Test Server Update Notes : 7/1

they are UNNEEDED.


Freaking forumside.




Also keep in mind all the previous tank changes that are on PTS will be combined with the NEW tank changes.


RIP TANKS.

No, just no.

Theese changes not only make the Magrider even worse at AV and adhoc AA, but thats not the main issue.

Theese changes give the Prowler an insurmountable damage advantage.
Van and Mag got thier MBT TTK's massively increased where the Prowler is basically the same.

Put this together with the stupid reverse speed changes and the Prowler will end up being able to bring the most hurt to any fight while having a much higher capacity to escape if things dont go thier way.

And secondary adjustments incoming as well? Unless its No, even if its a Halberd nerf im not even going to sarcastically say im looking forward to it. Several secondaries have been written off already, i fully expect this pass to remove all reasons to bother investing in them at all.

I personally don't think this is the correct direction to go with the tank weapons.

I really feel the team "did it right" with the Liberator gun changes; defining them between a role and making them weaker against what they aren't meant for. Dalton is AV, Zephyr is between, and Duster is AI.

This is really the approach that should be taken with the tank guns as well; you should be penalized more for a respective specialized loadout and rewarded more as well.

AP should have 0 splash and take the least number of hits to kill heavy armor. If HEAT takes 5, AP should take 3.

HE should have the largest splash (we will say 10) and take the longest to kill heavy armor. If HEAT takes 5, HE should take 7.

HEAT would exist between.

In my humble opinion as well, reload speeds should be the same for all three guns (without cert investment). It doesn't make sense why one would take any longer to nanite-fuel-inject into the barrel than another.

So if we have an imaginary Vanguard;

• AP
  • 0.00 Splash Radius
  • High Velocity (250 m/s)
  • 3300 damage (3 hit kill)
• HEAT
  • 5m Splash Radius (2.5m max damage, 5m min damage)
  • Moderate Velocity (187.5 m/s)
  • 2000 damage (5 hit kill)
• HE
  • 10m Splash Radius (5m max damage, 10m min damage)
  • Low Velocity (125 m/s)
  • 1400 damage (7 hit kill)

This obviously doesn't take into account resistances and what not, but it gets the general picture across. HEAT is your general purpose weapon. It isn't great against infantry, but it doesn't leave you defenseless, it isn't great against tanks, but it doesn't leave you defenseless; however compared to HE you are at a disadvantage against infantry and compared to AP you are at a disadvantage against tanks.

By using this to further define the weapons roles you make it much more obvious how to counter a particular threat. If my enemy is rolling HE and farming, I can pull AP and have a decided advantage against him and so on and so on.

Flak only reduces splash damage, not direct hit damage. So assuming heavy+shield has 1850 (or 1750, not sure) HP, and the direct hit does 1800 on a vanguard. Add in splash damage and you will still kill a heavy with a shield, as a vanguard/migrider at least. Prowlers wont be able to anymore, if the HA is running flak armor.

Btw, im mostly using AP atm, but this change surely promotes to get heat over AP. With heat you get very nice AI options, and the damage difference between AP and heat is going to be very minimal now. Might as well get good AI options when im only losing ~15% DPS on the main gun.

After talking with Kevmo during the tank event and after evaluating his responses, I can (with all due respect) conclude that many of us have a better understanding of how tanks function in this game and know better what needs to be changed.

Tell me how reducing the total number of MBT's available at any given time would not make balancing easier.

Go ahead tell me.


The single biggest problem is tank spam and they choose to fix the biggest problem by instead making tanks ****.

Has their been ANY questioning that for the past year?

Surely this was a calculated decision, but it is a decision based on the feedback of knee-jerk gut-reaction proclamations of cheese, and further contributes to the downfall of splash or AOE damage in player vs player FPS games at large.

As it is and as it shall be, explosive weapons are simply not viable against a competent force of enemies in the vast majority of settings. Rather, vehicles such as tanks need a greater impunity if anything when dealing with infantry, if you honestly want tankers to get close to them.

It is my agenda to bring explosives back into the fold of being useful in a greater number of scenarios, make no mistake, and I firmly believe there is no place for them in the hearts and minds of the market nowadays, and I hate it.

No, you may not point to me and proclaim me biased for vehicles, I am an infantry player first and foremost. My convictions are strong, and my intent is far from playing to my own interests.

Which is entirely possible with the byzantine weapon classification system SOE uses. I think Alarox and I are both thinking of this:

And then assuming that tank rounds are explosive.

That still wasnt the case for tank rounds, because those are classified as light/heavy tank rounds i believe.
And if it was the case then a flak5 heavy with shield could already tank a APshot from a prowler in its current state.

I'm also wondering about resistances. If HE gives up too much AV, surely you simply improve its AV capability? These changes only do that partly and then rely on nerfing AP rounds at anti-vehicle for the rest. Was that a second goal? Were vehicle TTKs a problem?

Haha!

bulldog isnt Anti infantry, its anti everything, its just too good at killing infantry right now

With the way bases are walled, the terrain is becoming increasingly complex and offering plenty of cover for infantry - tanks are being reduced to glorified and expensive transport.

What use is vehicle superiority?

You know - some of these changes wouldnt be so bad IF we had the ability to change turrets in the field. If there was such a thing as a vehicle equipment terminal attached to the ammo dispensers, where i could slot out HEAT for AP, or AP to HE depending on how the battle is flowing, THEN they may be more appropriate.

I can't count the number of times I've rolled out with AP only to regret it, as the enemies vehicles have evaporated and suddenly I'm trying to ping infantry with the almost zero explosive radius armoured piercing shell. If i could have driven back to base and changed barrels - hoo-rah.

except all metrics point out that the magrider is actually the best tank, with the vanguard being the worst.

the mag needs a complete overhaul, the no turret design is cool, but too limiting, and making it hover and have better manuverabilty isnt a good enough trait. what it needs is to not have bullet drop on the main cannon, and have the main cannon be a turret

the prowler shouldnt have the best cannon, the vanguard should have the best one, and clearly with 1200 x2 its far more than 1800, so the vanguard needs a buff for their cannon

but the swagrider has always been and will alway be a problem until they just completely redo it

Air launchers nerf? Meh... ok.

Infantry Rocket Launchers? Seems like a dumb decition based on kids whinning but i dont really care.

Tank launchers? thats a no and i would definetly start leaving if this goes live, not a tanker myself but that decition is just downright crap, you just nerfed the tanks and now a tank shell to the face wont kill infantry? if this becomes WhiningPlanet 2 ill just leave, thanks!

Except the relatively larger nerfs to AP and HEAT makes HE even more appealing now.

If AP is two fewer shots than HE down from potentially four, then that means HE vs AP's gap is noticeably smaller while maintaining it's ability to splash infantry to death.

There is no reason to run HEAT to HE really and you are going to end up seeing more HE tanks.

Sort of like how the last Saron nerf made PPA a lot more popular.

no the changes to the launchers is needed because noob players are playing this game thinking its ok to run around with a rocket launcher out and OHK players while also killing themselves

its a stupid idea and it needs to be stomped out, the only time i ever use my RL against guys is when i either run out of ammo, or im attacking a tank and they suprise me.

im glad rockets cant OHK infantry now, i just hope their potential for use against MAX units hasnt been hurt at all

These MBT cannon changes are going to be downright awful all across the board. Remember the Liberator update from a couple months ago that made them incredibly overpowered? Yeah well these proposed changes will only do that for the Prowler which can already out DPS the other two MBTs without a problem. The Prowler will be hands down the best at everything, and that's just incredibly stupid. If you're going to do anything for tanks, give the Magrider an omni-directional Magburner and call it a day. None of these rocket launcher or MBT cannon changes are necessary at all.

Again, there might be parts out of date but the wiki page on resists puts AP cannons under "AP Ordinance" and HEAT/HE under "Heavy Ordinance" along with the default RLs. If you're right, then it would be possible that Flak protects from HEAT/HE direct hits, but not AP.

Rocket launcher changes are needed to stop noob players


but i totally agree with the prowler changes, its going to be way OP and every one will cry about it, and rightfully so

the prowler should do the lowest TOTAL damage since it has a fast fire rate, while the swag rider should do a mid range damage amount and the vanguard does the most, at the cost of fire rate.

I like the rocket changes. Right now, there is little reason to max out flak armor. 1,000 certs for an extra 10% resistance? Lame. 1,000 certs to guarantee I won't get one shotted by a rocket launcher primary? Now were talking.