Currently, the ROCKLET RIFLE unleashes a higher dpm than most of the rocket launchers available to the heavy. Its been like this for a few years, ever since the combined arms initiative. Meant to single out rocket primaries, and completely prevent anyone from unlocking the Kraken without going insane. Can we please agree that the patch was a failure, and we need launchers to 1hk infantry or at least do enough damage in their field for them to actually compete with the decimator? The decimator probably isn’t even that good, it’s just that compared to the diaper shooters it competes with, it’s clearly the better option. And even then, a shot from the decimator can’t 1hk a composite armour esf. Honestly the launchers have been in a ridiculous state, lock-ons have such low damage that even if you manage to lock on to the esf after a good 10 second within 100m without getting lol prodded, it takes 4 shots to kill it. Yeah, good luck killing anything, especially against bulkier targets. Even if you do get a lock, half the time the pilot is able to outrun or outmaneuver the rocket with such ease, I’ve gotten a few hundred esf kills with the commissioner (a pistol), compared to maybe 2 with the fs AA lock-on (as in, it’s primary role is to KILL AIRCRAFT). Its it’s really embarrassing, and I would like to be able to unlock the kraken on my alts without shooting 4000 turrets or losing my sanity. Please bring back the good old 1hk launchers against non-flak armour infantry, or at least make launchers shine in their specific fields. Its not even like rocket primaries were a major problem, and your kdr will most likely be less than 1 doing so, but at least we had a chance to kill things before the nerf . Now we shoot, the dude is half health and kills us before the reload. Or you are dead if you try damaging with a pistol/primary and switching to the launcher, thanks to equip times. Its really time with the escalation update to restore launchers to their former glory, or at least simplify some of the objectives that are practically impossible to get without farming turrets for a week. Seriously, there’s tryhard liberators farming our sunderers, and now they plan to add massive bastions that can launch 48 esfs at once. Can we not get proper lock on launchers or dumbfires that are actually capable of killing esfs or things in general???!??!!?
I'll agree that it's super silly that the most reliable rocket launcher in the game is the Decimator (and by extension the Kraken), since it retained its high damage output. It's locked behind a cert/DBC window, which really makes it one of the only weapons I would consider calling "pay to win." I'll also say allowing Light Assaults to use the Rocklet Rifle with two bricks of C4 is... quite powerful to say the least. It easily allows Light Assaults to solo-kill even deploy-shield sunderers; the only effective defense against one, or even multiple light assaults is to have someone sit back and babysit the sunderer, which we all know pubbies don't do.
I know you can grind it out in fairly short order, but as it stands the Decimator is really one of the only "strictly better" weapons that must be unlocked. As I said, it's the single most-used rocket launcher in the entire game, and you need to *unlock* it to use it. Either the other launchers need to be buffed up to its level, or it needs to get nerfed.
If they lockons are used in team play then they are fine. Its definitely hard to kill things while solo. But amped up lock ons being used in team play would be to much vehicles columns going down in no time. If you want to protect your sundie from light assault I would suggest the kobalt turret in combination with recon devices or the spitfire turret.
To an extent it is. To unlock the kraken, you must aurax 5 launchers. If you use only cette, than 4 out of the 5 launchers aren’t meant to kill things, and you will not be able to unlock the kraken unless you shoot turrets all day or are a god. Paying will allow to unlock a total of 3 decimators, which definitely helps with the grind.
That would be called "Play fairly short 2 Win". It's without any question the hardest to use rocket launcher in the game. The majority of new players would be PUNISHED if they were forced to use a Decimator instead of the stock launcher or a cheese launcher like for example the Striker. You need to *unlock* everything in this game, except for the versatile stock weaponry. I don't want new players to start with a hard to use Dalton instead of the easy to use Shredder in a Liberator, even though the Dalton is the single most-used belly gun in the entire game.
My definition of "Pay 2 Win" is something like: The most powerful/better equipment is only available for cash. You are talking about "Pay 2 get a Decimator with a fancy effect with less grind". That is indeed a strange definition of "pay to win".
Literally the first definition off a search: "Games that let you buy better gear or allow you to make better items then everyone else at a faster rate and then makes the game largely unbalanced even for people who have skill in the game without paying." -urban dictionary Unlocking 3 decimators helps you get the kraken at a faster rate, and eliminates a huge grind, considering other launchers deal half the damage (in short, other launchers aren't 1htk). By definition, it is incentive for people to purchase two more versions of the better launcher in order to complete the directive. Try auraxing the lancer.
Slowest projectile speed, worst drop: Makes it harder to hit targets with it than with stock launchers, especially when target is moving. Longest reload, least ammo: Punishes missed shots harder than stock launchers.
And yet despite those shortcomings, again, why is the Decimator the single most-used rocket launcher? If the empire-specific dumb-fire launchers are so much better why doesn't anybody use them over the Deci?
Launchers at the very least should be able to serve as a deterrent when coming from a solo player. I can understand and agree with not wanting them to be so strong as to make air/vehicle play to difficult to be viable, but right now launchers are just to weak to seem to be any kind of detterant at all. While good platoons/ squads and outfits can coordinate to tackle these problems easy enough, for the new players without or folks just running solo becuase they don't want a fulltime outfit, anti vehicle play is not tennable without a good deal of practice and luck. Which to be fair is as it should be, vehicles should be a force multiplier against a single player, C4 Fairies not withstanding anyway. The changes in player vs vehicle changes I would like to see are small, just a slightly faster lock on time and/or reload speed, half a second or so. And maybe 50-100 points more damage or so to vehicles depending on the launcher. Vs infantry on the other hand, yeah, launchers definately need a bigger buff. Having a warhead capable of damaging MBT armor not fragging a player with a direct hit is just weird. I can understand having the splash damage/radius not being to large as to not make them to powerfull against groups of infantry. Max suits taking 2 or 3 hits is fine as otherwise it would make max suits pointless but against regular infantry classes? Definatly need a damage buff.
Last night I witnessed a sky full of swarm missiles and maybe 3 kills total? I mean the sky was buzzing with scythes/libs and all the launchers came out, and even concentrating fire we weren't killing much. The Magriders and ground vehicles at least had to think twice after the second barrage, but I swear the aircraft just laughed and farmed. After a while, both land and air settled in at a distance just outside of lockon, but were still able to reach us, so there is definitely a range disadvantage. I couldn't even get into the phalanx, because Mags were killing the phalanxes from well outside lockon range. And even THEN, when you pull out the lockons, aircraft know to close the gap and just farm, because you're usually dead by the first barrage because of lockon/reload times, or they've bugged out before the second one. It's honestly a little infuriating. The only ground vehicle I find annoying is the harasser, whose mobility/durability/firepower basically make launchers pointless. I think they're the most unbalanced, unrealistically powerful vehicle in the game. But I think this was the first night I really grasped the futility of engaging aircraft as infantry. Even the phalanx wasn't enough, even dumping a full volley and heating out wasn't enough to kill a mere scythe at near point blank range. That was when I realized I was better off giving up and going for the obj as a defender. As an attacker though, it makes you want to give up, because eventually they'll find your sundy and you don't have an answer. AA needs a majorboost, IMO. Vs vehicles, it's not quite as bad, but could use a boost. I think extra damage and lockon range is enough. I would only up reload speed on lockons, to avoid inadvertently making dumbfire CQC vs infantry too strong. I agree it should be a OHK, though. Vs AIR, I think a damage multiplier is in order, for sure. Especially vs ESFs. I think 1.5x isn't too insane, because a fighter craft shouldn't be able to take 3 direct hits from a missile and still be able to potentially flee to safety.
The Rocket Rifle might have higher(? not actually sure this is the case, but I could only find data from august 2019) damage and also way lower range and accuracy. Compared to rocket launchers its more of an explosive shotgun. I think Air lockons are in a good place. I use mine fairly frequently and while I probably only get a kill with it 10% of the time, 75% of the time the rando esf camper or lib team bugs out after two hits and doesn't come back. Yes, you're still going to die to a swarm of air if you don't find cover, just like you'll die to a herd of tanks. With all of these weapons, they aren't intended to allow infantry to easily wipe vehicles out as that would make vehicles just a worse version of infantry. Similarly not having rockets 1-shot infantry keeps the game more interactive. I would like to see a slightly larger blast radius on most of these weapons. These weapons are still somewhat effective deterrants against vehicles. They're a LITTLE less effective than I would like, but its quite livable. I ever 1v1 a tank with them and live. Harassers usually bug out after one hit to go repair. If not, they often die. The only problem I have is that the ground vehicle situations don't come up enough for it to feel worth the weapon slot. The change I would like to see against infantry is to increase the blast radius some. Just the effected area, not the damage dealt, and probably not a lot. That would give the heavy a way to punish crowding in a way that's kind of unique. Overall though, heavy is the most effective solo class in the game. I don't think it NEEDs much atm.
I dont think that making launchers OHK is the answer. It would be similar to the CQC bolters but with easier spray&pray into large infantry formations, and I know how much you hate CQC bolters. A better solution is to add utility to the rocketlaunchers. So you dont OHK an enemy? You do get a concussion effect on them to make for easier killing. Additionally the way kills are recorded for directives needs to be adapted. Rather than kills it should be the base XP you earn. 1 kill is converted to 100 XP (ignoring things like boosts, high threat kills etc). This means that if you have 4 assists of 75% you got 3 kills worth of XP. For a weapon that is likely to get assists rather than kills when attacking both vehicles and infantry this is key. Rocklet rifles might have the highest DPS but only when you use the shotgun-mode that ruins any semblance of accuracy. Sunderers can already have incredible protection by equipping either a sundy shield or blockade armor. If the devs were smart they would also look into a miniature PMB system that allows players to create passive protections for Sunderers to slow down an attack and give them more time to protect it. Lock-ons should be reworked completely. For example by reducing the lock-on angle so you have to aim closer to the aircraft center, but the lock takes less time (0,5sec for example) and you can lock on after firing or re-lock after a lock has been broken. Or lock-ons are thrown out of the window entirely and we use laser-guided flak warheads or laser-guided coyote style missiles.
decimator has the highest damage per shot. It's balanced by a very slow reload However in many cases in pvp, what matters is burst damage. Think of it like a medium range brick of C4, only with slightly less damage and a whole bunch more of them available once you reload. (edit ---> this is also and particularly relevant to the kill count since in most (group) situations the highest shot damage usually gets the kill)
I hate bolters in general. If their 1hk + invisibility is fine, why can a ROCKET LAUNCHER not be a 1hk? It's not like it can be spammed like a bolt, and I'm pretty sure critical chain doesn't work on launchers. Also much more punishing if you miss.
