Liberator changes on Public Test

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by PKfire, Mar 11, 2014.

  1. PKfire

    Liberator changes Have made it to test! Full notes found here, though this will encompass most. Discuss!



    Liberator Update
    • New Liberator Nose Gun: L24R Spur:
      • The L24R Spur is equipped with specialized optics that allows the pilot to adjust the weapons aim rather than be fixed forward.
    • New tail gun: Hyena Missile Launcher:
      • Hyena Missiles are compact, short range missiles that are dumb-fired, but will lock-on to enemy aircraft if they get close enough and inflict light damage.
    • New Belly Gun: D-75 Duster
      • The D-75 Duster is equipped with dual 75mm cannons that fire HE shells. While able to quickly unload its magazine of ten shells, each shot decreases targeting accuracy unless given time to recover. This allows the D-75 to feather accurate shots, or unload the magazine and bombard a wider area.
    • Tail Gun Improvements
      • The liberator tail gun has been adjusted to give it increased firing angles. It can now rotate 180 degrees but is forced to aim down when facing towards the front of the Liberator. This gives it some additional coverage to the bottom and sides of the Liberator.
    • Liberator Composite Armor:
      • Composite armor is receiving a buff for flak and now increases resistance to HEAT rounds, AP rounds and light anti-vehicle rounds (Zepher & Bulldog).
        • Flak resistance changed from (4/6/8/10) to (8/10/12/14) each rank
        • HEAT and AP round resistance added (15/20/25/30) each rank
        • Dalton Blast Damage resistance added (35/40/45/50) each rank
        • Light Tank Rounds resistance added (10/15/20/25) each rank
    • C150 Dalton
      • Inner radius blast damage decreased from 1000 damage to 700 damage.
      • In cases where this causes an increase in direct hits required to kill a target, the resistance to this damage was adjusted. Except for Liberators, Liberators will now be set on fire after two direct Dalton hits instead of destroyed.
    • L105 Zepher
      • Reload speed decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.
    • Vektor
      • The fall off damage on the Vektor is being adjusted so it is not as steep. In addition, we are trading some projectile speed for increased RPM and magazine size. We think this will allow the Vektor to be useful in more situations.
        • Minimum damage increased from 150 damage to 250
        • RPM increased from 400 rounds per minute to 425
        • Magazine size increased from 50 to 75 rounds
        • Projectile speed decreased from 750 mps to 700 mps
        • Reload Speed Certification is now -0.2 seconds per rank up from -0.12 seconds
    • A30/G30 Walker
      • We are adjusting this weapon so that at closer range the damage is increased and the fall off damage is not as severe. Between 125 meters and 400 meters the weapon will be near identical to the previous version.
      • Maximum damage increased from 115 to 130
      • Max damage range decreased from 175 meters to 50 meters
      • Minimum damage increased from 75 to 85
      • Minimum fall off range decreased from 500 meters to 400 meters
    • G40-F Ranger
      • Weapon is underperforming, receiving the following adjustments
      • Magazine size increased from 32 rounds to 70 rounds
      • Flak damage increased from to 38 damage to 45 damage
    • Liberator Belly Gun Adjustments:
      • The “dead zone” when pointing the weapon straight down has been reduced by 5 degrees.
    • Misc Balance Adjustments
      • Increased cruising speed on Liberator Racer performance airframe: Previously it was ~7 KPH per rank for a total of 20 KPH at max rank. It has been increased to ~11 KPH per rank for a total of ~35 KPH at max rank.
      • The lock-on time increase for Liberator and Galaxy stealth certifications has increased from 0.25 seconds per rank to 0.375 seconds.
      • Initial fuel cost (the additional fuel cost consumed when activating the afterburner) reduced to 25% of the tanks capacity down from 33%
        • Reduced the amount of fuel consumed per second.
          • Previously a full burn was around 1.5 seconds
          • Now a full burn is around 3 seconds



    Shared Vehicle XP
    • Experience for kills are now shared amongst the entire crew of a vehicle, this includes all passengers, but they receive a smaller amount.
    • Experience for assists are now shared amongst the entire crew of a vehicle, excluding passengers. This amount is usually less than the amount awarded for the actual assist.



    Balance
    • The “Light anti-tank resistance” has been adjusted on several vehicles. “Light anti-tank” includes L105 Zepher, M40 Fury, M60 Bulldog and Underbarrel Grenade Launchers.
      • Liberator resistance to light anti-tank increased from 0% to 35%
      • Galaxy resistance to light anti-tank increased from 25% to 50%
      • Lightning resistance to light anti-tank decreased from 40% to 30%
    • This change reduces some extreme damage these weapons were able to do against Liberators and Galaxies. While on the other side the Lightning was to resilient against this type of damage, able to withstand as much punishment as an MBT could.
      • Liberators are receiving a few base line resistance increases against heavy hitting damage types.
      • Liberator base resistance to Armor Piercing Rounds increased from -20% to 10%
      • Liberator base resistance to HEAT rounds damage increased from -33% to 10%.
      • Liberator resistance to non lock-on rocket launchers (decimator & default launchers) increased from -87.5% to -70%
    • This change causes two Dalton rounds to now put a Liberator in burning state rather than outright destroy it. Armor piercing tank shells will do less damage per hit, but will still kill in the same amount of hits (except for the lightning AP, which will take one more hit). HEAT rounds require one more shot than their AP counterparts (except for lightning HEAT, which will critical instead). And finally, decimators will no longer two shot Liberators, instead two shots will place it in critical damage.
    • Maintained lock weapons (A2A missiles and Striker) can now maintain an already established lock 300 meters beyond the maximum acquire range (400 meters) against aircraft.
    • Up x 1
  2. vsae

    Looking forward to unpark my Lib after so long.
  3. Progapanda

    Not loving the sound of the Dalton nerf vs Libs.
  4. Lucidius134

    oh no

    not the anti-everything cannon :eek:
    • Up x 2
  5. Schwak

    The tailgun is going to be an awesome seat from here on out. Can't wait to use the walker in combination with the shredder.
    • Up x 1
  6. Alarox

    With composite armor it will take:
    4 Titan-150 AP shots
    5 Supernova FPC shots
    7 P2-120 AP shots

    To take down a Liberator. You don't even want to see how many it will take for HEAT. We're talking about TTKs in the range of more than 20s.

    What is wrong with tanks being able to defend themselves from Liberators who are too incompetent to not hover or dive in a tank's LOS? All you need to do is fly above them and suddenly they're absolutely defenseless. You can shred a tank without them being able to do anything about it within seconds. What is wrong with a tank being able to defend itself when you fly like an imbecile?

    Even as a hardcore tanker I accept that Liberators are my hard counter, and that if one decides to target me I'm toast. I don't have a problem with that. But if you're going to hover in front of me, or dive with the tankbuster at ground level, why should I just have to bend over and accept it?

    The ESF is the hard counter to a Liberator. Liberators are still able to defend themselves via the dalton or shredder if the ESF screws up horribly or has no idea what he's doing. It is the same concept. It would be ridiculous if it took multiple clips of the shredder to kill an ESF, or if it took 2-3 daltons.
    • Up x 3
  7. PKfire

    Hopped on test briefly before calling it a night (morning) and I'll share my first impressions. I didn't sit around and do any serious testing of the sort, but I did have a bunch of giddy fun.

    Tail-gun
    Straight up game changing buff to the RoM for the tail-guns, and I love it. With the added incentive of crew XP, fully manned Liberators are going to be a must to maximize their new potential. As Schwak mentioned in a earlier post, Shredder/Walker builds are going to be super fun for AA. Personally, I'm looking forward to that and Shredder/Bulldog, provided we can find a enthusiastic tail-gunner.

    When it comes to the Hyena, I'm on the fence with this one. Yes, it's super bugged on test atm, but it doesn't feel like it's going to out-preform the Walker, which is good because it's pretty easy to use. I imagine ESF pilots won't be thrilled about it given the popular opinion of its predecessor, the Coyote.


    Duster/Belly Gun
    While explosive damage is bugged in the VR, which doesn't help get the feel of an HE weapon, I see absolutely no reason to equip this weapon over the Zepher. Projectiles are super slow, the cone is monstrous when firing more than two shots with one burst, and it has absolutely no practical use when engaging armor. (though the tail's new RoM will obviously help provide a buffer against vehicles) In conjunction with its own buffs, The Zepher will undoubtedly overshadow any strength the Duster may have in the battlefield.

    Mmm. Reduced dead zone. Don't know why they did it, but they did and it's fantastic.


    Spur/Nose-guns
    The Spur's decent damage and a surprisingly large range of motion will make this weapon a solid choice for any pilots load-out. Heck, the novel ability to freelook is reason alone to give it a shot. I foresee some scary pilots mastering this to great effect. Fun rating; 9/10. I just hope they fix the whole 'stare at your console when aiming down' bit.

    The Vektor sounds like a BB gun but deals some serious damage now. I don't know if it's going to be enough to bring the weapon back from the dead (not that it was ever alive) but it's definately on par with the tankbuster in its current form. Also, the Tankbuster sounds pretty weak now too.




  8. IamnotAmazing

    when was the last time you say someone running comp armor? You will never run into this issue
  9. Frozen-K

    Unrelated to liberators. But yes. Thank effing god yes. This needed to be in MUCH sooner.
  10. dstock

    This looks promising. OP Vektor, way more tankiness, crew XP, no Shredder nerfs. Heck, even my AA Harasser loadouts are getting some love, haha.
  11. Xebov

    The shared XP and the unmention visibility for ammo counts on other seats, are realy nice and im looking forward to them.

    I like the new Nosegun, its way easier to move the gun around to fire at a target then to move the Liberator all the time.

    The new Belly Gun looks pretty useless. The projectiles are very slow and not evry usefull against everything. I dont see any situation where it would be more usefull then any of the existing guns.

    The new Tail Gun is interesting. Im still not sure if i will use it as an replacement for my Walker. It currently needs 2 clips of rockets to down an ESF.

    The Update for the Walker is not bad, but i had hoped for an decrease of the CoF. If i have ESFs on my tail the biggest problem for my gunner is to score any hits because the CoF alone is so big that even well aimed shots will miss if ESFs are at some distance (100m+).
  12. Dead soldier

    "but AA is not their intended role" some random SOE employee.
    • Up x 1
  13. Schwak

    And hopefully a sizable buff next month. I've already started working on my saron harasser in preparation for the rebirth of the love buggy.
  14. Pikachu

    Im curious about if pilots will consider vektor now after the buffs. Although they did nerf the velocity. Also ih has a higher TTK on sunderer than on live. :L Did they change damage type?

    Duster is just a cannon with magazine and bloom. People make it sound like a new special thing. Its a scaled up lasher. I find it strange that nobody is pointing out that its a low skill spam weapon. Besides the aesthetics I see nothing fun in it.

    I really wonder how spur will turn out. Too easy to use and too low damage to compensate?

    I dont care for the new missiles. Tailgun is still a dicotomy between fun (bulldog) or survival (walker).

    Disappointed to see no buff to zepher's insane drop or shredder's insane damage falloff.
    • Up x 1
  15. dstock

    I've actually been using the Vektor, lately. It's very different from the TB, your playstyle and 'ideal' targets are completely different. The buffs are pretty spot on, IMO. The projectile velocity is its saving grace right now, that is the one spot it can afford to be nerfed. The ROF change makes minimal difference by itself (this is the current limiting factor on the Vektor, coupled with the damage profile, ie how long it takes to do damage), but the substantial (66%) increase in minimum damage is going to have a big impact on how this plays out. I've already started certing out 2/3 of my Vektors for reload speed (my TR one has MagSize, so I'm saving there until I actually play with it). So, I can't say anything about the damage type, but I'm quite excited to play with it some more when this goes live.

    The Duster doesn't have enough info atm, I'm waiting to trial it in VR/Live to see what I think. It comes down to the splash radius, projectile velocity, and CoF bloom/recovery. It could be an upgrade on the Zephyr, it could just be for the lols. The real question, IMO, is what happens to the Zephyr if this weapon is an upgrade.

    I'm curious about the other new turrets, and the walker changes. I've actually been running the Drake on the back lately, lol. Wait and see, I guess. As I posted above, I'm just glad to see the Shredder wasn't nerfed. It isn't easy to fly a Shredder without some experience, but the weapon performs admirably with some practice.

    Also, anyone notice the notes specify the speed buffs to Racer, but not how it interacts with AB? Finally, my numbers aren't exact, but ~210KPH + 35KPH = 245KPH, which is right around stock cruising speed on a Mossie. Poor ESFs, they'll never get away now, lol.
  16. Pikachu

    Zepher will be better against hard targets and moving ones if duster remains snything like it is now.
  17. PKfire


    heck even when it come to large piles of infantry, I'd say the Zephers ability to unload large ammounts comcentrated AoE quickly gives in an edge in that department as well.
  18. EmperorPenguin5

    Don't forget we have more gravity ONCE AGAIN when we switch from pilot seat.
    STOP THESE CHANGES
  19. bordomcom

    The other thing I would like to see with the liberator is the reduced effectivness of the dalton on esf's as they 1 shot. It would be much nicer for esf pilots to take mnajor damage and mabey be set on fire but not destroyed entirley with one hit. Sure if the esf is damaged but a single shell is just too OP to handle when you are a pro pilot, taking out hostile air what all of a sudden you die flyhing at top speed from some random liberator. This effect can be similar for the liberator or galaxy though they have sufficent amour and esf's are screwed so if anyone would like to aknowledge this happens to them and they dont like it be my guest.
  20. lothbrook


    The response from tankers should be demands that mineguard also protect against C4, which kills tanks far more often than tanks kill liberators.