So, my question to anyone who thinks Rocket Pods are fair and balanced...

I don't know the latest stats, but I do want to caution stat-readers that the Scythe fires half-as-quickly as Reaver or Mosquitos, but at the same time it fires two rockets in the same "shot".

I don't think they do, they just have turning characteristics which sometimes give that illusion. I'd love to give them a feather-weight nerf by giving aircraft a "Missile distance: X meters" HUD display. Then you could use that information for dodging purposes.

Are you saying they changed it? Because last I knew, it definitely conferred damage resistance to Flak (Skyguards, Bursters, AA turrets.)

Once we have more players who unlock anti-air missiles for their HA's, A2A missiles for their fighters, and similar such things, we'll be seeing less surviving rocket users.

After all, the A2G rockets in the secondary slot are basically only good for attacking ground targets or slow-moving air targets plus you must go slow enough or be good enough that you can aim them at speed...

That said, I've never used them myself, because I usually end up on anti-air duty in my ESF

So you want a screenshot every time I kill an ESF with rocket pods attached, or do you just want a screenshot of my overall kills? Because one is unrealistic to ask for and the other would prove nothing. Also, I never said I use Skyguards, I personally think they're underpowered.

And it's not a 'very, very large majority.' And guess what? In a couple weeks, when the F2P crowd has gotten the certs for widespread anti-air? The rocket pods will be just another method of attack from the air which will be wiped out in seconds if the pilot isn't very good, and if they're very good they'd be just as effective without them.

And yes, air is meant to do well against ground. That's kind of the point. That's why they tend to have such long timers. The thing is that anyone can take down an air unit without a spawn timer or even using resources if they just hop into an AA turret or use the HA's unguided rockets. Rocket pods require manual accuracy so if they're hitting anything, they're not moving much at all. You can hit a non-moving fighter easily with rockets, AA turrets or even tanks.

You can buy one extra salvo for 1 Cert, and another for 10...

Ammo limitation in name only

Take a wild guess what the F2P players are going to be unlocking.

Actually hovering ESF's are moving up and down constantly by about 20 meters, and it's still very hard to hit them with a tank shell. As hard as hitting a magrider going left to right, unless you are right on top of them.

those of you saying that the anti-air in this game does nothing: have you actually tried to fly into a heavily contested area?

as soon as i fly within range of any combat zone i attract missile locks and turret fire. it takes a serious amount of evasive maneuvering to just live through one strafing run/dogfight, let alone hover in place

No.I want a screenshot of the amount of kills you have got with Bursters and SkyGuard.I made it abundantly clear what i wanted in my original post but your lame attempt at deflection and lack of screen shots speaks volumes.

And from what you posted you weren't in Beta.Because if you were you would of known that toward the end of Beta everyone was rolling either high end AA or AIR and it was a farce.Air had impunity pretty much like they have now in retail and the Devs in their infinite wisdom or lack of,kept the same game breaking balance.

But keep telling yourself everything is balanced.

Unless you have access to a stat screen that I'm unaware of, I can't see the kills I've gotten with particular weapons/vehicles. So again, unless you want me to retroactively screenshot every kill I get with a Burster MAX on rocket pod equipped ESFs only (Which, even if said stat screen did exist, wouldn't prove that the fighters had rocket pods anyway btw), what you're asking for is again ridiculous.

You also lack reading comprehension. I even stated IN THAT QUOTE that I never said anything about Skyguard. I don't use it, and I find it weaker than it should be.

What are Rocket Pods. I'll take Album Covers for 750, Alex.

OP obviously never used them.
If he did, he knew they are certainly NOT op.
Regarding the time it takes to look out for a target, hover mid-air, shoot at max two clips and retreat to rearm and repair, they are way more inefficient than pretty much every other weapon/soldier/vehicle in the game.
They are fun to use but they are by no means any sort of 1337pwnzor-weapon. You can kill maybe one vehicle or up to three infantry-guys, IF you survive long enough.
After that the rearm, repair, look for targets - cycle starts again.
By your definition of overpowered a Vanguard would be satan's incarnation.

FYI: I've got every weapon unlocked on the Reaver and i consider the Missile Pods to be not that viable.
The A2AMs are a way bigger thread and for A2G you've got the Liberators.
The Reaver is much more helpful if he keeps his Liberators in the air, then just shooting one or two unlucky guys on the Ground.

Btw: This is how war works since 1939. If you got air superiority you will most likely win. Get some fighters with A2AMs in the Air, add Max suits and the enemy air won't be a deal at all.

Are you playing at being dense or does it come naturally?Or is this another lame attempt at disinformation?Go to stats in game and it will give all the information you need.So take a screenshot of all those kills you got with either Burster or Skyguard and post them here.

Wow, a concentrated mass of anti air fire forces you, a single target, to repair your craft after you unloaded the salvo. Truly, a pilot's life is hard.

I will at some point, I don't tend to check my stats because it's completely unimportant, but I will now I know it's there. You on the other hand still lack any comprehension of literacy. I don't use Skyguard. Because it is too weak. You're ignorant of those words.

Also, you're stupid not just because you can't read, but also because you're stuck on the idea that stats prove anything. I can kill infantry with a Burster if I wanted to. Just because you are an absolute failure when it comes to using basic target leading and tactics like 'don't stand in clear view of an obviously hovering fighter craft,' you need to try and prove that everyone else has issues with it. I take out more fighters with unguided rockets than I think you ever have with any form of anti-air judging from how determined you are to pretend people are lying when they say they successfully take out rocket pod-equipped fighters with anti-air equipment.

Stop whining. Go up in a fighter and hover in front of a base. You'll see how quickly you go down. Hell, do it when you get rocket pods and fire at them. You'll see how little you do. You're complaining because something designed to kill ground forces killed you when you're a ground force. It's akin to complaining because your tank got blown up by an anti-tank mine.

The fact you wont or CANT produce stats now is because you have none.Your to busy out farming in your nearly invulnerable single seated murder machine.But keep on calling me stupid and bringing my grammar into question because when that happens,i know i have won the argument.

haha what ?? Liberators are 10x better at A2G what are you talking about ? You have obviously not been with an experience LIB pilot with the big cannon on the bottom. That things makes any scythe or reaver look like a little ***** lol, i get 100x more kills with it so yea we definatly do need it. At the moment i think A2G for aircrafts is perfectly fine, you can do decent damage and its very very easy to get shot down, i honestly dont know why you guys are complaining so much about it, maybe you guys just suck lol. A small group of anti-air can keep alll the libs and ESF's away, if you cant then u are bad at this game, there arent much balance issues here, i mean you can possibly think of nerfing any of the aircrafts right now.. I think alot of you people whining have not fully experienced these elements of the game properly and jus assume alot of things.

Just going to chime in on this conversation. I play infantry almost exclusively. Rocket Pods don't bother me. They let an ESF attack a single, exposed target. If there's even one piece of anti-air in the area, they can't hang around afterwards either.

overcorpse, stop whining like a little girl okay, you must be really bad at this game and clearly know nothing about it.

The burster is particular is not designed to "get kills" ! Its designed to be a support class for anti air, now it does its job perfectly, if you have even one burster max in an area, alone he can keep away most aircrafts, not getting kills you noob but keeping them away, planetside 2 is a team game an will always be a team game, if you just wanna get kills, go do it somewhere else. The bursters are very very effective at keeping aircrafts away. If you equip 2 bursters or go around in a skyguard you can easily take down aircrafts, its like their made out of paper

I can appreciate that you watched the Extra Credit video, too, however that wasn't exactly what they were asking in the Counterplay argument.

Yes, they are deadly to armor. With half a clip, they are deadly to infantry if the aircraft is able to hover about 100 meters or closer away.
They just aren't that accurate at anything past 200 meters. Bursters, Skyguards, and HA AA missiles are effective to some 800 meters.

The thing that one has to consider first is a matter of timers / points. Generally anything that has a timer in this game is more powerful than those that don't. So Vehicles are more powerful than infantry. 2-3 Heavies with guided missiles can take out a fighter in the blink of an eye, even with a flare. "2 or 3 to take out 1" you may say. Yes, 1, and then another 1, and then another. The key is to not spawn IN the kill zone. Spawn somewhere just outside the killzone and pick off fighters as they attack your teammates. If 2 things both cost points, then what is their relative exposure? Lightnings with skyguards don't expose themselves as much as a fighter hovering. As a lightning, I can drive all over the place and still relatively keep my gun on target. Ground AA gets cover, Air gets speed.

One time we were getting ***** by tanks, fighters, and liberators. I spawned a sunderer elsewhere and drove onto a mountain near the kill zone. Deployed it, switched to HA AA, and started to fire. Soon more people spawned there and a couple saw what I was doing and also spawned with guided missiles. Soon the skies were clear except for a few libs in the distance.

Most pilots are cowards that don't want to have to waste a respawn timer getting a new plane, so they run quickly. Learn to take advantage of that and focus fire on the braver / stupider pilots that are a real threat.

If the damn game's stats showed assists for weapons, I could show you my point. As it is, I'll have to figure out a different way. My busters have a 26% hit ratio with some 5000 rounds fired, each. Only 10 kills each, but I know I have tons of assists after some fighter finished them off, they crashed, or some other AA took them out. It's not a glamorous job, but it helps the cause.

I agree. I have a dual-burster max and I scare the **** out of fighters, libs, and even galaxies. I can count the number of times I've been killed, as an AA max, by aircraft, on one hand. Most of my deaths come from tanks that followed all the pretty shots flying up into the air.