Pay2Anni-lock

Has anyone ACTUALLY seen a column of 30 tanks destroyed by 10 guys with anni's? I doubt it.

If flares and smoke are standard then mineguard should be standard since everyone is running around with mines... The problem is what is acceptable to start with and what isn't.

The main problem at the moment is no lock on warning caused by a bug. Once this is fixed things will be easier and you will know you are being denied entry to the area instead of just blowing up, You will have plenty of warning since it just got increased by 1 second to lock on and the new dodgey flight path makes evading even easier since the missile goes to were you are heading instead of chasing.

Not to mention it does the least damage of all the launchers and has the longest lock time... It is also useless in close range as it cannot even lock within a certain distance and takes to long to risk standing and locking when possible.

Honestly i am sure 2 heavy assaults cannot take out 1 tank with annihaltors if you are hitting the tank at a distance... generally this means the tank is heading towards you and will most likely have front armor resulting in laughable damage to the front.

OMG another thread against the Annihilator; another pilot crying he because he lost his kill whoring machine and has to actually learn to fly now.

Same can be said towards anything. "Vanu is not OP" will generally be said by a Vanu, etc etc. If you die to an annihilator you either A deserve it for having a weapon capable to lock onto you in 3 seconds and you not being near any cover or having been caught in a bad location. The annihilator takes advantage of you if you're bad. Flares are OP 100 certs to counter something that costs more than it self? IMBALANCED!

When I pilot anything I'm more likely to die to the environment more than a lock on missile. Mainly overpowered trees. NERF TREES!

Of course not...do you know how hard it would be to get that many terrible pilots in one place at one time and tell them not to move around at all?

Its not ANOTHER pilot....it is the same three terrible ones who cant hover any longer and want everyone to know they are mad about it.

I'm sure The Enclave has a video like that.

Could you make a video to show us how it's done? When I'm flying toward a battle on flat ground, but get locked on before I can even see the enemy, what attack vector should I use? Or should I just log out until the AA is gone?

There are a lot of experienced pilots who need you to demonstrate how to do this effectively.

ohh how quickly we seem to forget. Do we not remember November and December, even late beta when infantry could not leave buildings because of the air and tank spam. The game is much better now that infantry can stand their ground and defend against armored advances and much of this comes from the annihilator.

Lets not overplay the strength of the annihilator though. It does have the longest range in terms of launchers, it can also engage air and land at the same time. It is also the lowest damage launcher, has a 3 second lock on for everything but Libs and Gals. I think it is also one of the slowest reloading launchers (dont quote me on that). The annihilator is really only effective when used in mass numbers. 2 or 3 HAs with them do not do enough damage to deter much beyond an ESF and maybe a lightning. MBTs, Sundys, Libs, and Gals can survive a surprisingly long time against annihilators till there are 4 or more HAs targeting you with them. At that point should they not be a massive threat? Should 4 or more people acting as dedicated AV not be a major threat, especially to anything approaching across open ground?

I also tend to see lots of people saying remove the lock on, but increase the projectile speed and reduce the drop for the dumb fire rockets. This would give us sniper like rocket launchers that would require greater skill to use, similar to PS1. This all sounds good till you apply it to the actual game. If we take a similar scenario of a tank/air column assaulting a fortified position with 10-20-30 dedicated HAs doing dedicated AV. Now instead of getting hit by lock on launchers the attackers are just getting rocketed to death with no warning, no way to avoid lock on, no way to stick your nose out from cover and shoot (with a tank) without instantly being rocked. Then we have people back all over these forums complaining about how OP the dumb fire launchers are and how there is no defense, no warning you are just instantly dead.

I do think there needs to be some balance tweaks when it comes to launchers, especially in regards to ESFs. I think the ESFs need a bit more survivability. I think a 15-25% increase in armor or HP would serve them well. With all the launchers, burster maxes, AA guns on tanks and now on Sundys, they need a bit more survivability. I think the tank smoke screens could also be more effective, giving it a larger radius and longer duration that covers nearby armor but at a longer cool down. This could promote team work as a group of tanks working together could stagger their smoke screens to provide long term cover as they advance or retreat. On the other side it would also promote the use of the dumb fire rockets. In the end though this idea that the annihilator is ruining the game is just not true. Has balance shifted maybe a bit too far in favor of infantry??...perhaps a bit. Overall the game is much better now though than it was when armor and air spam was unstoppable.

I dont fly but Im sure we can make videos of pilots doing just what we are telling you to do...no problems. Couldnt you just pop flares and fly away and come in from a different angle? Couldnt you just turn and hit speed burst? Turn and run for the nearest mountain? Am I missing something?

That part in red is the only situation pilots have problems with. Being out in the open on flat ground is bad no matter what you think. If you fly near terrain and use your counters then you will be fine.

Pilots like to say it takes skill to fly but they dont want to use it.

Actually teamwork "implies" a group of, in the case of PS2, players playing the roll (read classes) that are required to succeed in wherever goal they have set themselves. This maybe the goal of capping a Tech Plant; equally it might be the goal of clearing the area of enemy air in the support of that Tech Plant cap, in which case the majority of them pulling HA and Annihilators, while a few pull engineers and medics, is "teamwork" personified.

If my goal in the game were "stay alive for as long as possible" all those things would be great.
Is there any way I can actually shoot at someone in that scenario though? It would be nice to participate in battles beyond seeing the word "LOCK" on my screen, particularly in the north of Indar and... you know, Esamir.

Doesn't "teamwork" require some form of coordination?
Seems like what you described is a bunch of people pulling the best utility weapon for themselves without any regard to what other people are doing. A few people are inclined to support roles, and everyone who wants to shoot at anything takes HA/Annihilator.

No communication, no coordination, no teamwork. Just mindless self-interest.

I don't have a problem with the annihilator per se, but I do have a problem with not being able to see WHO is firing them and the rockets in flight. As a pilot or a driver, I have NO way to take appropriate countermeasures or evasion to such a thing. Again, it's why I support giving all air and land vehicles smoke and flares standard.

Stop trying to use air in a situation that it's not best equipped to be in is the answer. Switch class/rolls to something that better in that specific situation you mention above. Just as I have to switch between HA, MAX, Lighting, Sundy and engineer depending on the situation and geography of the battle.

It may not be what you regard as teamwork as you seem to have very specific ideas as to what that entails, but it is still teamwork in the truest sense of the phrase.

Game is fine ... Now that they spam your "oh so precious (OP)" Prowler & Mossie, now you come here to whine about teamplay infantry tactics ?

Adapt or perish ...

Next !

Ok, well we know my definition of teamwork (communication, coordination, task-delegation, etc). I'd like to know what yours is.
If there's a group of players in one place who all have the same goal, what would they do that you would NOT consider to be teamwork?

Air is still farming small battles with powerful A2G weapons, but can't participate in big battles at all.
New pilots have no hope of learning to fly.
If this is balanced and workable, I'd love to see a demonstration video of how you manage it (especially in an uncerted ESF/Lib).

Before the bursters got buffed pilots told us to use teamwork to kill them. Now that we use teamwork to kill them they don't like it anymore.

So people "teaming up" with rocket launchers is not actually teaming up unless they all get in vent and talk about it or something? Teamwork is teamwork is teamwork...

Annihilator exists to tell you one thing:

You can't stay inside your vehicle/aircraft forever.

Well mine is pretty much the same as yours then; a group of players that communicate with each other how best to equip themselves to achieve an agreed goal. This goal could be to clear the immediate area of air threats, in which case they agree that the majority will pull HA while the remainder will pull medics and engineers. See, team work in action.