Saron HRB and Proton II PPA

[WSNeo]

Proton II PPA

• Tuning pass done on PPA to make it a more competitive option. Fire rate should feel improved and it should do more damage to armor and has a slightly higher blast radius.
  • Changed to a different resist type, allowing more direct hit damage on vehicles.
  • Fire rate reduced from 600ms to 400ms
  • Max Direct hit damage reduced from 300 to 275
  • Max damage range increased from 10 meters to 50 meters
  • Minimum Direct hit damage increased 150 to 225
  • Min damage range increased from 100 meters to 150 meters
  • Inner blast radius damage reduced from 350 to 300
  • Inner blast radius increased from 1 meter to 1.5 meters
  • Outer blast radius increased from 3 meter to 4 meters
  • Clip size reduced from 60 to 50
  • Ammo Capacity reduced from 420 to 350
    • Amount granted from Ammo Capacity Certs reduced from 60 to 50 per rank.

Saron HRB

Slight redesign of HRB. It can now rapid fire several shots before reloading. It is pin-point accurate on the first shot, but the cone of fire blooms significantly after the first shot. This allows it to ‘unload’ on targets at close range for a faster TTK. TTK at medium to long range should remain the same when waiting for the cone of fire to reset.

New description: “The Saron HRB fires fast and accurate armor damaging beams. Accuracy of the HRB decreases significantly for half a second after each shot. VS use only.”

• Removed firing delay
• Magazine size increased from 1 to 6
• Added Fire Rate of 200ms
• Direct hit damage per shot decreased from 1500 to 425
• Increased projectile speed from 250 to 300
• Max ammo capacity increased from 30 to 180
  • Amount granted from Ammo Capacity Certs increased from 3 to 6 per rank.
• Added cone of fire bloom per shot of 6
• Added max cone of fire of 6
• Added cone of fire recovery of 6 in 0.5 seconds
• Reduced effectiveness of AoE sense it can be spammed against infantry more
  • Inner blast damage decreased from 750 to 350
  • Inner blast radius decreased from 1 meter to 0.5 meters
  • Outer blast radius decreased from 3 meters to 2 meters

Starting with the PPA, thank you for listening to us regarding how a lot of us felt about this weapon. I was surprised as to how quickly this was addressed after the MBT feedback thread was posted.

Regarding the Saron HRB change, completely unnecessary to change something that was not broken. The Saron is completely fine as it was before this update, and forcing sudden redesigns on players is not a good thing to do. Alternatively the developers should have just made a new new variant (with an -RF suffix for rapid fire or something) and threw it up on the Depot for extra money. The same is true for the next charge weapon that we (the VS) will inevitably get but didn't ask for.

Except for the new VS Pistol, that gun looks legit.

Anyone else feel the same way?

[Gatekeeper]

I do find it strange that they're changing the HRB, despite the majority of feedback here saying it was fine. That said, I'll reserve judgement until I see it in action.

Incidentally, do we know what the difference is (if any) between the MBT versions and the new Harasser ones?

[Assist]

I actually prefer the changes to the Saron. I haven't been using it on my tank since the Magrider nerf, as other vehicles are not the threat to the Magrider(simply run away). Infantry(or air, but w/e) is the threat to MBT's and the Saron was(maybe still is) useless against Infantry.

[wasdie]

Why did they change both the ML85 and the Saron? They are now completely different weapons. The only change I would have made was increasing the velocity of the ML85 and slightly decreasing the damage of the Saron (by like 5-10% at the most).

They've turned them into completely different weapons now. What was the point of that?

[Gatekeeper]

Originally Posted by Assist

I actually prefer the changes to the Saron. I haven't been using it on my tank since the Magrider nerf, as other vehicles are not the threat to the Magrider(simply run away). Infantry(or air, but w/e) is the threat to MBT's and the Saron was(maybe still is) useless against Infantry.

I don't really understand this. How are other vehicles not a threat to a Magrider? It's the slowest ground vehicle of all, so literally anything that chases it will catch it.

Also the HRB is in no way useless against infantry. True, it's pretty hard to land a direct hit on an infantryman with it, but it is a OHK if you do. Given how strong it is against other vehicles, this makes it a very strong all-round choice IMO.

Out of curiosity, what secondary do you mount on the Mag and why?

[Assist]

Originally Posted by Gatekeeper

I don't really understand this. How are other vehicles not a threat to a Magrider? It's the slowest ground vehicle of all, so literally anything that chases it will catch it.

Also the HRB is in no way useless against infantry. True, it's pretty hard to land a direct hit on an infantryman with it, but it is a OHK if you do. Given how strong it is against other vehicles, this makes it a very strong all-round choice IMO.

Out of curiosity, what secondary do you mount on the Mag and why?

I was using the PC/PPA, because it was the most effective choice against infantry. The guys I play with preferred it over the Saron and I didn't need the Saron for vehicles. I also messed around with the FPC/Machine gun thinger, but the FPC simply isn't a large enough increase over the PC on vehicles.

I've never had trouble with tanks catching me in the Magrider, but I do play with Magburner max'd. It's the best ability in the game imo, as it's offensive and defensive and allows for movement around/over terrain that other vehicles simply cannot handle. It allows me to kill air vehicles by shooting vertically up hills to gain the necessary angle to hit them, also allows me to avoid air vehicles by maneuvering around obstacles such as trees at a much faster rate.

To be honest the only time I ever really preferred the Saron on top was before they originally nerfed it's radius and projectile speed. The only reason I preferred it was because I was mostly a solo-MBT player who would sit off on a hill sniping vehicles with it. That's not really much of an option anymore(IMO), because an MBT sitting still is usually a dead MBT.

I also don't use the MBT's nearly as much as I used to, because they're not nearly as effective as they used to be due to the ridiculous amount of AV that was added into the game post-launch. It's a shame imo, Higby seems fixated on improving the ESF game play but IMO the MBT game play is 100x worse, all due to the changes they made by adding in new goodies for all the crybabies who wanted 16 ways to kill an tank rather than 10.

[rigsta]

Originally Posted by Gatekeeper

I do find it strange that they're changing the HRB, despite the majority of feedback here saying it was fine. That said, I'll reserve judgement until I see it in action.

Incidentally, do we know what the difference is (if any) between the MBT versions and the new Harasser ones?

There's good and there's bad. I loved the all-at-once damage of ye olde Saron HRB because it fitted my cover-fire-cover-fire magrider driving style, now I'll have to stay in the open longer.

So that's bad.

But once the horror wore off I started experimenting with it in VR more.

The CoF is bigger than a VS arse and it goes to maximum on the first shot. But, through careful management of fire rate, your gunner can steadily increase the rate at which they land shots as the range gets shorter. And its more damage per reload. And it 2-shots infantry.

So that's all good.

And all that means that the weapon has a deal more depth, strategy and versatility to its use, while giving the mag something to help compensate for the difficulty of dodging fire at close range, AND making a gunner EVEN MORE important for mags (ditto for the other MBTs on this point).

Which is all REALLY good.

Also: Saron HRB-H suddenly feels viable!

[AThreatToYou]

They changed the Saron HRB so it will now:

- Not OHK (thank you SOE)
- Actually work on the Harasser

This is the same idea as the changes to the Enforcer ML85.

[Maarvy]

I liked the old Sauron tbh , no idea why they have changed it . Never had any gripes against infantry with it . That said I've played magriders way less over the last months .

Ill keep a open mind on the changes but they all look good on paper , the dps boost on the HRB looks sweet lets see how that Cof blooms first ... . While the PPA well thats just a staight up buff and should be great ( for the vanu at least) .

[PredatorFour]

Originally Posted by Assist

the Saron was(maybe still is) useless against Infantry.

The saron is an absolute beast against infantry! Its a sniper AV gun for gods sake lol. My outfit mates get as many infantry kills as me in my mag when we roll. It didn't need a change but i'm hoping it makes it even better! (oh and they reduce that horrible wobbling that got added!)

[Kiten]

The new Saron is really good.

It gives the Magrider a way to defend itself when rushed due to the 6 rounds burst you can unleash, which have incredible DPS against vehicles and can easily "delete" infantry that gets too close.

On a distance, the fire rate at which you retain maximum accuracy is still quite fast; and between the absence of firing delay and the pre-nerf bullet speed, you can really dish out the damage at range. It is still possible to snipe infantry at range, but it's more fair on the receiving end (stupid plays will get you killed as before, but you now have a chance to duck back to cover when first shot with the Saron).

Overall, I like the changes. I think of them as a nice surprise.

As for the PPA, it feels more effective against infantry compared to before; which is good. Its damage against vehicles remains really poor, but that wasn't its main target right?

Originally Posted by Gatekeeper

Incidentally, do we know what the difference is (if any) between the MBT versions and the new Harasser ones?

The PPA mounted on the Harasser is exactly the same as the Magrider one.

The buggy-Saron has a slight reduction in damage compared to its big brother.

[Whiteagle]

Originally Posted by wasdie

They've turned them into completely different weapons now. What was the point of that?

I think that is the point, now they're not faction Flavored Halberts but their own thing.

[Assist]

So after playing with the PPA and Saron in combat, I have to say the new Saron is complete shit long range. The bloom delay per shot is way too long to make it effective, it's even rough medium range because of the size of the bloom. Definitely a clear nerf to the weapon, hopefully they change how it works because as of now it's not even half as good as the Halberd with how it plays.

The new PPA however is amazing, at least on the Harasser. Had a blast playing with it last night, though I was the driver not the gunner, but we were extremely effective with it IMO. The adjustments to this weapon were really well done, +1.

Originally Posted by Kiten

The PPA mounted on the Harasser is exactly the same as the Magrider one.

The buggy-Saron has a slight reduction in damage compared to its big brother.

The PPA on the Harasser is slightly less damage than the MBT one as well. My initial assessment of the Saron changes was definitely positive, but after playing with it I really hope they either have a major balancing pass on it or they give us back the old Saron as a separate weapon option.

[Realmofdarkness]

agree on that they should have had a new weapon instead of making saron a close range weapon. Ive spent so many points in zoom for my saron that is now useless.

[Rbstr]

Even with the waiting for the COF collapse the DPS of the Sauron is a good bit better than it was before. It's also more forgiving of a miss.
I haven't had a chance to use it much myself, but I seem to be getting more piloting ribbons and my gunners have most said they think it's more fun to use now. Long or short range.

Now that they've fiddled with it it should be even better. But I'll sort of miss the 6 round burst