The PTS notes seem somewhat contradictory: there is an intended goal of having tanks focus more on AV work, yet the AP cannons are being nerfed. I'm going to work under the assumption that what the Devs REALLY want to do is nerf HE, but worried that it would simply become outclassed by the other tank cannons, are nerfing the AP/HEAT to adjust for the HE nerf. There is a better way. 1) Leave AP and HEAT alone. We will actually be able to balance HE by going a completely different direction. 2) Reduce HE splash, possibly down to the same as HEAT. Reduce HE reload time below that of HEAT, and adjust direct damage/ammo accordingly. Net result: HE requires about as much aim skill as HEAT for an infantry kill, but the faster reload makes the weapon much more forgiving. This would make the weapon more suited for AI work than the other main cannons, but removes the ability to shoot into a room and score multikills. This also gives it a unique trait for even AV work, as it's less about peek-a-boom but lets you make risky shots with less down time. Lightning is a bit more tricky, as we have the 4th gun: Viper. Viper already is more forgiving with a 6-shot clip, so what direction can we go in? Well, we have one last value we can play with: muzzle velocity. 1) Replicate what we did with MBTs, giving the HE cannon similar splash to HEAT but with a faster reload/less direct damage. 2) Give the 3 one-shots slight buffs to muzzle velocity, leaving Viper as the close-range king. We can also slightly buff the Viper or decrease the other 3's damage if we need a wider gap between them all. I'd vote for reverting some of the last nerf to the Viper. Net result: the Viper is set up as the premier close-range cannon with good efficiency versus all targets. The other 3 cannons are more specialized and all have longer reach, which is handy on an agile light tank. Players can choose between the agility and burst damage of a Viper, or agility and range with the other cannons. Armor and power remains the domain of the MBTs. There's more numbers that we can play with beyond raw damage to balance these guns out. Just thought that this would be a more novel approach…essentially removing HE, without actually removing HE from the game. Interested to hear what people's thoughts are.
REMOVE HE TANK ROUNDS. that all that needed. The Tank and rocket changes are SOEs' way of trying to go around the problem rather then directly solve it. Also those changes are unneeded.
Correct, but I still feel that it was initially done due to HE. It was reverted because the proposed solution was ridiculous and rightfully angered the community. My above proposal only adjusted HE on the MBTs/Lightnings, and then called for a slight buff to the Lightning's guns but only on muzzle velocity. I'm attempting to discuss how to solve balance issues with HE without destroying the entirely of tank balance in the process.
Doesn't remodeling them into basically a faster-reloading HEAT round accomplish that, though? They're never going to outright be removed from the game, so what's the next best thing?
I don't see the problem with HE rounds. They are better right now than they would be after the suggested patch. Yes, they would kill with splash damage but barely scratch vehicles. And that's exactly what HE should do. Tanks are not driving sniper hideouts, the precision needed with HEAT to kill Infantry is already funny. I don't fear hordes of HE spamming tanks of all kinds - a single Liberator can cause more trouble than a ton of tanks with HE shells of the current type.
Make HE rounds unable to hurt Heavy Armor type and you will see the hard counter to an nme HE tank zerg. They would dump and run faster then roaches in the light.
Plus, nerf the Prowler's cannons! Two cannons shouldn't reload faster than one cannon that deals the least damage of any MBT!
They don't, because you have a fire delay between them. Higher DPS is a faction trait of the tank, though.
Lose some if not all the "heavy" vehicle damage from HE. Then increase the AoE. Then switch the gun control on the Prowler and Vanguard around giving dedicated gunners and drivers. The magrider will need some rewoking as the current guns will need to be swapped (so the driver gets a front mounted PPA/Saron, whilst the gunner gets a 360 degree FPC/VPC/PC) over and voila we have some more tank balance rather then the mobile artillery combat we have.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God we have people who notice things that shouldn't be in the game! I actually replied to myself. God, I need to eat food. Can't starve myself like this:'(
Given that the Devs seemed to think that the issue was HE being too good for AI work, this would be counterproductive. Also, given this late I double we'll ever see the gunner controlling the main cannon.
Is there any word from SOE regarding the tank cannon nerfs? are they still planning on implementing them?
