[Suggestion] So about the Harasser

Took me a few minutes to google the name of the move and the best I could come up with is "The Nose Wheelie"

I do more Nose Wheelies since the physics change (we need a name for this that aligns with what we're talking about) than I've ever done in my harasser career.

You're talking about the situation where your front end seems to dive faster than normal, and you skid along the ground on your cow-catcher, right? Before, you'd land at an angle where the back would settle and you could keep driving after a short distance, now it seems the bumper catches and flips you over? Do I have the jist of it?

As usual, you've nailed it on the head. You must be familiar with harassers!

You know, reading some of the responses to my posts on this forum, I've come to the conclusion I have no idea what I'm talking about, or even what game we're all playing.

I'm just gonna leave this here

BTW cracka, err I mean KoS.....I've made some room on my disks so I can do this up. And I love driving AA harassers....only till I flip. Cause you know, no viable roll vs Alarox and Klypto.

This has been posted several times in the thread already, but as you are the guy who made it, GREAT VID SIR!!!!

Congrats on the AA use. It's great to see that people are making the most of the Harasser.

I wish there were more Harasser crews on Connery. It's unfortunate that there are so few nowadays.

Lots of people like the Halberd. It's like a miniature tank cannon in my view. It's great, but I would love to see the Canister, Marauder, and Kobalt be pulled more often for primarily anti-light and AI work, with a side dish of AV potential. What SOE needs to do with all Harasser top weapons is evaluate their current standpoints and make them work dependent on their goal for each gun.

Key: AV = Anti-Vehicle, AA = Anti-Air, AI = Anti Infantry, + = great, - = bad, ~ = decent, [current stage | intended stage]

Halberd: +AV, ~AI, -AA | +AV, ~AI, -AA (working as intended)
Enforcer: +AV, ~AI, -AA | +AV, ~AI, -AA
Vulcan: +AV, ~AI, ~AA | +AV, ~AI, AA is questionable (working[???])
Saron: +AV, ~AI, -AA | +AV, ~AI, -AA
Canister: ~AV (light armor only), -AI, -AA | ~AV (better vs light armor), +AI, ~AA (it is a shotgun) (NOT working as intended)
Marauder: ~AV (light armor only), ~AI, -AA | ~AV (better vs light armor), +AI, -AA (Bland design makes it too much like the Fury)
PPA: ~AV (light armor only), ++AI, -AA | ~AV (better vs light armor), ++AI, -AA
Fury: ~AV, ~AI, -AA | ~AV (better vs light armor), +AI, -AA
Kobalt: -AV (~Light AV), ~AI, ~AA | -AV (slightly better against light), +AI, ~AA
Bulldog: +AV, +AI, --AA | +AV, +AI, --AA (working as intended)
Walker: ~AV, ~AI, +AA | -~AV, -~AI, +AA
Ranger: -AV, -AI, ++AA | -AV, ~AI, ++AA.
Basilisk: ~AV, ~AI, ~AA | ~AV, ~AI, ~AI

My point is that some guns need their roles reworked in-game to match up to the others. I have an entire thread coming up on the subject, so stay tuned for it.

Thank you good sir
However in this case all credit goes to PrimePriest for cutting and editing this magnificence.

I'll add you next time I log on Connery. My Connery NC is a dedicated Harasser toon. Also, your name seems familiar, I think I've TK-Roadkilled you before, so, my apologies in advance.

;_;

I remember being on the side of the road once as a medic and the next thing I know it's a respawn screen. That might have been you m8. It's ok.

I think the harasser just needs more survivability. Increase the stock resistances and slightly increase boost speed/recharge rate. Keep composite armor the way it is so that all the defense options are viable. Keep the weapons the way they are b/c I think that the harasser should definitely have less powerful weapons than a lightning/MBT. Now what makes the harasser unique (what gives it that niche role) is its speed and the ability to have a rumble seat. That being said I think the rumble seat repair rate should be increased closer to what it was pre-nerf (more explanation below). I think it may also be interesting (just a fun idea) if there was some way for the harasser to provide ammo for whoever is in the back seat - so that if you had a max / heavy you wouldn't need to pull over for them to get more ammo since it would be provided for them. These additions to the back seat would allow the Harasser to stay mobile longer (since you would not have to get out for ammo / repairs as much) and thus would increase the harassers survivability (which was my main point).

bump

As a Hassy driver, ESF and Libs bother me rarely, only need to stay on the move and know where to take cover. With a Halberd, a good gunner and a small hill it's easy to turn the table and hunt the hunters.
I never certed and used composite armor myself unlike my friends, so I'm not that bothered with the nerf. The nerf of the turbo and the rumble seat suck the most. The FS could be stronger, comparable to the ESF. As defense in an AV loadout I usually use stealth, which definitely is fun. In an AI situation I use the radar so my Hassy doesn't end like the one in the nice video by Primepriest
Well, I agree that the Hassy is not as strong as it used to be, but basically only one thing has changed from before - hit faster, run faster. It takes a little more planning, longer ways to move to hit MBTs in the butt, but it's definitely still possible and fun to do. The increased bullet drop of the Halberd is more annoying than the lowered damage to me.
With some training in evasive maneuvers single MBTs and Lightnings pose little thread and dodging a barrage from a couple tanks still works.

All in all, I still like the Hassy. The risk is higher, you won't stay alive for hours, but hunting vehicles and AI is still doable and fun.

The role of the Hassy? Get rid of single tanks and sundies camping a site (Halberd) and wipe buildings from enemy infantry (Bulldog).

Don't tell me such a vehicle burns after 2 AP rounds ... i'm shocked


On a more serious note .. harassers still deal a good amount of damage. I have seen mobile harasser with good drivers which can be very annoying and do some good harassing. Also they can quickly jump in to kill off damaged tanks. I think balacing the harasser is a delicate task.

Yesterday I was gunning a Vanguard for about 30 minutes and I'll admit it was pretty easy to hit Harrassers with the Enforcer no matter what speed they're going at. At the same time, Harrassers can deal a hell of a lot of damage from behind with the Halberd. However, that's only one weapon. From what I've heard the Fury was nerfed to near extinction as well which takes out a great AI weapon. They need to make Harrassers slightly more durable, buff the Fury, and add in some more tweaks.

You have also to keep in mind what happens if 2 harassers with good teams drive in some distance and constantly shell you with enforcer or halberd, you can only focus one of them. Also TR have the vulcan which can deal considerable damage from behind.

Same goes for VS harasser with PPA annoying infantry and only very difficult to hit with dumbfire launchers. Maybe there could be a tradeoff for the harasser:
Increase default speed slightly and remove this speed buff if composite is used for more durability.

Moin

Of course a Harasser is relatively easy to hit if you have some aiming skills. If the Harasser is bumping at full speed through terrain 400m away it might be very difficult, yes, but the Harasser can't hit you too. And chances are that he's gonna flip over quickly. There are some open plains on Indar and Esamir where you can 2v1 some single MBTs, apart from that the Harasser won't have a chance. I don't agree that this is right just because of the vehicles looks.
MBTs "can deal a hell of a lot of damage" to a Harasser. One AP/halberd salvo brings a Harasser without CA (8% lol) to critical. Even if he activates FS he'll die from the next AP or halberd shot. For the Harasser it takes 5 halberd shots to the rear to kill an MBT, 9 to the front.

The problems with the current Harasser are twofold: First it is too fragile. Though I disagree with the notion that the vehicle should also have low firepower I maybe could live with that, but the Harasser currently blows up way too fast; risk vs. reward is out of proportion here. Second it is too expensive, both in ressources and manpower. Ressource costs could be lowered, but there would still be the problem that XP for driver and gunner is abysmal bad overall, which is a combination of the low firepower coupled with the low amor. Sure, if you run a PPA Harasser and can find a good farm you can rack up good XP, but you can do this from inside every vehicle or MAX.

The dedicated Harasser crews I still see this days are diehard fans, who try to use the vehicle against all odds and have fun doing that. That doesn't mean that the Harasser isn't underperforming and I would be very surprised if the Harasser stats were very positive at the moment.

They killed all of the AI weapons, basically. IMO, the best option these days is the Walker: you get a decent magazine size, tons of reserve ammo, a good CoF/damage out to medium range, and it hurts everything. The Kobalt-laser of old is gone, it's OK now, but nothing compared what it used to be, and the AA capacity only works against ESFs. The Fury (and Marauder, they're almost identical now) have the saving grace of doing armor damage (not true w/ Marauder), and you can put it on a Flash. I don't think it has a purpose on other chassis these days.

What does that leave? The Basilisk is out-classed in almost every way by the Walker, currently. Any advantage you could mention with the Basilisk is arguably offset by the ammo capacity of the Walker: you have to re-arm far less often. The Bulldog is great, but it takes tons of certs to make it good, and it's challenging to use for AV, and impossible for AA.

Sadly, Harassers are slightly improved in some aspects, but remain where they were a year ago. The base health and resistances are too low. Perhaps not both factors, but the cumulative protection isn't enough. Personally, I would like to see the health increased, and the resistances slightly lowered. This gives the Harasser more effective health, overall, but keeps it vulnerable to all damage sources. It also requires more rep time to bring it back to full health, necessitating increased downtime, or increasing the relative value of NAR. *Wishful thinking* At the same time, I'd like to see rear-seat repair increased to 50% of the original value, up from the current 30%. Almost everyone still runs 2/3 unless carrying a MAX. If your engi is in the back repairing, he's not shooting. If you have a MAX in the back, you can't repair. If Harassers take longer to heal over all, I'd like to see them be encouraged to keep running.

This is the problem I see with the current Harasser. The players like myself, who report that we're still having fun and enjoying it, have tons of certs and experience into our Harassers. Last I checked, I'm at ~12k certs on my main, and I'd guess ~8k each on my two primary alts. I've got days played. I know what works where, when to pull it, and how many allies I'm going to need to have a chance to make it out alive.

My point is, I feel bad for the people that see us out there and think to themselves, 'Boy, that looks fun!' They run to the vehicle terminal, pull their stock Basilisk Harasser, and are dead in < 5 minutes due to driver error (flipping, and the currently abysmal traction), or running into more armor than they know how to get away from. They respawn, and go do something else.

I'm not saying give noobs a crutch, and return the invested players to farm-chariot status. But, I think making the Harasser slightly more durable (please SOE, just delete composite armor and give us decent stock defense) would go a long way to making it something you see on the battlefield, instead of in screenshots detailing 'how things used to be.'

Will say, at least on Waterson, there has been a uptick in harasser sightings. When the latest buff went in, turbo and other things. There was a slight increase in harasser pulls. But for whatever reason, the past couple of weeks, there has been a relatively explosion of increased harasser pulls.

I must say, these two week alone, I've seen more harassers out than since the big nerf.

Why? What's different now, than what, a month ago when they did a slight buff?