I've been playing since BC2, and I don't feel the TTK is too fast. I actually feel the rate and amount of vehicle kills is pretty balanced. What makes it feel horrible is the abysmal netcode in the game that makes the 4th bullet that kills you land in the same second the first bullet that warns you. This isn't the vehicles fault.
The recoil is also normal, but vehicles (well, everything) used to have more bullet drop and damage drop. I would say the turrets for all vehicles feel like they're too inaccurate, but they are being balanced with all the controller advantages in mind. Playing against a controller abuser in a vehicle certainly does make you feel they are too accurate, since the bullets are, and not just feels like they are, but ARE guided to your face.
Counters. YES. Man, every helo pilot out there cries that the RPG is too good, but really every other option just sucks. Man, I remember the stinger in BF4 and that thing was a THREAT. Helo pilots actually had to pay attention and engage threats, and avoid death zones. Now, helo babies just spam flares and hide "below radar" and abuse the CoD cooldowns, then come screaming in because literally every mouse on the map has a dorito over their head saying "PLEASE KILL ME MR HELICOPTER MAN!"
So, in summary, I blame very little of the balance issues concerning helos on the helos being op themselves. Poor netcode causes a large portion of the problem, and poor design choices that have never been used in a previous title (including BF3/4 which they were trying to emulate hint hint wink wink nudge nudge EA). Counters need a buff, and in return maybe the engi doesn't need 15 million rockets to spam at every single piece of hardware on the map without visiting their friendly neighborhood ammo carrier.
I appreciate the BC2 veteran perspective, but we have to look at the actual damage values here. In BF2042, the Nightbird dealt roughly 18-20 damage per hit, requiring 5 to 6 shots to kill. This gave infantry a 'reaction window.'
In BF6, the Little Bird is currently doing 50 damage per bullet. That is a literal 2-tap. When you combine a 2-shot kill with a high-RPM minigun, the TTK (Time-to-Kill) becomes near-instant. Even with 'perfect' netcode, a human being cannot react to a 2-bullet burst arriving in milliseconds.
I’ve played high-level Nightbird in previous titles too, and while I love a powerful vehicle, this isn't a 'skill gap'—it’s a balance oversight. Vehicles should be terrifying, but they shouldn't be 'delete buttons' that ignore the tactical flow of the map. If the damage stays this high, the accuracy/recoil needs to be drastically increased, or the damage needs to be scaled back to the 4-5 hit range to allow for actual gameplay between vehicles and ground troops.
