GU011: Weapon and Vehicle Changes

DPS for shotguns if you can't aim is absolutely abysmal. You MUST be right on-target with them or it's like spraying someone with Windex.

This shotgun damage debuff does nothing but reduce effective range of shotguns yet again (which ironically is exactly what they said they weren't doing).

this is the kind of thinking i'd like to see more in the game instead of the typical COD player thinking... people need to learn this is not COD or battlefield. vehicles are supposed to be valuable... in ps1 you didn't just rush a base with 20-30 MBT's and park in the courtyard... you stayed back shelling from distance usually with infantry cover between you and the base... yes there were always 2-3 sunderers per battle... but those guys were dedicated... you hardly ever saw the driver/owner leave his sundy and back door sundies were seriously defended usually with an entire squad and/or armor.

now in PS1 there was actuall strategy with he lattice.. lattice didn't force you to attack only one base you could start in the middle of the lattice if you had the balls and patience. in ps2 the only thing the lattice brings is zerg fights. zero strategy at all. really wish they would focus on fixing that before vehicles, but at least this is a start torward adding a tiny bit of strategy back to the game.

still the harraser is stronger than the lightning if you keep them the same cost i want a buff... i've put thousands of certs into my lightning just to have it made useless by a buggy... something that should be slightly tougher than a flash..

That seems overarching. Zero skill? I can just aim in any direction, stand stock still, and dominate with an automatic shotgun? Gosh, I was doing it WAY wrong then. I understand the desire for pejorative language, but c'mon, it doesn't help.

I get my clock cleaned a lot more by pump shotguns than I do with automatic shotguns in a somewhat 2:1 ratio. I see the name "Haymaker" more than any weapon. Not all, to be sure, but quite a lot.

If you want to balance shotguns, maybe balance them the same way that real life balances them: spread shots (read flechettes) are stopped significantly by ballistic armor (flak armor in this case, to make it competitive choice). Heads aren't as reinforced, nor are weak spots on the body. Pump shotguns will have better control and therefore aiming, and automatic shotguns will put down a hair of fire making it more luck-based, while shotguns in general will be competitive with SMGs and such as people will either choose nanoweave and be better off versus solid bullets, or flak to stop shrapnel based weapons like standard shotgun rounds (as opposed to solid slugs). You'll still have your skill shots and some people you can roflstomp because they weren't prepared, and others you won't because they were.

Crewed Vehicle should be able to do more than a single person vehicle.

Thanks for the bone, but as long as the main battle tanks can be OHK'd by one guy with C4, you best be reevaluating the INSANE 450-RESOURCE COST for them. Anything over half of the available resource pool is unacceptable unless the tanks get a durability increase.

A very good change.

Any word on C4 / AT mine cost changes?

And for that matter AV mana turret fixes?

Good stuff!

A normal harraser is actually fairly easy to destroy.

The only thing that is "OP" with the harraser is the composite armor. It almost double the ttk against most weapon and is just so game changer that it is pretty much a necessity.

I think the resource changes are good. But maybe it's because of the way I play. I manage my resources well by rotating air/ground/infantry spawns. I'm sitting at max inventory in AV mines, AI mines, C4, concussion grenades, health stims, and sticky grenades. I can keep a full stock most of the time while still pulling Maxes any time I want. But again, this is probably not the case for everyone.

Even though it may look like a bad thing, it will actually be good because it wont only be you with low resources. You will see less max usage(hopefully), less infantry mines blowing you up, and more of the shoot'em up infantry game. There will be less tanks around shooting you with HE explosive rounds etc. The increase in resources will make you have to decide where you want to spend the resources, it will also make the purchasing of boosts more important, which in turn funds the game you are playing.

I can't help but to picture a kid constantly screaming at mom and dad saying "I want that candy, I want candy!" when the parents know a good mix of healthy foods and sweets are the best thing for their child.

If SOE starts to see a huge trend of lack of resources then im sure they will change the cost of things. Just remember this will affect everyone the same. Lets just see how it works out first.

The change that has me confused is the additional buff to skygaurd with the nerf to flak for maxes... huh?

I have to ask if these costs are being balanced around Those with resource boosts and those without. It would be a Horrible mistake to be balanced someone like myself who gets a 100% boost from Alpha squad and 6 month subscription.

What I really feel though is that the resource system is not working properly. When you see that Infantry resources are used the most its more due to the fact that you can both store them (in the sense of buying 40 nades) and you can burn though them at a Much faster rate then any other resource in the game.

I think a Higher resource cost with a Larger reserve pool ( if only for Vehicle and Air atm) would serve better as a limiter by giving people the ability to pull those 5 tanks in 15 minutes if they want, but then they have to wait for more resources, rather then the current system, which only becomes a factor as you reduce your timer.

It would also be a benefit if the resource cost of some vehicles was dependent on its loadout, such as a Default Flash having little to no cost, while adding a Wrath or Weapon boosts it's cost from say 25 to 125. If this is setup it could open up far more differences in vehicle weapons and rolls. You could give that tank a "OMG" cannon but it would cost them so much that if they lose it, they can't just pull another, without punishing the people who run a default version.

ESF should be 750, there are people racking in 100k exp per hour with them so it would be a reasonable change right ?

How about making grenades cost air ressources, they fly ! Would take some stress from the infantery ressources.

This ressource change will be so awesome for the lopsided servers where factions are warpgate locked all too often, now they can have all the fun trying to breakout with infantery only !

So why:
Can an ESF kill a MBT?
Can a solo manned MBT kill a Harasser?
Can an ESF kill a Liberator?
Can a MBT kill a fullt manned Sunderer

The truth is the Harasser has far too much durability for a vehicle with that speed, that dps and that turbo escape mechanism. It can be repaired while it is being driven and unlike Nanite it doesn't need to wait for a cooldown.

It does so much damage it eats Viper Lightnings alive. Just another example of very poor balancing in this game.

Are you kidding with this? The NC Max already needs to be within 5m for it to have any advantage over the other Maxs weapons, and it trades this privilege for the inability to do any damage to anything beyond 10m. You can empty both shotguns into an infiltrator at 15m and not kill it, and you think that damage needs nerfed? And don't give me that "more damage in the mid ranges" rubbish. You can barely hit anything boyond 8m with the spread on the Max shotguns. The dropoff isn't what makes shotguns inneffective at mid ranges, it's the spread, so how is a dropoff decrease supposed to be balancing? If you really wanted this to promote less spam and better accuracy then you'd nerf the damage and tighten the spread.

Also, where's the NCs burster damage buff? The TR and VS already have empire specific launchers which are siginificantly better at anti air than anything the NC has access to...why exactly do they also get buffed burster damage? The TR is getting ridiculous. They now have the most powerful anti air launcher, the Prowler is the most effective at hitting Liberators, the Mossie is the best anti air ESF and now they get lockdown maxs as well...why don't you just remove the other factions air vehicles, you seem determined to not let them use them.

I appreciate that the NC had the best Max for a long time, but how long are you going to keep it worthless to compensate the other factions?

I think the increase in resource cost for the Flash and MAX are a bit steep. I'd have gone with 50 for the Flash and 200 for the MAX.

Loving the buff for the Jackhammer though. Maybe one day it will be worth getting, until then I'll just stick to regular shotguns. They perform better (overall, not individually, it depends on the situation) and can be used by any class. The Lasher and MCG buffs weren't really needed, but it should stop the whiners.

Glad they left the timer of ZOE. Aegis and Lockdown don't have timers, why should the Vanu be stuck with one?

Not sure about the Vulcan buff. If they've buffed the accuracy to match the Saron (and whatever the NC equivalent is called) then it should be awesome. If they've just buffed the damage then not so much as I don't really feel that the damage was an issue.

The buff to the Skyguard is cool, but I'm not sure if nerfing the burster was such a good idea. Sometimes the only anti-air you have available is either a lock-on or Burster, this could lead to even more lock-on spam.

A blatant lie to sell more flamethrowers is what it is. If they wanted to promote less spamming shotguns in the general direction of an enemy, THEN TIGHTEN UP THE CONE OF FIRE YOU IDIOTS. If SOE genuinely wanted an increase in shotgun range, THEN REDUCING THE DROP ISNT GONNA DO ****. What they are trying to do is make it so that the NC shotguns are pretty much useless, release the flamethrower,, make us all buy that, then nerf the hell out of that too.

I think that the ammo increase is good, but should include a proportional increase in the ammo reserve as well. I'd possibly consider upping the number of pellets to 8, but that might make the 3-round-burst mode a bit useless unless you come across a MAX.

This is exactly what I DON'T want from this game. The infantry combat is TERRIBLE. This game's maps aren't designed for lemmings to footzerg from one end to the other.

If I feel coerced into buying boosts just to maintain a style of play that I've had for 7 months, I won't pay the money -- I'll just uninstall.

Update looks great! I welcome any kind of nerf to shotguns and I could care less about my purchases where balance is concerned. I know from usage that Shotguns are incredibly easy to use and overpowered. They are the epitome of easy mode as evident on Matterson. It feels like every other TR uses a Nighthawk and I am often forced to use a shotgun myself. What's funny, because I have a sliver of skill, is they then QQ, "Nova OP, Phobos OP" when I whip one out. Such a sad sight.

I have a question though! Is it possible to add a bloom toggle this update or another? I don't mind changing it in the config. I really want to play on High but I simply cannot with bloom on. Not only does it needlessly obscure a player's vision regardless of time of day, it sometimes causes eyestrain, nausea and "omg I can't use ZOE Max at night for I can see neither sky nor earth."

To be fair any vehicle besides a flash will eat a Viper Lightning alive, it's pretty much an anti infantry weapon.