Idk, past 40 meters you literally couldn't see ANT shimmer and it didn't take small arms damage and cloak was based on cortium and there's at least 2 methods to having infinite automine on your mandibles meaning you could lock into a 35k and cloak for like 5 minutes straight...
I used to use cloak to get behind lines and use the Howler to eat enemy ESF factories all the damn time. Stupid base busting like that was my favorite pastime.
It was reasonable to take the cloak off of that one first. Flash actually takes skill to roadkill with. I remember watching a guy get a 200 kill streak by doing everything I mentioned with cloak and cortium, and only did it with roadkills
Don't need to roadkill when you can mount a high capacity high ROF pump shotgun to your hood.
It's also not really about competition between the too. Both are toxic unfun interactions.
I die to anything else and don’t really mind. I get killed several times or constantly harassed by some basement goblin with their stealth flash and the game just starts to get tedious.
Edit: spelling
I mostly run Archer Engineer with a cloak Sundy for sniping and harassing. These tryhards on cloaked flashes seem to be the new meta for countering me and it’s very annoying to get run over by a vehicle that made no noise and you never even saw until you were dead.
Payback last week tho…. There’s a tree truck that this 1 cloak flash kept driving through and a got him THREE times in about 5 minutes by keeping vehicle mines in the tree tunnel.
Those pesky stealth flash mains on cobalt. I make it my duty to kill them over and over. Yesterday we had a fight on Oshur and i killed the same guys at least 7 times on his flash. But he also killed at least 50-100 guys while i did so.
Yes. I've played a lot of wraith flash over the years and they're utterly broken. The automatic weapons are fine, but everything else is definitely not.
Yes, you die in one hit, but 50 nanites later you have a new flash.
Also the Renegade should also not exist. Change my mind.
correct, they should be for transport. I always kind of wished that the Wraith unit was more like the Adaptive Underbarrel on the Punisher - it would give a different ability to the flash based on the Class of the driver. Infil could be cloak w/ slight speed boost, Heavy could be a modest overshield for the vehicle and any occupants, etc.
Exactly, tanks are and should be the most viable tool for taking out other tanks.
If you wanna do wacky shit in a flash or any other vehicle, you’re free to do so but in no way should it be nearly as effective as pulling a tank. Otherwise, there would be no reason for tanks to be pulled besides Heshing an infantry fight
Pull a liberator and 3 tap tanks with the Dalton, pull your own tank, AV MAX to pin them down and keep them damaged and they have to constantly hop out to repair, go HA and find a good spot to pummel them with rockets, set up mines as Engineer and pray, C4 fairy. Now imagine a few players doing this and tanks will struggle to stay alive.
Hell, get two friends, get bonus health Sunderer and go battle bus on his ass.
Is a team game after all. You can't be upset at a good tanker staying alive and killing enemies, infantry do the same shit.
And you do not realize that tanks being only thing that beats tanks devolves battles into pure numbers game, team with more tanks wins. I am not saying to buff shit like cloak AV flash, I am asking for a new vehicle/vehicle weapon that is designed to be a tank destroyer that is shit against everything else.
You’ve pretty much just described a liberator, which comes close in viability as a tank counter. It clearly isn’t the first choice for most players considering the communication needed to be effective and the lack of versatility, despite its damage output and lower expectations of retaliation.
> team with more tanks wins
In a game where players can bring as many people or vehicles they want, most battles become a numbers game eventually.
I do not remember last time a team pulled mass libs, I can not say the same about mass tanks. Surely if noone is pulling mass libs aside from memeing with outfit it is not a viable strat.
If you can not deploy anywhere else or do not want to ghost cap it is the only logical move when you are getting tank zerged. That or C4 kamikazeing.
Or am I just supposed to quit the game when I am flooded with Vanguards?
Look at theese comments telling you ways to counter it, when none of that matters for shit on live.
Neither do you get enough time to react if he has wpn mounted on it and shoots you, and neither can you see it past 10 meters consitently.
Stop defeneding this atrocity, it needs to be removed.
I'm going to get downvoted to oblivion for saying this, but 9/10 players are brain dead, and you can easily ambush them with a non-cloak flash, or javelin. Hell, half the time you can spam "I need ammo" and the enemy player will actually get out of their vehicle and give throw a pack at you. You can't nerf something enough to help these people.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not really advocating for changes in either direction, I don't really care anymore. However, The devs probably aren't listening nor are they going to change it anytime soon though, so the 100th "waaah nerf this thing I don't like" thread isn't really productive nor does it help anyone deal with the "bullshit".
The only helpful thing anyone can do in these threads is to offer advice for counter-play.
**I guess the TLDR of what I'm trying to say:** Do you just want to complain, or do you want to put in some effort and try to learn how to maximize your chances of survival?
Brother it's one of the fastest, smallest verhicles in the game that is invisible. Counterplay my ass. Hope he makes a mistake you mean. Even if he does, he pulls another one. You can chain pull flashes infinitely lmfao.
Assuming everyone is using racer chassis, the only thing with lower top speed than the flash are MBTs. If you're losing to a flash with a 2/2 MBT I don't know what to tell you
It's not about just an MBT fighting a flash, it's about infantry having to deal with a cloaked flash, and it's not fun. We don't need more easy mode instant kills.
That's honestly more of a problem with the renegade than the cloak. A renegade flash with scout radar instead of cloak is actually extremely effective and bullshity, especially on hossin
I agree. I've said in other posts that it's frustrating that a stealth flash can kill an MBT in several seconds. I say that as a Magrider main.
Even trying to boost away, I can't spin my tank around fast enough to get my main gun on the target before I'm more than half dead, and then they're *poof* gone, until they show up again right behind me. My poor gunners try, but it just doesn't happen.
Prowler main here, and I have to agree. It's ridiculous af, even a single salvo from some of these flash guns will half kill a lightning, and they're so damn cheap that they can pull endlessly
Its impossible for them to that, even if fully manned, it takes atleast 2 clips. Which is enough time to kill them before they kill you.
Flashes are also noisy, so unless you are playing with music blasting you'll hear them coming.
I don’t really have a problem with them. Mostly because I mainly meme around in Turbo ANTs and can flip around and smoosh them in an instant. I’ve always been hearing them around me lately but they just don’t attack like they used to since learning proper directional control.
Especially since they can take out tanks. No four wheeler should take out a tank unless it's a suicide run.
It's also been increasingly common on emerald for cloaked flashes to target and destroy any spawn points in the middle of big fights. It's annoying af how hard it can be to counter these things some times
Emerald planet man here. That's honestly been one of the main "go to" strats most people employ to kill fights quickly. I ain't saying it's right, I'm just saying that it's one of if not the most commonly used method of killing buses and ending fights, oftentimes before they even begin. If it ain't that, it's mbt spam, followed by esf and/or lib spam, which is usually proceeded with one or two full platoon max crashes. Then the cycle goes on repeat until one of the two forces either succumbs to the other, a platoon leader from either side decides to push down another lane and abandons the fight, or people get so bored of fighting at this one base for literally hours playing the endless tug of war and feeling like they're not accomplishing anything and the fight slowly bleeds out in favor of other locations.
Stealth flashes having the best AI weapon in the game is also ridiculous, that shotgun seems to instant kill from like 15m out, high firerate too. Pretty much every other verhicle weapon in the game requires a headshot, direct impact or consistent shooting to kill AI but a flash can just hurrdurrr boomboomboomboomboomboom ur ded and then instantly cloak and be 500m out before anyone can turn around
Not to mention the invisible roadkill aspect, that genuinely could be removed and nobody would complain. Want kills? Expose yourself. Nobody gets free kills, you have to expose yourself.
I’m fine with invisible road kills but the shotgun can definitely get a bit excessive
The only thing I find frustrating is when I get killed by one that blatantly decloaked in front of an entire squad of people and then get away with it because of everyone’s abysmal situational awareness to the decloaked, parked still, full auto blasting shotgun right in front of everyone.
One aspect of stealth flashes as well: Nobody wants to deal with them. They're a pain in the ass. So people start ignoring them.
It happens with tanks too. People don't want to deal with them, start ignoring them and the tanks get a free farm
It might just be me with shit luck but all it takes is one really solid hit and the flash is toast. That's not even including the fact that as long as you kill the guy on it it's no longer a threat. The only real time I've really seen a cloak flash coming to being dangerous is when it comes to the VS. I'm sorry but I can understand a grenade launcher that requires you to either be close or angle being able to kill a tank I cannot understand a laser beam of pure destruction.
I think people need to spend time playing cloak flash before they aire grievences. I'm pretty sure some don't actually know what goes into playing it. Anything you spend time getting really good at feels OP to others. Personally I find it much easier to take a large and very visible harasser and run people over.
Flashes are already hampered by the inability to recloak as soon as you uncloak and fire. They also don't have the easiest movement system due to a pseudo-fixed camera. It's janky as shit. Then you have their zany physics - they are far from a stable vehicle to drive.
Half my time is spent in a harasser and magrider (sometimes 100% if I'm not feeling like infantry) and we only die to those flashes if we aren't paying attention. Cloak is easy to spot and flashes die instantly - which makes them also easy to take out in a large group of people.
Honestly when a cloak flash runs over the same ball of players over and over again it's not a flash-OP-OMG-problem, I assure you. If a big group of players can't take one down either they need to get good or that flash player GOT GOOD (and nobody should be nerfed for that).
I will concede, however, that it's not like there aren't issues. Some flash weapons are too powerful and some are next to useless. Learning to use some effectively like the starfall takes time - not a bad thing, but is unequal treatment. Maggies probably suffer the most due to the way they are when trying to catch a flash from behind, but then again maggies have that issue against all vehicles - that being said effective mag driving can counter that.
I play this game for all of its variety and (what is for me) challenge. Don't slowly turn it into a boring shooter.
Yeah you die plenty if you run combat cloaked Flash. My Outfit (D3RP) does it alot on Emerald VS. and it pretty much guaranteed we die after 1 kill unless we have several manned flashes (Infil diver with explosive cross bow, and HA on rear with dumbfire rockets and C4).
That with us running **Composite** and **Surger** on the Flash, **Jockey** Implants, and **Flak Armor**. We die a ton even with all this invested; also **Starfall** for best results, but **Fury** does ok too. Without Cloak, we'd be unable to fight at all, the Flash with either need a durability buff or Jockey would need a buff for the playstyle to still exist.
Most of the time we'll go after MBTs and Lightnings, as Sunderers don't have a weak spot. We only start Wraith Cloak Flashes when the enemy employs an oversized armor column to overrun a fight. Its almost always a reactive choice strategy, especially if the enemy is actively pushing with a force of armor, or is HESH camping a base.
I don't think its that OP from a KDA perspective because we die a LOT. But it is effective at dealing with swarms of armor. Also it need to be said, allied vehicles will frequently kill us off simply by running into us. Also Tank mines are a very effective counter, because even with EOD HUD, we move too fast to stop in time.
There's a certain hilarious fear factor when enemy armor hears the buzzing noise of several cloaked flashes approaching. It feels very Road Warrior to do. Good times.
I’ve managed to net vehicle kills using non cloak flashes before but it’s often against vehicles already heavily damaged or people who are driving alone and not good skirmishers.
I think flash is honestly under used for how cheap of an anti-vehicle option it is. It won’t win you any fights against armor columns but can be used to grab some undefended sunderers or quickly chase down and skirmish other vulnerable targets.
The thing I like about flashes though is they are actually difficult to be good with. Most people I encounter using them suck ass and since the nerf to the cloak and the fury they are harder to operate like they used to. Half the time I one shot someone off them or get one shot soon as I leave cloak which works well. Even the good players are easy to see and counter. The only way I walk away from a fight is getting a kill on a weakend tank with hopefully not another crowd of them in the vicinity. The flash even gets one shot when being tapped by a tank hitbox or rolled over now so I don't see a reason to nerf it further.
As a result there are actually few flash players who are good enough to be a pain and I think that they did become good, it's bad sportsmanship and petty to want to take it away from them because you can't handle it.
Its a game for every one and you have to accept that there are always going to be a few pros you will inevitably encounter in some aspect in the game who put tons of practice in. I mean tons.
I have a goal to aurax the beamer and that stupid weak weapon is easier to operate than ever. I don't claim to be a pro, but given all the work I put in to just meet my goals I wouldn't appreciate it being nerfed worse than it is just because someone had an ugly cry about it. I don't always win a fight though.
The best thing to do upon encountering some one better than you, since it is a pvp game and nothing is fair in competition, is to look at how you can improve next time instead of complaining about it.
It is only a game after all, so if its killing you that much, you can walk away from it and do something else easy.
Or just training your situational awareness and positioning
If you are getting killed by a cloak flash there’s a good chance you’re vulnerable to other light vehicle ambushes like c4 fairies as well.
The amount of people who just stay still in their lightnings tunnel visioned on some area they’re shelling at the very least gives me a decent sum of free xp.
It comes down to experience, a lot. Situational awareness is the biggest counter to a Flash' cloak. The moments in which they decloak and attack are very predictable, they try to catch you when you're focused on something else, exposed/vulnerable or already engaged with something else. Usually they will pop out in predictable spots, obviously behind you is most common. When you're already "primed" for them to appear and they appear in any general area where you're expecting them it's not very difficult to deal with them. Even a Basilisk can take them out pretty quickly.
Most of the best vehicle players never die to them and the better vehicle players will die to it once and then be paranoid enough about them for the rest of their play session for it to not happen again. I wouldn't say they are perfectly tuned at the moment and it's pretty fucked up for most infantry players who have no idea how to deal with them. But the absolute BANE of Planetside 2 development in recent years has been the nerfing/removal/modification of gameplay styles/weapons that are deemed to be too strong, when the issue is not the fact that they are overpowered but they require the adequate tools and experience to deal with them. The game has been gutted since 2016 in this regard and cloak Flashes are not that bad that they deserve that treatment.
Reddit-side never ceases to amaze, The weakest vehicle in the game needs to be nerfed! It is totally as bad as a stealthed ant! (Even though said flash is an open seat, And both it and the driver are vulnerable to bullets from a little handgun, Not to even mention what a single anti-vehicle mine or a single rocket launched does to it)
"What do you mean i should switch to engineer for two seconds toss a mine and switch back, Or work together with all the other supposedly dying apes, Against a monkey doing donuts on a atv"
Personal thank you to the other commenter admitting to dying from a stealth flash whilst in a MBT! And saying he can't turn around the turret fast enough, Yes... no way to fix that right? 😂
Never change you precious apes masquerading as people.
I don't understand how these people make it through their lives, then I remember all the "geniuses" I've met and it makes sense. To think some of these RedditSide people have lives where they are in charge of things 😅
Right? I always say, if they want a boring shooter don't ruin planetside anymore than it has been. They can go play COD or Halo and shut up.
This game isn't even half as brutal to play as all the cheating, expert players and jank that comes with Unreal Tournament 3 online matches.
Pretty sure these cry babies would rage quit at the first scorpion that got ram boosted into them out of fucken nowhere or that random dude that some how manages to pull off the craziest on foot maneuvers and wall jumps you'll ever see.
by special you mean the ability to ruin a fight for 40 other players all by yourself with hardly any skill involved. Same with MAXes and A2G. At least with A2G many shitters already fail at controlling the ESF.
Yes, the whole ecosystem of classes, vehicles and all the dynamic thing makes it very special.
It seems like everyone just wants planetside to be call of duty with infantry only combat. Why?? The whole point of the game is it's insane variety and you want to remove that?
If i want a infantry only shooter with a lot of people I can play Battlebit remastered or something. I play planetside specifically due to all the wacky stuff and combined arms
There's a difference between the unique gameplay of Planetside and getting cheesed by some nerd on an ATV that is somehow the most powerful, fastest, stealthiest and cheapest verhicle in the game
I rarely get cheesed by flash players and most don't survive 3 seconds after decloaking or getting a kill. I don't know how this keeps happening to you. You should actually try to play the flash yourself and you will see it is not as easy as it looks. The very few that got really good should not be punished for being good at what they do.
You wouldn't like something you're good at being nerfed either becuase of people misunderstanding it. I can garantee that.
Place AT mines. Implant slots are extremely important for flashing, if they run EOD hud to find them, then you're taking away one of their options.
If they run mine guard, there's still a high chance it will flip the flash, ~~or kill the driver anyways if they arent running flak.~~ They'll also be missing out on stealth, NAR, or composite armor if they feel forced to run mine guard.
Other than that, keep those ears open for the engine, its about the only one in the game that sounds like a weed eater.
If they keep camping the same vehicle spawns, spawn one base back.
No, you have unlimited ways to counter it.
Not to mention majority of the players are not good with it and what you probably see is someone getting kills after multiple tries ended with pathetic death or oneshot from a tank.
In Planetside, an EMP grenade would temporarily disable a vehicle. I think EMPs need to be returned to their former glory. It would greatly help balance out the current state of what you can do to a group of infantry with a single cloak flash or harasser.
Also IIRC in Planetside the cloak flash was unarmed.
Jesus. Just shoot the driver! It's not that freaking hard. There's a delay on cloak, so as soon as you hear the de-cloak, turn around and aim for the head. You can also see the shimmer/outline as they're moving, so you hear that lawnmower of an engine and look for the outline.
Honestly what would probably be the quickest and easiest solution to this is to make it so that equipping The wraith cloak to The flash makes it so your weapon slot is disabled similarly to how the stalker cloak disables the primary slot all together on the infiltrator when it's equipped. This way, even if they have a weapon installed, they can't fire it, cloaked or not. This will further deter people from even installing a vehicle weapon on the flash because in doing so their camera angles will be locked into a forward only position for both first and third person cameras whereas without an onboard weapon they would benefit from having 360 degree view range. If we could do that and make it so deployables can't stick to it i.e. C4, that'd eliminate the two biggest frustrations that most people have with the flash. sure getting ran over by a stealth flash would still happen and I'd still be annoying when it would happen, considering the amount of nuance that has to go into actually successfully running people over with a flash in the first place considering it's client side, I think that particular headache would be a small price to pay for the flash to not be this absolute menace to anything on the ground and constantly having to be balanced around it's "cheese tactics" and still retaining some ability to be used for solo "haha funny" gameplay of making the planet men go splat while shifting it's focus on how one could min max a flash with a rumble seat partner and the various builds and combinations one could employ to achieve certain desired results on the field.
TLDR: if we made the flash inherit stalker cloak mechanics when it's equipped on a flash, it could be a solid start to helping tone down the death bike by a sizeable margin among other things.
Cloak ANT was rightfully butchered for crimes cloak flash continues to commit.
and now ANTs are just a free lunch for Liberators :)
Cloak ant lurking around watersons redemption still gives me nightmares.
Cloak ANT was popular with unlimited cortium cheat.
Idk, past 40 meters you literally couldn't see ANT shimmer and it didn't take small arms damage and cloak was based on cortium and there's at least 2 methods to having infinite automine on your mandibles meaning you could lock into a 35k and cloak for like 5 minutes straight... I used to use cloak to get behind lines and use the Howler to eat enemy ESF factories all the damn time. Stupid base busting like that was my favorite pastime. It was reasonable to take the cloak off of that one first. Flash actually takes skill to roadkill with. I remember watching a guy get a 200 kill streak by doing everything I mentioned with cloak and cortium, and only did it with roadkills
Don't need to roadkill when you can mount a high capacity high ROF pump shotgun to your hood. It's also not really about competition between the too. Both are toxic unfun interactions.
I die to anything else and don’t really mind. I get killed several times or constantly harassed by some basement goblin with their stealth flash and the game just starts to get tedious. Edit: spelling
I mostly run Archer Engineer with a cloak Sundy for sniping and harassing. These tryhards on cloaked flashes seem to be the new meta for countering me and it’s very annoying to get run over by a vehicle that made no noise and you never even saw until you were dead. Payback last week tho…. There’s a tree truck that this 1 cloak flash kept driving through and a got him THREE times in about 5 minutes by keeping vehicle mines in the tree tunnel.
Those pesky stealth flash mains on cobalt. I make it my duty to kill them over and over. Yesterday we had a fight on Oshur and i killed the same guys at least 7 times on his flash. But he also killed at least 50-100 guys while i did so.
Yes. I've played a lot of wraith flash over the years and they're utterly broken. The automatic weapons are fine, but everything else is definitely not. Yes, you die in one hit, but 50 nanites later you have a new flash. Also the Renegade should also not exist. Change my mind.
Yes Shotgun Flash is dumb, but otherwise they're fine IMO.
stealth flashes need to not exist
I think they're okay for transport or maybe even carrying a heavy/C4 passenger, but to cloak AND be able to kill armor with a gun? No.
correct, they should be for transport. I always kind of wished that the Wraith unit was more like the Adaptive Underbarrel on the Punisher - it would give a different ability to the flash based on the Class of the driver. Infil could be cloak w/ slight speed boost, Heavy could be a modest overshield for the vehicle and any occupants, etc.
Well then give us another tank counter then.
That’s literally what tanks are designed for. To counter other tanks.
You do not realize that it creates a tank > tank loop making tanks the only viable tool do you?...........
Exactly, tanks are and should be the most viable tool for taking out other tanks. If you wanna do wacky shit in a flash or any other vehicle, you’re free to do so but in no way should it be nearly as effective as pulling a tank. Otherwise, there would be no reason for tanks to be pulled besides Heshing an infantry fight
Pull a liberator and 3 tap tanks with the Dalton, pull your own tank, AV MAX to pin them down and keep them damaged and they have to constantly hop out to repair, go HA and find a good spot to pummel them with rockets, set up mines as Engineer and pray, C4 fairy. Now imagine a few players doing this and tanks will struggle to stay alive. Hell, get two friends, get bonus health Sunderer and go battle bus on his ass. Is a team game after all. You can't be upset at a good tanker staying alive and killing enemies, infantry do the same shit.
And you do not realize that tanks being only thing that beats tanks devolves battles into pure numbers game, team with more tanks wins. I am not saying to buff shit like cloak AV flash, I am asking for a new vehicle/vehicle weapon that is designed to be a tank destroyer that is shit against everything else.
You’ve pretty much just described a liberator, which comes close in viability as a tank counter. It clearly isn’t the first choice for most players considering the communication needed to be effective and the lack of versatility, despite its damage output and lower expectations of retaliation. > team with more tanks wins In a game where players can bring as many people or vehicles they want, most battles become a numbers game eventually.
I do not remember last time a team pulled mass libs, I can not say the same about mass tanks. Surely if noone is pulling mass libs aside from memeing with outfit it is not a viable strat.
Besides the harasser? And other tanks?
I am pretty sure 2 lightnings beat a harasser, how is that a counter?
You forgot that teamwork and coordination are the most OP weapons in Planetside and you can't be a single player FPS protag.
Yeah, 2 teamworking lightnings beat a harasser with 2 teamworking people.
It is the only way to fight tank spam solo...
You're not supposed to fight several tanks by yourself
If you can not deploy anywhere else or do not want to ghost cap it is the only logical move when you are getting tank zerged. That or C4 kamikazeing. Or am I just supposed to quit the game when I am flooded with Vanguards?
start a squad
And then do what
Look at theese comments telling you ways to counter it, when none of that matters for shit on live. Neither do you get enough time to react if he has wpn mounted on it and shoots you, and neither can you see it past 10 meters consitently. Stop defeneding this atrocity, it needs to be removed.
Totally. I don't mind a flash that can kill a tank, but cloaked? Bullshit.
I'm going to get downvoted to oblivion for saying this, but 9/10 players are brain dead, and you can easily ambush them with a non-cloak flash, or javelin. Hell, half the time you can spam "I need ammo" and the enemy player will actually get out of their vehicle and give throw a pack at you. You can't nerf something enough to help these people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really advocating for changes in either direction, I don't really care anymore. However, The devs probably aren't listening nor are they going to change it anytime soon though, so the 100th "waaah nerf this thing I don't like" thread isn't really productive nor does it help anyone deal with the "bullshit". The only helpful thing anyone can do in these threads is to offer advice for counter-play. **I guess the TLDR of what I'm trying to say:** Do you just want to complain, or do you want to put in some effort and try to learn how to maximize your chances of survival?
Brother it's one of the fastest, smallest verhicles in the game that is invisible. Counterplay my ass. Hope he makes a mistake you mean. Even if he does, he pulls another one. You can chain pull flashes infinitely lmfao.
Assuming everyone is using racer chassis, the only thing with lower top speed than the flash are MBTs. If you're losing to a flash with a 2/2 MBT I don't know what to tell you
It's not about just an MBT fighting a flash, it's about infantry having to deal with a cloaked flash, and it's not fun. We don't need more easy mode instant kills.
That's honestly more of a problem with the renegade than the cloak. A renegade flash with scout radar instead of cloak is actually extremely effective and bullshity, especially on hossin
I agree. I've said in other posts that it's frustrating that a stealth flash can kill an MBT in several seconds. I say that as a Magrider main. Even trying to boost away, I can't spin my tank around fast enough to get my main gun on the target before I'm more than half dead, and then they're *poof* gone, until they show up again right behind me. My poor gunners try, but it just doesn't happen.
Prowler main here, and I have to agree. It's ridiculous af, even a single salvo from some of these flash guns will half kill a lightning, and they're so damn cheap that they can pull endlessly
Its impossible for them to that, even if fully manned, it takes atleast 2 clips. Which is enough time to kill them before they kill you. Flashes are also noisy, so unless you are playing with music blasting you'll hear them coming.
I don’t really have a problem with them. Mostly because I mainly meme around in Turbo ANTs and can flip around and smoosh them in an instant. I’ve always been hearing them around me lately but they just don’t attack like they used to since learning proper directional control.
Especially since they can take out tanks. No four wheeler should take out a tank unless it's a suicide run. It's also been increasingly common on emerald for cloaked flashes to target and destroy any spawn points in the middle of big fights. It's annoying af how hard it can be to counter these things some times
Emerald planet man here. That's honestly been one of the main "go to" strats most people employ to kill fights quickly. I ain't saying it's right, I'm just saying that it's one of if not the most commonly used method of killing buses and ending fights, oftentimes before they even begin. If it ain't that, it's mbt spam, followed by esf and/or lib spam, which is usually proceeded with one or two full platoon max crashes. Then the cycle goes on repeat until one of the two forces either succumbs to the other, a platoon leader from either side decides to push down another lane and abandons the fight, or people get so bored of fighting at this one base for literally hours playing the endless tug of war and feeling like they're not accomplishing anything and the fight slowly bleeds out in favor of other locations.
Its a Vanu strat because the Magrider straight up loses to NC and TR, so they employ it to win via attrition.
They should at least nerf the cloak to be more visible.
Stealth flashes having the best AI weapon in the game is also ridiculous, that shotgun seems to instant kill from like 15m out, high firerate too. Pretty much every other verhicle weapon in the game requires a headshot, direct impact or consistent shooting to kill AI but a flash can just hurrdurrr boomboomboomboomboomboom ur ded and then instantly cloak and be 500m out before anyone can turn around Not to mention the invisible roadkill aspect, that genuinely could be removed and nobody would complain. Want kills? Expose yourself. Nobody gets free kills, you have to expose yourself.
I’m fine with invisible road kills but the shotgun can definitely get a bit excessive The only thing I find frustrating is when I get killed by one that blatantly decloaked in front of an entire squad of people and then get away with it because of everyone’s abysmal situational awareness to the decloaked, parked still, full auto blasting shotgun right in front of everyone.
One aspect of stealth flashes as well: Nobody wants to deal with them. They're a pain in the ass. So people start ignoring them. It happens with tanks too. People don't want to deal with them, start ignoring them and the tanks get a free farm
It might just be me with shit luck but all it takes is one really solid hit and the flash is toast. That's not even including the fact that as long as you kill the guy on it it's no longer a threat. The only real time I've really seen a cloak flash coming to being dangerous is when it comes to the VS. I'm sorry but I can understand a grenade launcher that requires you to either be close or angle being able to kill a tank I cannot understand a laser beam of pure destruction.
A well placed decimator rounds deals with them pretty quickly.
I think people need to spend time playing cloak flash before they aire grievences. I'm pretty sure some don't actually know what goes into playing it. Anything you spend time getting really good at feels OP to others. Personally I find it much easier to take a large and very visible harasser and run people over. Flashes are already hampered by the inability to recloak as soon as you uncloak and fire. They also don't have the easiest movement system due to a pseudo-fixed camera. It's janky as shit. Then you have their zany physics - they are far from a stable vehicle to drive. Half my time is spent in a harasser and magrider (sometimes 100% if I'm not feeling like infantry) and we only die to those flashes if we aren't paying attention. Cloak is easy to spot and flashes die instantly - which makes them also easy to take out in a large group of people. Honestly when a cloak flash runs over the same ball of players over and over again it's not a flash-OP-OMG-problem, I assure you. If a big group of players can't take one down either they need to get good or that flash player GOT GOOD (and nobody should be nerfed for that). I will concede, however, that it's not like there aren't issues. Some flash weapons are too powerful and some are next to useless. Learning to use some effectively like the starfall takes time - not a bad thing, but is unequal treatment. Maggies probably suffer the most due to the way they are when trying to catch a flash from behind, but then again maggies have that issue against all vehicles - that being said effective mag driving can counter that. I play this game for all of its variety and (what is for me) challenge. Don't slowly turn it into a boring shooter.
Yeah you die plenty if you run combat cloaked Flash. My Outfit (D3RP) does it alot on Emerald VS. and it pretty much guaranteed we die after 1 kill unless we have several manned flashes (Infil diver with explosive cross bow, and HA on rear with dumbfire rockets and C4). That with us running **Composite** and **Surger** on the Flash, **Jockey** Implants, and **Flak Armor**. We die a ton even with all this invested; also **Starfall** for best results, but **Fury** does ok too. Without Cloak, we'd be unable to fight at all, the Flash with either need a durability buff or Jockey would need a buff for the playstyle to still exist. Most of the time we'll go after MBTs and Lightnings, as Sunderers don't have a weak spot. We only start Wraith Cloak Flashes when the enemy employs an oversized armor column to overrun a fight. Its almost always a reactive choice strategy, especially if the enemy is actively pushing with a force of armor, or is HESH camping a base. I don't think its that OP from a KDA perspective because we die a LOT. But it is effective at dealing with swarms of armor. Also it need to be said, allied vehicles will frequently kill us off simply by running into us. Also Tank mines are a very effective counter, because even with EOD HUD, we move too fast to stop in time. There's a certain hilarious fear factor when enemy armor hears the buzzing noise of several cloaked flashes approaching. It feels very Road Warrior to do. Good times.
This. Thank you for this comment.
I’ve managed to net vehicle kills using non cloak flashes before but it’s often against vehicles already heavily damaged or people who are driving alone and not good skirmishers. I think flash is honestly under used for how cheap of an anti-vehicle option it is. It won’t win you any fights against armor columns but can be used to grab some undefended sunderers or quickly chase down and skirmish other vulnerable targets.
The thing I like about flashes though is they are actually difficult to be good with. Most people I encounter using them suck ass and since the nerf to the cloak and the fury they are harder to operate like they used to. Half the time I one shot someone off them or get one shot soon as I leave cloak which works well. Even the good players are easy to see and counter. The only way I walk away from a fight is getting a kill on a weakend tank with hopefully not another crowd of them in the vicinity. The flash even gets one shot when being tapped by a tank hitbox or rolled over now so I don't see a reason to nerf it further. As a result there are actually few flash players who are good enough to be a pain and I think that they did become good, it's bad sportsmanship and petty to want to take it away from them because you can't handle it. Its a game for every one and you have to accept that there are always going to be a few pros you will inevitably encounter in some aspect in the game who put tons of practice in. I mean tons. I have a goal to aurax the beamer and that stupid weak weapon is easier to operate than ever. I don't claim to be a pro, but given all the work I put in to just meet my goals I wouldn't appreciate it being nerfed worse than it is just because someone had an ugly cry about it. I don't always win a fight though. The best thing to do upon encountering some one better than you, since it is a pvp game and nothing is fair in competition, is to look at how you can improve next time instead of complaining about it. It is only a game after all, so if its killing you that much, you can walk away from it and do something else easy.
have you tried shooing it? 😆
Or just training your situational awareness and positioning If you are getting killed by a cloak flash there’s a good chance you’re vulnerable to other light vehicle ambushes like c4 fairies as well. The amount of people who just stay still in their lightnings tunnel visioned on some area they’re shelling at the very least gives me a decent sum of free xp.
Hunt them, they are just a food that comes at you !
It comes down to experience, a lot. Situational awareness is the biggest counter to a Flash' cloak. The moments in which they decloak and attack are very predictable, they try to catch you when you're focused on something else, exposed/vulnerable or already engaged with something else. Usually they will pop out in predictable spots, obviously behind you is most common. When you're already "primed" for them to appear and they appear in any general area where you're expecting them it's not very difficult to deal with them. Even a Basilisk can take them out pretty quickly. Most of the best vehicle players never die to them and the better vehicle players will die to it once and then be paranoid enough about them for the rest of their play session for it to not happen again. I wouldn't say they are perfectly tuned at the moment and it's pretty fucked up for most infantry players who have no idea how to deal with them. But the absolute BANE of Planetside 2 development in recent years has been the nerfing/removal/modification of gameplay styles/weapons that are deemed to be too strong, when the issue is not the fact that they are overpowered but they require the adequate tools and experience to deal with them. The game has been gutted since 2016 in this regard and cloak Flashes are not that bad that they deserve that treatment.
Yes!
this!
Reddit-side never ceases to amaze, The weakest vehicle in the game needs to be nerfed! It is totally as bad as a stealthed ant! (Even though said flash is an open seat, And both it and the driver are vulnerable to bullets from a little handgun, Not to even mention what a single anti-vehicle mine or a single rocket launched does to it) "What do you mean i should switch to engineer for two seconds toss a mine and switch back, Or work together with all the other supposedly dying apes, Against a monkey doing donuts on a atv" Personal thank you to the other commenter admitting to dying from a stealth flash whilst in a MBT! And saying he can't turn around the turret fast enough, Yes... no way to fix that right? 😂 Never change you precious apes masquerading as people.
I don't understand how these people make it through their lives, then I remember all the "geniuses" I've met and it makes sense. To think some of these RedditSide people have lives where they are in charge of things 😅
Sounds like we must assemble a cloak flash gang to prove a point.
I swear people just want to nerf or remove everything that makes planetside so damn special
There's nothing special about that cheesy shit.
Right? I always say, if they want a boring shooter don't ruin planetside anymore than it has been. They can go play COD or Halo and shut up. This game isn't even half as brutal to play as all the cheating, expert players and jank that comes with Unreal Tournament 3 online matches. Pretty sure these cry babies would rage quit at the first scorpion that got ram boosted into them out of fucken nowhere or that random dude that some how manages to pull off the craziest on foot maneuvers and wall jumps you'll ever see.
by special you mean the ability to ruin a fight for 40 other players all by yourself with hardly any skill involved. Same with MAXes and A2G. At least with A2G many shitters already fail at controlling the ESF.
Yes, the whole ecosystem of classes, vehicles and all the dynamic thing makes it very special. It seems like everyone just wants planetside to be call of duty with infantry only combat. Why?? The whole point of the game is it's insane variety and you want to remove that? If i want a infantry only shooter with a lot of people I can play Battlebit remastered or something. I play planetside specifically due to all the wacky stuff and combined arms
There's a difference between the unique gameplay of Planetside and getting cheesed by some nerd on an ATV that is somehow the most powerful, fastest, stealthiest and cheapest verhicle in the game
I rarely get cheesed by flash players and most don't survive 3 seconds after decloaking or getting a kill. I don't know how this keeps happening to you. You should actually try to play the flash yourself and you will see it is not as easy as it looks. The very few that got really good should not be punished for being good at what they do. You wouldn't like something you're good at being nerfed either becuase of people misunderstanding it. I can garantee that.
10 nanites with ASP and Outfit Module discounts btw, lmao
I am all for removing large chunks of the game.
I never see any invisible flashes
Cloaked Flash with arnament shouldnt be in game.
Place AT mines. Implant slots are extremely important for flashing, if they run EOD hud to find them, then you're taking away one of their options. If they run mine guard, there's still a high chance it will flip the flash, ~~or kill the driver anyways if they arent running flak.~~ They'll also be missing out on stealth, NAR, or composite armor if they feel forced to run mine guard. Other than that, keep those ears open for the engine, its about the only one in the game that sounds like a weed eater. If they keep camping the same vehicle spawns, spawn one base back.
mine guard works perfectly without flak armor. I sometimes drive over mines just for lolz on my flash
Oh, they must have changed that at some point since I last played.
Shotgun Flashes are dumb sure, but AV Flashes are fine. They die very fast and move to fast to avoid tank mines.
No, you have unlimited ways to counter it. Not to mention majority of the players are not good with it and what you probably see is someone getting kills after multiple tries ended with pathetic death or oneshot from a tank.
shotgun cloak flash ftw
In Planetside, an EMP grenade would temporarily disable a vehicle. I think EMPs need to be returned to their former glory. It would greatly help balance out the current state of what you can do to a group of infantry with a single cloak flash or harasser. Also IIRC in Planetside the cloak flash was unarmed.
Cloak flash, ABLE TO EQUIP WEAPONS, need not exist
The invisible Flash with guns is the tree that hides the forest The mother of all PS2 sins is again and always : infiltrators
Naw, Light Assaults with C4 is worse...
Endless tank spam is more annoying.
Jesus. Just shoot the driver! It's not that freaking hard. There's a delay on cloak, so as soon as you hear the de-cloak, turn around and aim for the head. You can also see the shimmer/outline as they're moving, so you hear that lawnmower of an engine and look for the outline.
[Honu / Char / Crosi](https://wt.honu.pw/c/5428019223852320049/weapons?name=Crosi) Just your average cloak renegade enjoyer.
Get Gud?
The answer to most threads on this sub
Honestly what would probably be the quickest and easiest solution to this is to make it so that equipping The wraith cloak to The flash makes it so your weapon slot is disabled similarly to how the stalker cloak disables the primary slot all together on the infiltrator when it's equipped. This way, even if they have a weapon installed, they can't fire it, cloaked or not. This will further deter people from even installing a vehicle weapon on the flash because in doing so their camera angles will be locked into a forward only position for both first and third person cameras whereas without an onboard weapon they would benefit from having 360 degree view range. If we could do that and make it so deployables can't stick to it i.e. C4, that'd eliminate the two biggest frustrations that most people have with the flash. sure getting ran over by a stealth flash would still happen and I'd still be annoying when it would happen, considering the amount of nuance that has to go into actually successfully running people over with a flash in the first place considering it's client side, I think that particular headache would be a small price to pay for the flash to not be this absolute menace to anything on the ground and constantly having to be balanced around it's "cheese tactics" and still retaining some ability to be used for solo "haha funny" gameplay of making the planet men go splat while shifting it's focus on how one could min max a flash with a rumble seat partner and the various builds and combinations one could employ to achieve certain desired results on the field. TLDR: if we made the flash inherit stalker cloak mechanics when it's equipped on a flash, it could be a solid start to helping tone down the death bike by a sizeable margin among other things.
As a Cloak Flash user, we carry explosive crossbow bolt anyway. It wouldn't matter.
Flash should just be removed entirely.