Manual AA

[Spkr4theDead]

Hi all, I haven't played in quite a while, and have been lost on new ships, updates, etc. Played just a few battles the last 3 days, and noticed that AA has changed. I have the Manual AA commander skill, but can no longer manually select a target. Does it essentially no longer work? I saw in-game that when aircraft come closer, I have a button to press to "select priority sector." That's next.

 

To note: I had to check a WoWs blog to see more about it. In-game, it looks like the number 0, but I saw that it's the letter O. Wargaming should try to make the distinction more clear.

 

So does that commander skill no longer work?

[Yosha_AtaIante]

It works. It's ineffective

[Klopirat]

21 minutes ago, Spkr4theDead said:

So does that commander skill no longer work?

sure it does. But it is now called "Massive AA", not "Manual AA"

 

current status is explained here

[Karasu_Browarszky]

I'm still confused whether it is worth spending 4 pts on...

[Gvozdika]

4 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

I'm still confused whether it is worth spending 4 pts on...

In a word - No.

 

In a few words - the boost to the instant damage is pretty poor and it actively cripples your AA DPS output by removing the ability to ramp it up as needed. Utterly useless - those 4 points could go on any number of other useful skills.

[Klopirat]

7 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

I'm still confused whether it is worth spending 4 pts on...

imho no, especially not for ships with good AA, since you lose the increase of cont. damage

 

edit: too late

[Karasu_Browarszky]

1 hour ago, Gvozdika said:

In a word - No.

 

In a few words - the boost to the instant damage is pretty poor and it actively cripples your AA DPS output by removing the ability to ramp it up as needed. Utterly useless - those 4 points could go on any number of other useful skills.

 

1 hour ago, Klopirat said:

imho no, especially not for ships with good AA, since you lose the increase of cont. damage

 

edit: too late

 

Thank you both for the explanation. That was my impression, too, based on what's been said on the forums. Wasted on bad AA ships, and not much good on good AA either as they really don't need it so better use those 4 pts elsewhere.

 

The reason I was confused was because the other day someone in the randoms said the exact opposite. They must had had a very wrong idea about the changes or something.

[Sargento_YO]

I still had that skill from Kirov... And doesn't seems to work. I press O to incrase that particular sector for AA but there is no timer. Only the cool down one (when the ship screen turns orange). Instead of the 10 sec of green colour indicating the increased AA it's working. I wonder wtf its going on.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

2 minutes ago, Sargento_YO said:

I still had that skill from Kirov... And doesn't seems to work. I press O to incrase that particular sector for AA but there is no timer. Only the cool down one (when the ship screen turns orange). Instead of the 10 sec of green colour indicating the increased AA it's working. I wonder wtf its going on.

 

They changed that feature. You point with your mouse and press O to bolster your chosen side. And then suddenly the enemy planes are on your other side and you have less effective AA.

[Sargento_YO]

Yeah, I know how the increase sector works (even the new one, where you "aim" with the cursor to the desired side to increase aa and press O). But my Kirov with the manual aa skill doesn't seems to work, it's like if turns off right away. I press O and the cool down timer (the orange one) begins right away.

[Spunyarn]

The skill is now called "Massive AA" and if you have it you get an increase in the instant burst damage, but get no sector reinforcement bonus to AA, so you are right in saying that "it's like it turns off right away" as the captain skill has "turned off" that part of things.

 

[Sargento_YO]

Thats weird. I DID read the text. But I thought it meant "This skill only gives a +100% Instantaneous damage, but the regular bonus damage of the increased sector remains the same"

Dude... That skill sucks ALOT.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

24 minutes ago, Sargento_YO said:

Yeah, I know how the increase sector works (even the new one, where you "aim" with the cursor to the desired side to increase aa and press O). But my Kirov with the manual aa skill doesn't seems to work, it's like if turns off right away. I press O and the cool down timer (the orange one) begins right away.

 

Ah.. okay. The only explanation I could think of it does not work with manual AA. I've never tried it with manual AA cause I no longer have manual AA (now Massive AA). Judging by the information nor will I have it. I made use of the free captain spec recently just for this purpose....

[IanH755]

I remember I mentioned that, during the original CV PTS, I told everyone that WG weren't taking the AA rework seriously and were solely concentrating on just the CV and that it would bite WG massively. I was told by many here "don't worry, it's only the PTS" and yet 8 whole months later and the AA system, the ONLY way ships and CV's interact, has had to be completely rewritten and is wildly swinging from OP to worthless. 

 

I hate being right when it comes to guessing how badly WG will screw things up! 

[Sargento_YO]

9 minutes ago, IanH755 said:

I remember I mentioned that, during the original CV PTS, I told everyone that WG weren't taking the AA rework seriously and were solely concentrating on just the CV and that it would bite WG massively. I was told by many here "don't worry, it's only the PTS" and yet 8 whole months later and the AA system, the ONLY way ships and CV's interact, has had to be completely rewritten and is wildly swinging from OP to worthless. 

 

I hate being right when it comes to guessing how badly WG will screw things up! 

WG doesn't listens to any kind of feedback about that. I recall last year when I kept reporting the same bug about CVs for 14 straight versions (or so, I lost count). The Silent plane bug. I kept reporting that one over and over again and never was fixed. It was removed altogether with the massive nerf.
So, the conclusion it's that it's totally pointless to report any kind of bug.

[El2aZeR]

It is generally beneficial for ships with almost no AA (Musashi, most DDs, etc), but being a massive 4 point investment it means you'll inevitably give up something in return.

 

As such just never take it. In fact you can ignore the sector reinforcement mechanic as a whole. Training room tests have proven you shoot down roughly the same amount of planes whether you use it or not.

[Panocek]

1 hour ago, Sargento_YO said:

Dude... That skill sucks ALOT.

Ring ding ding we have an answer for "is MAA good" 

 

It can help when used on ships with VERY bad AA, alternatively late game when most AA mounts are destroyed. Still, initial blast is too weak AND it depends on current squadron hp, thus it won't help you against shortened/incomplete squadrons

[__Helmut_Kohl__]

2 minutes ago, El2aZeR said:

It is generally beneficial for ships with almost no AA (Musashi, most DDs, etc), but being a massive 4 point investment it means you'll inevitably give up something in return.

 

The problem is that it only shoots down 1 plane, meaning effectively nothing in the defense of these low-AA ships. 

 

So it is a super stupid 4p skill as it is. 

[Sargento_YO]

I removed that skill from my Atlanta just because I see quite pointless to add any skills to AA (in the past it was very benefical. Up to 7,2 km, and almost an extra 80% of aa damage per second. Sure, one gives away others stuff but you get an edge in something) And because I barely find any cvs and thus, any planes to shoot down.

That skill was good and useful for ships with large caliber aa. Now that skill it's useless for said ships??? WTF???

[Karasu_Browarszky]

2 minutes ago, __Helmut_Kohl__ said:

 

The problem is that it only shoots down 1 plane, meaning effectively nothing in the defense of these low-AA ships. 

 

So it is a super stupid 4p skill as it is. 

 

So... rename it to 'Massive Pt Waste'....

[El2aZeR]

4 minutes ago, __Helmut_Kohl__ said:

The problem is that it only shoots down 1 plane, meaning effectively nothing in the defense of these low-AA ships. 

 

So it is a super stupid 4p skill as it is. 

 

True, it's like 2-3 extra planes down if a CV insists on using all strikes in a squad.

Better than what such ships would get with their base DPS, not enough to make any difference.

[mtm78]

14 minutes ago, El2aZeR said:

True, it's like 2-3 extra planes down if a CV insists on using all strikes in a squad.

Better than what such ships would get with their base DPS, not enough to make any difference.

 

Wait are you saying CV's are touching lolibotes inappropriately and there is nothing they can do about it? 

 

That doesn't sounds like enjoyable gameplay at all. 

[Panocek]

Just now, mtm78 said:

That doesn't sounds like enjoyable gameplay at all. 

But it sounds... Wargaming. And working as intended.

[hellhound666]

5 minutes ago, mtm78 said:

 

Wait are you saying CV's are touching lolibotes inappropriately and there is nothing they can do about it? 

 

That doesn't sounds like enjoyable gameplay at all. 

the spreadsheet says it is, so stfu

[ApolloF117]

3 hours ago, Gvozdika said:

In a word - No.

 

In a few words - the boost to the instant damage is pretty poor and it actively cripples your AA DPS output by removing the ability to ramp it up as needed. Utterly useless - those 4 points could go on any number of other useful skills.

in short, A Placebo button