The Wildcat must have a weak spot, and it should not be that. Rate of fire, distance (so no camping) or health (risk vs reward in going forward) would be my go since the beginning.
However, as the development team decided to go another route with buffs on mobility, and now distance to the AA guns, rockets speed and lock on distance, that is the only weakness possible. Otherwise they would have to revert all the changes.
I agree this is stupid. At the most, there should be a much tinier blind spot, and it should depend on which gun you are using. Machine guns should be close to none, while the big shot (if 40, 50 or 60 mm cal, I don't remember, good against everything) should have a bigger blind spot.
Note that the wildcat does not have any major issues against transport helis. Maybe ATG jets. The issue now is the STEALTH helicopter, which I love because it is OP
I'd nerf he stealth heli mobility, but they can increase RAO's hack distance and duration by a bit (+ 50m, +1 second) and make it paintable with the soflam. If it is painted, one should be lock on it matter what.
That way we solve 3 issues at once: Rao has even more uses, Soflam definitely needs more love (the scoreboard not rewarding support roles such as resupply, heal and spot is one factor that makes the SOFLAM less interesting). And it would bring some balance to the game. By doing so, everything has a counter tactic and a weak spot: Angle, hack/paint, low health in the heli.
Painting with the SOFLAM would allow players to deal with the stealth chopper without using RAO. It would still require some team work for that, as you cannot soflam and use AA. You need a loadout crate handy, and coordination with teammates. The 4 players cap in a squad/party, somewhat addressed now, is another thing that makes the SOFLAM less interesting, btw. Error after error... This is due to rushed decisions and little thought put into balance. I know they have a skeleton crew working on 2042 because this is what it is showing.
Other ways to fix the "wildcat" is a small adjustment to each of the factors mentioned above to tip the scale towards balance. But the SOFLAM should definitely be one way to go.
I'd revert the max damage distance changes made to the Wildcat introduce that change. And the wildcat has to have less health and mobility over elevated terrain than a tank. Right now it is just a different tanks. Tracks vs wheels means nothing in BF2042 (not to mention a hovercraft). It should be different.
Remember that wildcats vs helicoptes is not the only think happening there, and changes to the turret also affect wildcat vs parachuting soldiers and possibly other stuff.
Do not forget that you can be RAO with AA rockets driving a Wildcat too. Make the right choices!
