Absolutely no reason to use HEAT anymore, use AT instead

Literally no difference between HEAT and AT splash damage.
AT = more dmg + higher velocity.

HEAT is now retired and obsolete.

There is not much of a reason to use HE anymore as well, just more pointless nerfs by SOE. As if infantry had enough tools to absolutely destroy vehicles, now our tools to take out infantry are useless.

Wait? So whats the point in using vehicles at all? Cuz you vehicle drivers are masochists and love to watch ur vehicles burn?

The splash of AP does basically nothing.

Not to be nitpicky, but there actually is a difference in HEAT splash damage compared to AP. Don't get me wrong, HEAT's purpose is now highly questionable, but there is still a difference in the splash damage values between HEAT and AP...

I agree that HEAT is in a pretty bad place now, but get your facts straight. The splash from AP isn't even remotely close to the splash from HEAT. HEAT's splash damage, inner radius, and outer radius are all better than AP's.

Basically this I guess. They want to tone down 'lethality' in a game WHERE YOU SHOOT PEOPLE.

I never really used anything but AP because I reached the same conclusion a long time ago- that HE and HEAT were meh at best.

As MBT I play to the strengths and go for the highest damage per shot possible and target other hardened targets.

For AI it seems like other vehicles have always been better suited. If infantry is the primary objective, a lightning seems more efficient.

On paper, yes.
In world, you can't tell the difference in combat.

IKR, lets just give each other paintballs and when we get hit it just says...your out...crouch for 10s....ok, back in!! GO!

They're there for good players to boss worse ones around by killing their farmmobiles tractors.

They're there to feed certs to my repair sunderer.

Or for old players to push around noobs and make the starter experience even worse, as the noob pulls his tank thinking, this will be fun, only to run into a certed tank and get face planted in 2 shots. Then, if the guy hits the oldere players tank like 5 times, sees the death screen show the damage hes done has next to nothing...

Or the new player will watch as a single HA dances around in the street shooting his tank while the noob driver fires his HEAT thinking he might do something to the HA...

The HE and HEAT never had a clear purpose in the first place in light of what the MBTs and AP were designed to do..... kill vehicles. I remember during launch when everyone used HE because the damage difference against armor was marginal, but the splash made it extremely easy to farm infantry.

This, like so many other attempts to multiply the number of weapons based on very few arch types, has been causing an endless list of balance problems within their intended roles. Consolidating all the vehicle roles into 5 chassis didn't help the situation either. The entire interaction matrix between vehicles and infantry need to be reworked to be supportive of each other, not distinctly at odds depending on the buff/nerf cycle.

Map design plays a big role in this as well, since vehicles have no room to actually be vehicles outside of Esamir.

Got to get the auraxiums!!!

Heh, well HEAT is free, so I use it a lot lol. It still has a bit of splash so it's not that bad.

Probably because vehicles are still the dominant playstyle outdoors?

The love for HE (and to a lesser extent HEAT) cannons was fairly misplaced, and reducing them hasn't really changed much. You still take an AP maingun so that your tank can kick the crap out of vehicles, and then a secondary turret depending on the situation (walker for non-hossin soloing, halberd for ranged AV standoffs, ESAV for AV skirmishes, and AI for most other situations.) You still dominate the crap out of infantry except in a few densely covered areas.

That's just tanks. Obviously all vehicles in general have a significant TTK advantage over infantry, and that's plus their speed is the root of their advantage.

(Although I used HEAT for a mag pull or two last night and didn't really notice a huge difference. Still worked fine for killing infantry.)

Yes, switch to AP, less infantry farming, more anti-vehicle role - it's good for both sides

Except for the whole "Infantry are yet again being coddled by nerfing ALL Vehicle AI options but never nerfing a single Infantry AV option"

Better for who? Brain dead infantry zerglings ruining an entire combined arms game? Yeah, those guys need to be catered to.

Too bad we don't have the PS1 AMS/CE, then vehicles wouldn't have needed to be nerfed.