The statement is somewhat a exaggeration. Yet not really. I've seen Vanguards ability used more often for Connery then Emerald so far. Yet Emerald always has x4 the pop. I don't see the Vanguard ability used at all, zero, for Emerald. Zero use the ability. When I try to use this ability. It's very niche, you have to be having a 1vs1 first of all, and many tanks situations are not 1vs1 when a 48vs48 or 96vs96 is happening. For open fields. If 2 people are hitting you, you're dead either way. Unlike magriders ability where that ability is used to escape and flank no matter if its 1vs1 or 48vs48. TR has mentioned Rampart as well being lackluster. Well at least TR for Emerald has good tank drivers. NC does not. Theirs already a Prowler thread. This is the " Vanguards abiltities suck compared to Magriders " thread. As for nimitz I've tried it, don't really notice anything at all, not even regen, I don't know. It's def such a minor ability. Should just be flat regen is better than the normal regen. New ability for Vanguard: When you're not taking dmg for 4 to 6 seconds, you get more regen then any vehicle the game has. That should be what nimitz is. As for the shield ability, sure take less flat dmg when activated. I don't believe a short 10 second buff or whatever the vanguard shield has, is working. It's so niche for 1vs1's and still makes me have to sit repairing forever, after trying to use the ability. Most the time the enemy tank just runs away when he sees me use the vanguard shield. Else I forward vanguard shield & then 2 enemy Lightning's shoot me down to 10%, and I have to sit repairing for what seems like 4 minutes. The shield maybe should be something else entirely. Something more new player friendly. Not a timer buff that's for sure. I'd prefer flat HP buff over this shield so far. The issue that prowlers and vanguards have, is they have to repair x4 more often then Magriders do. Also Magriders ALL have BOUNTIES. Literally all the magriders do. I tell vs magrider is the easiest tank to score killstreaks with. The Vanguard to Prowler to Magrider bounty numbers are this for Emerald. For every 24 bounty Magriders, their are 10 bounty Prowlers. For every 1 NC bounty Vanguard. Their are 14 more bounty magriders than bounty prowlers. Their are 23 more bounty magriders than bounty vanguards. So Vanguards are for sure the weakest. For Connery & for Emerald. Heck I even see Rampart used x10 more often than Forward Vanguard Shield. & I think rampart sucks, makes you have to repair too often and needs c4 resistance. Tho Rampart is at least new player friendly. Vanguard Forward Shield isn't. Both tanks have to repair too often. Prowler at least gets a buff to dps speeds which is a useful buff and the prowler dps buff is easier to use, than the vanguard shield timer is. Then theirs the fact that magriders abiltiy helps them escape c4, escape repair time, and their hitbox is less due to the narrow mid hitbox. I'll try to time the vanguard ability better, I'm no expert, since I don't main HA. Still know most people won't ever master it, unlike the magrider which every average driver vs vet has a bounty bullseye logo.
I agree with some comments, disagree with others: DISAGREE Your downplaying of Nimitz Reactor: Man, Nimitz is the BEST defense slot across all MBTs, not just the best for the Vanguard, but the best across all MBTs. It quite simply washes away the petty damage from scum like career AMR engineers, career LAs who hope with Ambusher jets and spam rocklets, and can help you deny lock-on impact from the front. Nimitz will eat up whole HEAT tank shells from the Lightning and Prowler. It pretty much eats up Lightning AP shells also, as those only deal 50 excess damage. Your downplaying of the Vanguard shield: It is certainly stronger than you make it sound, particularly in CQC. It might not be as impactful in battle as the Prowler's Barrage or the Magrider's magburner, but it is strong, nevertheless. Sure, it is not strong enough to let you win 1 vs. 2 against Lightnings by yourself, but you certainly can win 1 vs.2 against Lightnings if you have a gunner (especially if you can ram one of the Lightnings). AGREE Your suggestion to change the Vanguard Shield: The Vanguard shield is the only MBT ability in the game that can be 100% nullified. Basically, you derive no benefit from it if you get shot in the rear armor. In that same situation, a Prowler can boost their DPS, and a Magrider can G_T_eff_O to safety. Vanguard on the other hand, does not derive any benefit in that scenario. Back when the Vanguard shield used to be extra health on demand (instead of the current Wrel directional resistance), you could derive a benefit from the shield if ambushed from the rear. It would be nice if the shield could still help the Vanguard somehow if hit from the rear. Your assessment of the Rampart Projecto for Prowler: I swear, the only time I've seen this used to someone's benefit is if the Prolwer driver is a zergling who has two pocket engineers sinking my Vanguard's DPS for 'em. All niche scenarios aside, the Rampart is in fact useless, and TR might as well use any of the common pool defense slots. Your assessment of the Magburner: The thing is incredibly cheesy. It can be better than the Vanguard shield sometimes. Here's the Magrider meta: Multidirectional exhaust + Magburner + Recharge. The setup allows Magrider players to legally rubber-band twice within a, say... 4-second span. What they do is boost (really, rubber-band) to make you and your gunner miss your volley. So, since the prey missed the volley entirely, the denied DPS is much better than what the Vanguard shield could have sunk, but, on top of that the Magrider will derived a positional advantage (access to side/rear shots on prey). Also, because they boost, Magriders can reposition to places that neither Prowler nor Vanguard can. Some of these places are really inaccessible to any other "ground" vehicle except the Magrider. The Magrider is the true DPS sink in the game, because it is really dodgy, when it does get hit it does so from the front, and most of the time, the pro Magrider players are going to be camping around a hard to access location where they can time-out indefinitely from other ground units.
What else do you expect from someone who exclusivly played one faction, before spending time on another one. If AudacityStar ever played with the OG Numbnutz reactor this complaint would have never be written by him. There is this strange phenomenon, when you play against a certain faction you obviously have to deal with their abilities more often because you are shooting at them, in contrast when playing along side with said Faction.
"So Vanguards are for sure the weakest. For Connery & for Emerald. Heck I even see Rampart used x10 more often than Forward Vanguard Shield. & I think rampart sucks, makes you have to repair too often and needs c4 resistance." Play a Chimera and then tell us which MBT is the weakest.
I see. Found I enjoy using Nimitiz. For peak a boo shooting. However the ability wasn't obvious at first. Never said was pro vanguarder. Just that both servers have far less bounty mbt's for nc, then I see prowlers and magriders with bounties. Some of it is vet numbers per faction. Still the vanguard is the least new player friendly tank. Vanguard shield is ok I guess, it's still not gonna get people to play vanguard; yet at least is a tad better than I thought. When ur using nimitz too. Theirs still gonna be x10 more hill sniping prowlers and x20 more drifting magriders, then peek a boo shooting vanguards. The vanguard shield only seems good for peek a boo as well, which seems what vanguard is for. Boulder wading. The middle slot of all empires is the most ignored slot, for new players. So I dunno, if they'll even have nimitz slot bought, if they have the forward shield, they need both. I don't believe the shield is that good on it's own. Spare a few 1vs1 enouncters, tho overall for 48vs48 no, the peak a boo style makes sense. - Yet what is obvious is that Prowlers snipe hills. - Magriders juke shots plus travel fast. - What isn't obvious is what you do with a vanguard. Some say well vanguard is 1vs1 made, if you time the shield. Well not really, seeing as most Magriders have more bounties, the magrider is super ez to 1vs1 as well. Prowlers dps out weighs the vanguards shield, so Prowler is good for 1vs1 too. So to say Vanguard is excelling at 1vs1 way more, to justify its lack of fluidity, just isn't true. Similarly Prowlers barrage skill prob isn't used by new players, tho at least when they time that skill, they don't have to be at a threatening situation or bum rush someone as the only option. Barrage is used for more ranges & thus situations, then vanguard shield is. So far for the 2 servers, rampart shield, even withs its cons. Else the base staked ground ability. Is still used x10 more often then vanguard shield is. Heck prowlers use ground stakes together. You'll see teams of sniping prowlers 100% more likely then a team of vanguard shields side by side. I for one have not seen a team of vanguard shields. The way all magriders use their ability together to flank; Prowler sniper teams. That may just be a lack of vet issue. Or that the vanguard shield timing, isn't a very team oriented abiltiy. Nimitz requires you to peak a shot while you have cover. So you can't do that with teams, your team of 10 vanguards aren't all going to have equally placed boulders spaced perfectly for all of us to have our own boulder to hide behind. While also being near enough to seem like a team? not happening. Maybe the shield works for team tank blitzes, yet every tank is good for that. As for Prowlers and Vanguards. They have a repair situation. Magburner helps magriders, defensively dodge shots and run away, which helps them repair x10 less often. Rampart soaks dmg, Forward shield will still have you repair 90% of ur hp if you survive. Both tanks also have bigger box hitboxes. When I started playing TR alt & NC after VS main, I noticed I was spending 200% more time repairing, while puting myself in less risky positions then my magrider was in, yet still the magrider repairs less. Maybe they should make the repair tool repair these 2 tanks a tad faster. Since they aren't floating hotdogs that drift. Even so it's not only extreme vets who are getting bounties with magrider, it's average lvl vets too BR 60's. As for NSO tank I wouldn't know. Those tanks have sniped me worst than a prowler ever has. 2 miles out. So they def have some type of specialization. Just they tend to stand out as targets. & not drive the best. & the seats should get more use. Those who sit should have x2 more hp & sniper resist. Then again the harasser seat is also near meaningless. Buff seats.
I agree a lot more with this second reply. I guess, here's a few points to complement what you've said. Why do TR/VS hate the Vanguard shield? For the same reason that infantry players hate turning a corner into a MAX. Essentially, the Vanguard shield makes the Vanguard the deadliest lurker vehicle in the game (second only to a Colossus or Battle Bus with dual M60 Bulldogs). Essentially, if you thought you could safely lurk in your Prowler or Magrider in the tight canyons of literally every map's middle: You can't if Vanguards are also lurking those canyons. Why was the Vanguard Shield nerfed by Wrel? Because he had the urge to appeal to the whinnies from (1). What should Wrel have done instead? He should have flattened the maps. Essentially, reshape the middle parts of the maps (i.e., Crown, Eisa Tech Plant, Ascent, Nason's Defiance) so that there are fewer canyons, fewer mountains. That way, the people who make up the crowd for (1) would never have whined as much. The Vanguard shield is only good for lurking and saving yo @$$ from the front. I maintain that it is a good ability. However, I forgot to mention another of its weaknesses. If a Vanguard gets hit by a high-damage volley (i.e., Prowler Kingsnake + Gatekeeper or fully charged Magrider Perihelion, or Magrider FPC + full Saron HRB volley, or Prowler AP + Gatekeeper) the shield's effectiveness is reduced. You can only reduce damage for as long as you have hit points. Such example volleys will erase half the Vanguard's health from the side and some from the front. Rear hits from these volleys are 66% damage. Activating the shield on 50% or 33% remaining health is as if the shield had been neutralized and as if the Vanguard never had the shield in the first place. Why is Magrider so effective? Because of what I suggested be done in point (2) has never been done before. I swear, the game's maps are custom built for the Magrider. All five maps (with dishonorable mentions being Amerish, Hossin, and Oshur) feature these dumb-@$$ plateaus that only Magriders can access. Indar and Esamir also have regions where Magriders are disproportionately benefited but the issue is not as rampant as in Amerish, Hossin, and Oshur. The terrain for this game is very unfriendly to anything that isn't a Magrider or Harasser. I mean, every other wheeled/tracked vehicle is channeled through narrow roads. You're encourage not to flank beyond those roads because when you enter uneven terrain, your turret's first-person aim is thrown off. Meanwhile, the Magrider's main gun is stabilized in first-person. Why Is Magrider so effective? Part (2): When 1 vs. 1'ing it, you typically always hit its front side. If you want to emulate the Magrider's strafing as any other tank, you have to expose your side armor. Magrider's hitbox is substantially smaller than Prowler's/Vanguard's. 9/10 times, the Magrider has a geography benefit that you don't get as Prowler/Vanguard, the other 1/10 times you're par with it. I have never seen a Magrider get stuck, whereas you can find instances of Prowlers/Vanguards getting stuck on rocks. Why? because said players attempted a flanking maneuver outside flat terrain. Why was such a risky flank initiated? Because they were trying to do something about the griefer Magriders who were poking them from afar from safety on some plateau.
One things for sure. theirs Literally 400% more magriders with the bounty logo then any other vehicle of the game. For both servers. For years. No vehicle should have that many bounty drivers. Theirs plenty of hours with no bounty vanguards and sometimes with no bounty prowlers, tho theirs neverrrrrr a time where theirs no bounty magrider, not even 3am. You'll still see a bounty magrider or a few. & honestly I don't want them to nerf magrider, just buff harasser verse tanks, buff sunderer verse tanks, buff prowlers rampart, & make vanguard more interesting seeing as vanguard shield is kinda boring to use compared to magburner. Nimitz is entertaining, yet not enough. Rampart at least looks cool if the shield blocked bullets for their own teams infantry better, maybe the shield is able to be projected 40 feet forward if you want. To be used as a mini citadel shield often. 2 modes; One shield near the tank. One shield 40 feet forward to cover infantry. Toss prowler some repair regen to their ability. So prowlers don't have to repair so much. & then ye some shield infantry 2nd ability rampart edit. TBH the regular lock down ability should be for sniping hills & rampart used for something else, aka shielding infantry. Vanguard; I'd base vanguard more off Nimitz than the front shield tbh. Nimitz is more entertaining then front shield is. So a 2nd ability that combos with nimitz and is more entertaining then a front shield ability HA already have. & ye so far both tanks aren't as entertaining; nor as effective as the magrider; thus half the reason vs have stacked vets for so many years. I mean I've gone on 40+ vehicle killstreaks for double exp weekends with magrider a few times. I've never even gotten to 20 vehicle killstreaks with a prowler or vanguard yet. Esp not a battle bus. & harasser has sucked verse tanks, since rumble seats were taken away, even if rumble seats were a tad op. most harasser bounties are verse infantry. I gotta x10 pay more attention then a mbt has to, if I want to go on a average av harasser killstreak.
