Higby's reddit post.

I fully agree that infantry should not be a cheaper, more effective answer to armor then other armor or air. I would also support the increase in HE splash if it was made more ineffective against armored vehicles then it currently is.

I just want anti-vehicles weapons to be *much* less effective versus infantry, and I really don't care how they meet that goal. Universally effective weapons and gear should become less effective when compared to specialized weapons/gear (I am looking at C4, HA rockets, AV turrets, and air-weapons in general). Jack-of-all-trades vehicles, weapons, and equipment should not be the best answer to all enemies. Specialization should be greatly rewarded and carry a bigger risk.

Well i drive my ligthning in esamir most of the time. Driving through the canyons in south indar as a tank is not easy
too, much more cover and less omnidirectional area to stay on the run. It's what i have experienced on my own and
watched in the game, from both perspectives as ha and tank driver. It's hard hitting a moving tank with a dumbfire
and impossible to c4.

It's not easy to drive and shoot at the same time because the weapons are not stabilized, you have to stabilize by
yourself and this can be quite difficult depending on the ground. But i guess if weapons would be, lightnings wouldn't
stand a chance against a mbt.

My point is that it's currently pointless to move the tank because no other tanker does.
Imagine 10-20 tanks moving against infantry and attacking.:
Several thoughts come in my mind if i do.
First, how many times need a tank to be hit by infantry if it's not c4?
Second, how many targets can be attacked by the enemy at the same time and how many can actually be destroyed?
Third, how many shots fired on moving targets will effectively hit?
Fourth, if enemy infantry is reacting to the tank threat and they must do that, what if one or two packed sundies
take the chance and advance towards the enemy to unload the troops, while infantry is busy with the tanks and
what if air units join at the same time?
How long will the enemy defense line be able to survive an attack like this, even with current av options and tank stats?
Fifth, how many tanks will be lost in such an attack?

I think the game is currently not as unbalanced as people claim, i think the real problem is that some of the tools
we have to kill the enemy are not used as intended and therefor seeming not effective enough.
This is of course only my perspective from what i have seen on my server and from my own experience both as a tank
driver and a HA, no need to deny me of driving a tank.

I lol'd.

Sorry, i don't know that. I think it's somehow combined with xp gain,
that's how i would do it, but i don't know for sure.

that's what tanks are made for they are meant for the line push while they are trying to kill a tank you may lose the tank but in the end you may have just gave them the time to set up and push into the tower

A major problem I have with the current Tank play is that CQC with infantry is terrifying. Every infantry can insta-gib your tank due to C4 (except Infils), and this mentality makes no sense. CQC against a tank should not be in the infantries favor unless the Tank is geared in a way to have no anti-infantry capability at all (AP main gun and a non-AI seconday like a AV gun or AA gun).

Aircraft are an issue because they are designed (for some idiotic reason) to be effective versus infantry, tanks, and air all at once. This causes the only thing preventing PS2 from becoming Airside is the effectiveness of its direct counter: AA. So AA gets buffed until flying is no fun due to the effectiveness of it's direct counter. Best solution I can think of is forcing air to specialize more and not have the ability to kill everything in one loadout.

I disagree, tanks should suck in cqc and they do in real world. That's why they only proceed with infantry. It's not only to cover
the troops but also vice versa. Try to spot rocket shooting enemies in an urban environment or in the woods. Tanks are most
vulnerable in such environments. They dominate the open field if air is elsewhere.

Air superiority is a must have to dominate the ground, that's what air is made for, constant access to high ground and extended
mobility. They should be effective against everything on the ground, but since it's a game and not the real world i agree
that some sort of specialisation should be effective against a certain type of target and ineffective against everything else.

That's true. A MBT has the ability to kill more infantry than a normal guy. That's why it costs resource points.
There still isn't an excuse for everyone in the game being given the ability to kill it. (Edit: My bad. The Infiltrator can't kill one.)
I would expect an Infantry soldier to be able to specialize and kill a MBT, but not be able to kill one with the same loadout it normally uses to fight in a BioLab.
There's no reason for a Medic to not carry two C4 with him everywhere he goes. A HA can't even create a class that doesn't have a Rocket Launcher. These things need to be addressed before they jack up the cost of all the vehicles.

I believe it's 1 resource = 25 xp.

i know but in a game way this is how the tree should look
tank>infantry
air>tank

but right now it's
infantry>tank
infantry>air

they put to much power behind infantry but with how spam able stuff is it's ok right now but when things get so costly like this it's really hurting everything

less tanks less xp for infantry
less skyguard more ESF from it being so much cheaper
more ESF less happy infantry from zerged by so much air but i bet they can hold there own from having so much AA power

Sorry, I start spacing out whenever people try to bring real world combat into a game that involves hover-tanks and and such. I will try to stay focused and respond, but please realize that gameplay balance and "fun" outweigh any attempt and "realism".

Okay, I agree that tight environments are to infantries favor due to the inherent cover it provides, but that is all. Infantry should not have an inst-I-win button when they get close. I also will outright laugh at the players blaming the tank drivers not paying attention to infantry when they "skillfully" charge up to a tank and drop C4/AT-mines onto the tank. The game for the most part is a cl*ster-f*ck of special effects that will make Micheal Bays eyes bleed (unless you're try-harding with low settings ), so missing infantry will happen.

Tanks should be vulnerable to a concerted infantry effort, not insta-popped by a lone infantryman, despite whatever reality shows. Infantry inherently are harder to see and hit in an urban environment, they need no more advantage in CQC and should actually melt against the anti-infantry weapons at CQC range (HE and machine guns). A tanks greatest weakness should be another tank and Liberators.

"They should be effective against everything on the ground" This kind of thinking is why AA is so good right now and life sucks for air, but I appreciate you agreeing that specialization should occur. I don't think you agree that specialization should be required, and this concerns me. Why should the vehicles that have "constant access to high ground and extended mobility" also be effective against everything? That is counter intuitive and breaks the game balance. Force specialization and balance accordingly. Air should be the best counter to air, but anti-air aircraft should NOT be useful against ground (or at least both vehicles and infantry).

and or attack helicopters but ofc they aren't in game lol

I've put £80 in to the game. (2 full price games)

I used some of that money to buy boosts, which enabled me to gain certs quicker, so I could rank up my passive time on vehicles, so I could spawn them when I wanted and become more versatile.

Through implementing these changes SOE are effectively taking away bonuses that I've put time and money in to so that I could pull vehicles when I want to.

I don't want to become a member, because SOE keep on annoying me with how many intentionally OP weapons they bring in to the game, only to nerf later on. They care more about money than actually balancing the game so people want to play it because it's fun.

All the changes are intended to do is make SOE more money through increasing subscriptions. Yeah, as some people have said, they're a business, that's what their job is. True, but I've already paid for 2 full price games, only to have stuff that I've paid for taken off me so that SOE can try and force more people to become subs.

I'm getting sick of SOE's attitude to their players and their blatant overpowering of weapons to make more money. The game balance sucks in so many ways, due to their cynical marketing strategy.

Maybe they should try to balance the game properly and people will keep playing and buying stuff because they enjoy playing.

It's not SOE's job to tell people how they should play the game, as Higby is trying to do, it's their job to make sure that everyone can enjoy the game, irrelevant of how they choose to play it.

I'll just stop playing PS2 if it comes to it.

Yeah, a real screw up on SOEs part is them trying to make ESFs interceptor, scouts, air-superiority fighters, attack fighters, and attack helicopters all in one unit.

i would love a attack helicopter in game i love my tank but something get's me going when flying a heli maybe it's the rush that your armor is so weak but you can kill anything on the ground takes a lot of skill to be a skilled heli

Why should they care, they have your money already ?
Also, if they would balance stuff via who spent money on what the game would even be more of a mess.

You are a hopeless case in your pathologic desire for pawnmobiles.

wut armor less then a lighting but can kill anything on the ground? kind of slow so you need to learn evasive tactics?

I fully agree, but as you said it's a game and about fun and balance. And to find a balance between infantry and vehicles there
has to be at least one area or certain tools where infantry has the upper hand, or we will have even more nerf and wine threads
in the forum, resulting in way over the top nerfs. Balance allways has to be done with a carrot and a stick.
(i hope this is the right translation for the phrase, translating idioms is hard )

And since Sunderers are most of the time heavily defended it is a huge risk and needs either luck and some skill to blow
one up and time of course to fire additional rockets and vehicle nades if you attack on your own. I consider this quite well
balanced, a lot of risk and effort for an uncertain outcome.

But you're right, players should be able to make there tanks tougher then sunderers to certain threats.
Leave c4 the way it is. Tanks should get a defensive cert instead to allow them to better prepare for
cqc with infantry and to make them survive several c4 attacks.
Maybe one day we will see really though tanks with loads of armor suffering a speed decrease as a downside
to more direct hit protection. If loadouts would effect the tanks performance, tanks in general would be more balanced
throughout the game i guess.

They have some of my money already yeah, but they'll lose any extra money I would have put in if I'd continued to play the game.

The fact they're bringing these changes in to try and make more money through subscriptions suggests that they need the extra money, so if the changes means the game loses more players, then I think they should care.

I never said they should balance stuff, depending more on the opinions of the people who have spent more money, You shouldn't try putting words in to people's mouths to suit your own agenda.

I think I made it pretty clear in my post that they should balance the game properly so it's fun to play for as many people as possible. If you didn't get that I can post you some quotes from it as you don't seem to have understood the post properly.

In terms of the money I've put in to the game, my main grievance is that SOE shouldn't sell players stuff, wether it be directly (weapons) or indirectly (passive upgrades, obtained quicker through boosts) and then take it away from them.

They've encouraged me to buy passive upgrades on vehicles than made them useless. It's unfair on players.