How many flares out of the total how many should also be a factor.
Point is, that I did not put an absolutive no, but a circumstantial no.
Lower tiers, jets without good IR missiles would suffer.
Many times the BOL pods are an extra, not even a choice / option, they are an extra.
The point is at the moment BOL users suffer, which is not entirely true. You dont sacrifice a missile rack, or not necessarily. You can still totally create a screen of smoke and flares with BOL pods, but yes it is a lot harder to flare off a 73 than a 9M.
Buff the BOL pods, and everybody else would suffer, arguably.
-those without good IR missiles or good radar missiles are basically left to prey upon unsuspecting targets. Ive been doing that with a stealth Lazur set up (radar off, only 6x60MKs) and at times its a struggle. Jets flaring off a rear aspect missile within 800meters is stupid. Not even a blanket of flares, just one pop of flares. Same could be said about top-tierish vehicles who havent unlocked their better IR missiles, and either have bad IR missiles or too few.
-those with good IR missiles would arguably suffer less, but they would have a very limited flare arsenal compared to BOL users. If buffed, the same problem would apply as above, due to how heat signatures and seekers are programmed, in which case jets without BOL pods would suffer a lot more.
- arguably the same could be applied to chaff, and radar missiles.
I support the change - as long as with it the larger system of heat signatures are reworked. Flaring/ chaffing off a missile should also include at least a minimum level of skill - arguably the 73 needs a lot more skill to be flared off, but its not totally impossible.
Currently, if you played lower BRs you will notice that its just a pop of flare that automatically mitigates an otherwise perfect missile launch, mind you I have noticed that the tornados with their countermeasure pods are much less likely to flare off even R-60MK than anything else, but it doesnt mean that they cant. Even then the proble. With those on Tornado is that they are out mounted far away, close to the wing tip.
Muiltipathing was nerfed for the exact same reason. It trivialized an aspect of the game.
Buff BOLpods, but then also buff missile flare-resistance in certain conditions, otherwise it upsets a balance between missiles and countermeasures.