Upcoming Tank and Liberator Changes

So after reading this: http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/283qkr/higby_joined_our_platoon_today_and_talked_about/

and this: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/patch-notes-6-13.189799/

WTF is wrong with you SOE? and the liberator changes getting delayed even further while they should actually be prioritized? These nerfs to Tanks are uncalled for and are absolute BS.

That it was the case doesn't mean it ever should have been that way.

And the Lib -is- outright superior.

Please, tell us. the suspense is killing me... I really want to know.

You are correct. It's uncommon to be in a situation where your AP cannon can hit them even when using fully certed Anchor mode on the angle of a hill so you face the sky. The thing is the AP cannon before libs got buffed was one of the only ways to take out liberators hovering above bases quickly enough that the thing didn't come flying right above you or at you to rolf stomp your MBT into the ground.

It wasn't a counter to libs being used in the normal way but it could be used in a pinch to punish lib pilots who fly to low to the ground to tank bust armour or farm infantry.

By nerfing the velocity of the AP cannon and adding more gravity to it you encourage more libs to hover farm bases/battles with impunity and fly low to the ground to tank bust whatever they want. The AP cannons should be left alone as they are not used to farm infantry at extreme ranges. They are used as designed. To take out enemy armour. No one was complaining about AP cannons and they should be a viable option to crunch air-armour/libs if they put themselves at risk.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/28534l/the_tank_rangevelocity_changes_are_actually_a/

To RadarX and SOE developers:

I still do not understand this line in the patch notes:

Effective ranges of most anti-tank tank weaponry is being reduced.

• Gravity on all primary cannon tank shells is being increased from 4 to 5

The only "anti-tank tank weaponry", meaning a tank cannon designed to fight other tanks? That is the AP.
Could you please clarify and elaborate on that statement?

It states that you will reduce the range only on "most", that means not all of them.

What will be the changes to Lightning Viper/HEAT, if any ?

Are you reducing the range on all MBTs/Lightnings, in addition to the range reduction that will automatically happen due to the increased drop, or is the added drop your way of reducing the range?

If you could, please ask the developers to make a concerted effort in spelling this out , the more detail the better.

thank you.

I shall explain it for you:

They're making AP rounds harder to shoot so it's harder to hit Liberators (now that they're removing their armor buff).

Nothing to see here, just more pilot catering.

Also this means that they are promoting HE round usage(not only threw gameplay but also threw the HE round velocity buffs).

which means its going to be bad for tankers & infantry!



(If only SOE would listen to me about removing HE Tank rounds and then Giving MBT's bulldogs & fury's as secondary options)


litterally that could do this ^

Rather then mess with the tanks velocity & gravity.

but apparently the liberator lobby is just to strong.

MBT-curbing you mean ._.

HIggles has done nothing but show absolute favortism to pilots since beta. Some of the buffs given to pilots in the past have been so strong that it has damaged population numbers.

Pilots represent a small portion of the community and EVERYONE IS TIRED OF DEALING WITH THEM.

And yet he just does NOT understand this. He keeps pushing the boundary of what is acceptable balance for aircraft. It has to STOP.

Given Daltons/ZephersZephers drop and the Shredders steep damage falloff the Liberator is most effective as a close/mid range vehicle. SOEs goal of limiting the engagement range of the Lib wont change much, if anything.

That being said, if they were to alter the weapon to have better range (which they should not) and have it still be true to its namesake these forums would melt.

What range are they talking though? Being too high up or firing from off on the side?

It's the lack of clarity that annoys me. They don't even give examples or show what data they are talking about.

The liberator lobby won & is probably the cause for alot of these Tank & ESF nerfs/changes.

notice how they directly state that it was doing "to well" vs liberators.

So they make rocket pods worse against liberators(technically speaking), while somehow making shure the liberator is the main AV air unit...... even thought the liberator is also good at A2A combat in some cases better then ESF's.

Yet at the same time they want liberator weapons(minus the duster & zepher) to be less effective against infantry.

if you notice that(in the patchnotes) AP & HEAT are being nerfed, while for some reason HE rounds are being buffed & promoted en usage.

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/patch-notes-6-13.189799/

This...... will not end well for the game.


But the liberator lobby is now happy because tanks won't be able to shoot at them.




Also please....... look at this reddit post, it reveals alot of what higby has planned for the lib belly guns(and possibly the tank buster since the lib guys were telling him not to change it or something):

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/283qkr/higby_joined_our_platoon_today_and_talked_about/





The liberator lobby won....... and also is going to screw over the Tank & infantry game threw intended consequences.

If you watch liberator videos, 99% of them are edited. That's because it takes 10+ minutes to find a lone tank or sundy to actually tank bust.
When there's armor, there's a ton of armor. There is just no way for a lib to strafe at any of them without being hit by flak or a lock on.

A lone sundy or tank is dead no matter what, especially if its alone. The only thing that matters is time. If people complain that it only takes a clip of the tank buster+a dalton shot to take down a sundy, even halving the damage of the tank buster and the dalton will only make the lib come back for another pass.

I agree that my wording was a bit off. There is a slight inbalance in the risk-reward ratio right now. The increased damage from tank rounds and the nerf to composite armor will help that, I just think that the balances will hardly affect gameplay at all.

And that's the whole point. They should have to come back for another pass.. That extra pass is the point where vehicles are no longer surprised by an all silent flying fortress.. that extra pass is the chance to survive, get help, get our of the vehicle, line up a defensive shot.. that extra pass is all most of us ever wanted.

Most good lib crews should not have a problem with that extra pass....

I still believe the changes are in reverse order.. first the Lib should be fixed, then, after that, then they could touch tanks... but they are neutering tanks first.. in the meantime, Libs will rule the battlefield even more.. until they finally reduce comp armor.. and then tanks won't be able to shoot back, due to more drop, less range, slower shells.. etc.. I don't think this is fixing anything.

I would imagine they are referring to high altitudes as engaging with horizontal fire is a deal more difficult in contrast. Though, as you said, we need clarification.

Which is why I'm fine with the changes.

The end result is still going to be the same. I fail to see why the order matters in the long run.
At the ranges that lib have to strafe to tank bust, even more drop doesn't matter.

Don't Worry, I Found the REAL Tank Patch Notes

I can understand players being upset about the tank portion of the changes rolling out first, especially with how it appears they did not take much, if any, feedback into account. But to presume this is because they favor pilots over ever other aspect is.. a bit of a stretch.

Because many forums-goers don't read through the entirety of threads, ill give a very brief (and incomplete) summary of my stance on Liberators in their current iteration before I continue.


-Liberators, first and foremost, are too durable and this (along with the innumerable amounts of Lib threads) became a big issue with the past update that saw both a base resistance buff and Composite Armor buff. This change was both unneeded and unasked for.

-The anti-infantry capabilities of the vehicle need to be reduced, I think that is pretty apparent. However, the Liberator hardly lies at the heart of this issue. Part of it, no doubt, but not the heart. Base and spawnroom design lack anywhere close to sufficient cover from air threats. The Spawnroom itself being a separate shack invites camping from not only air but armor and infantry as well. Sony made a pass to throw up walls and other defensive structures which drastically changed vehicles and their part with in-base combat, yet why have they neglected to do so for air? Players are quick to see Liberators or E SFs as the sole sorcery of the issue because that is what they are interacting with (dying to) and are missing a whole other component to the problem.

-The CAS30, and not many vocal Liberator pilots share this view, does too much damage as-is. I feel a weapon that can kill heavy armor (MBTs and Liberators alike) in one clip is bad for gameplay.

-Too much belly gun ammo

..If you even care at this point I would recommend going through the thread as I have many posts within, though I suspect I will be dismissed merely because I am associated with the Liberator. The point is that I am not zealous about staving of Lib nerfs, as many others are not yet are still dismissed, only to have people focus on the posts made by inexperienced and or immature players who use the Liberator as a means to spawncamp others.

To the point: Air has hardly been catered too, even though Liberators and ESFs are near universally hated and powerful.

With the exception of the the Liberator defensive buff (which I touched on above) and the tailgun range-of-motion buffs this is a short list of changes to air in the past (since launch). And this is just off the top of my head so please bare with me if I miss much.

-Zepher nerf
-Rocket pod AI nerf
-general explosion radius and damage nerf
-aircraft gravity nerf
-drop added to Liberator weapons
-reverse maneuver nerf (which I think was through the AB nerf/change)
-Dalton nerf
-Tankbuster nerf (vs turrets)
-ESF nose-gun nerf
-general resistance changes (indirectly nerfed some air weaponry)
-Basilisks buffs (became a much better at combating air)
-Walker buffs (also buffed the Liberator tailgun)
-Amerish revamp added a great deal AA hardpoints to the map
-Rocketpod AV nerf (pending)

.. that's all that come to mind right now, but what I'm trying to convey to you is this; Sony hasn't sat around and thought how they could further empower aircraft or Liberators in general. Yes they made some very stupid mistakes with the Liberator update, but that was a good example of feedback from the Lib community itself being completely ignored.

I need to stop here.. I've been drinking and typing this on my phone so it's probably a mess to read. I hope I at least got my feelings across.



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Klypto, please, it was funny, really.. but there are some forumsiders who will believe that your "real patch post" is actually going to happen. Why do you insist on breaking their hearts? Please, leave it be. Some people actually believe it, sad as that is.. but they'll just come back and get mad at you... please, don't drive them any more insane..