The correct way to balance/nerf the Heavy Assualt Sheild

When you go face to face with a heavy assualt that quickly presses F as soon as you take the first shot at him as another class, its likely that you will lose even if you headshot him or even get the jump on him before he presses F . People have said add a delay mechanic, reduce the health, and increase the speed lost when activating, but I beleive the correct way to balance them would to reward players that are accurate as I've seen too many times by experience that even if I headshot a sheilded HA, he still gets me most of the time even if he doesnt headshot me. This game is supposed to be an equal playing feild accross all players and another person shouldnt win just because he's another class that has an "instawin" button. It should be skill based, now I know that there are a lot of things in PS2 that connect to what I just said, but I want to focus on the HA sheilds for now. My idea is instead of having the standard 2x headshot damage multiplier, have a 2.5x headshot multiplier when the heavy activates their sheild. I feel that it would make the heavy assualt sheild more balanced create more skill based gameplay when going up against them. The Heavy would get more resistance to the body at the expense of taking more damage to the head. This way, accurate players will be rewarded the way they should for being accurate. But, I'd like to hear more people on this topic because I do think there should be a nerf to Heavy Assualt sheilds but in a way where skillful gameplay is more rewarding like it should be.

I use it like a second shield, I don't normally turn on my overshield until my personal shield is going down.
So yes, I use it as press F for 650 extra HP...

I used to complain about HA when I played as LA, but everyone says you are supposed to lose if you 1v1 a HA with a non HA..
So I just gave in and play Orion HA now..

Or you could roll with a squad and work as a team. If the strongest 1v1 class is consistently dunking you, I don't think the problem is with the class.

It doesnt matter. Higby stated that all players across all classes should have an equal skill field. If pressing F for 50%+ health instantly means skill to you and doesnt seem to be even slightly unbalanced, then I think you might be a bit bias towards the heavy sheild.

I'm biased towards people using the tools available to them as effectively as possible. I don't go around killing heavy assaults unless I know I can kill them before they react after I uncloak, or I have some backup with me. I rarely go alone be it some random squad or playing with friends. This is a team game and I play it as such.

So you are saying that if I try and melee a barb with my sorc chances are I will lose!?
Yeah.. I do have a problem with that in this game.. as this is an MMOFPS, not an MMORPG...

Look at Battlefield, you have classes in that and they all have the same HP, that is how this should be.
Classes should be defined by what weapons and tools it has, not by how many HP..

You would hate TF2 where the classes not only have differences in HP (which vary from 125 to 300) but they even have different run speeds.

If HA gets nerfed more people will probably play medic since it's heal aura and shield regen device basically can add another bullet to their TTK, and they can get back into full health/shields faster than the others so they have an advantage if they can fall back for a second. Then I guess medics will need their heals and revives removed since it would unfair for someone to lose a fight because they didn't have a medic and the other side did.

Then there is the fact that fewer HA means more MAXs. No one is going to want to play a class where you are not helping your team at all until someone on the other side decides to pull a MAX.

The HA's class trait is 'being better at combat', so if you're one of those crazy people playing this game for the combat you just need to learn to deal with it. Or switch to HA.

So the heavy shield is skill-less, but the vanguard shield is totally fine?
Higby logic much?

The best way to balance / nerf HA shield is : don't change anything.

If you can't win with a LA carbine or Infiltrator SMG when taking a HA by surprise shooting him in the back or from above etc... : YOU ARE BAD.

If you can't win with a LA or Infiltrator against a HA in a head to head fight : that's to be expected in most of cases.

L2P your class, HA shield is far from OP.

HA shield needs a tweak. The best solution so far is to have it activate on a delay. The idea of that change is to make it into a more deliberate addition. I.E. Something you have plan ahead rather then a "Oh sh*t" Getoutofjailfree feature.

The HA is supposed to be the second rate tank of the squad (following in on the MAX) The pointman who's job it is to die so the rest of the squad can succeed. The HA has to be formidable but the weaponry alone ensures that. In the holy trinity of classes the tank is NOT the damage dealer, and for a good reason. Right now the HA is in a pretty good place but the shield needs a tweak. The standard and adrenaline shields should either come with a short .5-1 second warm-up period. OR, they should have cooldowns. Meaning you pop it and you can't stop it until it runs dry. So you can't or shouldn't use it in every confrontation simply because when you do need it, you might not be able to use it. Resist should remain relatively unchanged simply due to it's mechanic of providing resistance rather then a flat out health buff (adrenaline's the worse offender in this if you ask me)

There is no correct way to balance the HA shield. It should be reworked completely. Change the philosophy from "I win" button.

HA is the premiere assault class, a main fighting unit. We get it. This doesn't mean it must be the class to get 50-200 round mag, AND a rocket launcher, AND an "I win" button.

I suggest two different abilities instead of the "I win" button:
1) For attacking.
HA uses this ability a couple of seconds before attacking. It takes 2-3 seconds to activate, then covers the HA in overshields, making him completely invulnerable to damage for several seconds. Not necessarily completely invulnerable, but VERY tough to just burst down. For example, only headshots can damage him, and do only half the usual damage. Doesn't slow the HA down while active. Getting damaged while the ability is activating postpones the activation.

2) For defending. Activating the ability instantly creates a shield that absorbs most (or even all) frontal damage. This ability is a toggle, and doesn't have energy charge. Or energy is depleted only when shield gets damaged. Leaves HA's head, shoulders and back exposed. HA can move, but slowly, similar to current NMG speed.

That's just a couple of ideas from the top of my head. I'm not saying it should work exactly like this, or this would be the bestest option for everyone. I'm just demonstrating there are ways of creating a useful class ability that doesn't make HA instawin any 1 v 1 engagement just because he's HA.

Currently it's just like LibertyRevolution said:

Everyone being forced to play one class or accept the fact they will lose most of their engagements to those who do use it is not a good game mechanic. PS2 should not be a Korean MMORPG where there are classes for PvE damage, PvP damage, crafting and supporting, and each class can do only one thing and sucks at other things.

Next in line of nerfs under the OP flawed logic would be the medic self heal aura. So two classes lose their defensive abilities, leaving the game to only LA, infiltrators and engineers (who basically got no defensive ability to begin with).

What you describe is already in the game and is exactly how it works, thanks partly to netcode delays. In a lot of cases, while I activate my shield in my screen, it's down in yours and thus you do your damage regardless.

The resist shield is the one you have to use proactively. Activate where you expect that you get hit and absorb some of the punishment. It give better damage absorption compared to adrenaline or nanite mesh, but you need to be good at predicting incoming damage. It also gives the full resistance effect, no matter how charged it is.

The adrenaline and nanite mesh on the other hand are reactive shields. They have a finite amount of extra amount of health, which becomes lower and lower the less the shield is charged. So fully charged is roughly 650hps, half charged half that and so on. Basically what happens is that it is available on your first confrontation and if you survive that, it is down or very low for the one after that.

The best DPS weapons in the game are the medic AR, not the heavy LMGs. The LMGs do provide more sustained fire however.

The forced cooldown is used in ZOE and is one of the reason the majority of people avoid the ability (the other is the 30% health loss on activation).

Basically with your proposition everyone will switch to resist shield, which already provides the best damage mitigation of the HA shields. It will just become a no brainer to use that particular ability.

The Heavy Assault allready is gimped in Close-Quarters to Medium Combat: he can't choose to be completely effective at both

Sure, the Orion is a very strong CQC weapon, but it's not a comparison to the CQC Carbines which don't need ADS to be deadly accurate

You can use a Shotgun or SMG; but then you are very bad at longer ranges than 20 meters

while with a carbine or assault rifle, close to medium is the name of the game

If you can't kill a HA when you take him by suprise, you are pretty bad at aiming for the head, or the enemy HA is a godlike twitch reflex shooter guy

just pressing the "i win button" doesn't kill your opponent, it gives you 2-3 shots more of a buffer for not dieing, you still have to turn around, aim, while being under fire and kill the guy shooting you

HA shield is fine, leave it alone and learn to play your classes strengths

HA shield is nowhere as good as the ability to Jumpjet, revive teammates or create infinite ammo out of nowhere

And why shouldn't it be ? Seriously, why ?

HA shield does not need nerf.
I playing mainly Infiltrator (not sniper) and i play all the classes. HA is ok, and it just some strength, btw i survive and get more kills as Infiltrator (because i have much more exprienece.) HA should win any head-to-head frontal 1vs1s fights anyways. And you are dumb if you front attacking HA with other class. LA can surprize and flank HA, Insiltrators can sneak and kill, medics can heal themselves and grind alot of xp with healing, and they are support class, while Engie create ammo, have strong turrets and is pilot/driver class. (talk with me about Valk full of engies)
HA is straightforward grunt tank type of fighter. It does not have any tactical advantages. Shield wont help vs LA or Infie who surprize and outflank you from cover.

The simple fix: add shield bar above HA, like HP bar

Because it's a bad game design for an FPS game. In MMORPG there's lots of stuff people can do. PvE, PvP of various levels, social and economical aspects. In PS2 all we have is PvP in one form. In that setting it's bad to have classes that have clearly more power than others.

Stop being reasonable! Why should players take a step back and think that maybe, just maybe, the problem is with them? I mean, if they constantly use the same methods that fail time after time, then obviously the problem is the game and not the tactics the player employed.

I'm going to speak from both my game experience and my actual RL experience using the M249 SAW (I was a SAW gunner in my platoon in the Army).

First I'll start with my experience with the 249. Its an LMG that fires 750-900 RPM. It also goes out to some obscene ranges. What is the point of bringing that up? We'll we're taught in training that it is a mass casualty producing weapon. Basically anything that gets in front of you that isn't in vehicle grade armor is going to get wrecked by the volume of firepower it will put out. But I can tell you, there is a disadvantage to it. It weighs about 20lbs. Unless you're a big guy, you're not moving quickly.

Now I'll go to my experience with the heavy in PS2. The shield has a disadvantage. It doesn't move fast. The mother cannot sprint with that thing up. Now I don't know about you all, but I can identify a heavy in short order. I can ID them in the time it takes for me to size up the situation and engage. I'd assume most of you can too. Knowing what you're fighting means you can adjust your method on the fly.

So.. how do you engage the heavy? Hit and run. Engage him, and then get behind cover before he realizes what's going on. Immediately he's going to throw that shield up. The under shield won't regen while its up. But seeing there is no immediate threat or that the threat is out of reach, he now has Three options:

1. He can can drop shield and pursue.
2. He can get the hell out of Dodge.
3. Hold his position.

If he runs, he's a mitigated threat. But if he drops shield and pursues... he's an open target and you have the initiative. If he engages the shield again its not going to be at full capacity, he already activated it, and it ran for a second or two, and now reactivating it means its nearly out.. in addition that under shield is out. You're now fighting him as a 900hp 100ish shield opponent like normal. If he holds his position, then you have many options available.. eventually that shield is going to run out.

Now.. the time when the heavy is going to win out is when he gets the jump. But even a dude with a pistol is going to win in those situations.

The worst thing for a heavy to have to deal with is being fired on from behind, they turn around and the person only did that to get them to pop the shield and then duck out of the way. Then they run around and come up from behind while the shield is up. That heavy is dead in the water in that case. They can't turn around and open fire with the LMG fast enough.

Each class has a different way of just gibbing heavies as well:

Infiltrators using High DPS SMGs (needs to be 1750+ like a Cyclone) can get a drop on a heavy and drop them before the player can hit F.

Light Assaults can do the same with SMG's or Shotguns. Carbines require a hit and run tactic, they just normally don't have the DPS to take down the heavy quick enough.

Engineers who get the drop on a Heavy can Sticky Grenade them. (This one is fun)

Medics who get the drop and with great accuracy can actually win through attrition by using F first and then attacking. Their heals will keep them up just long enough to get the kill. This works like a mini HA shield against other classes too.

The best way to know how to deal with a heavy is play one. You'll learn that shield isn't a end and be all to infantry combat. Its not even close. Heck when I do play one, half of my kills, if not more are with the shield disengaged. Mobility is king in this game. I'm usually pulling heavies to deal with vehicles. Sometime I'll use them simply because the number of enemy requires a 100 rounds at the ready. But if I know I'm going to be doing mostly 1 to 1 engagements I use Infil or LA. My chances are way better at coming out at top.

Where Heavies shine mostly is being supported by engies, medics, and MAX suits. But that is a class synergy that is working as intended.