The Harasser is the best example for crewed MBTs.

Quite simply put, the Harasser is deadly, manoeuvrable and fun. Having a dedicated driver and gunner means that there is always a pair of eyes on the road and another pair looking out and engaging the enemy, as a result mobile combat never results in crashing into an object because your gun was pointing a different direction, this increases mobility of the vehicle and survivability when you need to escape and still cover your rear, something impossible in the current MBT setup.

In the focus test I had Harassers running rings around my vanguard and firing at me from angles that wouldve been impossible to do effectively if the vehicle was one manned, as you expect I was essentially being completely dominated by a vehicle a quarter my size. Do I need to l2p? maybe but this is just yet another one of the many things that are being added on that can engage MBTs and they are seriously starting to lose their role on the battlefield.

Here are two ideas that can be adopted for MBTs:
1. The obvious one is crewed MBTs, either with three seats (driver, gunner, sec gunner) or the more compromising two seats (driver + sec gun, gunner) thus the driver can still get kills but will still have the primary job of driving.

2. If SOE still insist on one man tanks, how about adding a small window to the screen thats showing the forward facing view from the tank? That way the turret can be at any angle yet we can still see where the tank is going. This will massively improve mobile combat as you no longer have to turn your turret off target to prevent collisions. Plus this idea can be used for lightnings as well.

I like both ideas, the first one more though. I still try to figure out why they didn't made it this way in the first place.
A driver can't focus on the road and on enemies around him, not humanly possible.

The second would be a nice thing to have, although it would have to change the to backwards view if you are reversing, otherwise it would be pointless half the time since you don't tend to drive with your back turned to the enemy, this could also increase the survival chances of infantry behind the tank^^

Indeed, I'm probably JUST as lethal simply being able to DRIVE a Harrasser solo as I am with a One-man Main Battle Tank.

See a Heavy out in the open?
Don't bother switching seats and giving him a chance to switch to his Rocket Launcher, just floor it and run his *** over!

I always had this vision for MBT combat.

At the moment you often times find MBTs sitting opposite of each other hundreds of meters away trying to shell their opponent, since many find it hard to drive and aim at the same time.

I can just imagine how fun tank combat would be if you had drivers trying to actively out maneuver their opponents in the open fields while the gunner focuses on shelling them. It would really bring in new dynamic combat

Agreed.

MBT's besides the Magrider really are the most boring things in the game to me.

Why they chose to not have any true crewed vehicles is beyond me. Even with Liberator's the pilot gets the best gun in the Tank Buster imo, and it's almost easy enough to switch back and forth to the Dalton to one man the stupid thing. Honestly the lack of some truly fun multi-crewed vehicles in the game really cramps my enjoyment of it.

The Harasser is really six months to late, and the lack of crewed MBT's from the start really just means there's no hope on that front. Nothing that drastic changes in a MMO, so don't ever expect them to change MBT's 1/2.

There is no need to be doom and gloom (As at least one person already has) when it comes to crewed MBTs.

We have a tank revamp coming over the hill, and frankly, the only reason I see that being up there, is the idea of crewed tanks and a muff to tank survivability. One of those things has already gone in. And now we have a precedent for crewed vehicles working remarkably well.

Keep posting support for this idea.

Red Orchestra has it.

Now that we have the public test server, we could at least TRY a driver/gunner split for MBTs. The harasser is at least proving to people who doubted it that it is actually fun to drive without a gun.

Considering that a buggy has a separate driver and gunner, I find it quite likely that MBT's will be made the same way. I personally can't wait for that update.

If MBTs were a 3 man vehicle, lightnings would have a new role: That tank you take when you don't have friends

Expect it at or around the Resource revamp. Because at the very least they need A) Time and B) a more functional resource system

Why not?
But, of course, the "solo" MBT's must stay as an option.
If the multi-crew MBT's are so good, you won't fear those tanks with only "one pair of eyes" ;-)
This way, everybody will be happy, having choice is always the best solution.

P.S. no need to say once again that if I like to ride the Lightning, I like too to ride the Vanguard.
And I won't like to be dispossed of this pleasure.
Without mentioning the total nightmare for SOE to give back the certs and the station cash invested in those MBT's, if a "forced" solution would be unhappily choosen.

1) Multi-crewed vehicles with dedicated roles are great, especially if you have crewmembers who are familiar with each other.

2) The Harasser is great fun for both driver and gunner.

3) The MBTs as they are aren't. There's no fun, no challenge and no good gameplay to be had driving a 50kph monster with a turning circle the size of a football field that gets an asthmatic seizure on a 15% incline. Unless, of course, you get to shoot while doing so.

"...and no good gameplay to be had driving a 50kph monster ..."

A racer3 Vanguard is almost as fast as a stock Lightning.

"...with a turning circle the size of a football field..."

Learn to ride cleverly by choosing the right paths and the right firing positions.

"that gets an asthmatic seizure on a 15% incline."

Again, with racer3, the Vanguard can climb pretty well.

Hmm maybe he should realize MBT's were balanced around being 1 man spam machines and have been continuously nerfed because of that .....

I know. I might have exaggerated there a bit.

Doesn't change my opinion though. It probably would be OK with an outfitmate on the main gun, but if I'm supposed to just drive an MBT for some random guy I'd rather walk the entire lenght of Indar.

The only way to keep an MBT alive currently is to drive careful, take cover and engage any threats as soon as they appear. A random guy on the gun wouldn't be worth the resources for the tank.





@Ranik: Of course they're balanced around their current state. I'm not against the idea of dedicated crews, it's just not going to work with the MBTs we have, and they won't be changed to an extent that would make it feasible.

If that's what you believe

PS2 was made with the full intent on getting the Call of Duty/Battlefield crowd to play. It was NOT made to re-gain the PS1 vets attention.

Since COD and BF have pre-made 'classes', PS2 has pre-made classes.
Since COD and BF have one-man-army Tanks, PS2 has one-man-army tanks.

The call by the Dev's stating how it would be hard to figure out how to get the Magrider to be a 2-person crewed tank is utter trash, and a weak excuse. The PS1 Mag was a 2 person required Tank, and it did well. The difference? PS1's Mag, the Driver had control of a fixed 'secondary' gun, while the Gunner had the turret mounted 'primary' gun. PS2?.. Driver has a fixed 'primary' gun, optional gunner has a turret mounted 'secondary' gun.

All it would have taken to make the Magrider a valid 2-person tank again would be a slight change to the model, maybe lower the 'hulls' profile slightly and plunk a turret down ontop of it.

But no. They were catering to the COD/BF crowd, so... we got stuck with 1-man-army, over-sized-lightings, for MBT's

Thats what it was in PS1. Those who refused to join outfits, or squads had the lighting to play with (and the lightings were even used as scouts and fast-reaction forces by squads/outfits.)

The old addige of people sitting in the warpgate calling for a gunner in a MBT has no legs to stand on as those people either:

1) Were not in an outfit.
2) Were not in a squad.

If they wanted to use a 'team-work' vehicle, they should have joined a 'team'.

The ONLY time that that adage of waiting for a gunner was true. Was the PS1 Prowler secondary turret before it got buffed. It was a peashooter beforehand (12mm) and got cranked up to a (15mm)