The lancer is used in decent squads. My outfit does it all the time. The problem is this. 1. The lancer is weak against air. A squad of lancers will get destroyed by a half squad of decent ESF pilots. A squad of lancers without AA support is a dead squad. 2. The lancer is only good at medium to long range. At short range, the default launcher is a better choice. In short, a lancer squad is a great surprise, but once the enemy figures out where you are(and the bright blue lines will make sure they know where you are), you can better have some AA support. Otherwise your squad is dead.
The girl above is wrong. Done here. Well, I also don't think the Striker is overpowered, I play 3 factions too (most of the times, TR of course. VS when my girl is not playing PlanetSide 2 and NC with my secondary character when my friends - who's a NC - wanna play with me). What I suggested was to give the Striker a "nerf" against aircrafts and buff other aspects so people would stop whining at forums.
I can't understand the new striker mechanic... I'll be locked on and running through cliffs for ten seconds while the dam things track me... And I can never lose them anymore...
I've used it quite a bit and it feels unfair using it sometimes. It's forcing people on the receiving end to funnel their vehicle options (flares are a must have; Even so, I've aimed away from the flare and the missles ignore it and go for the vehicle regardless). With that in mind, I'd like to see the T2 Striker fire and forget a large number of low damage missles spread over a wide cone (so you have to be close if you want to do the maximum potential damage). I'd also like to see a "Red Glare" type launcher (balanced to PS2 of course).
If everyone was skilled and everyone could aim, there would be no real problem. The issue is that most players can't and the striker is as deadly in the hands of a random zergling as the lancer is in the hands of an expert. This vastly increases the anti-air capability of the TR zerg. The terrible NC/VS zerglings cant really impact air, but the terrible TR zerglings can. The skill cap of the striker is....zero. Its good in the hands of a nubbin and good in the hands of a veteran. This needs to change. I would like to see the DPS of the striker increased but with the requirement that the user maintains a lock for the warheads to continue tracking. This makes it terrible in the hands of a terrible player and deadly in the hands of a good player....just like the lancer. I like all empires having effective anti-vehicle solutions....but one side having a zero skill anti-everything weapon is too powerful when you factor in the zerg. I'm saying this as a ground-pounder. The striker in its current format isn't hurting the lolpod players...its just made them all switch over to TR. I want some air on my side again please.
AS was said before, the issue is not that the striker in it self is OP against air. But unlike the other ESRL's, it is UNIVERSAL, meaning most TR do not need to sit at the equip terminal and go "hmm, do I want AV, or AA.." Instead they just STRIKER! IT does it all!... So what happens is where NC and VS are trying to split their heavies between AV or AA, TR does not have this issue. They can all put one launcher and do it all. So when an ESF flies overhead, instead of 50% of the heavies looking up at shooting, while the other 50% just go damn, TR can have all 100% look up and shoot the ESF. A whole squad of strikers can bring down anything. A whole squad of phoenixes or lancers will get decimated by air. The only thing that the VS and NC can field that is similar is a squad of annihilators, however, anni is far weaker in overall damage output. Sure an ESF can dodge some of the striker missiles, but Libs just get their ***** reamed if they don't have a flair option or it's on cool down. One thing SOE has FAILED to realize all this time, is that universal weapons need to be magnitudes weaker then specific weapons, due to the fact that typically you will have far more on the battlefield at one time, thus they become exponentially more effective.
The Striker has downsides being a Lock-On launcher. - Can't lock on turrets - Useless against Infantry, including Maxes - High exposure time. No popping in and out of cover to attack. By having to aquire the lock first, then maintaining it to deliver the payload means if the enemy vehicle or aircraft knows where you are, you have a high risk of being killed before firing one volley. This also makes engagements in mid- to close range very dangerous I'd say the Vanu launcher is more universal than the TR one. Also you have to keep in mind that the other empires ESL do not give a lock-on warning to the enemy.
Got around to trialing the Striker on my TR instead of just messing with it in VR, on the off chance it functioned differently during actual gameplay. It's a pre-nerf Annihilator on crack, just like it appeared. lulz Takes a second or so for the lock to break once it's green so a small tree branch (or LOSing behind a hill) won't insta-break the lock... combined with the pathfinding that often dodges cliffs and buildings (though not always) and how people are getting hit by several shots after going around a corner seems pretty obvious. In terms of changes, I'd make it need to reacquire a lock for each shot, but buff the damage of an individual shot accordingly. Then it's actually a lock on launcher with multiple shots before reloading instead of just cosmetically spreading the damage over a couple shots without actually being much different from a standard lock on launcher. Would make stealth ranks on vehicles slightly more relevant, too.
Since heavies can take out a MAX with C4 or their LMG, that really isn't an issue. If you have air superiority, then their turrets are as good as dead anyways. Worse case, you grab a default launcher. The lancer is worse than the default launcher at short range. No one is going to give you 3 seconds to charge, and the hip fire COF is horrible. I have been hit with the phoenix in an ESF exactly once. After than I learned not to hover at close range to the NC.
I understand why TR have the Striker. I don't want to see it disappear. It fits their faction and one of these days I might roll a TR and would like to try it. However, after coming back to PS2 after 2 months I have to admit I was pretty shocked to find out that not only had more easy-mode lock on rockets been added to the game, but one in particular could fire multiple rockets. As for lock on weaponry in general, I still feel that with the exception of ESF A2A missiles, nothing should be fire and forget. Everything should require at least a minimal amount of skill. Fire and forget weaponry should require cooperation with a spotter, but thats another subject. But since I know that dream will never happen, at the very least the Striker range should be reduced so that the person firing the rocket is at least being rendered. Right now there doesn't seem to be a way to avoid the Striker once it has locked on ( flares be damned ). The only risk to a person firing a Striker is their immediate surroundings, while the risk to the ESF is ANYWHERE within the huge lock-on radius. TL : DR - Reduce the range against air so that only dumb or cocky ESF pilots are easy prey.
i hate people who say stupid stuff like this. There is supposed to be a balance between air, armor, and ground. In all the recent updated air has been on the losing end because unskilled pilots like you (btw i suck at flying too) are upset that air is effective at all because you cant play it. lolpodding is a thing. you have to defend against it same as you have to defend against tanks. Making it impossible because the AA is getting out of hand makes flying a non-issue and might as well be removed from the game. Stop complainng and get an AA max. In additon the striker is causeing particular problems because its ruining balance between the factions. Currently TR planes are the only ones who can fly because if this ( although it should be noted the ZOE on Vanu AA maxes has messed this up too). The NC have the absolute worst AA in the game now. No boost to their AA maxes vs air and rocket launcher arent as good as either the striker or the lancer vs air. Basicly faction imbalance and infantry vs air imbalance.
Because A2A missiles feel good right now. They have a fairly tight lock on cone. If ESF pilots had to hold a lock during missile flight then the missile lock-on cone and speed would have to be dramatically altered in order to keep A2A pilots from going back to rocket pods.
Protip: Vent frustrations by certing into racer chassis and wraith cloak on a flash with nanite repairs and just cruise around their striker nests toggling cloak on every time they get close to locking on, a hilarious time to be had.
but I want them to go back to rocket pods. And you should want that too. Lockons bring nothing positive to the game.
Yeah. The striker is so bad. Thats why there are organized squads running around spamming missiles that never render from over 100m outside of infantry render distance. Oh you poor TR. You are so abused having to fire invisible lock on missiles when you are completely invisible and impervious to your opponent. And how dare they give your ESL superior DPS to the phoenix. What a slap in the face.
What a bunch of idiots. Still beating on the drum to get the striker nerfed. I have news for you clowns, the striker is not going to change in any appreciable way. They may tweak the damage or play around with lock time, the mechanics that you are ******** about (and *****ed about on the annihilator) will still be in game a year from now. Lock on mechanics have been in game since Beta, are available to each empire in one form or another. Why don't you spend your time trying to advocate for flares and smoke to be standard equipment? That would help the majority of most pilots/tankers and is a far better argument.
i like this idea since we all know the striker will be tweaked to become the next ani, VS zoe and LD Max's will be aswell. something like over all balance would be nice to see. since they are always talking about how to offer more team play and incourage more people to work together im just wondering why they didnt just add more AA turrets or lock on AA/AV turrets throughout the hills and on the bases to make the base battles more intence rather than adding more ******** infantry anti air/armor weapons. i mean think about it, wouldnt having hidden AA nests with turrets in the side of mountains be freaking awesome? on hidden little spots on the ground between bases and on bases. obviously not a great idea now since they have already ****** up with adding more anti air/armor infantry weapons. ESF reaver maxed scout radar maxed nanites maxed hover maxed rotery maxed lolpods..ftw (thermals) (@'-')--@
