[Video] The Lancer doesn't suck, even when using it solo.

[DHoff]

Planetside 2 - Mattherson Lancer - YouTube

[Assist]

So, wheres the solo part in there?
For the most part it looks like you got finishing blows with it.

[AThreatToYou]

It certainly seems to be very strong at anti-air.

[KaskaMatej]

It certainly seems to be very strong at anti-air.

It isn't. Unless the pilot is asleep while flying or getting lit up by friendly AA, you rarely get killing blows on them.

[Zulthus]

^ It's great at anti-air. I've killed numerous ESF's (not so much libs/gals) by getting two fully-charged shots off. Usually they already lost some health because they're in the middle of a dogfight.

I really like ruining their day when I see a TR/NC pilot fighting a fellow VS pilot... they're preoccupied with doing maneuvers, so I just finish them off while they're distracted.

I guess I'm just good at leading targets though. I would always use the Lancer to take down enemy pilots in PS1.

[Ghoest9]

It isn't. Unless the pilot is asleep while flying or getting lit up by friendly AA, you rarely get killing blows on them.

Umm the same thing could be said about the AA specific shoulder fired missile.
Its looks pretty good to me.

[Emperor Newt]

It certainly seems to be very strong at anti-air.
Well, it's something you can finally get the lazy hovering rocket-podders down with (because you have the element of surprise and less of a "warning" like with brusters and skyguards).
But against good pilots you won't do much. (Except maybe scare them off, which is a win too, but you wont get a kill on them)

You can get of some lucky shots at dogighting ESFs and the like, but in those situations a dedicated AA weapons would also be effective, if not even being more effective.

[Gonefshn]

Although I think it takes more than a video of the killing blow shots with the lancer to prove it, I love the lancer.

I think the main thing VS players and others are failing to realize is how the damage is balanced with its ability to hit at range.

The lancer can hit targets at 700 meters away. That is literally render distance.
Go set a waypoint and stand 700m away from it in game. A lock on launcher such as the annihilator can lock on up to 400m away. The lancer doesn't even have damage drop off until 500m.

And then you come to the most important thing. There is no warning that you are about to take damage from the lancer.

Seriously there is no other weapon in the game that can engage vehicles at the ranges a lancer can. How can you justify having super high damage when it's potential to hit at these ranges is so high? And it's not even difficult to pull off ranged shots I rarely miss with the thing.

The lancer is super versatile. Sure a decimator is better if your enemy is within 20m or so but it's useless when the target gets further away from you.

When you have a weapon that is so easy to aim and connect on the shots even at super long range you need to have a damage trade off.

Personally I think the lancer is the best AV in the game because its so versatile and it can engage vehicles at ranges that no other weapon can.

[Mox]

Just another OP VS weapon. Nevertheless 90% of VS are whinning and even asking the devs to boost the lancer further.

[Snoopy]

^lmfao, cute.

[Xaine]

Just another OP VS weapon. Nevertheless 90% of VS are whinning and even asking the devs to boost the lancer further.

All the little COD children coming out of the woodwork and bitching on the fourms because they're getting shit on is hilarious.

Shame about the community. PS1 had a great one, now we have to put up with these brats.

[Varsam]

Looks to me like all you did was kill steal people. Congrats.

I think the main thing VS players and others are failing to realize is how the damage is balanced with its ability to hit at range.

The lancer can hit targets at 700 meters away. That is literally render distance.
Go set a waypoint and stand 700m away from it in game. A lock on launcher such as the annihilator can lock on up to 400m away. The lancer doesn't even have damage drop off until 500m.

And then you come to the most important thing. There is no warning that you are about to take damage from the lancer.


I agree that simply buffing the Lancer damage is the wrong way to go.

But being able to hit targets at render distance isn't much more than an annoyance to vehicles when it only does 550 damage after damage dropoff (tanks have 8000hp). There's also the issue of trying to hit targets at a distance that not even sniper rifles would attempt, with a x1 scope. Also, it's actually not as easy as you might think to find an unobstructed LOS to targets within that range. Unless you're flanking a battle (from 700 meters away for some reason) tanks still tend to stick to cover, which still inhibits Lancer play.

On top of that, within 400 meters the Lancer is outclassed by pretty much every other launcher in the game. Does the Lancer have its uses? Sure. But those uses are severely limited, even in those roles the Lancer is only marginally effective, and out of those roles it is sub par at best. The fact that it can potentially do what no other launcher can do simply does not outweigh the fact that it just does not put out enough damage to compete with other launchers.

[Zulthus]

I don't think the Lancer needs to be buffed any further; it's perfect where it is now.

It doesn't do as much damage as the other launchers, but as Gonefshn said, it can hit targets at render distance, which the other two cannot. You can even shoot it without warning the enemy that it's coming; it's a near instantaneous projectile.

So, it's perfectly fine that it doesn't do as much damage as the other launchers; that's the way the weapon is supposed to work. No need for any nerfs or buffs anymore, I think the devs found the right balance.

Charge time is fair, damage drop-off is fair, and overall damage is fair.

I can just imagine how damn annoyed TR/NC are when they're trying to run away in their vehicles... you can't escape the Lancer, no matter where you try to hide ;)

[Mordelicius]

The Vanu as so used to OP stuff.

Infinite range + near instantaneous hit is not what I'd call weak. We're already calling it OP when Higby previewed it. It's just that the build that he was using was different from the one released. Now, that's fixed as well, right?

All one needs is charge and point and it will hit :lol:

[Qwan]

Just another OP VS weapon. Nevertheless 90% of VS are whinning and even asking the devs to boost the lancer further.

Not true, and for the one's that are whining I think that the Dev's should ignore them. Most of those whinners want that One shot Lancer, I mean most of them bought it and fired at the front side of vanguard, with one charge then said its under powered and doesnt do enough damage. I can tell you now I think they should leave it alone, I was taking out prowlers the other day, but like any AT weapon I was hitting them from the rear, were the armor is weakest. Most guys dont know how to play the game, or have a clue on how to take out a tank fast. You can two shot a Vanguard, prowler, and a Mag :D (Vanguard without shields up) at full charge with a lancer which is about right to me, Ive hit them from the sides and front and the lancer does damage, but very little in these instances. There is no drop on the weapon projectile, so its a straight shoot, its to easy to use, granted the charge up is a pain, but hey no complaints here. I

[Dragonskin]

I've seen some lancers for the first time this weekend. It's rare... way more Phoenix and Striker users for sure. I was behind an ally tank column around the Stronghold and there were some VS at the top of the hill with about 7-10 lancers. Those cyan streaks all over the night sky... looked cool and the tank column melted. Almost as fast as when DVS has their Phoenix squads going.

I still like my Striker a lot, but tempted to get the Lancer for my VS to play around with. The Striker just takes a long time to lock.. really hard to lock flashes and impossible to hit wraith flashes. I've also noticed a considerable number of tanks using IR smoke... which is refreshing as much as it is annoying to go up against... would love to be able to dumbfire the Striker and it appears that more and more ESF pilots have learned the weakness of the lock-ons... many don't even need flares now. Sad times.. rare to get a ESF kill. Liberators are fair game though haha.

[KaskaMatej]

The Vanu as so used to OP stuff.

:lol: :rofl:

Infinite range + near instantaneous hit is not what I'd call weak.

Max range is 700 metres, max speed (level 3 charge is 800 m/s) which is neither infinite range nor near instantaneous hit. It takes almost a second to hit at max range and a moving vehicle will easily dodge it. There is also a long lasting laser tracer that pinpoints your position.

All one needs is charge and point and it will hit :lol:

All one needs with Striker is to aim at a vehicle for few seconds and shoot a salvo.

All one needs with Phoenix is to hide behind a rock and shoot his guided rocket to the target.

Lancer bad at close range because if you want to do same damage as default launcher you need to stand there for 3 seconds charging your laser. It also does piss poor damage to infantry even at max charge (a total of 750 damage max, around 500 at max range).

Oh, yea, good luck hitting your target which can't even be seen due to 1x zoom.

[Assist]

The Vanu as so used to OP stuff.

Infinite range + near instantaneous hit is not what I'd call weak. We're already calling it OP when Higby previewed it. It's just that the build that he was using was different from the one released. Now, that's fixed as well, right?

All one needs is charge and point and it will hit :lol:

Only thing funny is how ignorant you are.

[Dragonskin]

:lol: :rofl:



Max range is 700 metres, max speed (level 3 charge is 800 m/s) which is neither infinite range nor near instantaneous hit. It takes almost a second to hit at max range and a moving vehicle will easily dodge it. There is also a long lasting laser tracer that pinpoints your position.



All one needs with Striker is to aim at a vehicle for few seconds and shoot a salvo.

All one needs with Phoenix is to hide behind a rock and shoot his guided rocket to the target.

Lancer bad at close range because if you want to do same damage as default launcher you need to stand there for 3 seconds charging your laser. It also does piss poor damage to infantry even at max charge (a total of 750 damage max, around 500 at max range).

Oh, yea, good luck hitting your target which can't even be seen due to 1x zoom.

Try to get a lock-on at close range with a Striker haha. More often than not the target will find you before your lock completes and if they are super close (10m) or less... you can't even lock-on it seems. If you think the Lancer is bad at close range that is just hilarious. Phoenix is better than the Lancer at close range, but just slightly.

[Lucecarentes]

The Vanu as so used to OP stuff.

Infinite range + near instantaneous hit is not what I'd call weak. We're already calling it OP when Higby previewed it. It's just that the build that he was using was different from the one released. Now, that's fixed as well, right?

All one needs is charge and point and it will hit :lol:

As usual trolls everywhere with false facts, i wish i played PS1, veterans keep saying how nice that community was.
PS2's community is full of tards and this is why SOE should never listen to the community, they keep giving false feedback since idiotic players like you only care about making their own empire power powerfull and not making the game balanced for everyone.

SOE needs a large testing team to balance the game, if the community QQ's about a weapon the testing team would get a mission to test the specific weapon for a week, after a week of testing they'll decided if the QQuing is true or if the community is just acting up like litle sissys girls.

[Haro]

Honestly, don't buy into the whole PS1 had a better community thing. There are assholes in this game, there were assholes in the original.

As for the lancer, I think it looks pretty good. ESRLs aren't supposed to be upgrades, they're supposed to be sidegrades compared to the default rocket launchers, and are more situational, and therefore need to be used very differently. As far as I can tell, the current ESRLs all fit this bill at least decently (the striker toes the line here, crosses it as far as the annihilator is concerned) but I think we saw a video that demonstrates the weapons strengths and a good play style for employing them. Honestly, while I don't have much experience with the lasher myself (yet) the only change I think this thing could use is an upgradable scope with a bit more zoom.

[Qwan]

As usual trolls everywhere with false facts, i wish i played PS1, veterans keep saying how nice that community was.
PS2's community is full of tards and this is why SOE should never listen to the community.

You have to remember what the PS2 community is made up of, alot of BF3 gamers and COD, I call them console kids. See PS1 was a subscription game, so there were mostly adults in it, who were alot mature and had credit cards and jobs. Now PS2 is free to play, and alot of kids download and play. They find the forums and whine about everything, like the game play, mechanics of the game, and pretty much anything that pissed them off, because there not used to the large battles, so that night when they were getting powned by some VS or TR or NC, they rage quit log on to the forums and cry of about what ever weapon was used to piss them off.

[Dragonskin]

You have to remember what the PS2 community is made up of, alot of BF3 gamers and COD, I call them console kids. See PS1 was a subscription game, so there were mostly adults in it, who were alot mature and had credit cards and jobs. Now PS2 is free to play, and alot of kids download and play. They find the forums and whine about everything, like the game play, mechanics of the game, and pretty much anything that pissed them off, because there not used to the large battles, so that night when they were getting powned by some VS or TR or NC, they rage quit log on to the forums and cry of about what ever weapon was used to piss them off.

This is like saying there are no asshats in WoW because it is subscription based. There weren't as many asshats in PS1 because the game wasn't popular. I am sure there were still quiet a few of them around. Whining and moaning has been around the internet forums since WoW/Everquest 2... hell there were tons of whining of Final Fantasy 11 forums and that was a PvE game. Those are all subscription games by the way.

[Haro]

You have to remember what the PS2 community is made up of, alot of BF3 gamers and COD, I call them console kids. See PS1 was a subscription game, so there were mostly adults in it, who were alot mature and had credit cards and jobs. Now PS2 is free to play, and alot of kids download and play. They find the forums and whine about everything, like the game play, mechanics of the game, and pretty much anything that pissed them off, because there not used to the large battles, so that night when they were getting powned by some VS or TR or NC, they rage quit log on to the forums and cry of about what ever weapon was used to piss them off.

Bullshit. Please, unless you have some magical census that tells you the past history of everyone here, including me, PLEASE stop making these ridiculous assumptions.

Many people dont put the time and effort into making good posts about balance or other gameplay issues. This is not a result of what games they play or how they play them, that's just how they approach discussion in an open, anonymous community. I've seen people do analysis on Call of Duty that, honestly, puts anything that the Planetside community has done to shame.

The whole CoD-kiddie theory is simply a straw man approach based on a crude and largely incorrect stereotype. It doesn't make you seem any better or smarter than anyone else, it merely demonstrates an ignorance that I think anyone can rise above.

Besides, CoD never had orbital strike trolls.

[Rbstr]

Anyone that thought PS1's community was mature has a serious case of nostalgia goggles. PS 1 and 2 aren't so much games as chances to complain about things.

[DHoff]

Honestly, don't buy into the whole PS1 had a better community thing. There are assholes in this game, there were assholes in the original.

As for the lancer, I think it looks pretty good. ESRLs aren't supposed to be upgrades, they're supposed to be sidegrades compared to the default rocket launchers, and are more situational, and therefore need to be used very differently. As far as I can tell, the current ESRLs all fit this bill at least decently (the striker toes the line here, crosses it as far as the annihilator is concerned) but I think we saw a video that demonstrates the weapons strengths and a good play style for employing them. Honestly, while I don't have much experience with the lasher myself (yet) the only change I think this thing could use is an upgradable scope with a bit more zoom.


Higher magnification would make it overpowered IMO. It is close to perfect as it sits. The only change I would like to see is a slight reload speed increase.

[Hamma]

Welcome to the internet. All gaming communities are just out to improve their own teams game balance, very few look at the big picture.