Before 1.10, I used to fly bombers around 50-60% of the time with the b-26 being my favorite plane in AH(behind the yak
). Most of that bomber fun was, after spending 30 min in route and dodging fighters and ack, getting to kill vital targets (fh, vh, radar, fuel, etc) and greatly helping the team in the process.
As it stands, the difficulty of getting the bomber to the target is multiplied tenfold by the additions of the large amount of time spent in calibration (which leaves a pilot helpless to any enemy fighters over the field) and the large amount of time spent holding your fellow drones' hands otw to and over the target. In addition, bombing must be carried out below 14k unless a pilot spends extra time lining up the field east to west.
Finally, and most importantly, most run of the mill bomber pilots, like myself, have little chance to hit anything of value on the field. One might say that bombers can easily destroy a town, but that doesn't cut it. In a fraction of the time, I can take a 110 and single-handedly take down a town, and then I can CAP afterwards and have much more fun in the process.
Many also have said and will say that bombers can and do kill individual targets on the field, but those kills are made by a dedicated fraction of the pre-1.10 numbers of bomber pilots in the game.
In short, bombers must spend much longer time flying to and setting up the target, they must spend a large amount of time defenseless while calibrating their target thus lowering their survivability, and, in large part, they have little change to hit anything of value (unless they target towns, which can easily be destroyed by jabos).
With the above in mind, I, who loved bombing pre-1.10, no longer fly bombers. My bf 110 kills targets of value much quicker than my bomber (which doesn't at all), and I am more valuable due to my plane's ability to vulch afterwards.
Most importantly, jaboing has become much more fun than bombing. Before anyone says that was my bag anyway, bombing was one of the most fun things to do in the game for me pre-1.10.
I can't speak for anyone else, and I might be the only one to feel this way, but I have noticed that there is much less bombing and much more jaboing going on than before. The new bombing system is very realistic and atmospheric, but it shouldn't be implemented at the cost of fun and balance.
-phishnut
