I automatically thought NO JETPACKS!!!
But after reading the rest of the OP I guess its not such a bad idea. They just have to be balanced appropriately. And have a great deal of requirements.
Oh and the must ultimately have to and I mean HAVE TO explode when I shoot the person down.
Nothing makes killing a jetpacker more fun than seeing him go boom in the air.

Tribes is a good game.
This game does not need to be Tribes.
If there are ever jetpacks of any type, no matter how hard CCP might try to balance them, they will eventually become required to compete and break the entire game. Better to just never even try.

Being able to fly is a huuuuge advantage in certain situations. Even in just regular combat, being able to fly over people and shoot down at them is a major asset. Anyone who plays Planetside 2 knows what I'm talking about. That said, I'm not against jet packs as such, but rather I find the threads asking that they be a high power module, or an equipment piece, have no idea what they're on about. You give someone an AR, or a mass driver, or any other L or even H weapon, plus the ability to fly, and nobody will ever use non-flying fittings again. So it's not that jet packs are a bad idea, it's that people have terrible, awful ideas about how they should be added to the game. The only way to make jet packs work is if there is a serious trade-off involved. Not sacrificing an equipment slot or something dumb like that. Look at how much scouts give up to simply run faster/longer.

However, the broader issue is that Dust isn't a vertical game by its very design. You have rooftops and... that's more-or-less it. The maps are not designed around having people able to fly around in them. So jetpacks wouldn't have too many areas where they have the ability to shine at all without CCP changing the way their maps work, for the most part. Not an impossible thing, but it is asking a lot.

Personally, I hope they add jet packs and make them balanced and add everything else people want. The more options the better. But they clearly shouldn't be taking their cues from the forums on how to balance this stuff.

jet pack ruin the ability to use drop ships. unless it give the user a foot more then normal distance. like a double jump?

Read Before expressing your hatred of this idea.

Jetpacks can be balanced, can be useful, and are inherently fun.

[HOW THEY SHOULD WORK]

Jetpacks should take 5 or 6 seconds to activate: this will prevent people from using them to cower out of gun battles.

Guns cannot be used while jetpack is active: This will keep them from being overpowered.

Jetpacks should have very limited climb: This will prevent people from being able to fly up high on top of towers to camp. EDIT: The climb is limited, but still high enough to get on a small building.

Jetpacks flight should be limited by regenerating power system similar to infantry stamina (maybe 15-20 seconds of continuous flight): This will prevent people from being in the air for too long.

Players with active jetpacks should be susceptible to swarm launcher lock-on and fire.

EDIT: It is to be a vehicle, not a module, or equipment.

[USEFULNESS]

Jetpacks would be very useful, especially for the logistics dropsuits. It could be used for flying past enemies to plant drop uplinks for his team to spawn, or flying to downed players to revive.

Jetpacks would be considerably useful for scouts to get on top of buildings to spot and call out enemy locations for their team, and provide covering fire.

Jetpacks would be useful for general travel on large battlefields if a player needs to travel alone in which extra seats aren't needed. Some might think lone travelers imply lack of teamwork, or lone-wolves, but travelling alone can be useful for the team if the player is acting as a distraction, or sneaking behind enemies to hunt them down (which prevents them from getting to objectives), or to call out their positions.

Jetpacks would NOT REPLACE DROPSHIPS, nor render them obsolete. Jetpacks would occupy a very different niche. Dropships would remain vital because of all the things they can do or have that jetpacks don't; dropships would have much higher climb, much more armor and shields, turrets, and slots to customize (like adding a CRU).

* Jetpacks don't have to look or even fly like anything like conventional jetpacks. It could even look like a more horizontal version of the inertia dampener animation with a different color effect or something.


EDIT:
They don't have to be as "nerfed" as I present them in the OP, but It would be good for them to start that way, then gradually balanced into just the right amount of power. Otherwise, they might start out too strong, and cause a massive uproar, then get overnerfed to uselessness.
Despite all the proposed limitations (which are totally subject to change), I still think they will be quite useful because of the boost of personal speed.
The low-flying nature of jetpacks would make them harder for swarm launcher users to spot them, so they're not all that vulnerable.

EDIT 2: Being unable to use guns, and having to wait 5+ seconds just to activate jetpacks may make it not fun, so those proposed limitations can be dropped.

EDIT 3: Though I use logistics as an example, it should not be limited for only one suit.

Ok... you may unleash your hate now.

I'm Tired of this heavy discrimination, talk about whiners.

If implemented it should without a doubt be available on all suits.

A bumble bee with an autocannon raining hell from above ? NO THANKS

You guys get enough kills already, don't be greedy.

I'm Tired of this heavy discrimination, talk about whiners.

If implemented it should without a doubt be available on all suits.