Now that the Archer has been out & tested, will Infiltrators finally get access to it?

It's so pants so I don't see anything wrong with it.
Also change the hit noise back to what it was, currently it sounds like an AV mana-turret which makes me panic until I release there's no damage.

Downside, you have to fight as an Engineer.

Engineers belong in tanks, and no where else.

I'd rather see the Archer itself get some usability buffs. It could do with about a 20% RoF increase, and vehicles (especially harassers, oddly enough) need a moderate resistance nerf. Make it a gun you'd be afraid to give to infiltrators, not one that's so clunky and limited the infiltrators don't even want it.

Definitely. More choices is better, and considering how fairly moderate the skill required to use this thing is, it would be a nice addition to the Infiltrator's arsenal.

So do Engineers, for that matter.

I hope we can incorporate a moratorium on new Infantry toys unless it is for the Light Assault / until the Light Assault class gets the class update that it deserves.

And four classes can use multiple weapon categories and mutually work towards that categories' Directives; and, two of those classes share the same default weapon category as well. Being a certain weapon category or counting towards the Directives of a weapon category is not alone significant reasoning to guide that weapon's class distribution. Infiltrators, in particular, should be well-acquainted with weapons having strange Directive requirements. The Scout Rifles directive has Battle Rifles in it, which the Infiltrator can not use, and rewards the player with a Battle Rifle, which the Infiltrator can not use.

I'd go so far as to theorize the only reason it's a Sniper Rifle is so that the devs don't have to let the code that manages bolt-action behavior stray too far from sniper rifles, but also don't want to call it a Battle Rifle because of its extreme niche nor want create a new category just for it.

Inf doesn't need any AV options, it's already bad enough that all of the other classes have them.

The Archer is to AV is what the Crossbows explosive bolts are to AV.

The archer is far better than that, especially when it comes to shooting things like harassers and turrets. I wouldn't pit it against an MBT or sundie unless it was already being attacked.

The explosive darts are a joke for AV, since the drop is ridiculous for the weak damage they do.

Explosive darts are secondary, the archer is a primary.
That makes all the difference.


For the topic itself, sure, why not? However I don't expect infils to really use it, as it's ... kinda bad. Being a good anti-max weapon does not make up for how *** it is at everything else infantry combat related.

I realize that. I'm not advocating for an explosive dart buff to match the archer. I'm not even interested in talking about the explosive darts at all, I was responding to what he said.

Sure. MAXes deserve the pain.

Effectiveness against everything else is at the level of "annoying", so hardly an issue. It's not like a single infiltrator can maniacally laughing solo kill an MBT with this thing.

Also to point out that the archer has practically no ammo for the damage required to kill stuff(apart from a few maxes)

My thread-relevant point still remains tho, the Archer is not ... worth using for the most part. Unless you're like me, aka a masochist out to grief maxes.

and it will be like Crossbow, you have less shielded than other classes, and losing ability to OHK any classes - no, thanks.

Archers are more like BASR's mixed with long range sniper rifles.

I believe the intent behind not giving the Infiltrator Archers, is that Daybreak doesn't want Infils to serve as a direct counter to MAXes or Vehicles. I wouldnt mind if Infiltrators had a sniper rifle that could damage vehicles as lightly as the Archer does, but the ability to snipe Maxes would be a massive game-changer, which is a balance issue I don't believe they want to tackle right now, with all the other common complaints to address plus all the new content slated for release.

If the Infiltrator needs a MAX counter, I'd want to see an infiltrator-exclusive SMG with armor piercing rounds ... Very little damage against shields, fine vs unshielded targets, and excellent vs MAXes.

But that's just me, Giving Archers to Infiltrators would probably affect the NC the most. I see clusters of Raven maxes more then I see any other faction specific MAX, in general. I equate long range AV capability to exposure time, which increases vulnerability to archer rounds.

Well.. without changing what I originally wrote, Max Users by faction, total weapons of each type - over the last 30 days.
TR: 2262 AV, 633 AA, 4205 AI. Total of 7100, so 3550 MAXes pulled.
NC: 1872 AV, 665 AA, 3632 AI. Total of 6169, so 3085 MAXes pulled.
VS: 2081 AV, 778 AA, 4174 AI. Total of 7033, so 3517 MAXes pulled.

I believe the TR pull so many AV maxes due to Pounders being so good as AI, so that explains the high AV pull numbers on their end, and short range AV means less exposure time out in the open. The NC use oodles of Ravens, as expected, and use comparatively less Falcons then other factions do for that tier. The VS use the least long range AV, (246 average Vortexes pulled, compared to 377 Fractures, both on the absolute bottom of the MAX AV use stats). NC use long range AV the most (Ravens), followed by the VS (Comets, mostly, with a few Vortexes)

Given the highest instance of medic use the TR have, and the lack of long range AV on their MAXes, I believe the TR would be least affected, the VS would be somewhat affected, and the NC would suffer a higher rate of MAX loss, which as they have other good long range AV options for other units, would probably be overall healthy for the game.

All that said, I'm tentatively ok with Infiltrators getting archer access.

It's not an infiltrator weapon even though it is a sniper rifle.
It is an anti-vehicular weapon/anti-max weapon.

If any other class should get it, I would think it would be the Heavy Assaults.