Skihids
The Tritan Industries
RISE of LEGION
1522
   |
Posted - 2013.06.03 19:32:00 -
[1] - Quote
There are so many problems with the dropship that it's difficult to know where to begin.
- They are huge targets
- They have practically no cover as they hang in the air
- They are accessable from just about anywhere on the map so AV doesn't have to be threatened by infantry
- They have the accelleration of a Greyhound bus with a Prius drivetrain
- They have to fly low and slow to do anything useful
- They are tissue paper thin unless you have millions of SP into them and then they are newsprint thin
On top of that they have no real mission.
Everyone says they are transports, but CCP treats them like gunships, going so far as to make an Assault variant. CCP Blam is now talking about a bomber variant. I don't get the feeling that we will see any ADV or PRO "versions" of the dropship, just more variations for increasing SP and ISK.
There is no need to use a dropship as transport. Grab a couple LAVs and you will arrive quickly, more stealthily, and intact with a few roadkills on the way. Take a dropship and you may not make it. In any event unless you area a heavy you can just walk in the time it takes to call in a dropship.
Once you make it to an objective DUs and objective spawning eliminate 90% of the need for long distance transport even on the larger maps.
The other missions?
- Vehicle scanners: They are radius based so the ground footprint is tiny to non-existant unless you are flying lamp-post height.
- Shield transport: With a range of several meters the dropship may as well be a child's balloon tied to the HAV's top turret. It's as easy to kill and as impossilbe to miss..
Dropships are a solution looking for a problem to solve. They used to fun to fly when they were somewhat responsive, but they are such slow pigs that I've stopped flying them for fun.
Now I'm driving the SLAV or LLAV for fun. The new control scheme with L2/R2 for brake/accellerator is great and racing around is so much more fun. I get the feeling of speed and the challenge of a racing game while turning red dots into red smears on the road. The speed loss when hitting a suit actually improves the fun as it makes it feel like a substantial hit. Now CCP needs to add a crunching sound of the suit being crushed to make it perfect. My personal best is 14-0 and I'm having a blast.
The LAV has the benefit of eHP, abundant cover, and accelleration which makes it 100x more survivable than a dropship. LAVs are where it's at. |
Skihids
The Tritan Industries
RISE of LEGION
1523
|
Posted - 2013.06.03 20:12:00 -
[2] - Quote
The FG is balanced nicely against the HAV, but it's OP vs. the slow vulnerable dropship.
You can't nerf the FG without hurting the FG/HAV balance, so you need to come up with another way to balance FG/DS.
LAVs are balanced with respect to the FG due to the fact that the FG user has to be pretty close to the LAV to get a shot with all the natural cover a ground vehicle enjoys. The LAV also has great acceleration and speed to get out of Dodge when he is hit. Heck, the LAV can even take one in the face and roadkill the FG user.
The dropship has none of that. |