So I played around with the Icarus jets last night after the patch. I didn't bother with a progression, and I just dumped certs into them until they were maxed out. I friggin love them. First off, they're not quite like the regular jump jets. Consider them more of a surprise tool. Where you were restricted to preparing your encounters ahead of time with the jump jets and carefully climbing to your perches ahead of time, the icarus jets simply hurtle you into the sky. They're rather unforgiving if you miss your target landing spot, but the energy regeneration is enough that you will be able to save yourself before you hit the ground. The thrust is powerful enough that if you only have a fraction of your fuel left you can still make a quick hop up (usually about 1 story). I was getting massive amounts of fuel regeneration last night.. This could have been a glitch caused by the server latency, but I like to think that this is the intended regeneration rate for maxed out jets. It seems a bit high considering how effective they are at getting you upwards. You can still employ the tapping movement method that you could use regular jump jets for to get from ledge to ledge, but you need to be more careful since the fuel gets consumed so quickly you're relying on the regen to keep you up and your forward movement and momentum between bursts to keep you moving forward. In a smaller scale, if you're getting walloped, the icarus jets can get you out of a doorway in a split second compared to their jump jet cousin. So, despite some meh-saying i've been hearing on the forums, these new jets are awesome. They are NOT regular jump jets and they're definitely not drifter jumps. They are great for getting around most bases and getting the upper hand on your opponents on the fly (pun intended). or for getting out of hairy situations quickly.
I haven't seen much "meh" saying on the forums, but if it exists, it's probably in reference to Icarus' lack of versatility. No maneuvering, no speed drifting, no air time, no C4 fairy.
I completely agree, my only complaint is that it's hard to scale larger structures, like large rocks, that you can scale with the regular jets, but that's it. I love them too!
I have been using them for a while now. One of the funnest things in the game. I do not even miss the old ones. The point is to think of them as Jump assist. You do not fly with them, you just jump higher and it takes a little getting used to. Right now i mostly use it with a shotgun and I'm having a blast.
My biggest complaint is that due to their vertical thrust, they should be the king of fall inertia cancellation jets to date. But no! They're actually the absolute worst in this field many times over, no matter how good you are at feathering your jets. Other than that, I love them.
I'm not gonna lie. I love my Drifter jets and use em as much as possible on Hossin and Indar. But these Icarus ones seem really fun. Yeah they have their downsides compared to normal jets but the sheer upwards speed just makes em fun to use. It's more like a super jump than flight.
I adore the Icarus JJs. When you know where and how to scale bigger buildings(ie, where you can land) vertical movement is extremely fast. They also benefit a lot from pre-jumping before activation. You inherit some of the momentum this way, adding some forward momentum. It is also worth getting used letting go of the thrust before you reach the ledge, letting the momentum gotten from the JJs themselves carry you the rest of the way. This is also key when quickly scaling buildings or traversing heavy terrain. So in my experience they're not just for fast vertical movement, but also for jumping smaller terrain-pieces(involves running rather than clearing). That said, it is not a one-size-fits all, by any means. Oh, adrenaline pump helps somewhat, especially if you favour shotguns/SMGs/carbines with CQC setups.
