Quit crying about it. I mean look at TR their Vulcan was basically nerfed into the ground and I haven't seen a single complaint thread about it. Yeah, ZOE sucks for some stuff (actually it always sucked for some stuff but but people stilled used it, now it just really, REALLY sucks in those situations) but there are some niche roles that is still actually really, REALLY good for. Namely, Comets (vortex just sucks no matter what... that needs a buff), and arguably Bursters but that can go either way really. It is niche just like the TR lockdown and the Aegis shield (sort of, the Aegis shield isn't really niche imo, it is situational but useful in enough situations it isn't exactly niche). VS MAX is still arguably the best MAX though all around because its AI weapons are the most flexable. Only the NC MAX has an advantage in CQC.
Wait you now have to actually use a brain while pushing your ex-win button?? Oh you poor thingies. ZOE was nerfed into such state where it's no longer vastly superior to Aegis and Lockdown, I understand your tears, but that's called balance.
ZOE was pushed to the rubbish state Lockdown is. Aegis is the only useful ability now, be glad for that.
One has to wonder if you've ever used Aegis. The Client-side hit detection this game uses renders it virtually useless. By the time you pop shields, the grenade someone else threw has already hit you on their screen, so you're not even blocking the damage and just wasting your shield. While yes, Aegis is theoretically the better of the three abilities, in practice, I'd say they are all on the same level right now.
It has the same issue a heavy with resist shield faces. I didn't say that Aegis doesn't have problems. I merely said that it's the only useful ability. And no, they are not on the same level. Noone sane would use Lockdown for AI purposes and for AV purposes is very limited (by the time you lockdown the ESFs are gone, you're free kill for shredder libs and enemy tanks). ZOE is useless for either role right now. Or to be more precise, Charge outclasses ZOE in any role you'd think about using ZOE.
And Aegis is incredibly situational and only effective in organised play, said play will break at the slightest sign of contact. While I have agreed that Aegis is the better of the abilities, I'd still run Charge on my MAX, simply because it holds more benefit to me on a general basis than using Aegis does. A concensus that is shared by many NC MAXes. I personally believe ZOE was over-nerfed, I'd still like to see them on the field, as they presented a nice challenge and bragging rights if you were the one to kill them, but I really feel for the VS, losing the only reason they had to pull a MAX. Although you can't deny, both the VS and TR MAXes have a huge advantage over the NC when it comes to AI at range. In the most part, I agree with you, except for the actual effectiveness for a single MAX to use Aegis. You only start to reap the benefits of the shield when you've got 2/3 MAXes all with shield. Whereas with ZOE, even a single ZOE MAX was devastating. For solo MAXes, I'd say the current playing field is as level (or close to level) as we're going to get, but for groups, yeah, I'd give the edge to the NC if they can be organised and hold the organisation.
http://1.bp.************/_9tcbnZMXjKM/SEliTm47rFI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/ltn1kr3pA8U/s400/IWIN+Button.jpg First off, im VS. ZOE was way OP and made MAX play very boring, I enjoyed playing MAX alot more before ZOE came along. After we got it recerted I put all the pts into charge instead where it belonged. Anyway nerfing ZOE straight to hell was the wrong way to go, since it doesnt fill any purpose at all anymore. They should simply had refunded it and given us another ability more in line with the other empires, even a situational use would had been preferable. Since pretty much only membership players can pull a new MAX on every life then I think its fine that they have abilites that are very situational such as NC shield or TR anchor mode
The new ZOE damage bonus is small and only works on short range, so the niche for AV and Bursters is no longer there.
People understood it very clearly based on the fact that Heavy players will actually aggressively attack a ZOE max SOLO and will win if ZOE is left on!!!
HA shields don't make their user take MORE damage. it is the Anti Shield. Charge is better unless Level 5 reduces the Damage Penalty to zero, then the 2 might be interchangeable occasionally
Stop complaining and just use it for awhile, you'll get use to it like the other stuff, if not then use something else, which can be said for every complaint thread that has been posted in the past 3 to 4 days..
Yeah I agree, the ZOE has been overpowered for a long time and the devs had to make sure that their "fix" work, even if it means overnerfing it. Lets see what happens when they re-evaluate it down the road. Charge is not so bad an alternative.
That coming from a TR whose faction-trait is mindlessly spamming projectiles all over the place. While ZOE was indeed strong it did require skill to use. The skill to use the mobility you gained to your advantage. If you just activated ZOE but didn't try to out-maneuverer your enemies or, even worse, stood still, thinking you can tank through everything coming your way, then you simply died in an instant. Keeping the right distance, being aware of your surroundings, since you are way more vulnerable to be taken out by surprise, constantly trying to out-maneuver enemies, catching them off-guard. Mobility is very powerful but only if you use it right. Especially if it comes with a survivability handicap. People that had these skills were deadly, people that didn't died like flies. Either way, I probably won't invest into *this* ZOE again because, as it was said before, the mobility is nowhere as useful as it was. Charge has the same CD at max rank and is quicker. If ZOE was just a plain speed boost (as strong as the one before) without any dealt/taken damage amplifications, I would instantly go for it again. With some sort of energy-bar resource system instead of a plain CD.
Assumimg ZOE is not worth using against infantry at close range, how does it hold up when doing AV duty? Is the damage increase still limited to close ranges even when using AV weapons and might there actually be a point in running ZOE as your default loadout for mid- to long range AV duty? I'm thinking that the quick mobility boosts might shine for wrecking vehicles compared to using Charge for mobility purposes, as ZOE is more controlled, recharges faster and allows you to fire your guns and have an easier time dodging those long shots. With the higher damage potential and falloff and effective range of AV weapons, the ZOE effect might also be more noticeable using such weapons. Just thinking out loud here and hoping someone would test it, as I don't have ZOE on any of my guys.
I think a lot of people are picking up rank 1 and expecting it to be like it was before only with a timer. Fact is ZOE was so powerful even the first rank outclassed the other MAX abilities. It you want to get the most of it you are going to have to get the max rank and even then it isn't going to be as powerful as rank 1 was before.
Welcome to the world of the other 2 maxes, 1- Cooldown for "reuse" a) NC transition phase out of b) TR Transition phase out of c) VS Reasonable cooldown for "transition phase" 2- Forced uptime a) NC transition phase into b) TR transition phase into c) VS transition phase into 3- Decreased movement speed a) NC Slow as hell when active b) TR No movement at all c) VS Still fastest Max 4- Lower damage bonus a) NC No damage at all b) TR DPS increase c) VS Spike damage still highest with ability 5- More damage taken on average a) NC All aoe and any damage from behind or sides b) TR Stationary target no dodging c) VS Takes more damage for more offensive damage Overall I think the VS got it easy in this nerf.
You're welcome to use the new ZOE on your MAX. The reasonable people will stick to Charge. This new ZOE is a direct downgrade to Charge. It's a slower charge with an armor debuff attached to it. As for your other "arguments" (disregarding for a second how useless lockdown also is): Cooldown for reuse is cool. ZOE has five times bigger reuse time than the other two abilities, but that's ok. Forced uptime is something that is unique to ZOE. You can not deactivate ZOE. Once you activate it, it runs for the duration. If you want to call it deactivation period, then again, ZOE has five times bigger deactivation period than the other two abilities. Yes, ZOE is a slightly faster MAX, but pays with the huge armor debuff. It's a suicide suit, since the new speed can't make up for the damage received from the debuffed health. VS damage bonus is laughable. The already negligible damage from before is now three times smaller and only applies to close combat, where it makes absolutely no difference if it's there or not. VS takes more damage for no offensive damage. Go try it yourself. The MAX does the exact same damage whether ZOE is active or not. The bottom line is simple. The developers wanted to appease the playerbase by decimating the ability. The goal has been achieved, ZOE is now useless (more useless than lockdown, which is a hard feat). So please, don't try to sugarcoat an obvious situation.
It is possible to show that any of these changes would be a fair change to the old ZOE. But combined the outright destroy the ability. Before the patch TR MAX would be happy to switch lockdown for ZOE, now it is the other way around.
