New ESF Weapons and Cert Lines - 01/10/2014

Guys does anyone else notice that you can't see what you or anyone else is saying? I can't believe you guys have this glitch.

Those are some neat things to look forward to.
Yeah, I think the Coyotes could do with 4 shots and less damage. Maybe a bit higher fire rate.
Oh, btw, I picked the +10m lockon range, and it flew close by a galaxy.
If the normal range is 10m less, I think it would be impossible to lock onto gals^^
The Hornets aren't actually that easy to control against a moving vehicle. Nicely done.
The AB cost from hover feels hefty, but I rarely use it, I'm not actually that good a Pilot.

Though what I'm (still) really missing is hybrid airframes.
Why do I always have to choose whether I want to turn fast or tilt fast?
Why can't we get a frame with half of each? I feel I'm lacking something no matter what I pick, and no matter the actual plane.
I can understand the choice on tanks with only 2 chassis, but if we got 3....

The mechanics for the A2A feel decent. Well, ok, they feel good, but I'm not sure about the balancing.
I got a feeling they'll need a bit of a boost somewhere, unless you expect the engagement radar is gonna pull people away from flares.
How about having just such a missile against ground, as well?
Suggestion to make it interesting: have it start with extremely low velocity, but inherit half the speed of the plane, and with a light drop unless close to the ground.

Last but not least, I agree to some of the sentiments about the new Main gun. The VS version looks slick, but it's just not particularly useful. I compared it to the AH and Hailstorm, and it can't hold a candle to either on either faction; The upgraded hailstorm fires and reloads fast enough I can get the same amount of bullets off, just in bursts.
It'd be interesting to try to have it shoot two pellets of roughly half the damage instead, with 0.2 spread. Feels more like a bulletstorm.^^
And yeah, hiving it under the wings would have proven beneficial to the PPA. It might work great with coyotes, though.
I think the PPA still has 20 base ammo, to be upgraded to up to 70? How 'bout changing that to 25/30/35/40/45?
I mean, it just feels wrong. Not that you ever need that much ammo, but I'm reluctant to cert it just because I expect it will be nerfed.

i really love the hornet missiles, so many uses for them. but they should just limit their use to just 1 and increase their damage by 200% but also decrease the ammunition also

best way to use them is to use mouse look in the ESF and you can guide your missile anywhere

it will lockon to a target if the missle passes close by. So just fire it at an enemy aircraft the same way you would with photon pods and the heat seeking mechanic will aid you it hitting the target.

With the hornet missiles you can hit ground vehicles at render distance flying upside down and using the cockpit view to aim down at the tank...

You mean like this?

It doesnt have a lock-on the way that the original A2AM has. Basically point at the target and click the mouse button. it "locks" in-flight basically.

First and foremost... A2A changes I LOVE. This puts skill into A2A missiles and removes the "I Win" button. Thank you SOE!!! You listened to the players. I'll be damned...

Coyote missiles have a short as **** lockon range. Like, in your face short. This puts my concerns at ease. This is absolutely NOT an "I Win" button.

Hornets NEED a nerf. Badly. Damage is bugged per Joshua @ SOE, but the range they have is OP. Able to hit anything in render puts ground stuffs at a major disadvantage. I like the slow turn speed of the missile though. Can't hit anything you aim at, gotta be in a good position. Hitting ESFs will be a *****. If you get hit by one, you deserve to die.

AB pods seem okay when you dump some certs in them. I honestly like the change. This in exchange from hitting hover stability with the nerf bat I can live with.

The locust.... Slow firing, slow TTK... I can see it being used on a Lib, but on a dogfight with another ESF or hitting ground targets.... no. Just no.


Air engagement radar was INOP. Probably bugged.

Tankers are going to HATE Hornet missles.

I am would bet my monthly salary that these items all come out OP and all contribute to shortened TTKs. People will rush to cert/buy into the new items. The rest will scream on the forums to nerf them. They will get nerfed after 3-4 month of destroying the game. People who invested in them will demand refunds.

It is like PS2 ground hogs day.

Except Skyguards - there will be more ESFs flying around to kill!

The only problem with tanks and Hornets is one of faction imbalance... the TR Prowler is the outright loser, you'll die to Hornets, because even if you unanchored after the first volley, you'll barely have any momentum/speed to dodge the 2nd volley. Meanwhile, NC Vanguards just need to toggle their OMFG shield, and Mags can burn away just before the missiles hit them.

I love how they feel and work though, and I really doubt the best way to use them is trying to hover fire from a distance. I'd treat and use them almost as I would rocket pods since they'll be harder to avoid when you set them off closer, and they seem to work well with strafing runs.

Bottom line - please address Prowler anchored mode, it has far too many drawbacks, especially given the amount of guided or long ranged super accurate weaponry in the game today (AV turrets, Ravens, Lancers, etc). I think the cert line should quicken the undeploy speeds by a huge amount from where it stands today.

PSA - Vanguards are the real problem vs. air, not the Prowler AP with anchored mode... the HEAT and AP Vanguards just constantly swat ESFs out of the sky, without any warning, boom, dead! Any ESF that doesn't react after being hit by the first shot of an AP Prowler deserves to be dead anyways, but the Prowler still needs 2 shots for a kill.

For Hornet tuning - the damage per missile should be the only aspect tweaked really... being able to spam a couple of missiles is just simply more engaging than firing a single big daddy one! They feel just right in usage the way they are now.

Something tells me I'll be putting Maggie away for a bit.

Don't lose all hope yet.

They're fixed, now they take 8 instead of 4 to kill.

Still too fast.

How many to the tail?

I don't know, I'm patching PTS now.

As laser guided missiles are getting more and more common, can you consider adding something akin to a lockon warning sound for them as well? I think a universal "incoming missiles" warning would be very useful. Warn me if there are enemy missiles headed towards my direction, even if they aren't aimed at me.

The planned change for showing missiles on the radar will be great if it actually gets implemented. But something tells me that could take a long time / could get cancelled due to technical limitations.

YES!!! FINALLY!!!

The age of unavoidable win buttons is over!!!

By the way, the max travel distance has been reduced by 200 meters, but what was the previous max distance?

rules out the A2A missiles now. they should have kept the maximum distance but dont require constant lock. A2A missiles are overnerfed to me

should definately keep the turning rate limit on the missiles though

5 to your rear quadrant kills. 4 (one mag) puts you in danger zone but not flaming.