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Currently both more or less have the same behavior, with Airstrikes standing a far better chance of actually hitting something (which still isn't much). But really, each has the same set of problems:
Damage: Even if you manage a direct hit, you see more from ram damage.
Accuracy: A very, very tiny impact area that gets hit after a very long delay insures any half awake player isn't likely to be hit.
Functionality: Both are basically redresses of the same concept. Why isn't artillery area denial, like a 30 second barrage to force 'mechs from a grid? Why is it a tiny two-mech sized radius?
Upgrades: The upgrades attempt to focus damage by tightening the already tiny impact radius, insuring that absolutely nothing will be hit by your improved damage, ever.
Visuals: They appear like tiny fire crackers coming down, like someone found a spark effect and it was their first try with the Crytek particle editor. Missiles from the airstrikes emerge from nowhere. Nothing about either one screams what it even is if we weren't told. The explosions are weak, the impacts are weaker. No screen shake even. It's hard to tell you've even been shelled!
Sound: No warning sounds, no alarms, no loud explosions. No sounds of shells dropping or aircraft swooping. No, it is almost silent as the bunch of glittering particles land on you.
Interface: They've already said they're adding map support, so there's that. Still, no impact markers on your minimap or any GUI notifications of any kind makes it seem like a serious non-event.
Value: NONE. I can't imagine people paying MC for that model, and I unfortunately sank 30,000 GXP into getting both Improved Airstrikes and Improved Artillery. This review was about them. The basic models are so pathetic I could not tell if they were even firing 50% of the time.
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I know we were worried about these being OP and such, but seriously, these are the single most half-assed thing ever put into MW:O and I don't even think they have business being live. They need not only a huge buff, but they need almost a ground up reworking of how they function to be comparable to even several year old games that have similar capabilities in them.
I'm not asking for them to be super powerful - definitely not - but I am asking for them to do something. I believe artillery should be very damaging, but take much longer to come in, cover a wider area and last for a duration, for example, to act as area denial. Airstrikes should come from actual aerospace fighter or VTOL models, and I don't think that's asking for the moon on a Crytek engine game. And finally, they should actually have an impact area that makes them useful.
Anyway I'm shocked there's not more threads on these, just a few comment threads on the patch notes. I think most people tried the cheap versions and didn't bother with anything more, but if you're like me and did, my God you want these things fixed to some state of worthiness.
EDIT: While not the improved versions, this video belongs in this thread.
Not the Improved versions, but wow. A stationary Commando can't even get hit when you land a shot at it's feet and it's stock armor barely gets dented by an air strike.
Edited by Victor Morson, 05 April 2013 - 12:15 AM.
