Helicopters... who's in charge of this?
I've been playing battlefield since the beginning. There isn't a game that I've spent more of my life playing actually. I keep begging for the devs, Dice or EA or SOMEONE to do the helicopters justice. My brother and I fly as a pilot/gunner combo and there is one very obvious shortfall with the Apache in BF6 (or others from previous Battlefields). The splash damage from the gun. Here is why this is a BIG problem. You only give us 1 or sometimes 2 helicopters per map and honestly, they should be the scariest thing in the sky. First, 1 or 2 rounds anywhere even close to an infantry target should obliterate them, modeled more closely to how a real Apache gun damages infantry. For BF6, you have now REALLY limited the number of rounds that can be fired at once and your lucky if you can kill even 1 enemy after shooting very round you get! Second, the splash damage needs to be increased because the devs made staying alive in the helicopter nearly impossible (especially in BF6)! Just on that one beta map, there is 1 Apache but the other team has their own Apache, up to 32 enemy players with seemingly infinite range stingers AND RPGs, multiple AA vehicles and static AA guns... for god's sake man, the only way to even attempt to survive is to fly around like a maniac to avoid everything. God help you if you try to hover just above a mountain to lock on and pick off targets now (you will be sniped or hit with an RPG or tank shell in seconds). I digress, I challenge anyone to try and be a gunner while the pilot is flying around like a crazy person AND get 4 or 5 DIRECT hits with a gun round on a single infantry target to kill them. Its currently ridiculous. Third, this is an Apache we are talking about, why do I need 2 hellfires to destroy anything, especially a pickup truck (or a quad from 2042, which was laughable).
I'd encourage the devs to go watch some BF3 Apache gameplay footage. Those were the days when the helicopters were pretty awesome (no complaints about weapons or gun damage then). One of the things that always made Battlefield great was the large maps and lots of vehicles. Infantry should be running scared any time a tank or helicopter shows up in your area. Instead, when a helicopter shows up now, you instantly have 15 people trying to lock it up with a stinger, the other 15 shooting RPGs at it and the impact on the "battlefield" is basically zero. You made infantry king and made it pointless to even get into a vehicle.
My 2 cents: Helicopter rockets are "explosive" and infantry targets, especially, should be easily destroyed with 1 or 2. Next, make the hellfires do double the damage. You are limiting how many of those we can fire too and it takes way too long in the current environment to stay on target for a second or third lock and missle launch. If nothing else, PLEASE make the gun do appropriate damage. Maybe give the gunner a 10x or 12 zoom option so if we are hovering a mile away, they can actually see targets. Further, what was the thinking behind making the helicopter so fragile and so easily killed? How about 2 or 3 RPGs to destroy a helicopter and/or 3 stingers. If you need 2 hellfires to take out a pickup truck, it's only fair to make the helicopter a little stronger, geez :). Almost done... If you are only giving us 1 or sometimes 2 helicopters per map then, do we really need to give their entire team stingers and RPGs PLUS several AA vehicles AND even more AA guns? Good grief, some of us like flying the helicopters and contributing with air support but its currently almost impossible.
My final thought. How about the Apache starts out with 8 hellfires, 70 rockets and 600 rounds of gun ammo that can be used however the pilot and gunner want, no delays, no overheating, etc. When you're out of ammo, you have to fly back to base and wait 1 or 2 minutes while you re-arm (similar to the 1;40 we'd have to wait for a destroyed helicopter to re-spawn anyway in 2042). That way, when the Apache shows up, some people and vehicles are going to die for sure! Only then would I "almost" understand letting the entire enemy team have some sort of weapon/vehicle that was designed to shoot down helicopters! And during that re-arming process, the enemy gets a reprieve from the air support. One can dream.
Thanks for listening.
