[Suggestion] Balance the liberator appropriately against ground vehicles

You don't really "put yourself in a bad situation." The Liberator is so tanky that it happens and there's nothing you can do.
I had an enemy Liberator flying straight towards my position, having just come into render distance, once. Despite accurate fire while trying to change positions, it still plowed on up right almost on top of me, tank buster ablaze. It cleared that distance so quickly, there was no real way to react. If it wasn't for an ally Skyguard just off my radar who opened fire, it wouldn't have pulled off from its charge.

You most certainly could do that. There is no rule.

You were a lone Skyguard, of course you'd die to a Lib if you didn't have backup. And in your example a 2nd Skyguard from render range who you weren't even working with was enough to protect you. That's very contradictory to your last statement of a Lib facetanking 3 skilled Skyguards.

There is if you want to have customers. The lower the skill cealing the lower the reward, that's a basic formula from real life that all games should use. If there wasn't a reward for becoming more skilled then there would be zero competitive reason to step up to hard mode.

so basicaly we are on the point of speaking in cycles .. you want more need of skill weapons to raise the skill ceiling.. i am against that .. even with your basicaly-a-ranger-esfweapon suggestion and this is something i don´t get ... the ranger, skyguard and burster ARE such a weapon for ground already ... and you want to get rid of those because it doesn´t fit YOUR idea of an FPS?

i also disagree on what you think customers want .. i mean what am i? i am not a high skill and high aim player and i don´t strive to be .. think in the long run if you exclude the low skill weapons you FORCE players to get good at aiming and raise the amound of frustration that comes with that ... i am here to enjoy playing the game with the options to allow me to play the way i feel most comfortable with ... THAT´s what you want your customers to offer .. .. and i have said this already before ..

if we would have it your way i don´t see me continueing playing this game because i likely would go under in the pool of tryhards and i am sure many likeminded people would follow and i asure you .. YOU WILL scare customers away that way ..
and realy by that point i can only repeat myself that you should consider that this game is lacking a system to ballance the squads/platoons (based on each individual player within such a group) engaging each other .. this way the game by nature won´t be ever realy ballanced ..

as for the skyguard being a situational area denial ... so are AI manaturrets .. heck a number of weapons are situational .. yet they are an option to get if the situation requires it ..
i also spoke for skyguardbuffs before already .. if you want a lancer/archertype turret i won´t have a problem with that .. i would have a problem if you take away the option a lower skill/aim player may want to play with ..
and as i said many times before flakweapons DON´T requiere to be quick kill weapons it´s absolutely ok if they are capable to function in their intended role being in that case a scare away/area denial weapon ..


i don´t think i have much else to say on this matter without repeating myself ..

I was part of a platoon, but we were dealing with a lot of things from a lot of directions. I knew the ally Skyguard was with us but, as I said, he had moved off my map, and didn't initially respond to my comment about the flanking Liberator.
I have pretty good memory so, if you want, I could write a novelette about details during that assault, even ones not related to the Liberator.

Excuse my imprecise words. "Map" meant minimap; I don't remember how far I had it zoomed.

That presumes the said desire always exists. This isn't a case of "exploring simple move that's effective in the short run" leading to "expanding from that leading to more complicated moves that are useful in a variety of situations." AA just is what it is in this game and that level of progression doesn't exist in a specific form. The only thing you can do is bring two or more Skyguards.

Even you say that.

In every post of mine (I think) I've mentioned raising the skill floor to that of the AVERAGE player. I don't want to see tryhard mode like we have in the air, that's why air sucks, and I agree that would drive people away. But this is a fps, and like it or not, aiming with a mouse is important and should be a basic trait with every weapon, with lock-on missiles and flak turrets it's not. I'm not asking for the skill ceiling be raised to gor-tier mode, but just that so that the standard AA weapons meet the skill of average players. I should have emphasized that more.

That's a very good point, but it's treading in simulator territory. There are a lot of situational weapons but in most cases you either have alternate weapons or the speed to choose to engage only the targets you wish to (Harassers, Flashes, ESFs). The engineer isn't stuck with only a mana turret once he scared away the tank, the heavy isn't stuck with only the rocket launcher once he scared away air. Now look at very situational units, imagine a Burster Max if you couldn't switch weapons at a terminal, that's essentially what the Skyguard is, and it's a bummer to have to pull AA most of the time because of that, which is why everyone complains about no one pulling AA, I'm sure you see how common a complaint that is. In a game where ESF can excel at shooting any target with one loadout, MBTs can have AA as well as anti-infantry along with AP turrets, every infantry class short of the Infiltrator can 1-shot a MBT.... I think the Skyguard needs more versatility, especially since the only target it's good at shooting just leave when it's around. Having a unit just sit there doing next to nothing is simulator territory, which I don't mind, but it's not what PS2 is about.

That's just the way the world is, and it's a universal video game strategy. Take a real life sniper for example. It takes much more skill to make long range shots under field conditions than it takes to make short range shots with an M4. Snipers are trained to that higher level for the increased capability they offer. I suck at aiming compared to many players in this game, so I use an Emmisary instead of a Blackhand as a secondary. It's easier to use but less effective. Same reason I like the Shredder over the Dalton and the Gatekeeper over the Halbred. It's healthy for a game to have the options, and the medium-skill option is missing in the air, which is why the air game is dead in my opinion. G2A also doesn't have these medium-skill options, which is what I'm proposing this game needs. High-skill weapons are kind of like a trophy at the top of the mountain, as they offer the most reward if you can master them, but they need to be balanced and just an option so that average shots like myself can still have a fighting chance with an Emmisary.

wrong lock on´s require to keep targets in sight and at worst keep you from firing leaving you VERY long exposed to the mercy of your target (or any enemy in the area) if he notices you .. that´s the trade off .. most lock on weapons aren´t like coyotes or tr striker (and even then you need to lead them depending on distance) and still those weapons are realy only effective for quick kills when run in groups .. i may get a esf myself maybe everyonce in a while (if already damged in most cases) but a lib? .. no chance not on my lonesome let alone a lightning or a MBT ..
this game being an F P S ... whatever you wanna say with that doesn´t mean it can´t have easy to use weapons ..
lock on weapons were long a thing in games like unreal tournament and that too is a highly competitive fps with high movement (and realy if you just stood still long enough .. what the hell) .. never realy heard someone being pissed off on that there .. no need to raise the skillfloor still ...

the skyguard actualy is still a good weapon for upclose infantry or as AV (even armored unlike burster, ranger) firesupport (again not a weapon you quickly destroy vehicles with)
the thing with bursters they are very often pulled as a defender tool, you don´t see burster maxes in a offensive push but close to a sunderer or near a spawnpoint .. imo there is a lack of understanding in a weapons use .. often people just look at a weapon for pure soloplay than realy taking the teamplay into consideration ...
the other problem is that a second burster and a skyguard at least for F2P players is a very timeconsuming item to get .. even the air lockon launchers aren´t cheap .. you may aswell get 350 certs more on that 650 for tha G2A to get a Striker, phonix or Lancer ... OR the masamune even
the skyguard actualy HAS versatilty .. it just needs a bit more accuracy and a bit more speed ..