Server Downtime for PU02 December 17, 2013 9:30 AM PT (6:30 PM CET)

Thank you, for not ruin the afternoon again!

Goodbye halberd harasser, you will be missed greatly as nothing else gave me so much fun.
Back to ESF.

Wait what? This update has been on PTS for quite a while...........

So how exactly is the resist shield going to interact with nanoweave armor? Or not at all, completely being ignored when the resist shield is active?

All in all, great notes. Great explanation of what's changing, along with reasoning for it. Now for the Easter egg hunt of those changes which got missed in this leviathan patch doc.

So I have to be within 250 meters to kill with my NC 14 Bolt-Driver? I suppose its fair, headshot killing people barely in my render distance felt cruel. Excited about this update though especially that Esamir performance patch, been having to fight there a lot recently, great work SOE, really impressive update!

So, any one else curious why SOE won't just come out and post the modifiers for the NC15 Phoenix (And it's AE version)?

Honestly, I am VERY curious about how my favorite weapon was changed.

Did it retain it's 2.67x multiplier against armor, or it's 2x multiplier against air?
Do I still get to do 2,002.5 damage per hit to an MTB?
Can I kill a harasser in a single shot, instead of 3?
Can I now cut over 70% of a Liberator's armor in a single shot?

And what about the VS Lancer? Does it too get to do obscene damage to armor?

Let me put the TR to ease....

I've played on the test server against a VS buddy, and no.
The modifiers have been DRASTICALLY changed, so that it still takes the same number of shots to kill literally everything.

Truth be told, I don't much care about the lancer.
I've never been too into VS game play.
That's not to say the lancer couldn't use some changes to make it anything but the downgrade it is currently.
But at least the lancer is just a little under-powered.

Sadly, the worst of the ESRL's is truly the Phoenix.

So few people use these weapon simply because it appears to be a TERRIBLE launcher (All they see is 750 damage, and dismiss it as utter garbage).
And in many cases, it is BAD.

Don't get me wrong, I love the thing, it's hands-down the most fun ESRL to use.
And yes, I use it primarily. It is so fun to use, I use every excuse I can think up to justify taking it with me.

Sadly, there are a few GAME CRUSHINGLY HUGE issues with it.


Here they are:

First off, it's 10x harder to hit air with it than it is simply dumb-firing either the starter launcher or the Decimator (You should at least have a d*mn chance with the phoenix, but no, it's nearly impossible outside a MICROSCOPIC window).
I've got over 2,000 kills, and over 2,100,000 XP on the thing. I have killed ESF's, and Liberators (Though never doing 100% damage to a libby that was manned) with it.

Killing air is something you will NEVER do to any pilot that knows this one simple fact:
Hear that UNMISTAKABLE sound? The one that can be heard INSTANTLY at juuuust over 300 meters (More than the max range)?
That shot will kill you if you don't have the fire suppressor (Or, if you're parked and can repair, your ESF is safe).

So, how do you escape it?
Hold spacebar.
Or hold CTRL.
Or pitch left or right.

Or just fly away.
Or don't stop to hover.

Seriously. Just don't hover, and you'll laugh like a hyena every time you hear that sound or see that blue ball of a joke.

Second, it takes FAR, FAR too long to reach it's target. It will have a 4.7 second reload speed.
Then tack on an extra 3 seconds to reach ~
The golden range for targets is between 65 to 80 meters (Anything under 65 meters is too close, and you will likely miss if it's not stationary and without a driver).
Anything outside that range will most likely escape (About a 75% chance). Anything over 90 meters can just out-repair your DPS (90 meters is the range for a rank one repair tool. A rank 3 or higher can out-repair even at point-blank range).
Anything moving, the golden range is 65-120 meters, further if it's heavily damaged.
If it's moving any direction but at you, make sure you DONT FIRE until you will reach it when it's one shot away from death, unless you only want an assist.

Never fire at anything you cannot kill in one hit if it's further than 180 meters.
Doing so is usually a death sentence, as standing there for +15 seconds (It takes between 18.3 to 18.6 seconds from the time you fire to the time the missile explodes at max range. This varies, as the max range -and thus, flight time- will differ oh-so-slightly for some unexplained reason) is an open invite for everyone on the battle field to take pot-shots at your non-moving head.

Granted, you cannot always stop to hop out and fix your vehicle. Even still, the Phoenix DESPERATELY needs a turbo (Or afterburner, as it would be called for an aircraft) so that it can actually catch it's target before it escapes the max range of ~290 meters that SOE says cannot be extended.

Third, it has such poor maneuverability that anything shy of a deployed prowler can just turn a sharp left or right and you won't hit it.
Granted, most ground targets don't fully appreciate how incredibly easy it is to escape (Even in a MBT those who do untouchable with the Phoenix. And then the Magrider doesn't even have to know how to aviod it, just smash the burner in ANY direction and they're home free!).
Lucky for those who can't even be bothered to learn to turn left or right to evade it, they don't even have to escape!
Just jump out and repair





P.S.
Is there a reason that the Carnage was changed in the same manner, and to the same extent as it's counterparts?
This weapon was the only one of it's counterpart AR's that had the Advanced Forward Grip, as it traded no small amount of fire rate, in exchange for range.

So, why nerf it's range to the same extent as it's closer range counterparts?

It was intended to shine at slightly longer ranges, and had less damage drop off at range to show it.
Now it seems to just be a gimped CQC/close range weapon with the lowest of fire rates across the board.

I understand lowering it's stats to acomidate for the lesser accuracy of the closer range, higher fire rate weapons, but making said changes as severe as those made to CQC weapons is just crippling.

Just refund my cert on prowler

Thermal doesn't highlight infantry anymore and there is no patch note regarding that. Either when you made it so mines and AI mines don't show on thermal anymore it broke seeing actual infantry, or you guys are trying to pull a fast one on us.

Holy crap...say goodbye to the Vulcan. Wasn't expecting that...and the striker got a damage decrease? Or was it already 335 down from 500. (Is there any reason not to use a Decimator now?)

As for the Prowler, well. I dunno. I wouldn't mind a lockdown refund now...I suppose it could certainly be much worse...I think we'll all manage.


Everything else, love it. I tore through the patch notes like a kid opening christmas gifts.





BUT DEM HARASSER/ZOE nerfs! Welcome back to the real game, guys! Stick it out with us grunts in the trenches and see what we've been dealing with, eh?



*EDIT* Oh, and I forgot! The Nanoweave! That's nice. Those perfect shots I line up will actually pay off now.

No ******* way?!?!?

Go on PTS and try it in the VR.

SOE, I think it's about time to include a one time use, re-certification item with these big patches. We spend a lot of time collecting certs to mold our weapons, vehicles, and airships to match our play styles. But when you come along with these big changes, you jeopardize some player's favorite vehicle's or weapons, making them perform differently and thus ruining that experience for us. When it no longer matches our play style, and we no longer want to use it, then we have just wasted 1000's of certs on something we no longer like to use.

This game is all about having fun. So please stop anchoring us to what we've purchased, but no longer find fun to use. Please allow us to re-customize our characters, so we can mold it back to how we like to play, not how you want us to play it.

Given how the ZoE certs were refunded along with Nano-weave due to big changes (read nerfs), can we expect a cert refund for Harasser Composite Armour & Afterburner?

We keep hearing Dev's read the forums, but I have low expectations this will be read or replied to.... let alone acted upon. Don't ask don't get, fingers crossed.

And looking over your recent post history

Double standards much?

The patch notes are really interesting.
Sounds like a new game experience.

A little pity, that the AV MANA turret is hardly untouched, but hopefully this will be changed at one time or another.

My Harasser is maxed out on certs, looks like the dust sheet will go on for a while lol. Time to switch out my prowlers Vulcan and go back to extra armour instead of the anchor mode too.

Looking forward to seeing how it all plays out actually, test server is one thing but a full mass three way battle is another.

Nice to see the VS brought into line some more with the other two factions tho.......VS with bullet drop on their shotguns, who would have thought it

In the patch that comes after this one all infantry will be reduced to different lengths and colors of wiffle bats. You will break 3 wiffle bats to kill an infiltrator.
Tanks and aircraft will fire only pillows.
Galaxies and Sunderers will carry only ponies and puppies.

G30 and G20 vulcan having are the same stats? All i know, the harasser variants are the main cause of the hate.

6AM PT = PST = Pacific Time = Pacific Standard Time
UTC-8hours
Los Angeles (U.S.A. - California)

Meanwhile in Central Europe, the time should be:

3PM CET = Central European Time
UTC+1hour
Brussels (Belgium)


"1PM CET" ??
Is that another bug of SOE?....