Something "odd" is definitely happening (or happened) on my server. After not playing for weeks I decided to queue a few times yesterday (and the day before) and was "shocked" to see none of the GSF aces and fanatics who were regulars before 2.6 in a single match! I figured that they might be on alts but the performance of these pilots made it apparent that most of them were relatively new to GSF. The other shock was that hardly any of these players were using Gunships or Bombers. I played about 3-4 matches each day and 90% of the ships were Strikes or Scouts, except for I think one match where the other side loaded Gunships and Bombers. I actually had a match where almost all of the ships were Strikes (in all honesty this was a very fun match)! Anyway, not sure what's going on and zero speculation...I'm just saying it was very odd. The only reason I kept queuing was to see if I would catch any familiar names but I only came across one or two.

I loved GSF. Past tense because I haven't played in weeks. I hate bombers because of their pet drones. It seems like after 2.6 the entire focus switched to "everyone must dodge or kill Gunships and Bomber Pets." I had more fun fighting and killing (mostly getting killed by) the OP Battle Scouts while every now and again having to deal with Gunships. That was by far less tedious and annoying than the current Episode 2.6 "the Drone Wars" As crazy as it may sound I'm honestly beginning to think Bioware has some deep pocketed benefactor (or benefactor's kid) pulling the strings and influencing the most important decisions when it comes to GSF ...because it seems as if none of the feedback regarding bombers was even considered in the slightest. It also seems as if the invitations to test new GSF content on the PTS are just a ruse so it can be said that they gave players the opportunity but no one answered the call. Whatever the reason(s) may be, with all conspiracy theories aside, in my honest opinion its not as fun as it used to be. In the future I will que every once in awhile to see if things have changed or improved. Until then enjoy and happy pet hunting!

LOL! I guarantee some elitist "know it all" feels like a real idiot right about now. ROFL!

LOL! Just admit that you're a Gunship fanatic who loves easy mode and doesn't want to see Ion Railgun nerfed again. We will leave it at that...have fun chasing your tail.

LOL! Really? Ok bud if you say so...wow. There's a little something called context..look it up sometime. Edit: Apparently you didn't read this part of his closing statement. OP: "Can you even imagine the QQ if Mercs or Sorcs had a max-range CC/slow that also half-killed the target in one shot, and no melee class had any--ANY--tools to counter it?"

Actually the OP never said that. You clearly have all the issues you accuse me of having. I knew there were kids and crazies on these forums but wow...just wow!

Running away certainly isn't the only option. In my opinion if you are that close its best to use all the tools you have at your disposal to engage the Gunship. If your only option is to "run"/outmaneuver him...boost/barrel roll directly towards him and hope you get behind him before he gets a shot off. If you are that close and you boost/barrel roll in the opposite direction he's just going to shoot you in the back anyway.

Not getting this. Lets say you find yourself 8k away from a Gunship and you see each other, the only option is to run and get shot in the back?!?! ...and what if during your attempt to get out of range you put yourself within range of another Gunship?

Similar logic can be applied to bombers. In ground PvP tank/healing classes aren't allowed to drop multiple companions all around the map at random. Maybe they should though..if it "works" for Space PvP why not Ground PvP?

Gunships benefited the most from the introduction of bombers, from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. This is extremely puzzling to me because before 2.6 Gunships were topping the charts in almost everything without the need for stationary cover and easy drone/bomber kills .

I used to play a few matches everyday now I hardly play at all. I dislike bombers but I'm not going to blame it on 2.6 though. It really isn't as fun to me as it used to be, but I figure its just because I played way too much over the past two months and I'm in need of a break.

On the Battle Record under Total Kills it says "Your total kills including other players, drones and objective(s)." Only other stat category I see is "Total Objective Turrets Killed". Am I missing something?

If I'm not mistaken they already do count as kills. Check the battle record.

IMO, when you put effort into killing drones it makes you an easy target to other players including the bomber who "farted" them out. This is why I just avoid them 99.9% of the time and put most of my efforts into taking down the bomber itself...no bomber..no drones. Edit: Only drone I will sometimes go out of my way to destroy is the repair drone..its the most dangerous imo. Edit 2: In any match Gunships and fighters with EMP should be clearing drones...problem is most Gunship pilots are more interested in getting player kills or find drones too hard to target so they usually don't bother.

I have experienced the MISSILE LOCK and -500m SHOT problems countless times.