Update 3.2 Feedback - Vehicles

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@Straatford87 wrote:

Hey everyone,

 

We'd like to hear your feedback on several gameplay elements now that Update 3.2 is available for play.

 

Today we'll focus on Vehicles.

 

• What do you like?
• What do you dislike?
• Anything you'd like to see changed?

Drop your comments below.

 

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If Rao is not going to get the FXM back then i suggest the following changes to Stealth helo:

1. do not allow bombs to be dropped in stealth mode.  the bomb bay doors open and that would not be a stealth profile for an aircraft if that isn't going to be done, then one of the following:
2. do not allow flares to recharge if in stealth mode
3. have the pilot have to choose between flares and stealth mode when spawning aircraft (make both a gadget that the pilot has to choose one of but not both)
4. allow soflam to designate stealth helo when in stealth mode (it makes no sense that a laser would be blocked by flares)

again, if 1 is not done then one of 2-4 should be done because the stealth is broken right now and has no viable counter that can actually kill it due to short duration of hack and the speed at which flares recharge

Why was the range of the Wildcat AA missiles increased to 800 meters? Why? It wasn’t busted enough at 600? 

Nightbird pods need to be reverted to how they were at launch. Can’t call them “anti-personnel” if it takes less bullets from infantry rifles than rockets to kill a person.

Other dislikes: TOR tank (shouldn’t exist) and stealth helicopter is way too weak. The latter is only hard to take down for people who live and die by missile locks. Against anyone with decent aim it gets melted in <5 seconds.

• What do you like?
  
  HE Tank .
  The benefit of using vehicles against infantry is greater than using vehicles against vehicles.
  Because currently ground vehicles can still be destroyed very easily on the front line.

• What do you dislike?
  
  Any attack helicopter , especially the little bird.
  There is currently no easy way to shoot down aerial vehicles, except for AA Wildcats.
  2042 does not have VT shells to counter air units.
  

• Anything you'd like to see changed?
  
  

  Vehicle needs ammunition limitation, just like battlefield V,
  Reduce ground vehicle camping, especially with the help of APS-3 will be very difficult to counter.
  
  

  1. Force the vehicle to move to the supply station to load ammunition.
  
  2. Reduce the threat of calling vehicles camping on roofs or high places.
  
  3. Reduce the time for flying vehicles to slaughter infantry crazily, and the air supply station will be very behind the birth point.
  It is also possible to add front-line air supply stations. Some bases have helipads that can be used as supply stations for helicopters, but they are only about 10 meters above the ground. Helicopter pilots who want to resupply at the front line must increase the risk and wait at a low place Ammunition supply.
  And it will take longer to resupply ammo than at the spawn point.
  
  
  Hopefully calling vehicles must cost points, forcing at least players to contribute to the team.
  

1. Rework Lizes TV missle entirely. it is beyond broken and should NOT be in the game especailly regarding tanks. now since APS was added to them there is at least a semblence of counterplay to it, yet the sheer amount of them makes it at best frustrating to play against and at worst impossible to play in ground vehicles. same goes for choppers who get one shot killed by it, that is simply not fair play. if you need to watch a video of the opressive nature of the gadget check out AshBF streaming just as an example of how much dung gets thrown around
   1. 1 as an idea for reworking her launcher: give her a smart launcher, it can both dumb fire or lock onto targets, make it as fast as the M5, but deal half DMG if used with the lock on instead of dumbfire.
2. Rao made the SOFLAM obsolete simple as that. his hacking should not disable countermeasures but be limited to the weapon systems. as a trade off it could either last a bit longer then or get a slight range increase
3. Transport vehicles in this game are everything but transports. Both the Condor/Hind are essentially flying tanks and i do not know if the playerbase hasn't realized it yet but put two crawfords in that thing and i would be suprised if it could even be destroyed anymore. faster repair speed if HP is below 25% and double that? yeah seems like that slipped past whoever is in charge of balance! remove any and all explosive weapon stations and options from the Hind, no more 40mm grenade lanchers opressing any soldier at random who is unfortunate enough to not have spawned into a vehicle, no more 50mm because that has been proven to have been not very balanced no matter how many times DICE has decicded to "rebalance" that thing.
   1. 2 as an idea for reworking the transport choppers: increase the seating options to at least 10 but make them unable to repair from the inside or use any weapons its a transport fro crying out loud not a flying deathmachine that feeds on anyone unfortunate enough not to have spawned in a tank. instead of the explosive weapon options in Passenger slot 2 just add a heavy MG with an EMP launcher like the stealth choppers have, you may keep the 2 mini-guns in slot 3 and 4 and the spotter. if you really want to use it for Drop Zone insertion give the pilot an option to deploy smoke in a 360° radius around it to cover players disembarking. you know teamplay and all
4. The MAV needs the same treatment as the Condor/HIND. remove splash DMG oriented weapon options especially but not limited to the 50mm cannon, the 60mm Mortar, 40mm Volley pod, kinetic grenades or the barrage missle.you may keep weapon pod 2 as is to give it some versatility. weapon pod 3 can keep the kannister shot but reduce its effective range or 1-hit-kill to very close around it 15m maximum! increase its seats to 10 as well give teh driver again more smoke to deploy around players disembarking. and take the team becon from the RAM and give it to the MAV....
5. the Rail gun Tank needs rehauling as well. either have it have insane drag beyond 100m i.E the projectile looses much more speed faster thus makes long shots more difficult. especially regarding the 1-hit-kills towards choppers. (don't get me wrong i had my fun reading some of the replies regarding it from peole but its time to adress it for the sake of balance) also tanks do not need 4 seats, reduce it back to two and have the machine gunner and the driver again like in BF3/4... its not like seat 4 was ever used much to begin with and seat 3 is only used for again splash DMG farming of infantry... tanks main job is on the frontlines with inf support engaging other tanks and infantry if time is available nto sitting in the backline cosplaying as Bob Lee Swagger with HE shells.... increase the acceleration and deceleration so they handle closer to how they did in BF4 but DO NOT INTRODUCE THERMALS TO VEHICLES!
6. the RAM can stay as is but rebalance the howitzers splash DMG, but again remove the grenade launcher form the secondary gun slot its just annoying to have that car plow around teh map and then get killed by grenades you can do absolutely nothing against.
7. Bolte Hovercraft and LATV can also stay as they are, heck i wouldn't even mind the LATV and Hovercraft keeping the grenade launcher but maybe increase the Hovercrafts seating to 6 and have it as a more transport focused vehicle as well...

@Straatford87 

Like - I like that they are in the game it is Battlefield after all.

Dislike - I hate that you have to sit there and camp the spawn screen clicking away like a madman hoping to actually get one, I've pretty well given up on that front. Vehicle "Call-ins" are another bad mechanic and is constantly getting abused by putting armor and other vehicles into places they have no business being and could never get to on their own. Stealth helos are just broken at the movement and Transports are seriously in need of some balancing, "Transports" like the Hind, Condor and the MAV are far better and more deadly than their "Attack" counterparts like MBT's and Attack helos.

What I would like changed -

Spawn vehicles on the maps like previous Battlefield titles so you don't have to keep popping open the spawn screen to see if one is even available. Get rid of the vehicle "Call-in" mechanic.

Fire the Stealth helo into the sun and forget it ever existed.

Remove everything from Jeeps and transports except for mini-guns and HMGs, maybe then they'll actually be used as "Transports" instead of Attack vehicles.

What do I like -

The change to classes and change to the damage done by rockets means vehicles are more fearsome to general infantry but more vulnerable to engineers - this is very good.

No longer being shot at by 10 rockets at once which each do a small amount of damage.

Turret speed increases seem to be good in general now.

Weapons / gadgets for more than two seats - ie the MAV, tanks and so forth. In previous games only a couple of vehicles had weapons and gadgets for the third and fourth seat.

In BF2042 the players in 3rd, 4th, 5th seat and so on have weapons and gadgets available - this has been the case since BF2042 came out, but its one of the best inclusions especially with 128 players.

What do I dislike -

Jets can bounce off so much stuff before exploding.

So many vehicles in the Nopats category - I wish there were more vehicles to differentiate US / RU.

No water vehicles apart from on portal maps - some of the existing maps could easily have RIB and jetskis implemented, especially for getting to flags at the start of the map.

No specific anti tank / bomber aircraft - ie A10 / SU25 in previous games.

I wish there was a transport vehicle other than the LCAA and LTAV4 which was slower but provided more protection - ie the MRAP / SPM-3 or HMMWV / Vodnik. These could also have unlocks differentiate from the other transports - like an AA missile turret. I know we already have the EBLC RAM, but I'm think of less of an attack / scout armoured vehicle, and more of just a general transport vehicle that you aren't a sitting duck in (in the transport rather than armoured vehicle category).

I wish the Wildcat gun had a higher max firing angle - I know this has to be balanced so air vehicles aren't totally dominated.

I find the kinetic grenade pods sometimes work like a treat and at other times just don't work.

There needs to be more infantry Anti-air weapons / gadgets, preferably things that other classes can use or the engineer can deploy and other classes can then use - AA mines, deployable AA manpad, grenade launcher AA proximity round, AA proximity for unguided rocket launcher - ie AA version of Recoilless M5 (engi only).

What I would change -

Add more vehicle types

Add some more unlockables such as -

-togglable IR / thermal sight (set up not to take up weapon / gadget slot)

-reactive armour

-ammo box / loadout crate / medic drops for transport vehicles

-something like a soflam for the 2nd seat in the Nightbird,

-More unlocks for gunner seats secondary weapon - wire guided missile option for gunner seats Apache / KA-52, 

-Mine layer

I know this will never happen but I wish a fast roping ability was added to transport helicopters (including portal ones), I've wanted fast roping from helicopters in Battlefield since the initial BF2 trailer. It would be basically pointless given the parachutes, but if there was an option to turn off parachutes in portal / select which classes & pilots get them then this would be awesome for setting up more milsim style servers.

@Straatford87

I really like and appreciate the recent recategorization of vehicles. i.e Giving Jets their own slot, and MAV/Transport Helis their own slot respectively.

I appreciate that vehicles are receiving more modules for use, such as APS.

What I dislike, is the "Power Creep" that has set in over numerous updates.

1. Starting with the Anti-Air Tank, it needs to be re-evaluated. It simply can't have super long range missiles coupled with highly accurate long range guns. It's too much of a power house. Initially its guns were buffed, then its missiles were buffed and now again in 3.2, its missiles were buffed once more.
2. The Nightbird received the same treatment of buffs that consequently turned into a flying anti-air vehicle. There's nothing wrong with the Nightbird being able to go 1 on 1 against other aircraft but the fact that it currently does so with such ease is a major imbalance. The agility and size of it coupled with the firepower it has, is simply too strong.
3. Another major issue is functional mobility of vehicles, it still feels like vehicles are floating bricks and occasionally, they do not obey correct control inputs despite having the correct setting toggled for it to move forward regardless of if the camera is looking backwards. Jets suffer the same functional mobility issue, if you're using the chase cam the Jet does not obey inputs.
4. Lis' TGM is super OP. How it was, was the sweet spot. Now it's just crazy good.

My recommendations to fix the above issues.

1. Missiles on all vehicles need more modules tailored to specific purposes. High altitude anti-vehicle missiles should have payload count of 1 not 2. It should have a far faster rate of travel but similar damage output to other missile types. There would then be another missile type that excels in most situations but has a far slower rate of travel but comes in a payload count of 2, thereby allowing the driver to severely punish pilots who make mistakes at lower altitudes. 2042 lacks greatly in diverse weapon options for vehicles. Battlefield vehicles typically had diverse options to open up solutions to situations players find themselves in, Battlefield is first and foremost a sandbox shooter and thus Vehicles need more customization options. Furthermore, there should an incentive among players for missiles to reach such distances, incentives through the use of a SOFLAM.
2. The Nightbird's guns need to be adjusted to suit a specific purpose for it. Is the Nightbird a Anti-Infantry vehicle? Is it a Anti-Aircraft vehicle? Based on its current performance it is an all rounder that excels far too well, not even an attack heli with a gunner can do as well as it can. Thus, the guns on it need spread introduced to it, to allow precise targeting when closer to targets but also the ability to defend it self when engaging other air targets. As it stands right now, the Nightbird can defend it self with pinpoint accuracy, this is far too good.
3. Vehicles need more control options, there's no easy fix for this.
4. Lis' TGM can't be this good in terms of range and fuel if it deals the same damage that dealt before. A decision must be made, you can't have both that kind of damage and range.

 What I REALLY Dislike about Vehicles!

1. Jets are asymmetrical, the RU Felon Jet will always win against the US Jet. This has been an issue since launch. Jets should be made Symmetrical. If the US Jet's hover is an issue then disable it above a certain altitude.
2. Jet speeds are really bad for engaging ground targets. Generally the RU Felon can always safely engage ground targets because it can pull up faster than the US Jet. The US Jet can't perform dives like the RU Jet as it runs the risk of crashing.
3. Vehicle deployment needs a queue. Players should be able to queue for vehicles. Maybe up to a maximum queue of 6. What this means is that, in the deploy screen if the vehicle you wanted is not available, you click on it and queue for it, you should then still be able to deploy as infantry and once the vehicle slot that you queued for becomes available, the game notifies you and allows the option of redeploying into it however that should still cost you a ticket, the player should also have the option of waiting in the deployment screen thereby saving then the ticket and still getting their chance for their queued vehicle.

Some recommendations for future consideration.

1. Add the Blackhawk transport Heli to 2042, buff its HP but remove its miniguns. Make it a purely infantry transport Helicopter than can get in and out safely. I'd absolutely love a tanky transport vehicle that is made purely for transporting infantry without any offensive capability and can do so without dying to a single RPG.
2. Transport vehicles should have defensive tools in the form of smoke grenade launchers and support tools such as being able to deploy ammo and health packs. These tools could be in the form of vehicle modules.

Prevent vehicles farming infantry from 300+ meters!
Heavy vehicles should be at the front-line!
Irish APS should not affect anti-vehicle explosives.

Heli too strong, because class update destroyed infantry.
Vehicles should use target painting more.
Buff USA jet to be same as RUS.

Helicopters are too mobile, turning too swiftly.