PPA is being heavily modified to be more of an infantry point defense weapon and not a long range anti-infantry weapon. Fire rate increased from 150 RPM to 300 RPM Reload speed decreased from 4 seconds to 2.5 seconds Reload speed certifications reduced from 120ms per rank to 100ms per rank All damage is being shifted to the indirect damage component Direct hit damage removed Indirect damage inner radius reduced from 1 meter to 0.1 meter Indirect damage now uses Anti-Light Armor resist type instead of the standard explosion resist type (so it will still damage light armor) Cone of Fire now blooms with each shot CoF grows 0.75 degrees per shot Min CoF Changed from 0.3 to 0.5 degrees Max CoF Changed from 0.3 to 2.75 degrees Reticle changed to crosshair as previous reticle was not dynamic Magazine size reduced from 20 to 12 Certifications reduced from 3/6/11/15 to 1/3/4/6 Projectile speed reduced from 300 to 150 Ammo Capacity reduced from 200 to 180 Ammo Capacity certification per rank reduced from 20 to 12 Comments are welcome below.
I tried it out, its actually kinda cool in my honest opinion. I do have a question though, is this change part of the MBT secondary balance changes that we heard of so long ago? Should we expect to see the Banshee-style Vulcan, and the Fracture-style Maurader sometime soon?
I like the way where it is headed, but I think the CoF is a bit over the top. Just try shooting infantry in VR on 40-60 meters (which is pretty much standard on any MBT at least), projectiles will fly all over the place - unless you fire in bursts of 2-3, which would eliminate the point of high RPM. I'd suggest a slight decrease of max CoF, about as big as it is after the second shot. It'll make it inaccurate still on long range, but you'll be able to actually hit infantry within 80-100 meters I imagine - which sounds just fine for an MBT fighting infantry. The damage against MAXes seems to be on the lower side too, it takes roughly 26 direct hits to kill one. Which is pretty bad if you consider the distance you need to be to land 26 hits. The rest seems fine to me. PS.: The Harasser PPA changes aren't complete though, right? They seem to be somewhere between the current and previous state.
The Harasser PPA is still 150 RPM, same COF, but has the said proposed damage changes. Is this intentional? I hope so, since the Harasser isnt as much of an issue for PPA spamming as the Magrider is, since the Harasser is easy to chase off with small arms and rockets. Where as Magrider is more durable
Yeah looks like some data got missed for the Harasser version. It was intended to get the same changes, but with slightly less damage.
see http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/2jaza1/pts_unofficial_patch_notes_2014101020141014/ for details, but basically, Harasser's damage is a bit lower, but without changing the reload/refire/clip size values. I think.
To give you an idea of what this means splash damage wise, in the format old/new: 0m: 300/300 1m: 300/225 2m: 200/150 3m: 100/75 4m: 1/1 A effective 25% reduction in splash damage but a 100% increase in RoF. If we're talking purely about splash damage then you'll be able to kill faster than before. Correct me if I'm wrong.
If you mean HE level farming at long-range, then yes goodbye PPA. If you mean an AI secondary that performs a similar role to a Kobalt then the PPA is moving toward where it should be.
I don't have the disk space to spare for PTS anymore, but from what I've heard CoF bloom is so bad that by 3rd shot and on everything will miss, so the RoF buff is entirely useless. It's shots to kill has doubled from 2 agains tnon-flakarmor to 4 direct hits, and against flak5 from 4 to 8 direct hits. It's ammo is almost halved It's explosive radius max damage range was reduced to one tenth I honestly expect the Canister to outperform the new PPA. I agree the long range endless spam was bad gameplay and needed addressing (I only used PPA a couple times myself and didn't even find it fun), but it seems the idea is to make it so nobody uses it anymore like ZOE SOME of these nerfs would have been valid... all at once??? holy hell
Just got off PTS and if you pace your shots like you would a saron you can get the same RoF and accuracy as pre-nerf PPA. The splash damage radius still seems to be 1 meter and not the 0.1 meters or maybe I've missed something. Anyway from what I saw on PTS the PPA did not get a sledge hammer nerf like myself and others thought. One significant change is with the direct hit damage removed you cant 2-3 shot kill people. But its got double the RoF and at long range did you really get a whole lot of direct hits anyway? So to sum it up it got a shots to kill nerf, range nerf and a mag-size nerf. Which isnt so bad. Now I think the other empire AI secondaries need a little love too.
MBT secondary TTK vs harrassers. All with magazine upgrades. PPA = 3.3s Marauder = 4.5s Vulcan = 4.8s I don't think it's done by a long shot. Nerf it's light armor TTK or fix the Marauder / Vulcan At no point should an AI secondary have such a massive advantage vs an AV secondary in TTK at point blank.
The Marauder and Vulcan should be adjusted to fall in line with the Kobalt/PPA. I havent had a chance to try it out myself yet, but it sounds like the PPA may actually be near spot on, maybe with a couple adjustments.
Seems... alright actually. The one issue i have with it is its max CoF. If PPA is only going to do indirect now then ~1.5 degree max CoF its now smaller effective splash radius might be enough to keep it in the green zone. Also could we get similar changes for the Scythe PPA? Its not that its bad, its just that a sustained fire A2G weapon on an ESF just doesnt fit.
OK, first let me say that I like the concept. The idea of burst-firing at range, having the ability to spray the living daylights out of C4 bombers at close range, but having to manage my reloads with a small magazine appeals to me. EDIT: Previous text here redacted, I was doing it wrong. Actual "accurate" fire rate is very similar to live full-auto fire rate. New PPA is absolutely sick. Needs a smaller magazine if it's going to be this good imo.
So since the magrider can't kill armor nearly as effectively and now that its anti infantry capability is nerfed, what exactly is the mag supposed to be good at?
