Cannot Kill Aircraft
Something needs to be changed in game vs aircraft. One top player on an aircraft changes the course of the round and it is happening to often. A good pilot cannot be shot down even with a coordinate ...
Forum Discussion
Sounds like a team/skill issue. I'm a big time heli player, and proficient enough that I know how to deal with Stingers/AA myself with a decent gunner but there's countless other counters to helis that are significantly more effective than AAs from which pilots can hardly defend against.
There's a myriad significantly better options than AA missiles that only take one shot to kill... RPGs, Lock on missile + Laser designators, TOW missiles, Guided Tank Shells... you just need to be creative. On another note, DICE also needs to fix the imbalance on some maps where helis don't spawn for one team (Firestorm, Manhattan) as they easily are uncontested on those maps.
mewmewwm Those are not AA weapons, they're anti-armor weapons. You shouldn't have to be "creative", the tools designed to do a single job should simply be sufficient at that single job. A TOW missile is an AA weapon in the same way a tank is a sniper. Sure, technically it can be used for that. I've landed tank shots on snipers at 700 meters before. That shouldn't be the expectation. Would it not be a problem if that was the only realistic way to combat snipers? That is the situation AA is facing now. AA is worse at its job than literally anything else. The .50cal tank turret is just as good an AA turret as the AA vehicle's main gun. That's not someone being "creative", that's the builder's hammer not being able to drive in the proverbial nail and forcing them to turn to a rock they found outside.
Good points. I feel like stingers were more effective during beta as well.
Stingers are still one shot kill.
LordRaiden008 Sure they aren't AA weapons, but they're still anti-vehicle weapons. I didn't think it should matter what the name, label, or category weapon it is if it does a job just as or more effectively for the situation, then why not make use of it? I recognize this is not the case for jets, so I'm speaking purely with regards to helicopters.
Handheld AAs are still fairly effective in a sense that a single shot often disables, if not kills, an attack helicopter. Lock-ons are enough to deter loitering by even a seasoned heli crew, while alternatively, forcing them to fly lower exposes them to more counter-platforms. There is nothing stopping an entire squad/multiple players from grabbing stingers and shutting out a helicopter. Both teams also typically have the same exact vehicle to counter the other's. Hence personally, this really seems like a skill/team issue.
I think the AA platform just seem like poor performers since its alternatives are relatively more effective at killing vehicles in general, that doesn't mean AAs suck that bad. I mean, it literally takes no skill to point, lock, and shoot. If you can force a chopper to fly away despite not killing it, I'd say that's still good use of AA since you've still forced them out of the fight.
Most players can hardly fly and survive in the choppers as is, it hardly makes sense to punish heli players in general by raising the skill ceiling through buffing their direct counters - you're effectively just trying to make things harder for average players in pursuit of punishing the 1%.
Sure they aren't AA weapons, but they're still anti-vehicle weapons. I didn't think it should matter what the name, label, or category weapon it is if it does a job just as or more effectively for the situation, then why not make use of it? I recognize this is not the case for jets, so I'm speaking purely with regards to helicopters.
Sure, like I said, RPGs are anti-air in the same way a tank is an anti-sniper weapon. RPGs are not anti-air. It should not be expected for them to be used as anti-air. Stingers should outperform an RPG 100% of the time when it comes to air combat. AA turrets should outperform an RPG 100% of the time when it comes to air combat. An RPG should be an absolute last resort against air, not the main weapon against it.
Handheld AAs are still fairly effective in a sense that a single shot often disables, if not kills, an attack helicopter. Lock-ons are enough to deter loitering by even a seasoned heli crew, while alternatively, forcing them to fly lower exposes them to more counter-platforms.
A single shot inconveniences a heli crew. It takes 2 to kill, and if the heli is moving at speed flares are absolute immunity due to the low range of the launcher. I have never seen a competent heli crew need to flee purely because of an AA launcher, or even several. As a pilot I know just as well as you that in their current state AA launchers just make easy, still targets. Even a full squad of them is effectively just fodder for the gunner on an assault heli. Even if they were forced to fly low (which they're not), the "more counter-platforms" are woefully inadequate.
I think the AA platform just seem like poor performers since its alternatives are relatively more effective at killing vehicles in general, that doesn't mean AAs suck that bad. I mean, it literally takes no skill to point, lock, and shoot. If you can force a chopper to fly away despite not killing it, I'd say that's still good use of AA since you've still forced them out of the fight.
It takes as much skill to point, lock, and shoot as it does to rack up 60+ kills with a heli. Not much. It's not a high skill endeavor, despite what so many other egotistical pilots claim. Once you nail the basics of flight you are immune to all damage but the odd Hail Mary RPG. Forcing a pilot to fly away is a failure, because the air platforms are designed to be highly mobile. AA didn't force anything away, AA just let it continue on its merry way, as it was always going to do. If a jet or assault heli is doing nothing but strafing/bombing runs, that's not AA "forcing" them into that strategy that is the main use of the vehicles. You might as well say snipers force repairing engineers to crouch and hide behind the vehicles they're repairing. They were always going to do that.
Most players can hardly fly and survive in the choppers as is, it hardly makes sense to punish heli players in general by raising the skill ceiling through buffing their direct counters - you're effectively just trying to make things harder for average players in pursuit of punishing the 1%.
"We can't nerf this or buff its counters because what about the bottom 1% of players?!" Why not extend that logic to other things? Tank drivers often suck and drive right over mines, but that's mean to players who don't know how to avoid mines. Let's just nerf mine damage to 1% damage to help them out. See the issue? You can't balance around the bottom of the barrel players. You balance so that competent players are vulnerable, good players have a challenge, and only excellent players are able to use it to its full effect for any length of time. A good pilot should be just as vulnerable as a good tank driver, which means all of its counters being able to utterly obliterate it when given even a slight opportunity or if they make a tiny error.
