Dear devs, is a skill-based A2A ESF secondary weapon too good to go out live? For those who don't know / forgot what that is: .
I did not forget. Instead of unique new weapons, for the ESF update, we got 3 "new" nose cannons that are all identical which were then named locust cannons. Maybe some day we will get these locust cannons and mass drivers back !
I remember those, you could snipe Skyguards from such extreme ranges that they basically couldn't hit you and if you knew how to switch weapons you could just switch over to fire a quick shot with it so it basically became just a flat out DPS booster. I also remember the old Coyotes, those things would have made pilots cry themselves to sleep if they went live.
That can be fixed by giving them damage drop off so you can't snipe tanks from half a mile away. Not sure why they were scrapped instead of tweaked
So basically, you know that the original Coyotes were tweaked a lot but you assume that the Mass Driver would come out just the way it was on PTS and would stay the same. I'm not commenting on that. This post addresses a very simple and specific topic that has nothing to do with your or anybody's Skyguard.
I never understood why they scrapped them. They said they were too powerful at range, but they could have balanced them in a couple ways so air wasn't just sniping down tanks from a km away: 1) Give damage dropoff to reduce long-range DPS 2) Give the weapons long reload times to relegate them to supplemental damage only 3) Re-model as a slow, hard-hitting cannon so that it's more like trying to hit with a tank or dalton round (definitely less power than, obviously) I like using all the secondary weapons because they add variety, and was really looking forward to the Mass Drivers. Saying "Oh, this looks too powerful" rather than, say...balancing them...was pretty disappointing.
Lol, good that they didn't introduce it. Tanks fire primaries of 225 m/s up to 275 m/s and ESF would get SECONDARIES that fire 1,500 m/s. No. Only if tanks could get cannons like that but than I guess hovering ESF and you pilots would like too see Vanguard sitting on some hill as a Skyguard? Can't belive they even put something so broken in PTS... best proof how incompetent old crew was....
Which is why I'm not concerned with balancing them, 'cuz as you stated, there are many ways to do it. I'm no programmer but it seems like no biggie, at all. It all made sense to me back then. Locusts were still secondary. Coyotes to help newer pilots. And.. Mass Drivers to reward skill. Then we all know what happened next. Your concerns are legit, though they are supposed to be A2A weapons. The fact that they did that to tanks is merely an unfinished business. For example, current EFS rotaries can one-clip another ESF but far from being as effective against tanks, for good reasons. Yea.. it was something nobody whatsoever asked for, back then.
-They were effectively hitscan, making them undodgeable if the user has good aim (even worse than A2A missiles, because you can at least flare those). -They would have been hard (if not nightmarish) to balance because of the hitscan ability. -A user with moderate accuracy with single shot weapons could establish an effective no fly zone around them for at least 600m (from what I can tell. Basically, a bad idea since the beginning. This is also why ES AA would probably not be giving the NC a powerful and fast rail gun for an AA weapon.
Just listen to what Mattias is saying. Basically he's saying that the only agile movement in air gameplay is the reverse maneuver. the only real agile movement according to him is a bug that is elevated to a feature. That should be indication enough that aircraft need their base agility updated for a more varied and skillful combat. I really want the entire air-game updated. I would much rather have an airgame where dogfighting is about chasing, shaking off and retargeting enemies rather than who is best at the reverse maneuver. Since it will increase the combat abilities against ground there will be changes needed there as well. If they immediately update the AA to be skillful and powerful, aircraft can avoid large groups of AA by virtue of skill, while AA can hit and actually kill aircraft if the aircraft doesn't have the skill for it. It will also mean that air-jousting won't be based on the two strange mechanics of hover-fighting and reverse-maneuver alone, but players will be able to specialise or be good in different tactics that such a change would allow. As for the skillful AA options, would you like a Skyguard that fields a Mass-Driver version? I think the Mass Driver has some possibilities to improve the airgame as a replacement for the Tomcats, although if it functions too much as hitscan might ruin the air-game itself by dominating it too much. Also, it shouldn't be able to damage tanks too easily, we don't need an airsuperiority weapon that is good against vehicles.
Remember when Mass Drivers also had a 4 round mag? Two clips destroyed a stock sundy. Obviously, that wouldn't have made it to live. I can sort of see why they didn't release the Mass Drivers. They required a lot of tweaking to be made relatively balanced.
I don't fly anymore because of the reverse maneuver, I fly like I fly any other game were I have a chance to show my skills, I don't want to learn how to take an aircraft and fly backwards.
reality being you find excuses not to do it because you don't start learning because you're scared to fail.
I would agree with you if this was battlefield. Now this isn't battlefield this is planetside 2 so I will drive what I'm very good at and is easily accessible a skyguard. I'm sad I can't fly like any other game than again no other game will let me and 10 of my friends pull a bunch of aa guns and destroy the sky in a hail of death and fire. I won't gain anything from not learning to fly oh wait I do still all those anti-craft medals!
This is more or less the picture I have in mind. A weapon that rewards skill and not mere 'size matters' kinda tactics. Just like the mighty Dalton and Tomcats. I, naturally, hate dying to both, though I respect whoever gets me with Dalton because of 2 things; a) I know from experience how much time it takes to be consistent with it. b) I can always improve and out-maneuver them. Much could not be said about Tomcats where if you don't have your lame flares, or you're facing multiple opponents your skill and experience usually just won't matter. I would very much like to see MD function -in theory- like Dalton against aircraft. The way it engages ground vehicles was definitely absurd on PTS, however, I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to be an all-around-er.
