ESF Air to Air Feedback for Devs

[SolLeks]

Originally Posted by Whiteagle

I'm saying that they wanted Air to counter Air, but Air to Ground was so prevalent that they HAD to buff Ground to Air so that Ground Combat would actually exist.

Really, how many people are going to run pure Anti-Air ESFs?
...The same number who pull Skyguard Lightnings?
When given a choice people are going to want to take the option that allows them the greatest effectiveness on the battlefield.

You may run with a Dedicated Anti-Air group, but some servers don't have Outfits that focus on Air Superiority.
Hell, one of the largest Terran Outfits on Waterson calls itself an Air Force, but I rarely see them Air borne in Force.

Simply put increasing the Flight ceiling isn't going to fix these problems.
Yes you'll create a theater AA ESFs can hunt in, but they will be the ONLY predator capable of taking down Ground Attack and Aerial Transport units that will abuse the hell out of this umbrella.
Basically, you will break the Ground Game trying to please the Air Game this way, as there will NOT be enough Anti-Air ESFs to keep this envelop clear.

The reason for the lack of A2A ESF at the begening of the game was mainly due to how little exp you got for killing air. Back then you got about 75 exp + the pilot to down an ESF, Libs were 100 or so + pilot and gunners. thus getting an easy kill on a infantry that gave you 100 exp was well more worth it than risking a dogfight and getting only 175.

Now downing a lib will often grant me 1000 (I have membership + alpha for 100% boost) and killing an ESF can get me 800+. More people hunt air since its worth it now exp wise. Now I see dedicated air squads going around on Connery taking out everything they see with a mix of A2A and A2G equied ESF + the occasional lib. to top that off, its safer to fight aircraft then ground forces due to how prevalent and powerful AA is.

What needs to happen is this, give ESF a bit more breathing room in the space that matters via nerfing burster max's range to infintry render distance, they are infantry and the smallest, cheapest dedicated AA unit thus they should not be the most powerful. Give skygaurds a bit more range (either via better COF or faster projectile speed) to help protect out to vehicular render range. Let A2A ESF take out the ground attack ESF and this would also give noobs more room to make errors and thus get more planes in the air. this way everything has a intended roll in the fight and you will see dogfights above large battles.

As for you stating that some servers don't have dedicated air, that is no excuse. If your side does not bring air to the plate and the other team does, you SHOULD be at a disadvantage. Same with tanks. No more of this "infantry should be able to do everything alone" nonsense, That is not the spirit of planetside.