Fliegerfaust

@WindowsManTv_CZE @SterlingARCH3R @EA_Atic @Moskolonel I'd like to address certain things you have all said, from the perspective of a strict competitive dogfighting pilot that has no interest with strafing the ground. Perhaps I can have you consider some of the issues dogfighting pilots have with this new gadget, that you may not have considered before.

I'd like to start with your comment @WindowsManTv_CZE" I can fly with planes but i'm infantry player and be killed by bomber campers all the time is not a fun thing.. Also when your team does not even care that they are killed by same guy in bomber so i can do my job on my own now.. 🙂" I agree that infantry being killed especially from the beginning of the match with a bomber is rough an unsportsman like and you should be able to combat it effectively. Unfortunately many infantry don't use the panzerfoust or tanks to shot at bombers coming in so that's why the need of a high velocity multi-salvo shoulder rocket was brought in. However bombers are now just bombing from high altitude devoid of fire and so the only thing assaults can shoot at now is fighters whether they are strafing or not, just so the assault player can justify carrying one and losing the option of something else and so this is leading to multiple people dedicating whole games to targeting nothing but fighters.

@SterlingARCH3R your first comment "The fliegerfaust is most useful against enemy planes that do strafing runs or are flying too low as they are trying to locate and bomb targets. But think of it like this - the opportunity cost, def "the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen". While I agree this is incredibly useful against aircraft flying too low, it also has a range of 300m with minimal damage drop off, which is lengthy enough that on maps such as Arras, people that inevitable camp at their spawn with AAs and FF will negate you flying in the North or South portion of the map to initiate a dogfight and should people be at either A, C, D or F objective you have now lost the East and West portion, especially if they have an AA tank or towable AA, as the range of these weapons will reach you regardless of how much you intend on avoiding it and now with the recent buff to AA this is becoming more problematic.

@SterlingARCH3R your second comment I'd like to address "On most maps, such as Panzerstorm, going Fliegerfaust as an assault is not a good idea when the much bigger threat are the onslaught of tanks in front of you. It's a very specailized weapon that I think is being over-exaggerated. Yes, it's powerful, but pilots can manage.", from experience since it's release, the people who utilize this gadget the most are not those who are pushing objectives and do not care about their K/D. There is usually 3 - 4 people dedicating their entire gameplay for one purpose and one purpose only, to target aircraft regardless if they themselves die in the process. These people will all game either camp at resupply stations to give them infinite ammunition or worse camp within range of one of the plane resupply stations next to an ammo box and wait. On a map such as Hamada this will only allow a pilot to resupply at one location that will guarantee no threat of a camped player and that is behind the British spawn point, as every other resupply is vulnerable.

@EA_Atic your comment "From my own experience, I stopped trying to fly predictable and still be able to bomb or strafe run the enemy with little to no effort. 🙂Feels like a good balance so far from my experience." While this may work for someone who bombs/strafes infantry, dogfights are unpredictable to both pilots as you are constantly changing direction, altitudes, speeds, etc and it there is a very high chance these pilots will eventually venture over a populated area within the 300m range of the FF. Considering as previously mentioned there are on average 3 - 4 people dedicated their gameplay to taking out planes from the ground, these people are sitting in wait, watching for the moment these pilots get within 300m to engage. So in a head to head dogfight with 2 extremely good pilots it becoming more the norm that its more a matter of time which one of the pilots gets taken out by the ground first and this is ruining good dogfights and therefore not a good balance when used against aircraft that are not even a remote threat to the ground from a distance of up to 300m.

@SterlingARCH3R your 3rd comment "I usually fly my plane at very high altitude with the bombers. I never really have an issue with the fliegerfaust." Again this only works for pilots who are taking out bombers or going for high altitude strafe runs, as previously mentioned dogfights being as unpredictable as they are will (as I said before) inevitably end up over a populated area within the 300m range of the FF. This is something neither pilot can control.

@Moskolonel From your comment "My Fliegerfaust experience is positive, heavy bomber who decimate infantry have a great reason to beware of dive attacks." I'm going to assume this is coming from the perspective from an infantry player. While I do agree with you that bombers should be wary of doing dive bombing runs and should have always been seeing as there has always been panzerfousts/tanks available to 1 shot them. What has happened (and as you can see from @SterlingARCH3R last comment) bombers are now flying high above the battlefield, well outside the range of the FF and so the FF is now being primary used against fighter pilots regardless if they are strafing infantry or not. The 300m range of the FF coupled with an AA encampent means fighters cant even get close to take out the AA's without being at risk of an assault hiding next to it with a FF and unfortunately not every setup involves having missiles, so is that what we are forced to equip now? Why should dogfighting fighter pilots have to now take forced skill routes and in the case of the British an entirely forced aircraft, just to use missiles to combat this problem if bombers are not spawning in to assist.

While infantry love this new gadget, it is been heavily abused and for fighters that do not have the option to stay at high altitudes while being able to effectively help the team, we are now the primary targets of the few people who all game do nothing but prevent us from moving forward or enjoy our dogfighting gameplay. I know DICE cares about trying to get the balance right so I have a few suggestions suggest that should appeal to both sides.

1. Keep the same damage model but bring the range down on both the AAs and the FF but especially the FF as 300m is ridiculous for a hand held gadget, especially when the convergence range for bullets on planes is between 150m - 200m and the range of the AA is between 1,000m - 1,200m

2. Keep the range but drastically reduce the drop off damage of both the AA and FF at max range as currently you can still take up to 90% damage at max range.

3. Make the FF a pickup item like the HVM-II in BF4 that has a range of 500m and often destroys most aircraft in 1 barrage, similar to the current FF model.

4. Keep ranges but increase bullet convergence effectiveness, with less spread and increased damage on aircraft to enable longer range effective strafing as a counter to the extreme risk of FF damage at 300m max range.

5. If DICE does not wish to adjust any parameters, then please do something for the pilot community that will also benefit the infantry community and create an Air Superiority mode just as there has been on many other battlefield titles. This would enable us to dogfight in piece instead of being interrupted constantly by infantry who you can see quoting throughout multiple forums "believe this has been a long time coming to pilots". Correction this has been a long time coming to bombers who are now just flying at higher altitudes devoid of the FF. Competitive Dogfighting pilots should not be lumped into this same category but unfortunately due to casual fighter pilots strafing infantry we are and please before anyone brings up using the practice range for competitive dogfighting, this is not an answer to the problem, as we too would like to use different aircraft, setups and have a right to earn points to rank up like everyone else.

Thank you for reading and I hope you consider these suggestions