Ranger

[Vitellius9 11]

Is it even possible to level a Ranger outside of Co-Op with the likes of the Saipan?  I just bought one after having it unlocked for a year for shits and giggles and the one Random Battle I try I face a Saipan 46% shitter who wipes the floor with me.  I even had my fighters 1v1 a wing of his fighters over a friendly Atlanta, Gaede and Scharnhorst and he killed all my fighters and bombers in that same AA cloud.  This is why I hesitated buying the thing, knowing it's bad enough facing IJN, but my Baltimore rarely killed Saipan planes without active AA running.  

[How_Terrible 529]

As long as the person playing a Saipan has so much as a single functioning brain cell he will shit all over the other tier 7 carriers.

[Jaegaer 180]

Ranger can compete with 2/2 Saipan IF said Saipan can't strafe. Yeh, sounds weak as heck but I met a lot of Saipas that couldn't strafe, so theres that.

The real problem imho is the Kaga. His Fighters can tie up yours long enough and often enough so that the Kaga can realize it's INSANE strike potential. So regardless of what you do, the Kaga can simply outdamage you and a well played Kaga will also hard to beat in the AS war.

[SoliDeoGloria 417]

A smart Saipan will just make use of the strafe out mechanic, and ignore fighter locks. Something that it really shouldn't get. Ever since it was introduced, with the Saipan being able to strafe out without loss, it's been particularly bad.

[BiggieD61 364]

But hey, last year was "The Year of the CV"!, So it's all good .....

I actually play the Hosho in PvP and can do pretty well in it, so I am about to try running the Ryujo in pubs to see if I can hold my own against the Indy's I usually see.  Yes, I already went through the Zuiho a while back, and frankly there is no point in playing another auto drop CV instead of going to tier 6.  I actually own a Kaga, but the truth is, I suck at RTS games, it's too frenetic and I over focus one thing to the detriment of everything else.  I play the Kaga in PvE and in the Operations, and it's fun, I keep hoping that I will have an enlightening moment and get good enough to be able to control 5/6 squads instead of Hosho's 3.

[Vitellius9 11]

I only got back in to the carrier game out of boredom with the daily range snipefest.  I knew the imbalance was bad, it looks better at high tiers, but what do I know.  It's still just a dog shit mechanic that has been worked out even less than WoT arty.  I'm not sure if it's the answer, but I'd rather see carriers playing at the same range as battleships.  It would be more fun for everyone else if they had less range, but also more fun if you could survive that and have to actually play the game along with everyone else and limit the imbalance between CV classes and players.  I doubt that's the answer, but it would be more strategic with 30km range. 

[Jaegaer 180]

When I feel the need for the occasional CV game I seal club play the Ryuio. Ample tier VIII games do a lot to balance you but if you are top tier against the usual incompetent Indi you have those 100k+ damage games without too much effort.