I know there has been a lot of threads hating on the highly abuse-able LAV, asking you to fix it, and I'm here to tell you why that is the worst thing you could do.

Last build amazed me at its weapons balance, it wasn't perfect but damn near. My greatest sadness was just how pointless it was to skill into light AV, I hadn't enjoyed it since the EA build, when I could get WP for damage and I blamed the lake of damage WP for their lack of point.

I was wrong.

A friend of mine convinced me to jump into a swarm fit just a free fit with a STD swarm and a toxin, and to my surprise what did I find, that the culprit to the death of light AV was well the lack of vehicles, and the lack of vehicles was because they where just a waste of time, something to get you from one side of the map to the other almost as fast as a scout. Now with their survivability and more pleasant driving every one is using them and hence they are an annoyance.....or a feast.

This game adapts so slowly, as people are so very miserly with their SP(as it should be), so when a threat like more vehicles becomes common every one attempts to defend the skill points they've spent by declaring it an abuse. But if that threat is left long enough in game players start to take the steps to counter it, if LAVs are left in large portions of random teams will have an AV suit waiting to beat them down, there will be some like me who will make it their role on the battle field, and not just some stupid weapon that they have if some vehicle abusing ******* won't leave them alone, who they then ***** about on the forums shortly afterwards and use as an example of how OP weapons are.

So while every one is complaining about lavs and I'm laughing all the way to the bank. I'm struck with an idea the suit I am using is cheap and yet I have this phenomenal isk efficiency and a KDR that's comparable with the one I have in proto fits, A new player could do quite well for himself this is the equivalent of the tackler in eve, quick to get into and indispensable in any team, freeing up the more skilled and better geared players to handle the more brutal front line fights. To test this theory eliminate the effect of core skills I built a new character and found that in the time it took me to build up the isk for skill books(a few hours of play) I could field a STD MMF, with a STD swarm, and STD SMG, with a nano hive and flux grenades. and this frame is quite capable of bringing down even proto gear in one on one CQC and can fend off almost three dedicated lavers at once(less if they are logi lavs).

TLDR;
in summery:
1)people complain about vehicles because no one main specs AV with the exception of forge gunners which are not the best for taking out lavs

2)there are no dedicated AVer because there were not enough vehicles to keep them busy, because vehicles were flimsy and could not be recalled.

3)light AV is a great beginner profession, as it takes little SP to be effective and frees up players that are more capable to focus on the push, while providing new players with a good fight and a sense of accomplishment.

4)more dedicated AV and players capable of fielding AV means tanks can actually be allowed a tank that doesn't disappear under the fire of one infantry member, also less gripes about OP vehicles and more "educating" people on the virtues of AV

Conclusion:
This game promises to be a role based shooter, but if vehicles do not provide a strong, persistent role on the battle field(currently they are mostly a gimmick and nothing more, tho current buffs have helped to change that), then AV cannot be a full time role, and if AV is not a full time roll then Vehicles must be nerfed to the point that it is not worth the time or skill investment. The ever presence of all vehicles on the battle field is a critical part of keeping this game healthy, Lavs should remain as they are, DS need another look at, and tanks should be revisited when AV is common place in every match.

haha. The best I do against good tank drivers with my proto gear is. Hey squad I got him to hid in the redzone for a couple minutes.

/runtosupplydepot

Rinse and repeat.