SOE please reconsider the AI nerf to the Viper.

Seriously, I can understand nerfing it against vehicles, but the Flat out nerf carried out in this patch may be a bit much, Can you reconsider the AI nerf to the Viper? We want to be able to use this weapon still.

If you must, Harshen up the AV nerf if maintaining the old AI capabilities seems to be too much.

I used it against infantry once.It was literally easy mode.You miss one shot?No problem.The splash or direct damage from the rest get the job done.And if there is alot of infantry clustered in one place(sundy),you can farm ~15-30 kills with one clip.I feel the nerf is well deserved.

It's an "all rounder" gun. If it's close to as good at either AV or AI as the dedicated AP and HE weapons, then it is broken. It was, so they fixed it. This gun is by design the Basilisk of Lightning weapons. If it sucks now, then that's fine because it's offset by the fact that it sucks equally well at everything.

HEAT is the all rounder gun.

HE is the AI gun.

AP is the AV gun.

Skyguard is the AA gun.

What is the 75? I felt like someone didn't think this through.

RIP ultimate infantry farming weapon.

What the hell do I put on my lightning now? Hmmm... I guess I just pull Prowler instead. Suddenly my MBT has a purpose again!

You know, there is a model in the game files for the Viper as AP/HE/HEAT ... I would say the current Viper is the HEAT variant.

So it's supposed to be the all rounder gun ... just a different playstyle, compared to the Python series.

Basically what this is doing is removing the only mobile "brawler" tank configuration from the game. It's clip size compensated for the lack of gun stabilization (post WWII tanks without gun stabilization, oh rly? What is this, 1932?) Now the lightning is banished back to the (primitive) mobile artillery role together with all the other so-called MBTs (and that pink pillow floating thing). I think I'll stay away from the "armor" part of this game from now on.

The current live version of the C75 Viper today is to what the old HE Prowler was of yesterday. I took a long break from PS2 and when I came back I noticed that HE and HEAT are completely useless now for MBTs, you might as well run AP(which I do) with how little splash you get from HE, the higher direct damage of AP is just better. The Viper was the exception to this, when I noticed how it had been buffed, I tried it out. I have ZERO certs in my lightning, and was easily getting kill-farm streaks reminiscent of the old HE Prowler farming days, there was essentially no difference. It needs a tweak, I just hope they dont nerf it into uselessness like the current state of MBT HE and HEAT weapons.

As someone who picked up the Viper after they nerfed Nanoweave I can assure you that if you think it's fine as it is now you're using it as a crutch. I have about 3k kills with it and it's so hilariously overpowered it almost isn't even funny. It was already good when it was a two shot kill against Nanoweave users, but with the changes (and it becoming a 1hk monster against almost all infantry) it pretty much skyrocketed into absurdity.

While I agree the viper needed the nerf, IMO it was the velocity that made the gun really OP.

It was balanced back when the turret had to basically catapult shells instead of blasting them. But it seems all guns are getting a blast radius/ dmg reduction, the only viable option pretty soon will be AP turrets.

Though AP turrets have been the crowd favorite for quite some time now anyways, pretty soon they'll be nerfed to not even one shot infantry upon a direct hit anymore.

I'll tell you what it is:

"Well, the OTHER tank in battlefield shoots explosives and has 6 shots in a magazine."

You make is sound like the majority of players used nanoweave. Most of my targets have died from one hit since release.

The viper needs the nerf I hope I just get it araxium before the patch though. Currently it's like HE With 6 shots and fast reaload it's almost like a zephyr ground variant.

A majority of players did use nanoweave or flak, though.

I personally feel they're nerfing the wrong aspect - they should tone the splash damage down to remove the spam element, and retain the OHK on a direct hit to reward accuracy (especially given the horrible recoil).

The damage the Viper did for the longest time was 475 + 550 = 1025.

Nanoweaver for the longest of time was 25% more base health at maximum Rank. The base health being 500 + 25% = 625 + 500 = 1125.

So, yes anyone wearing the first rank of FLAK armor or fourth rank Nanoweaver was protected from the OHK. But back then the splash, even of the Viper was way more effective and reached a lot further, with a lot more damage.

Splash has been greatly changed on all weapons and as a mechanic, it's way weaker now than back then ... any second hit or not full health would have rendered you a OHK ...

This. I have nothing to add.

Whatever its 'supposed' to be. The viper has been an AI weapon for as long as I remember. I'm strongly against making the viper into another heat cannon. This is espesially disturbing to me since they are already doing the same thing to the HE cannon as well. The viper was OP against infantry, but SOE should retain the elements of the gun people like rather then homogenizing it.

The viper and the HE can both be AI weapons. If the viper was more about direct hits and less about spamming 6 shots it would be a better, and more balanced weapon.

This nerf is just ridiculous. Ok, viper had to be toned down but not in a way that makes it both ridiculously unrealistic and unimmersive (75mm high velocity depleted uranium tank shell unable to kill a man with a direct hit, oh rly?) and completely takes away the very point of the weapon, the reason players are using it the first place - reason for its very existence.

There were many options suggested by players over the time on how to make it balanced and yet retain its function and fun factor: namely:

- decrease or even remove splash damage completely
- decrease av capability
- decrease velocity
- increase recoil
- increase reload speed
etc etc

I can't for the life of me recall even one single instance in suggestions threads when anyone seriously requested a flat out damage nerf to viper which would make it incapable of killing an unarmored infantryman at a direct hit (with a 75 mm high velocity...) It was just too ridiculous to seriously contemplate even for the greatest viper haters. If you chose any one of those options or even a few of them and nerfed viper to hell that way, you still wouldn't hear much grumbling from viper enthusiasts - because viper would still remain viper that way. The essence of the weapon and its primary role on the battlefield would be retained.

And now this.. What is the matter with you SOE? Are you getting some kind of sick satisfaction pissing off your customers and treating them and their opinions like peasants' nanites? I mean is there any other explanation for totally and utterly ignoring any valid suggestion coming from the player community and instead going for solutions which are so blatantly thick-headed and frankly ludicrous (a 75 mm high velocity...) that people comonly mistake them for april's fools jokes?!

If we're going on what logically makes sense then the Skyguard's quad 40mm machine guns should be king

Everybody knew the Viper was going to be OP as all hell the moment the patch notes dropped. It was great before the buff and it'll be great after

A 6 round mag shouldn't be able to one shot infantry. It shouldn't need to be spelled out as I why this is the case