This isn't talked about often for the following reasons
- Next to no one is skilled into the Saga-II
- Next to no one knows how to fit the Saga-II
- No one (that I've come across) is as good as me at soloing in an LAV.
So this one's fallen completely under the radar, but if you've seen me using the thing in a match and have tried to kill it you may have a taste as to why I'm proposing this. Here's the crux of the issue, because of Shield Regen mechanics being what they are in the game if AV's damage can be neutralized to a certain point they'll become unable to break the Shield Regen. The Saga's shield regen is obscene.
The Saga-II has a built in Shield Hardener with no outward effect that still hardens at the 60% rate before Hardeners were nerfed. So from AV's perspective I have an unkillable LAV that outheals the majority of the damage they inflict on me. Plasma Cannons and Forge Guns can break the regen but it would realistically require two of them for me to start worrying. I can outheal the majority of swarms. If a Missile tank shoots a volley at my hardened Saga it typically only just cracks through armor. Large Blasters can't break my regen so those tanks die against me. Large Rails are effective but tracking and hitting a moving LAV is difficult for them.
I kill tanks, solo, in my LAV and infantry doesn't stand a chance. When I have my modules active it's one of the most powerful weapons in the game. When they're in cooldown I'm glass.
Potential / Proposed Nerfs (not to be taken combined)
The problem isn't the 60% hardener so much as the current iteration of Shield mechanics. You could ...
Nerf the Regen rate on vehicles as a whole - Wouldn't be able to heal through Swarms
Lower the minimum threshold required for breaking shield regen. - Wouldn't be able to heal through Swarms
Bring the 60% built in Hardener down to a 40% hardener, probably my least favorite potential nerf on the basis that the built in 60% hardener is the only thing making the Saga-II a worthwhile and unique vehicle and, with only one viable fit, it sacrifices everything on the utility side to make it work. I'd support this on the condition that the Saga/Saga-II had their base Shield pool increased to the 1400-1500 range. Unfortunately this has a side effect of making BPO Saga's more powerful which is not the direction we need to be heading. What REALLY needs to happen is an increase in the slot layout of LAVs coupled with a decrease in their overall health pools to encourage fitting the damned things. Maybe just decreasing the health of the Methana/Baloch and keeping the Saga at its current health levels.