 Axehilt
• 568 Vahlken
• 163 quarbumbum

Percent of kills are infantry

• 82% quarbumbum
• 58% Vahlken
• 47% Axehilt

So you'll note that your infantry focus is doing you no favors. Killing vehicles is what wins the battle and generates the most XP.

More like XP booster is what generates the most XP for you. You're not going to convince me with these stats, because these stats cannot prove you get your SPM by killing vehicles. How much XP out of all your XP is actually killing vehicles? Even if we assume every vehicle kill on average is 1000 XP, that makes 185,000 XP. Your total is 10+ million.

So your no-doubt-boosted SPM has nothing to do with killing vehicles. In the end of the day, you get the most out of killing infantry anyway.

You're wrong.

• 577 SPM is at +100%
• That's 289 base SPM ( = 577 / 2)
• That's 76% higher than your SPM ( = 289 / 163 )

I guess I'm a little confused why you would even argue with the hard evidence and math that proves my points. Throughout Planetside 2, killing vehicles is how you make better SPM. Maybe that's not well-known (after all Bio Labs are still called "bio farms" even though they're mediocre XP) but I assure you (and all of the stats and hard-evidence backs me) it's how you earn higher SPM.

I figured these HE and HEAT changes were going to be ***. I tried them in VR today on stationary infantry targets (against vehicles they feel OK). Unless you directly hit the enemy, I was seeing little to no damage done. It was either hit them directly and kill them, or miss by a pixel and they laughed.

Indirect damage doesn't work in VR.

LOL, and thus my test is rendered pointless. Thanks for the info. I will continue to focus on the Live battles then.

Yeah! Exactly! Why do people even bother playing vehicles? I don't understand why there are more vehicles than infantry currently if everybody can just switch and play the godly Infantry and wipe out 30+ tanks waiting outside the spawn room.


Let's show SOE how much we hate those changes! Let's boycott the vehicles and play infantry only!C'mon brothers!
(and sisters)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...HAHAHAHA...haha...ha...oh Nanites it must be the funniest thing I've ever heard.

After testing on Live, the splash damage from the HE feels a little weak against enemy infantry. I would suggest either slightly expanding the splash radius or increasing the splash damage by a bit. The good news is that it's not as bad as I initially feared.

This is something that infuriates me more than anything. When I drive my mag and my HEAT shell needs 3 hits to kill an infantry unless I direct hit them. They can reload as fast as my tank....and use cover. Doesn't make much sense. An infantry shouldn't be running out to fight a tank with such bravado.

Agreed

SOE never had any idea about their game and tanks.

In open field infantry should be butchered and murdered by tanks- becasue thats why tanks were invented.Same as tanks are butchered by aircraft in open field.

The case when tanks are able to shoot inside every base- it is base design problem and also lack of AV defense (sorry but AV turrets on towers are pathethic).

But it is easier to nerf cannons then redesigning bases. But SOE were always lazy and prefer to nerf not to revamp. The usual here.

HEAT and HE cannon are HIGHT EXPLOSIVE. HIGH EXPLOSIVE. HIGH EXPLOSIVE!!

Do you know what High explosive 120-150 mm shell is doing to men that stands 2-3 meters from centre of BUM? Nothing left of a man so hard to tell really....

But in this game High explosive means 1 meter splash that tickles enemy and give him time to run into cover becaue he MET TANK IN OPEN FIELD.

But SOE is cathering bad, dumb players who foot zerg through open fields instead of using Sundies, tanks, gals and pulling couters for armor, deploying sundies in the middle of enem armor.

For me SOE is not doing it for the sake of balance, but to desperatly trying to keeps every new player in game like a dying man is still trying to fight for live.

Veteran players rember old Fury, old HE, old Zephyr and rocketpods- and they are still here. I remember 2 meter HE cannons. Never complaing about getting killed by it.

Always compained about idiots playing this game who didn't pulled AP tanks and Anti-tank air from the base one hex to the left and destroy all those HE tanks farming this base.

SOE do not care any more about balance, just to keep every player like a desperate mother.

HEAT is currently useless. On all my gameplay on Miller I was killed more times by AP cannons then HE cannons. But keep going SOE, nerf everything. Maybe 5 year old kids will soon be able to play your game "like a PRO"

But the most despite thing for is that after a month or two of NEGATIVE feedback towards cannons nerf, a lot of constructive feedback, posts and threads from tankers, experienced and known ones also and EVEN INFANTRY players- We were ignored, showed middle finger and nerfs came through on live anyway becasue "we dont care, we know better, nerfs are best for improving gameplay!". They are asking us to test on PTS and give them feedback!!!

I ask- for what we should play PTS if after month of playing and giving feedback it you still ignore it and push changes on live even if 98% feedback is negative??! You expected positive when you do not even play vehicles, but just look on your stat sheets?!

If do not have balls to admit that changes you propose are bad- just quit being game developer becasue it is useless with that kind of attitude. This game is for us, not for you. We give you money. You start screwing game- you do not see money. See pattern?

All the tanks weapons are in the best place they have ever been in. If you cannot aim then I am sorry you think you should be able to farm. I have no problems farming infantry with my AP cannon when there are no vehicle targets in the area, so the fact that you can't do it with weapons that have actual splash is funny.

They decided to nerf HEAT/AP/HE and in exchange spamming vehicles is everywhere.. well, that was your plan SOE right?

Do you even know what a HEAT shell really is?
Your logic may work for the HE guns, but HEAT... has been a really poor choice of a name for the middle ground guns. Should have called it HESH or something, as that'd be much more accurate, without being much better.

Not technically true. When PS2 was released initially... vehicle kills were worth about the same as an infantry... while having much less density. Also, the techplant/Biolab infantry grinders were much more conducive to XP farming.

Since they up'd the base XP for vehicles, while also adding Tank v Tank bonuses and High Threat/Extreme Menace (which your more likely to find inside of vehicles)... the SPM has increased dramatically.

Prior to this last patch, if you used your weapon well... SPM was pretty equal between the mainguns (on the Mag anyway).. After this last patch... Killing vehicles is much more profitable.... More of them out there, with the average skill of drivers being reduced (more newbies can afford to run vehicles) while the infantry killing potential of all the mainguns has been reduced.

Right now it's pretty profitable to be a Vehicle farmer.

While the boosters are definitely going to be the main income (duh... 100% boost)... unless you are able to churn through massive quantities of infantry... vehicles are going to be more profitable if you can keep yourself alive and a steady supply of them to kill.

That's the key though... both infantry and vehicle guys have to keep the supply up in order to keep SPM up. The good farmers of both know how to do that. Target density is the key to good XP farming... keeping those targets streaming into your line of fire to be knocked down.

With the resource changes.... its a vehicle killers XP boom time... with or without boosts.

I guess, but it feels really awkward to have to snipe infantry with a cannon round that is bigger than my head. Further, would you make that same argument with rocket pods, the zephyr, the bulldog, etc.?