Garrett Blacknova
Codex Troopers
4160
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Posted - 2013.12.14 19:49:00 -
[1] - Quote
Knight Soiaire wrote:Who are you?
Really? You're trying to play THAT card against Jack?
He's been around a while now. I haven't always agreed with him (actually, I haven't agreed with him very much at all), but that doesn't mean he isn't an experienced player. Call him on the flaws in his argument, NOT on perceived flaws in his character.
Back on-topic though, if people are seeing evidence that tank resists give them too much of an advantage when played right, then YEAH, we need to show that to CCP. If I had a cap card, I'd hopefully have recorded some of the more entertaining moments I've seen.
A Blaster Sica that popped its hardeners then charged into the middle of a strong enemy team who had the upper hand, and blazed away wildly for a few seconds before speeding off. It had 4 Swarm Launchers trained on it, at least 2 of which were Prototype. It rushed in, got half a dozen kills, and left without its shields dropping below 50%.
There isn't really a valid argument against that. By the time the hardeners wore off, it was back to the safety of having friendly infantry cover. After the team had lost that many players in a matter of seconds, there was nobody left to cover the AV guys if they wanted to push forwards and try to keep pressure on the tank.
If the tank in question was using the bugged Militia Nitro, then maybe that tactic isn't viable without the glitch. But I don't think it was, and I think that approach can still work.
To achieve decent results with a Swarm Launcher, you don't need good aim. You can have terrible aim, but you need semi-competent tracking skill to keep the target in your sights while locking on. Not a big deal, it's not even asking for you to be truly competent, because the lock box is pretty large. The big things you need are positioning and timing. Unfortunately, when the enemy team decides you're a priority target because they don't want to lose their tank, you're going to lose your positioning REALLY fast. When you need to be firing at a tank within a short window, and the target knows when that window will be but you can't see it yourself, and they move faster than you, then you're at a disadvantage. As a result, STEALTH is another key aspect that AV players require to be effective. Vehicle scanners are pretty solid for negating any attempts at stealth, so that's out as well. So you're left with a reliance on luck, which wasn't the case in the past.
Also, the above is the skills required to be DECENT, not actually GOOD. You need to know how to manipulate swarm trajectories by aiming off-target before firing, so you can get your missiles to arc around obstacles, or better disguise your position. Faking out an opponent can make stealth viable at times. Tricking enemies into hunting for you well off from your actual position is a great start. Making sure you attack from different positions with almost every shot can make the victim think they're being hit by more people than they really are. They're small details, little tricks, but they make a HUGE difference to the effectiveness of AV for area denial.
I run AV, and I run tanks. At the moment, I think the balance has been shifted SLIGHTLY too far in the tank's favour, but in the previous build, it was worse in the opposite direction. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think tanks probably are a little faster than they should be for the rest of their capabilities. |