3.2 Patch notes!

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@UNL1M1T3D_P0W3R wrote:
@AdamonicHave you actually used Rao before lol, he ain't useless or worthless at all. And he's one of the best additions to the BF franchise.

The whole point of Rao now more than ever is to be a constant annoying vehicle swatter at a distance (was way too easy to kill skilless birds with hack + stinger lol).

He's a Recon so naturally he's more effective played at a distance. SOFLAM helps to constantly target tanks/helis (and spot infantry) further off in the distance so it's the ideal gadget to have when not hacking. Complete opposite of useless.

Hacked vehicles now communicated to teammates as locked targets is amazing and something that was needed since launch - anti-vehicle awareness will be instantly improved.

The compromise to this though is the increased hacked target cooldown (this window is where Engineers really need to spam rockets), and slightly longer hack duration (not really a prob if you're at a bit of a distance as fortunately his hack range didn't get nerfed - nor should it). If a Rao is close to any vehicle and expect to hack it they deserve to get killed.

The more people understand this, the more synergy there'll be between Rao players and Engineers on the field. They'll be extremely effective at wiping away scrubby vehicles, can't wait honestly.

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Yes, I have played Rao, and right now he is fine with access to M5/FXAA. Maybe you are missing the point. Right now he is only viable due to access to shoulder-fired weapons. He doesn't one-shot vehicles, but his hack+M5/FXAA is a pretty effective team-friendly combo.

Once the classes hit, he loses access to those weapons (-2) and gets a Sniper weapon proficiency that will be rarely used if you are trying to use him to hack (-1).

He gets a lock-on capability (+1), but we don't know yet if he has to hold it or if it stays up for a period of time (like his hack). Either way, it will now take longer to actually hack a vehicle (-1) and the cooldown between hacks has been increased (-1). If all he is adding is the SOFLAM-like capability for that, then just equip the SOFLAM like you said. However, if you are in the rear with the gear with a SOFLAM, you are never hacking anything from 200M out. However, it is a redundant function, which would be like Falck requiring a Med pack to heal non-squad members. Would that make much sense? Not really. 

Also, there will be significantly fewer M5s and FXAAs now that you can only use Boris or Crawford to access them (-2). Lis can't access them and painted targets do her no good (-1). So Rao can now assist only two other Specialists with his capability, not even the entire class. That is like Casper's drone only assisting the Support class, but not Irish. Come on man.

So I don't know how you don't consider him one of the worst Specialists based on all of that? I could be completely wrong, but I just don't see painting targets for two Specialists with all the other things taken away as a reason anyone would play him after next week. 

Watching the playtest that Stodeh streamed with him, Jackfrags and friends. It seems the Rao hack will laser designate the target without holding it. Stodeh was claming Rao will be too OP when combined with a teammates using the Javelin. This is only true if the squad is organized and communicating like his was.

He's playing in comms with his squad and they coordinated someone using javelin, another dropping ammo, and Stodeh calling calling it out after he hacks. When he doesn't call it out Jack doesn't know to shoot and misses the timing.

In my experience, 95% of matches I end up in a squad with people that do not work together, do not set or follow squad orders and are quite clueless. Since we have ZERO squad management capabilities in BF2042, Rao will end up being much less effective. Random people do not behave the way skilled, communicating players do in their playtest example.

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@Psubond wrote:
@UP_LordPlumbergood, maybe they'll start using miniguns and go after vehicles like they should

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Thats what I hope happens