As I'm sure we've all seen lately, with the increased map sizes and distance between opposing spawn points at the start of the maps, LAV usage as at a rise. First it's for convenience sake, then they start running people over. I don't really have a problem with that however because there are many counter-measures available.

However, one counter-measure has perplexed me lately -- the proximity mines are surprisingly under-powered.

First of all I'd like to say that the AV grenades do not seem under-powered versus LAVs. Two successful hits and those things are nearly dead, and you get to carry 3 of them. That's not a problem at all. Now, let's consider the ease of implementation versus an AV grenade. An AV grenade is by far easier to use than a proximity mine. For the AV grenade, you need only for the LAV to come near you momentarily, toss it in the general direction, and the homing effect does the rest of the work. The proximity mine, on the other hand, requires planning and prediction. There aren't many set pathways for LAVs to travel on many of the maps; most of the time they drive around in the open dirt. Also, I'm not talking even talking about tanks, but proximity mines give tanks a beeping warning before driving over them -- another reason why AV grenades are more effective.

For this very reason -- the fact that it's more difficult to score a hit with a proximity mine than an AV grenade -- it makes sense for the proximity mine to be not as powerful, but rather, more powerful than the AV grenade. However in practice, this isn't the case at all. In fact, it's the complete opposite. Here's an experience I had.

My team was holding a city area near the entrance with the road leading out. It was a perfect opportunity to use proximity mines, because the LAVs were blazing through that small pathway repeatedly. I set all 3 proximity mines near each other and waited. Sure enough, an LAV came by at full speed, running them over directly.
The result was a tiny explosion and 3/4 of the LAV shields gone. Didn't even touch the armor. W... T... F...

Now, I'm sure some of you will be quick to say, "Well, maybe it was a special non-militia shield-tanking LAV...." Well, we already know that 3 tossed AV grenades would have done way more damage than that. We also know that the planning, placement, and successful detonation of those proximity mines was harder to achieve than throwing 3 grenades. So even if it was a super LAV, why in the world would it do so little damage compared to the AV grenade when it's so much harder to successfully use?

To further support this, here are some recent quotes from fellow forum users:



In summary, the proximity mine is much harder to successfully deploy and detonate than the AV grenade. It requires careful placement often in dangerous areas, and prediction of where the enemy LAVs will travel.

The rewards are not matching the risk and difficulty of successful utilization, especially compared to the AV grenade, so the damage should be increased to better reflect this.