CeeJ Mantis
Mantodea MC
32
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Posted - 2014.08.18 21:20:00 -
[1] - Quote
The reasons for disliking tanks are numerous and complicated. Currently tanks are invulnerable to all weapons good for killing infantry (while the forge, RE, PLC, and KN are all able to do it, they are not your choice for slaying). They trade off this for vulnerability to AV weapons. After 1.7 swarms, the weapon of choice for many as thy come with your free suits were essentially worthless. As were AV grenades. Cheap options for AV just simply weren't viable, and this creates a dilema. To kill a good tanker, you need to do it quickly enough so it doesn't simply run away, and you needed proto to do that. Since a tank can kill you rather quickly running proto is risky, and not always possible for people without isk or the secondary skills to make a proper proto AV fit. Even with proto, it often isn't enough, and you need 2-3 people coordinating to take one down. The problem is that 1 tank needs 3 people with specialized weapons to kill 1 person. If you don't kill it, it drives about killing people without consequence. Much the same can be said about assault DS. The vehicle speed mods negate all but extreme alpha damage. This meant that even if you shoot at them, they can run away most of the time and your efforts were wasted. Tanks get a lot of advantages of infantry, and they can kill all day since you either have to find a supply depot (if there is one nearby, and you can get to it safely and quickly) or you simply die and then you can get the right gear to try to take them out, but they either run away, or kill you unless you have a squad. While a proto heavy can technically be taken out by any suit in a 1 v 1 scenario if you use correct strategy, good tankers are almost impossible to kill alone unless they make a mistake.
Another reason is that tankers only do one thing in objective based games, Kill people. They don't capture points, and they often destroy turrets (not so much now) and other things infantry want to hack. Times when I've needed to go to a supply depot only t see it had been destroyed by a friendly tank because +50WP make my blood boil. And many times I've seen a tank sit outside an empty enemy objective because hopping out of his/her armored titan to hack it means that they could die. This brings me to another point, tanks are autonomous. They require no support, and often don't care about the infantry. Even if they are blues, the hated monsters that they often are, you need them to win, and a tank only cares about their points, and runs when a slight danger presents itself. One swarmer causes your much needed support to leave you high and dry. You throw as many suits as needed to cap that last point you need to win the game and a tank leaves because they loose all of their profit for a match. While a logical move, it's frustrating to see any teammate concede a winnable fight for personal gain. In the end, tankers don't care about the match, or their teammates because they don't need to.
Lastly, while complaining is a common occurrence in Dust 514, when a tanker complains that weapons designed to be effective against them kill them, it is insanely frustrating. As infantry, I have to always be on my toes not to loose my proto suit with FW specialist weapons to bad spawns, SG scouts, REs on objectives, HMG sentinels, and OBs (though not as much for OBs these days), vehicles, and many other things that might cause me to die before I can react. Tankers complaining that they die to things yields little sympathy. Your threats are few, but powerful, and you have enough HP to survive the first hit. And if things get tough for you, you can recall your toys (like you had to do in 1.6) and join the fight on the ground, but you often choose to pull out another one. If we kept dying in proto suits, you'd say tone it down. That doesn't seem like an option many tankers consider.
Now, I run an assault DP, and I tanked a lot in the pre 1.7 days. I know what it is like to loose 1 million isk because you take a FG at the wrong time, and how hard it is to be isk positive in a vehicle during some circumstances. I also have mad plc skills now and solo many tanks just fine. Killing vehicles is more accessible now than ever, but before, it was HARD. The scars of tankbush, and lost shiny suits run deep. Seeing a tank go 33/0 match after match because you tried your best to kill one and instead ended up feeding him WP as he splattered your hard earned isk on the wall is something you don't get over easily. And this is ignoring the BM tactics that some people did. A SG scout camping an uplink is annoying. A tank doing it is impossible to counter. Nowadays, I somewhat feel for tankers. Turrets make holding territory easy, and capturing it much more difficult. You no longer have the free reign (or easy turret destruction WP) you once had. This however means that a tank should be an asset used to assist infantry, and vice versa. Teamwork is now required, and people have to put their death machines away when things get rough (and the new 15 second timer is brutal. 10 seconds would do just fine). I hope to see a more dynamically oriented vehicle experience. It is unfortunate that the vehicle skill tree is filled with SP sinks and essentially forces you to use them as that's what your SP is invested in, but hopefully it finds a new happier balance.
Longest plasma cannon kill: 236.45m
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