Attack Helis still aren't worth flying after buffs
While experimenting with the helis and looking at the history of changes, I feel like so far the attack heli hasn't seen recovery after their fall from grace with the introduction of Stealth Helis and the buffs dice tried to give them.
I feel like the main problem with them is that whatever the apache/hokum can do, the nightbird, Huron, and Hannibal can do far better.
In the arsenal department,
Against other helis and aircraft: The nightbird has miniguns and 20mm with infinite ammo and the stealths have HMG and cannons too. Only the hokum has a weapon able to go toe to toe with stealths and transport helis, and possibly nightbirds with a good amount of skill with the 30mm cannons. problem is the cannons are unlocked very late in leveling the hokum (Which the Apache doesn't have), leaving the hokum and apache left with using rocket pods which only the 127mm and TOWs are okay but are misaligned on the apache and TOWs are buggy. AA missiles also feel completely useless due to flares on all aircraft that you won't be able to get a lock on before you go down because the other heli has MGs or Miniguns that ignore flares.
Against tanks: the Stealth chopper does it better with AGMs and bombs out of the box, and later on TOWs that deal significant damage to ground armor, infantry, and aircraft with the height advantage. Even the nightbird can take down armor with AGMs and 20mms with a skilled pilot. the attack chopper's smart rockets don't deal much damage, and the 70mm rockets neither as well, leaving only the 127mm, TOWS and AGMs to deal with armor, which seems to be the niche the attack choppers are going to fill if not for the other choppers doing the same role with more versatility, or bells and whistles like Stealth mode or maneuverability.
Against infantry: Here I feel the nightbird especially stole the role of Farming infantry for a while before DICE nerfed the 70mm rockets to be ineffective on the nightbird which (Surprise!) also affected the Attack choppers. I do feel the 70mm deserved the nerf but I also feel it should have never been added to the nightbird at launch, a chopper with high mobility able to mow down infantry really caused a lot of problems and frustration to the playerbase. Aside from the rocket pods, miniguns, hmgs and bombs just do better damage and are more reliable than what the Attack choppers offer
There are other problems with the Hokum and Apache other than the arsenal, they handle worse with more weight, unable to maneuver like all other choppers, and the gunner experience is horrible with the 30mm overheat penalty longer than you can even fire before you can overheat and no secondary weapon like the stealth chopper EMP nade which has great support utility for a gunner seat.
There is a lot of ways that can go right or wrong with fixing the heli issue, such as making attack heli mobility comparable to the rest is a step in the right direction regardless of the situation. fixing the arsenal is more tricky such as buffing the 70mm rocket pods means the nightbird can farm infantry again.
Personally,
I'd replace the 70mm Rocket pod on the nightbird with AA heat seekers. the rockets overstep the line of the attack chopper role before the nerf (Let's be honest, they are useless now) and buffing it may put it to be also unbalanced, replacing it at least gives it a more counter aircraft role that it excels in (Though AMGs may still be the only missile worth running because of how bad AA missiles are even in past titles from my research)
buffing 70mm assuming it is attack chopper exclusive also runs into issues with being OP, but at least the chopper won't have the mobility of the nightbird or able to evade lockons like Stealths, which leaves only flares and below radar which besides those would mean they are easier to take down by infantry or AA
For the rest of the rockets, smart rockets need to increase damage as they have no use compared to the later 127mm rockets, AA rockets need some buffs as in all choppers they are a waste of a slot.
The gunner seat needs tweaks with damage and overheating
Also please add TOWs or TV missiles or something for the gunners
Mobility to be on par or close to the rest of the choppers, specifically turning in the air, airspeed and weight of the helis.
- add a 30mm cannon equivalent on the Apache
- fix the rocket misalignment issue
I did consider moving the nightbird to the same category as the transport helis so the attack and stealth helis are more isolated in options but it comes with some ramifications such as players taking the nightbird over the transport helis or having both the hind/condor AND nightbird on the field at the same time being too much on the field (if you can have 1 of each like in Vehicle superiority modes)
If you have feedback, let me know since I'm not much of a vehicle expert or a veteran for battlefield games, I try my best to play with each vehicle and equivalents between the games I own (BF4,V, 1 and 2042) and research on the history and what people say about issues.
