Too much? I'm asking them to kill helis and use rockets and maybe guided missiles to damage, if not take out, vehicles. What they do is to kill each other, all the time. What is the point of them, if all they do is to practically remove up to 4 players from the actual battle?
With just 24 players on consoles, 4 players doing practically nothing is a huge thing. On PC, if 64 player server, it is nothing (damn i miss BF42 and every plane having bombs).
In your original post, you said "I just never see really good jet pilots who actually give support to ground forces"
That to me means, you expect jets to provide actual support to the ground troops. Which for a good jet pilot encompass the timely bombardment of objectives, pin point attacks of requested areas/ground choke points etc. For example, to fire rockets down at B when they see it's being captured, to fly back in and fire on an armed m-com to allow for easier disarming, or attack a group of rooftop infantries based on ground/squad request (as oppose to some non-important vehicle target).
That is what I interpreted and define a "good jet pilot that gives support to ground forces."
Based on that - I responded that you are asking too much of most pilots.
(but apparently I'm the one asking too much?)
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ANYWAY, obviously you don't mean what I originally interpreted you to mean.
When you say "give support to ground forces" you just mean "take out other vehicles."
(which to me still have nothing to do with ground supports, cause 1) I've seen jets and choppers waste time doing battle with one another 2) Vehicles are rarely a real concern in my world.)
In that case, then fine. You can argue that most random pilots are a waste.
However, I would then have to agree with most of the other posters - you probably haven't played against much good pilots yet.
Most above average pilots will spend their time destroying vehicles and do nothing but that.
While they're certainly not "common", there are more than enough above-average pilots out there who can do this easily.
All this vehicle defending is making me uncomfortable.
Right. If you have cover you can ignore them. And (thankfully) BF3 has indestructible cover in areas to allow you to have some breathing room. But people going "Oh jets are useless" hasn't been against a pilot worth their salt. They aren't as broken as BF2's (where a pilot only had to hover and then quick switch to gunner to wreck havoc to quickly switch back to pilot to zoom away), but they're just as bad if a good aim-bead and ability to do "strafe runs" on armor and infantry that your team marks. I don't have that skill, so I obviously can't show you that but they are out there on consoles. However "rare," they are.
My stance has always been the same.
Vehicles are only a threat/use when they actually matter to the objective.
(and remember, I still don't consider BC2's strafing chopper that big of a deal, cause they didn't make defending
impossible.)
While I certainly can't agree to the extreme that "jets are useless." - I also don't want to fall to the popular stance that "if we don't fly/take down that ________(vehicle), we're doomed. The jet is too good, let's not move an inch till we take that thing out"
Cause that's encouraging screwed up priorities and "give up" mentalities....like all the examples I gave
here
