That is a very hard question to answer for the main reason if that change went through small fights would be completely dominated by air. Currently we already control small fights and make huge impacts, but as we all know once that fight reaches 24+ air is quickly locked out and left to scavenge the scraps. On this part of balance I do not pitty SOE as there will be no easy answer. Now I personally feel SOE should implement some AA changes in regards to range and some reduction of damage for ESF. While Libs need a very large resistance buff to ground fire so they can begin to be relevant once again. But it is not an easy problem for them to solve and to be honest flying is the smallest aspect in the game so I doubt we will get changes in regards to this.
I really don't feel the TTK is the issue Inex nor the duel reload of both weapon systems. The major issue pilots are having with them currently are the low skill demand for such a high DPS weapon. I absolutely agree that A2AM by them selves will not win the majority of fights for most pilots. But their 45% unavoidable damage simply makes them the go to choice if you want to be an A2A ESF. Which alienates external tanks and creates a binary fight style in air combat which used to be based on maneuvering and skill to win.
I'm just thinking about it again, and it just blows my mind. Bad players: "ESFs OP! ESFs are killing tanks/infantry too easily with rocket pods". SOE: Ok, we'll nerf ESF nose guns". SOE: Oh and let's release rockets for ESFs that lock on to tanks".
They really didn't. Funnily enough, they were always one of those "what if" examples that was hyperbolic because everyone knew it would be OP. But they decided to up the ante by making it also lock air. On another note, rereading the Locust description, "low damage/high mag size," so it's the needler?i i'm interested to see how this is implemented, because it'll either have way too low of a DPS to be effective, or basically be an extremely OP hybrid rotary/cannon with the benefits of both. A nosegun-like weapon on my wings would've been really cool, as well. I'd love wing-mounted Banshees.
Personally i'd like physics adjustments. I would love to see significantly higher dive speeds and somewhat decreased climb speeds, and maybe slightly more inertia . I think this would add more than anything else possible to the ESF game because it opens up an alternative means of fighting and may lead to more chase battles (=cooler) Personally I am a bit mystified by all the pilots that are miffed that an A2A-kitted ESF defeats none-A2A kits at... air to air combat.
I will be honest here, I said early in this thread that i certed A2AM to troll good pilots. But the truth is, the dual reload DPS against Liberators was the real reason. Even to this day, I only bring out the A2AMs to hunt libs. I run tanks on my interceptor setup to good effect (the ability to escape is OP in my honest opinion, so why not go with it). Even with the lock on time fully certed (it is), its hard to get a lock and impossible to get a hit at knife fight range (before PU2).
I am actually liking this, would be even better if they could eventually release a missile/bomb that can lock onto to a designator of some sort that some class could carry (like the infiltrator) and get some team-work based fights going down.
That SOE A) wants to make a cashgrab (sorry guys, I love you devs, but this weapon is blatantly OP, and we've seen this trend with every new weapon release) B) Is looking at wingmounts as independent weapon systems instead of something used with a nosegun. Guided Missiles + Explosive nosegun is way too versatile, especially in the hands of decent pilots. I don't think rocketpods are OP, but I'd rather have them split into HE/AV. Despite their restrictions, they are still seen as too versatile by many, because of rocket/rotary. But now ESF's are getting a powerful striker + powerful AI nosegun (these currently outperform rocketpods in AI btw). I love my mosquito, but that is way too much power for a single-person craft. If it must be added, give it to the liberator--then it has some chance of balance.
I did. One of the points made was that a top pilot with A2A beat a top pilot without A2A. I'm like... "Surprising!". All else being equal, an A2A spec *should* win a 1v1 engagement. In a universe where noseguns reign supreme in A2A combat, planes need make only the most minimal sacrifice in A2A capability to mount rocketpods. There's almost no choice involved. There's plenty of room in this game for air superiority and ground attack versions of ESFs. It's been a failing that this hasn't been the case. Plz note I haven't made any statements for or against the current implementation of A2AM. I've never used them outside trial. Personally I mount scout radar and rawketpods and mostly do ground attack and liberator hunting. Though, this does bring something to mind. Has the pilot community assessed the effect of Vehicle Stealth on Tomcats? The increase in lockon time strikes me as inordinate, if maxed out. (Vehicle stealth REALLY needs to be rescaled so rank 1 isn't crap...)
No you didn't. Here's aprox. what all of these posts include, The skill ceiling is lowered drastically as aiming with A2A missiles is about 1000% (a serious estimate) easier to do than with the nosegun. It completely changes the dynamics of dogfights. Refined dodging is rendered useless. Situational awareness will not be as important as a lock-on ESF doesn't need to focus his aim and know when to shoot before his victim hears the engine sounds. It will be all about who sees who first. Who can get the other ESF to pop their flare first.
Manual throttle sort of does this (you may already know about it), but it's not well-advertised and is easy to cancel accidentally.
range having some baddie on a rock 500m away firing his skill-on at me completely ruining whatever air fight im in and forcing me to at the very least run away, and in worst case scenario lose as a result of damage I took from aa that shouldn't even be relevant to me, is easily the biggest issue in the airgame, next to how incredibly ridiculous a2am are.
What i dislike about Air v Air is that you have to switch to 3rd view to do it really well, can't stay into the immersive view
Now, to be fair the A2AM should be the go to option. It's the AA specialized option in that slot, so the idea you would pick it (the AA option, not Tomcats specifically) if you want to have an edge in air duels is reasonable. Ideally you would also want to pick the Rotaries if you are planning on air superiority as well, whether or not that actually the fashionable choice right now. (also, do ESFs actually take full damage from the splash? I was under the impression they resisted some if it.) But to your point, that unavoidable damage only gets to exist because of the reload issues. Right now you get a free lockon during approach when engaging because you aren't in cannon range anyway. By the time you lock and fire, you're ready to empty your cannon of choice and then switch immediately back for the finishing blow with the now reloaded missile system. If you actually had to wait for the reloads, then you still get that initial missile but you can't follow up without spending 4 seconds doing nothing waiting for the new missile to load. And then you can't switch back to cannons afterwards without waiting another 2.X seconds for that reload. And if your target flared that approach missile? Then you don't get that damage and have to wait for the cannon mag to empty + missile reload + lock timer before you get your 'unavoidable' damage (in quote only due to the dev post indicating that's not intended to be completely unavoidable). That gives your target almost a full second cannon mag advantage on you before your first effective missile even launches. At any range close enough that you'd end up getting a kill because of it, your target has been given ample opportunity to kill you before you even get to fire. To "TLDR" the whole thing, the current missile reload mechanics have the same effect as getting a triple (or more?) damage bonus on your cannon against an opponent that doesn't have a flare handy. Even if they do the bonus is somewhere north of 50%.
@Kapernum: None of which was relevant to my post. And ridiculous besides. Planetside is not a 1v1 game. Thing is I don't care about the A2AM implementation. If there is a more fun implementation I'm all for it. Thing is, I don't see a problem with an A2A kitted ESF having an advantage over an A2G/fuel kitted ESF anymore than an AP tank over an HE tank. and frankly fuel tanks should be removed ;p ESFs have the worst P2W in the game, next to MAXes. That SHOULD be a fatal advantage. It is for every other combat in the game. That's okay, though...that's why you have teammates. Mainly, though: They are adding an aerial radar. You want to be a king of the skies? Mount the radar, vehicle stealth, and tomcats/coyotes. I don't think 'engine sounds' counts as situational awareness in any case. Another config we might see is Locusts/Fuel Tanks - high mobility / attack. It will be much harder for non-fuel tank ESFs to rabbit with the new AB mechanics.
The changes don't look bad on paper to me. I want to see details of the new weapon mechanics on the pts for myself before I start screaming about lockons being the worst thing in the universe. Just ******* relax people.
