Zain's Airburst Launcher needs to be able to toggle between thermo and normal
In the recent 3.2 update, the patch notes mention "With this Update, Zain shall ALSO be able to utilize thermals with his XM370A Airburst Launcher." Besides the "also" not making it clear that it is seemingly ONLY able to utilize thermo sights now (I couldn't find a way to toggle it back at least), the thermo sight actually presents a bit of a problem with the the functionality of the Airburst Launcher.
In order to properly utilize the Airburst Launcher, you need both terrain to designate a distance lock and a clear sight line past the terrain so that you can shoot around it. While they make it easy to identify hostile units, thermo sights don't do a good job differentiating terrain, which is essential to the correct usage of this weapon. In some maps, this becomes a clearer issue than in others. In Orbital, while I could clearly distinguish the dirt from the grass/foliage from cover and containers (in quite a surprising bit of detail to be honest), the effect of different lighting, combined with the near identical heat signatures of grass/bushes/trees would surely present a problem if I were trying to identify a target among foliage, identify a properly spaced tree to distance-lock, and find an opening to fire at them. While this instance isn't that dramatic, the same matter escalates dramatically on Breakaway. While I applaud the work it took to give each map detailed heat signatures throughout the different terrain, it is extremely difficult to utilize the Airurst Launcher with any efficiency when the entire map (every bit of snow, ice, cover, box, building) reads as the same shade of blue (at least in the glacier part, the rig and village might be different). On the glacier, the thermo scope on the airburst launcher reads as one giant blob of blue, with hot red people speckled throughout. With a normal weapon, this might be a boon since it would be even easier to identify hostile targets among the terrain (a bullet isn't mindful of the position of terrain and cover as long as it can hit the target). With the Airburst Launcher, its nearly impossible to distinguish the wall besides the hostile, the cover before them, or perhaps the overhang they crouch beneath in order for me to acheive a distance-lock to hit them. In areas with little view of the sky (such as the caves and crevises) it becomes unclear even when you have line of sight, since the entire picture in your scope besides the hostile is a homogenous blur.
I haven't tested every map so perhaps this is only a significant issue on Breakaway; however, I'm sure the visual alterations of thermo are a little off-putting to people in general. Overall, I think it would be more beneficial (and less work) to enable a toggle between thermo and normal sights with the Airburst Launcher (with the normal sight on default) rather than possibly rework the heat signature of an entire map. Thermo sights and their quirks are certainly helpful in a multitude of situations for target designation, but target designations ultimately isn't the most important aspect when properly utilizing the Airburst Launcher. Unless, of course, you intend for Zain's Airburst Launcher to be way more difficult to use in Breakaway, but you guys have always said fun is more important than gritty realism.
Attached are pictures of the view through my scope in Orbital, and then two pictures from Breakaway, one through the scope and one without it (the zoomed picture is looking at the little red building to the left, from that position).
