The return of the jet pilot.

[Frogatron]

It was funny a few weeks ago before the patch, Jets are redundant! They'll stay on the tarmac! No more flyboys jet whoring!

And for a while it seemed this way......

Oh how were we wrong, the good guys are still there and good for them, the people with high skill levels have adapted and are still kickin a**, the runs and evasive manoeuvers seem to have have changed, but the people that have taken the time are still deadly in jets. imo The patch has worked really well and I don't see a lot of people camping the carrier for a guaranteed 50+ with little or no skill.

I don't fly myself but to all the good pilots out there, hey you're getting some respect from me now anyway.....

[warfryx]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

yes so true..... now at least its not that hard to get in a jet any more....

not that much people will stand in front of jet so u TK them and get u kik/ban..

i dont mind it being harder to fly..... im still a noob pilot myself... it just makes it more of a challenge and that makes it more fun i think:)

[Sir. bzb]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

Im starting to get used to getting in a plane for the first time in hundreds of hours of gameplay, if the only achievment of the patch was to make the planes available to all it has worked well.
Dont understand the fuss about the aa, still get a high k/d ratio in a plane and ive yet to see a pilot finish at the bottom of the scoreboard.
It has helped that the novelty of the aa has worn off, not every station is manned now like it was in the first week of the patch.

[bjack]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

I'm still maintaining my 6.x K/D ratio that I have held since release. Now it's easier to find empty jets. And was said earlier, now it's nice that every stinger isn't manned like patch release week. Happy camper here.

[redrider]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

I too am starting to get some flying time. I used to avoid the air craft, it was just a big TK party. Now you can actually find air craft sitting on the run way with no one around.
I used to try and shoot down choppers (I shot down one today, Killed the pilot with my sniper rifle, he was coming at me) from the ground. Really hard before the patch, still not to easy since the patch. However I got ticked off at the guys in the enemy attack chopper the other day got in a jet and got my first choper kill. . . .Red

[DrMcleod]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

Yeah, the strategy is simply to destroy every stinger site first. Which is fair enough as it means the jet spends its bombs doing that, rather than on your tanks.

The counter-strategy is to.....na I am keeping quiet.

[MisterBubbles]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

I don't fly myself but to all the good pilots out there, hey you're getting some respect from me now anyway.....

:)

And to the AA who still manage to shoot me down, I respect you too. :)

[WDA_Endless954]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

I had all of 20 minutes in a jet before 1.2 (I only used them for rides), now I've got three hours in them and a pretty decent K/D ratio. For a new pilot, only flying after the 1.2 patch, I do not see what the issue is. I do just fine.

[royaljewellz]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

I had all of 20 minutes in a jet before 1.2 (I only used them for rides), now I've got three hours in them and a pretty decent K/D ratio. For a new pilot, only flying after the 1.2 patch, I do not see what the issue is. I do just fine.

i can see why that could happen though. a lot of pilots were just used to the old way for flying low all the time for bombing runs. after the patch, you can't really do that especially on the maps with mobile aa. for people just starting to fly, they don't have a flying style yet. makes it easier imo.

[imported_TigerRei]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

Honestly, I find it easier to fly now. Yes, stingers are deadlier, but people forget the lock on range was reduced. This means they have LESS time to fire. If you know your locations, you dont have to destroy them at all. Just fly higher, and you'll be fine. I went an entire game on Wake without getting shot down once, and it wasnt because I'm phenominally good, but simply because I kept my jet high and only took it down near the deck for dive bombing.

[Bungalow_Bill]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

The real dogfights are now gone, all that matters is plane choice, flare status, spotting your enemy first, and a host of other random variables that have absolutely nothing to do with experience or talent. Freshly installed Private ranked newbies can blow experience fighter pilots like me out of the sky with nothing more than two clicks after a lucky hop in to an AA launcher that was empty when I just passed it.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't me complaining because I can't do well, as I can still fly and do fine (not a minimum of 60 kills per round, though). However for me the piloting experience is nothing more than a shell of what it used to be. Dogfighting in particular used to be the one domain where the truly skilled dominated the competition and rightfully gained air superiority for their team, but now with these shallow ultra-tracking AA missiles that don't care when or how you fire them, being stuck in a less maneueverable plane will override even the largest of skill gaps between pilots. I could literally teach a pilot to how to shoot me down in ten minutes as long as they're flying the J-10.

It is really no surprise to me that the newbie pilots like this patch, because it certainly favors them by making everything in a plane easier, with exception of staying alive, but in that regard nothing has changed for these pilots as they died a lot in 1.12 and they still die plenty in 1.2. Or other elements that had skill removed as a factor completely (dodging AA missiles for example).

Excluding myself I have yet to see a single pilot in one of my games score over 30 kills in a single round (this is in a vehicle that can do nothing *but* kill, and is limited to 2 per team), or exceed a 8:1 K/D, and when I'm doing 40 kills every round on the ground with a PKM that's just plain sad.

In fact if anything I've seen the number of people trying to grab a plane and camping runways for them go UP a considerable amount since the 1.2 patch. I strongly believe that is because airplanes now appeal to the newbies as they now actually stand a chance to kill something in a plane (spamming AA missiles for example), and have a shot at shooting down more experienced pilots (assuming they're in the better plane).

[imported_TigerRei]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

Well, I have to say this: Planes are fairly well balanced for handling those air to ground missions. However, I have to agree with PlaneWhore that dogfighting is shallow and meaningless. I'm not a good pilot, I'll admit it. I can fly well, and I sure do like to do stunts, but in a dogfight, I'd probably be better shooting at them from a parachute than in a plane. Since the patch, even I can dominate the airspace with a jet. In fact, I've noticed that the site with the air dominance is almost always the side that gets into the sky first.

Personally, if you ask me, I say take the missiles out completely. This may sound quite harsh, but the glory days of dogfighting in Battlefield were in BF1942 when you had to use your guns, not missiles.

On the other hand though, only the pilots seem to be griping about this. I'm normally a groundpounder, so it's not really hurting me either way.

[StevenNevets]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

It's harder but it's not impossible

Before 1.2 maybe I would get a round with 42 kills 2 deaths

Now after the patch with the same luck/skill it'll be more of 35 kills and 6 deaths...

So they are deffintly still there and owning up the air just takes more skill

[jakswan]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

Half way through writing a guide, no indications that EA are planning any tweaks to AA.

http://media.putfile.com/FS-v2-BF2-12

As you can see it proves there is now no skill in dogfighting.

No prob with the noob just jumping in AA cos I was stupid enough to pass over it without flares. It's a game everyone has a bit of fun.

[colony]

Re: The return of the jet pilot.

While I hate this patch just like everyone else, after experimenting and playing some rounds I have found ways to escape an engaged enemy....even against the J10 using an F35

The gameplay has changed, no more camping carrier for 10 minutes straight racking up 80 kills a round. You have to be much more conservative, cautious, patient and surgical in your strikes.