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Battlefield 3: Armored Kill nerfs the gunship with extended spawn delays

battlefield-3-armored-kill-gunship

“Battlefield 3: Armored Kill has been a huge hit, but we know that the gunship we introduced has been a bit overpowered in some situations,” say DICE. “The bulk of our next server update on September 20th is directly based on community feedback from the past two weeks, aimed at re-balancing the gunship.”

There are a number of changes lined up for the update tomorrow, and they’re not all in aid of making the ‘ship less airworthy. DICE has reduced the damage caused to the gunship by both stationary and mobile AA cannons by 30%, and the damage caused by jet cannon fire by 50%. Each will now require a higher level of skill in the hands of players wanting to take out the plane.

Further changes, though, detailed on the Battlelog, are designed to relieve pressure on defenders in Rush mode. There’s to be a 30-second delay before the gunship can be moved towards a new base – to allow defenders more time to fall back and mount an effective defence – and there’ll be a doubled delay of 120 seconds between gunship spawns.

Finally, it’ll now be a whole minute before the gunship spawns at all in Rush mode, to prevent defenders from being hunted down pre-round and exploded the very second the timer hits zero. Which seems reasonable enough.

Let’s hear it, then, you weary defenders, you vicious gunship parachutists: are the changes welcome, and are they fair?