Ive noticed something...

[BigR]

Maybe i am crazy, but ever since the patch I have been racking up a ton of assists. I usually fly a plane with primarily 50cals, and it seems that even if I put a ridiculous amount of ammo into someone, I will not get the kill. I have noticed somewhat of a pattern. I dont know if I am just crazy or what, but maybe some of you have noticed it too. If someone puts just a little damage into a plane, but they are the first to do so, they seem to have a much better chance at getting a kill, even if their damage was not catastrophic, and even if someone comes a long later and puts a greater amount of damage into the target. I have noticed a few times that I barely hit someone, and then I end up getting the kill for them later. Maybe it is all a coincidence, maybe there is nothing there. I dont know..i figured i would mention it in case anyone else has been experiencing this since the patch.

[Kermit de frog]

I've shot up planes only to have someone buzz by, place a few pings which sets the plane on fire, then get the kills while I don't get as much as an assist message.  By a long standing habit, I don't initiate attacks upon visibly damaged planes.

[BigR]

I hear ya, but something just doesn't seem right to me. Thats the thing..I'm not talking about only visibly damaged planes. I am talking about planes that hardly have any damage at all, and I come in and totally annihilate them, and just get the assist. Most of the time its against planes that I didn't think were hit at all.

[oakranger]

I notices some GVs that i bomb die slower.  For example, drop a 1,000 lb right next to a panzer and then he dies about 10 sec later.

[Ardy123]

It happens to me all the time. The most frustrating is when I hit them with a tater & take out their engine, then someone else flys by and kills the dead-stick plane and gets the kill. Also, I've had it happen where I tater some planes wing off, and someone else gets the kill because they put some minor pings in it (but nothing damaging) long before I ever shot the guy.

[TW9]

quit attacking planes that already have 6 or 7 dudes on them.. it will increase your odds of getting a kill.. trust me.

[321BAR]

has anyone else shot down planes and not scored kills? its happened to me once or twice. shot a wing off and nobody else touches it and it goes down without scoring me a kill.

[Greziz]

I have noticed that after pinging a cockpit once or twice in a 39 I will get the kill much later when he is run down my sneaking suspicion is with the new kill system a pilot wounded target that was wounded by you will be awarded to you even if some one else mauls him dead much like removing a wing or stabilizer will auto give you the kill even if some one would zip in and explode him.

[BigR]

quit attacking planes that already have 6 or 7 dudes on them.. it will increase your odds of getting a kill.. trust me.

I usually fight in furballs, and i usually try to ignore guys who are overwhelmed, in fact im usually one of the guys being ganged. That was my whole point..I have been playing this game for a long time, and I can tell when something is "off".

[maddafinga]

I usually fight in furballs, and i usually try to ignore guys who are overwhelmed, in fact im usually one of the guys being ganged. That was my whole point..I have been playing this game for a long time, and I can tell when something is "off".

Yeah BigR isn't a noob at all or a pick and zoom type of a guy.  I remember him from old AW even.  I was always getting him and BigT mixed up for a while there when I first started.  (Then I took a decade off...)

I don't know that something is off for certain, I felt like something definitely was before patch 3, I was hosing guys with taters and they were still flying around with no real problem, or taking a couple of bbs and crashing.  That stopped, but I rarely use the .50cal birds, so I haven't seen what you describe.  Things seem much more normal to me now.  I have shot the tail off a couple of planes only to have them keep on flying around, but no film, so I can't say that it wasn't only a combination of my viewpoint and self delusion of some sort. 

See if you can find a good example of it on film BigR. 

[LLogann]

I haven't been flying enough these last two months to notice anything really......  But it does seem like many a stick is talking about it. 

As maddafinga points out though..... Let's see some films!

[oakranger]

has anyone else shot down planes and not scored kills? its happened to me once or twice. shot a wing off and nobody else touches it and it goes down without scoring me a kill.

It has happen to me twice

[waystin2]

Here is my observation on the high level of assists.  In a furball planes get sprayed by multiple cons in the course of the furball causing minimal damage.  Eventually someone gets a perceived killing shot in, but by that time enough damage has been done to the plane that someone else is gonna get the kill.  I tend to get straight up kills as opposed to assists when I am not in a high concentration of friendly and enemy planes.  I think it is the nature of a large furball that causes this.  MY .02

[LLogann]

Does a PW count towards the cutoff? (cutoff = major damage to plane & no more people get a credit)

[dkff49]

I have never had it happen that I did not ever get the kill but have witnessed several times that getting the assist/kill message was delayed by several seconds even though I watched him explode right in front of me. There has been times that I have engaged another con before getting the assist/kill message.