Evening Forumsiders! After using the Ranger some more on the Harasser since the patch I have some thoughts on its overall performance and changes I'd like to see made to the weapon. I am going to make numerous comparisons with the G30 Walker in this discussion, as I have been running it exclusively on the Harasser since the changes back in December. If you don't have the time to read through the subheadings, please feel free to skip to the conclusion for a quick TL;DR. The Pro(s) The increase to the amount of ammunition in each magazine is quite a welcome change, as before the patch it was impossible to kill an ESF with one magazine even with max rank into Increased Magazine size. This allows accurate gunners to take out lone ESFs, and offers more reliable deterring capabilities for Liberators and Galaxies. The Con(s) Killing potential: this is still quite low, even with the slight increase to flak damage, the weapon's bullet velocity and fire rate make it very difficult to hit targets outside of 200m making the overall ttk of the weapon to be quite high. The Ammunition: As it stands, the Ranger has a default of 450 ammunition when un-certed and 650 at max rank of Increased Ammunition. So each rank gives only 20 additional Ammo (1/4 of a magazine). This gain is quite low for a weapon which has quite high ttks. The velocity: The weapon has quite a low velocity when compared to its other anti air brethren (325m/s), for a flak weapon it is justifiable but makes leading shots very difficult past 200m, where the damage falls off considerably. Walker Vs. Ranger The Walker as it stands is in a decent spot, it has spectacular killing potential within 100m and has the firerate (600rpm) and velocity (750m/s) to allow flexibility to hit moving targets past the 200m mark. Also with its stock 1200 ammunition and max potential of 2250 it has the ability to be used for a long period of time before needing to restock. The Ranger in comparison is lacking, it seems much more like a weapon meant to deter targets rather than out right kill them. But for a deterrent weapon it lacks the ammunition reserves to stay in battles long enough to keep large groups of enemies at bay. Its bullet velocity makes hitting targets very difficult when compared to Walker who boasts almost a 2.2x higher bullet velocity.For a weapon that can only damage Aircraft, infantry, and lightly armored ground vehicles (Harasser and Flash), it needs some changes to offset these downsides as a Walker can damage every vehicle type in the game and is all around a much more preferable option. Where does the Ranger perform better than the Walker? The Ranger's most noticeable trait that the Walker does not have is its disorienting flak explosions. This is because of the large flak explosions partially blinding enemy aircraft. With careful aiming and continuous fire it makes engagements with Liberators and ESFs slightly easier on platforms such as the harasser, where blinding the enemy can lead to numerous misses on the fast moving vehicle. This benefit is reduced by thermal vision however, as the explosions are a lot less visible on your visor. Intimidation Factor, flak is slightly more intimidating for newer pilots and as such they tend to flee faster compared to the Walker. I guess for a deterrent weapon this is good, but for experienced pilots this effect is greatly diminished. Theoretical Damage per Magazine The walker can deal a theoretical value of 12350 damage in one magazine (95 bullets) at 50m (assuming all bullets hit and before enemy armor resists). While the ranger, who performs best at closer ranges due to its harsh damage fall-off can deal 11890 damage (82 bullets) at 50m, under similar conditions as above. This seems quite comparable however, the walker with its superior rate of fire does this in only 9.5 seconds while the Ranger takes ~15 (14.9) seconds to deal the same damage. This damage difference is important when engaging aircraft as they have the luxury of boasting the fastest speeds in the game, meaning lower ttk weapons are much more desirable as the aircraft can escape very quickly should they feel threatened. Making the Ranger more Rewarding Flak is a difficult thing to balance around in Planetside 2, as the weapons with flak can still damage even upon landing near misses.A misconception can be drawn that the weapon is best suited for a less accurate players since misses aren't punished as severely. However, in the case of the Ranger the velocities and fire rate make it a much more difficult weapon to hit fast moving targets with at extended ranges even with the flak component, and the low ttk makes it frustrating to kill even stationary targets at closer ranges before they flee to repair in the safety of an adjacent hex. This results in a higher skill floor than one would initially assume making it difficult for new players to learn and master the weapon and for veterans to pick up the Ranger over other available options (Skyguard, Burster Max, Lock-on Launchers, Walker) Potential Changes But how do we alleviate these frustrations and make a fun weapon to use? Two Approaches: Improve the Weapon (Rough Numbers) -Increase the amount of ammo in reserve to allow the weapon to stay in fights longer (800 base, 1800 max rank). -Increase Bullet Velocity by 50 m/s making it 375m/s (still less than Skyguard's bullet velocity at 400m/s) -Increase Fire Rate to 400 rpm from 330rpm. -Increase Magazine size upgrade to 20 at max rank compared to 12 at max rank. These changes would be used to increase its ability to hit moving targets at longer ranges while slightly decreasing the ttk of the weapon to put it more in line with the Walker. Redesign the Weapon The Ranger now has two fire modes to deal with varying situation, the first fire mode function similar to the current iteration but has an expanding cone of fire, rather than a static cone of fire (think basilisk or kobalt).This would facilitate leading targets and award the gunner for good aim. The secondary fire mode allows the Ranger to fire bursts of 10 flak shots in a large CoF with a .5-1s rechamber time, this allows the vehicle to deal heavy damage to closer targets. This would make it the only vehicle weapon in he game with alternate fire modes and help differentiate it from the Skyguard and Walker. Redesigning the weapon offers new life to a weapon, and gives the developers the opportunity to come up with new and exciting ideas to improve weapons by not simply altering their stats. Conclusion (TL;DR) The Ranger is in a weird spot right now, as it under-performs compared to the other anti aircraft options. It is need of some changes and the more suggestions and thoughts we can provide about this weapon, the more I feel it can be balanced out to be a viable tool on the battlefield. I really am interested in hearing what your thoughts are on this weapon and how you would improve it, please feel free to voice your opinions on the Ranger below. Thanks for Reading!
A simple change that would improve it and be relatively uncontroversial is to let it aim down further. It currently has the release Skyguard issue that you often can't even fire it at infantry if you have nothing else to shoot (though of course at the moment that would just waste all your ammo) and it's downright embarrassing when you can't fire your anti-air weapon at an aircraft because it's below your traverse. The fire mode idea is interesting. One thing in my head lately is that in WW2 certain flak guns were also used as anti-tank guns. It could be interesting to see something like a slower-firing (lower DPS?) but more powerful anti-air flak cannon. One thing I am still not sure about is what the purpose of the Ranger and the Walker is. Are they supposed to stop aircraft from hovering at close range and spamming vehicles to death? You can put them on MBTs, but I don't think many people would say they're as effective against aircraft as the Enforcer, Halberd or Saron are against vehicles. It feels more like they are Sunderer guns and made to be especially weak for that reason where the tank-only guns are allowed to be much more effective. Meanwhile, the poor Harasser can take a Ranger and be like half a Skyguard with double the crew. Understanding what the weapon is actually for would help establish what should be done with it.
give it splash damage vs light vehicles and Infantry Have the indirect damage be 100. its pretty simple actually.
Needs a velocity buff pretty badly, it doesn't help they increased the mag size and forgot to increase the amount of rounds you can hold, so you're out of ammo insanely fast and probably barely did any damage cause the velocity is so low, lol.
First, nice write-up. I made my own a while back, you can find a link in my sig, you'll find we reached many of the same conclusions. This right here is the meat and potatoes of why the Ranger sucks: Mine actually has different values (490 base, each rank adds 16 shells. wtf, I'll double check on that), but the point remains. If it is truly a low-damage deterrent weapon, give it ammo reserves like it is one. The devs said they were going to rebalance some of the reserve ammo counters based on killing potential. The Walker, which is fun to use and very effective, comes with what, like 1100 rounds?, or something absurd. I'm glad the Ranger got more reserve ammo, at least (the old base value was 384 or so). I think the solution is to improve the numbers. There isn't really a place for another AA ground turret, especially considering 2 of the 3 suck. (I count the Kobalt since you can kill ESFs with it, sadly, the Kobalt isn't killing much of anything since it got nerfed.) So, going by your suggestions: More reserve ammo. It needs at least 5-600 stock, and should cert out to at least 1k. You can get the A30 up to like 3000 rounds, I think the Ranger deserves at least 1k with full investment. Increase velocity by 25m/s. I don't really think it needs this, but I think I'm biased because I understand how to lead it. Anecdotally, I have watched two videos recently of very good pilots (players that know how to lead targets) using the Skyguard. I've come to the conclusion that most people simply do not understand how to track a target with a flak weapon. What I'm getting at is, increasing the muzzle velocity is one way to lower the skill floor, but I think it needs to be done cautiously, if at all. Fire Rate: This one is hard to judge. I love the current fire-rate and sound effect. It makes the Ranger sound meaty, even though it's not. It would help, though, with the long mag-dump times. MagCap Certs: I was really pissed to log-in and see these weren't changed at all. I have a Harasser Ranger I got with SC, so I certed it up a bit on all 3 factions. All 3 factions have MagCap 3. I wish I had those certs back now, reload is a far superior option at this point. I have an idea, I'm curious what others think. I'd like to see it be more like the Tank-Buster (only in mechanics, don't freak out yet.) One of the things I hate in this game are weapons that don't look or act like you would expect them too. Examples being the TankBuster and Vektor (one spews single shells for an extended time, but looks like a twin HMG, the other fires two projectiles at a time, but from a gatling-style gun? I still think they got 'em backwards and never bothered to fix it.) So, what I'm getting at is, let the Ranger fire both barrels at the same time. Now, I think that would actually be OP with the current build. So, to combat that, I suggest: Reduce the Mag Size to 40 or 50, and increase the MagCap and Reload utilities. Change the indirect to ~35 damage. Firing two shells will dramatically increase the DPS profile, reverting the indirect is the best way to adjust this preemptively, IMO. Lower the fire-rate. 280-300 RPM sounds about right. Get rid of the damage reduction over range. It's a flak weapon, that doesn't make any sense. Instead, force shell-burst at like 400m (maybe more, and way less on SW Indar, lol), to prevent people from sniping. (The CoF on the Ranger is fantastic, it's almost as good as the old Kobalt. When you have the lead down, it's VERY accurate. On second thought, I want to check and see if that has changed.) Leave it in for the other flak weapons, give the Ranger a true niche. I don't want to see the Ranger damage more vehicle types. That said, the Walker can damage heavy armor with soft-point ammo, so I don't really care, haha. Finally, just a few notes. The Ranger Harasser is actually hilarious for deterring planes. I recommend running a dual-burster in the backseat, and NAR on the vehicle. Be warned, though, the Burster is going to get most/all of the kills. With the new XP sharing, I fine with that now. I wasn't the last time I did it, when I put 5 magazines into a Galaxy, and the Burster MAX got a 7-kill, lol. The changes put it in a weird spot, as the second post mentions, it's hard to tell exactly what this weapon is for these days, or what direction it's going. I'm just glad it's getting some attention. Even as a primary pilot, I've always liked the Ranger, haha. EDIT: They did increase the rounds in reserve, by 104, lol. Not nearly enough. Like I mentioned above, though, I think the muzzle velocity is the stat we need to be careful with. I've always seen the Ranger as more point-defense/deterrent, and giving it a significant velocity boost will increase it's effective range by a significant margin. I wouldn't say no if that's what happens, though, lol.
Right, but why take the ranger when at 200m the most damage it can do is 65 damage and thats with a direct hit, which due to its velocity, rate of fire, and spread is damn near impossible, or you can take the walker that does 85 damage out to 400m has double the velocity, rate of fire, and has half the spread. And its not like the Ranger has a huge advantage at close range either, they both start their drop off at 50m and the ranger does 145 on a direct hit at that range, while the walker does 130, but due to spread and rate of fire the walker is still vastly superior here as well. Not to mention the walker reloads a full second faster. SO if they really want the ranger to be a point defense at close range the damage is gonna have to go way up, especially with all the libs hauling around with composite armor that makes them basically immune to the main gun. Edit: MORE NUMBERS: Damage per mag is 9750 for the walker, and it takes 7.5 seconds to unload a walker mag, give you a DPS of 1300 Damage per mag is 10150 for the ranger, and it takes ~12.7 seconds to unload a ranger mag, giving you ~800 DPS with the ranger This is at their optimal damage range of 50m, and the difference only gets worse the further out it goes, and thats not even talking about the ability to hit what you're shooting at because of the terrible velocity and spread.
This is a genuine question, despite my usual antics, I am not trying to troll and want an honest opinion. Do you find the Ranger difficult to use? I ask, because personally, I don't think it's hard. I evaluate the direction/speed/elevation of the target, guess how much I need to lead, and just keep tracking that reference point scoring strings of hit markers. What I'm driving at is, the range doesn't really matter, if I'm getting any hits, they are usually direct hits, and doing minimum damage. To answer your question, I take it because it annoys people, and I want to try to earn kills with it. I have a gold medal on all the other Harasser weapons on my main character, besides the Ranger (actually, may need the Walker one, too), and TBH, I don't think I'll ever manage the Silver without massive changes. I have a Walker Harasser, too. That thing is awesome. One of my best PS2 memories was having an extended spar with a Magrider in my Walker Harasser. There is no real reason to ever use the Ranger, before this patch or not. The Walker massively outclasses it. The Ranger has one real advantage. Flak, in this game, is obnoxious, and it causes lag for pilots when you have flak open up on you. There's no other reason to use it. It's simply a troll weapon until it gets something that makes it worth using. Also, the Ranger is garbage against Libs, even w/o Composite Armor. Until they give it more ammo, there's little point in even shooting it at Libs.
I don't find it hard to use so much as i find it completely unrewarding to use, see my edit as to why, its just far too weak even at close range to use over the walker. I of course can't take into account resistance values for vehicles because i don't know them, and its completely possible aircraft have a higher resistance to direct hits from the walker that negates any DPS advantage it has at close range. But in game it just feels like the walker still does a lot more damage. Assuming the chart on the Wikia is up to date and correct, ESFs and liberators are actually both less resistant to the walker, so there goes the theory about the DPS balancing out due to resistance values, lol.
Yah, that is my sentiment exactly. My buddy actually forbade me from pulling the Ranger for awhile because it was so unrewarding for the driver.
Anyways heres a breakdown assuming the chart on the Wikia site is correct. The rangers max damage against an ESF per round is 97 on a direct hit at 50m, with 6790 damage per mag Against a liberator 39.25, with 2765 damage per mag The walkers max damage against and ESF per round is 84.5 with 6337 damage per mag Against a liberator 32.5 with 2436 damage per mag, So the Walker puts out similar damage per mag at almost twice the pace and with a full second faster reload, of course factor in that the walker gains 5 rounds per mag upgrade and it can't be reduced in damage by the defense slot which drops the rangers damage per mag to below the walker at base as it is, and it gets pretty obvious which one is better. Really think either velocity, damage, or rate of fire has to be increased by a pretty decent margin to make the ranger useable, and doubling its ammo pool is an obvious one.
