NC Infantry have no AV weapon that can engage fast moving targets at long range

What you didn't figure out was that the missile flight time was reduced so the missile never travelled more than 300m from the character.

Wonder what the next GU's will bring the NC in terms of AA/AT.

Well, what can I say... Welcome to Planetside 2, lair of unbalance and frustration.
(I agreed with your post.)

They should let the missile fly farther than it's current range but it should slow down and do less damage the farther it goes.
The Phoenix hits significantly harder than the striker or lancer.

Totally ready for MLG

Does the Phoenix hit harder then the Striker? I though the striker was the highest dmg dealing launcher in the game at 2500 dmg. :/
1950 dmg I believe the Phoenix does to vehicals and 750 to Infantry.

400m for the G2G and 500m for the Striker. This equates to the following area of coverage...

G2G: 125,663 M² of coverage
Striker: 196,349 M² of coverage

A player using a Striker can cover an area 56% larger than any other lock-on user, that's huge.

Also the Striker, connecting all shots, hits @ 2500 damage with a 4.4s short reload. The G2G hits @ 1500 with a 5.2s reload. That's a 65% increase in damage over the stock AV lock-on.

Hence why so many deem it OP.

Per shot, but DPS-wise not even close.

Players complained about the Phoenix and Striker being OP, so the Phoenix was nerfed. Is there anything else to say?

How would they get a short reload if they fired all 5 shots to get 2500 damage?

I wondered about that too. The long reload is still shorter than the reload on a G2G launcher at 5.0 seconds instead of 5.2, though.

If the striker does more damage than the Phoenix I apologize that's wrong also. However, Phoenix's kill me... strikers tend to make me fly away... so it "feels" like the Phoenix is stronger.

In an ESF? Are you sure?

It's monsterously hard to hit an ESF with a Pheonix, unless the ESFs are completely stationary for most of the flight time.

They will kill with one hit, but getting that hit is extremely difficult, almost impossible if an ESF keeps moving at even a reasonable low speed or just stop for short periods.

ROFL

There is a reason you are getting killed by the phoenix, cause the NC have such horrible Anti-Air you actually can hover spam. Where as if you are VS or NC, the moment you fly over TR territory you immediately start getting lock on warnings, so you immediately need to alter your flight plan and or deploy flairs giving you 5 seconds of lock on free flying...

But no worries if you are in your mosi, just sit up there above 300m take your good old time lining up your rocket spam, the only threat you really have is a lightening and that's pretty easy to see and avoid.

Each faction has a lockon for av and a lockon for air. Annihilator sucks compared to them, since they respectively do more damage, so use those and use the phoenix more situationally (shorter/mid range).
There's absolutely no reason why your nc squad/platoon has "horrible anti air at long range" or "horrible anti vehicle at long range" other than you not using those rocket launchers.

There's no missing long range capabilities for NC infantry in other words.

You can take down an ESF with 2 shots of the air lockon. Which has the about same ranges as the other factions. Each faction has pretty much the same AA capabilities. So each faction basically has a mini striker.

Main difference is that the striker does about the same damage against av as the av lockon and same against air as the ai lockon. But can do both at the same time, without having to switch back and forth relative to the target by using a sunderer or terminal.

So it's basically an annihilator that's pretty much just as good as av and ai lockons. Making TR HA's extremely versatile in groups.

But against vehicles you will do just as well with the av lockon as a striker crew. And against air likewise with the air lockon RL. Where they CAN outperform you though is with mixed air/ground vehicles. Since they have an easier time focus firing, because of not having a need to switch from av/ai. VS can do somewhat the same with the lancer but has other limitations. NC Phoenix is weak against air but is tremendously effective AV if used correctly.

Assymetric balance means each faction is slightly different but it evens out. The OP seems to be a complaint that the phoenix can't do long range like the other two, but forgets the strength of the phoenix which the other two don't have. Assymetric balance also means that each faction specific part has to be balanced according to use in tandem with other vehicles weapons etc. compared to the other factions. So you can't simply isolate an ESRL and say "this sucks soe why is this not like the other factions, NC is UP".

Striker: AA AV capability Lockon, no AI capability. The guy has to stand still whilst firing the rockets, and the lock can be broken by flares/IR smoke.

Lancer: AA AI AV AI capability but quite terrible against AI, Long range but decreased bullet velocity especially at longer ranges, requires a lot of predicting, low damage at rapid fire, recharge requires a lot of time and is hit or miss/risky.

Phoenix: excellent AV AI capabilities, but weak AA. allows you to lob missiles from safety over hills to kill tanks and other vehicles whilst yourself being protected, and can react to sudden dodges by the target. Slow moving to balance. If the phoenix user is good and correctly positioned, it can be used like a lockon that can't be broken, without the target being able to directly fire at you.


NC also has the strongest AV MBT which can support the Phoenix HA's.

Does it really look like NC is that bad off?

My two cents.

Explain further.

Air-only/ground-only lock-ons do 1500.
The Striker does 500 x 5 = 2500.
The Annihilator does 1100.

You mean better, right?

See above.

Because the Phoenix and Lancer are so good at that.

No he doesn't. Actually, the Phoenix user does.

There have been several instances of Striker missiles ignoring flares as well as ignoring terrain.

Okay.

Not since the nerf.

You severely overestimate the maneuverability of Phoenix rockets. Have you really used the Phoenix before? For more than the 30 minute trial or VR?

I retract my statement. You almost certainly have not used the Phoenix for a significant amount of time.

This is about infantry balance. Nevermind the fact that AV infantry are wrecking vehicle play.

I agree with OP, the situation is terrible against air in particular. With the Lancer you can scare an ESF, but NC has no particular defense.
Moreover I suggest in the next GU to let the ESF strafe other than hover, going backward, upward, underground and under sea.

Uh.

I'm actually not too sure about the Striker's damage. Considering that the Decimator, a dumbfire with supposedly less damage than the Striker, can one-shot an ESF while the Striker cannot with 2500.

I think there's something up with weapon and resistance types.

G2A are a separate damage resist from the dumbfires. Not sure exactly but the 2500 damage of the Striker is not the same as the 2000 from the Decimator. The Striker and the common pool G2A launchers share resist types so they can be compared.