Lets be honest here....HAV have no dedicated role..... in fact quite frankly they don't have a lot of anything to them right now.

Since the CCP Wolfman HAV "fixes" tanks have had no specific role on the ground, not customisation, no reason to exist other than to make the lives of infantry miserable.

As they are.....well Seymour you are right. We don't need tanks like this.

Vehicles that have their power curve based on the hull of the vehicle and not the players supporting skills, and or their skills as a player.

What HAV could be is what we should be considering.

I have always found that in Dust, as they were tanks provided a tactical objective/diversion for the enemy players. When an HAV was present on a map it was a threat, and one that forced players to look outside of their own small infantry run and gun sphere and at the wider battlefield. It forces players to consider the location, capabilities of the pilot, their own squads position, and our course their load out dictating a change to heavier weapons.

Also more importantly HAV and all vehicles really escalate the engagement.

While HAV do a reasonable job of achieving these battlefield changes it is their lack of a true role that caused them to receive so much hatred. They are durable, fast, and have heavy fire power all in one package, with powerful statistics as a basis and able to be improved a few skills that really sell for less SP than they deserve.

As I said before its what HAV could be that we should be considering.

HAV should be a choice, a highly SP invested unit and high ISK cost unit which provides and unparalleled platform for Anti Vehicle firepower over large ranges while being impervious to small arms.....but of course weak to hand held AV fire and installations.

Additionally HAV should have their generalist hulls broken down into more specific roles, increasing the number of hulls per race and also diversifying and specialising the roles an HAV can achieve in the field. Pre- 1.7 a tanker could specifically fit out a tank to fulfil any battlefield role.

Pre 1.7 I was fitting our Heavy Armour Combat Madrugars with massive HP values and active resistances, I also had fast moving light scouting tanks with low HP a scanner and a heat sink.

TL;DR

Tanks as they are lack focus, lack a role, and lack balance. This is because they achieve everything in a generalist way to a high standard and do so with minimal SP investment.

What the HAV could be is something that adds a great tactical element to combat if done properly, something that few other games can and will achieve.

Just to add my own personal notes to this....... I also feel like if the player base is so hell bent on removing HAV and vehicle from the game then they do not want an FPS set in New Eden and probably should focus on other games then. I still have faith in CCP's vision if not their staff barring of course some of them, and do not want to see Dust casualised for the sake of making another crappy and generalist sci fi shooter when it could be so much more..