Light Assault needs some love

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Poorform, Jan 11, 2013.

  1. Poorform

    It seems like every other class brings something to the table utility wise. Sure, an LA can use the Z axis of the game, but in terms of "Credit to team" it's severely lacking. My outfit constantly keeps LA's in large operations to a minimum for exactly this reason, they don't provide a definitive role.

    So far, the only uses for an LA are camping building tops or trees, but with their pathetic ammo capacity you're out of ammo before you can make a real difference.

    Jetpack C4 drops. Good for taking out sunderers, but at 200 resources for a non upgraded sunderer kill it's a very steep price for something other classes can accomplish for 50 resources less, or even for free.

    Their grenades are capable of creating chaos, but lack any killing power, and have a very small impact on gameplay except in perfect situations.

    All in all, the class is only good for very short engagements and ambushing, but lacks staying power, and utility.

    I suggest giving the LA something else, a more defining role and purpose. Keep in mind everyone has access to C4.

    Heavy Aassault gets tankiness, large ammo cap, and the free ability via rockets to deal with armor.
    Engineers repair, drop ammo, and make turrets, and are the best pilots/tank operators, and drop AT mines.
    Medics heal and revive.
    Infiltrators hack, have the ability to pick off important classes, have anti infantry mines, can cloak, and provide areas of radar.
    Light Assaults can use the Z-axis, and for the incredibly steep price of blowing all your infantry resources they can be slightly useful by loading up on C4 and "confusion" grenades that are iffy at best.


    You see the problem now? All LA has going for it is that Z-axis, and it's not powerful enough to be a class in its own. In its current state it's almost better to give the jetpacks to another class, but I'd rather see something done for the LA than to see the class scrapped entirely.

    I don't claim to know exactly what needs to be done, that's the developers job, but I feel something needs to happen for this class to become truly relevant.
  2. Brickwalker

    I see LA's as a pure attack type of class..

    not to mention they can storm the walls of bases and totally overwhelm their enemies.


    I think LA is one of the classes that is fine the way it is.
  3. Lucidius134

    Inb4 new meta.

    I currently use my LA as a sniper. I can get him in nooks and crannies infils can't get into and people dont expect it.

    Pulsar C
    4X Scope
    Advanced Foregrip
    HVA/Suppressor depending on the situation.

    If i'm infiltration sniping i'll take HVA and Sup or Open areas just HVA.
  4. Brickwalker


    yup ^^

    if there's any class that needs any sort of love,its infiltrators.
  5. HerpTheDerp

    I love all LAs equally. But only the female ones.

    On a more serious note, just take away the Infiltrator's scanner thing and give it to LAs.
  6. CoffeeBreak

    Agreed. I can't help but think infiiltrator is nothing more than a situational hacker and the stepping stone to becoming a full-time LA. I ended my time in beta and started launch as an infiltrator and all it did was show me how much better LA is at doing anything aside from really long range headshots.

    In my mind LA is a infiltration/harassment class. 1 sneaky, aggressive LA can weaken a large facility defense and completely cripple a smaller outpost's defense. Just need to be creative.

    One more thing...I think they should give infiltrators grappling hooks. Then they wouldn't be the same as a LA but still get to more interesting places.
    • Up x 2
  7. HerpTheDerp

    Have you tried actually, you know, sniping with the Infiltrator?
  8. Kalocin

    " Infiltrators hack, have the ability to pick off important classes, have anti infantry mines, can cloak, and provide areas of radar."

    The only problem is that all of the good hacking terminals are usually shielded in the base, which requires the attacking force to pretty much secure the base. Likewise, if you could actually get in it would be too easy to spot an infiltrator due to the small spaces lacking places to hide. Finally, even if you could actually successful sneak in and hack, you only really need 1 infiltrator rather than 10+ because there's only a few terminals worth hacking usually. So that utility is actually hardly sees much use. I like infantry mines, they're really strong for defenses, although they also are similar to c4 prices as they are 150 together. In addition, cloak currently is not really good for base infiltrating, mostly only for sniping because it hides you off the radar/can't be spotted and is harder to see at a distance. Radar is pretty decent up close, but right now we're a sniping/scout class without close-combat tools so it hardly sees use. We can pick off important classes, but the real question then is: Would it be easy/easier to do the same as another class?

    Overall, I agree with this:

    "if there's any class that needs any sort of love,its infiltrators."

    LA right now is pretty balanced, the utility they offer is simply that they can reach places faster and unexpected....Like hopping over a wall and straight to the generator rooms while everybody else is focus fired. However,I am not against the idea of classes having more utility in general, it will always create interesting situations with more utility. The only issue right now is that it is pretty wide-spread knowledge that the infiltrator is stuck between a close-quarters class and a ranged class so the basic structure of the class is unbalanced and in need of some love.
  9. NBA JAM

    So... The fact that LA can:

    -Jump over all buildings and terrain
    -Get a sprint ability for the hell of it
    -Only class able to hide in trees for some reason (drop pods excluded)
    -Get to unreachable places easily to get head shot kills (bonus exp)
    -Plant spawn beacons in unreachable places
    -Scout the entire battlefield easily
    -Has similar health/shield to every other class
    -Has fastest firing weapons with low recoil (NC starting gun excluded)
    -Fastest reload speeds in game
    -These weapons do a lot of damage as well and the TR Trac-5 is OP
    -Can equip GRENADE LAUNCHERS
    -Can carry C4 or have med kits
    -Can throw grenades
    -Use jetpack as a means to dodge infantry fire close/medium range and bug hit boxes
    -Clear view of your head while he's jetpacking and you're just shooting his legs
    -ONE LA spends 100 infantry resources to C4 a sunderer and get 10 kills + sundy kill....

    ...This all means nothing to you?

    Bro, do you even play Light Assault?
  10. HerpTheDerp

    That's basically "jetpack" repeated ten times mixed with some wrong, some irrelevant, with a sprinkle of wishful thinking.

    Were you trying to make an argument? I don't think you know how these work.
    • Up x 1
  11. TeknoBug

    LA + flash nade + C4 + sprint speed boost = wowie!

    They're a pure killing class, like HA is.
  12. NBA JAM

    Infiltrators need love? Are you joking? Prox mines, radar, cloak, 1 hit kill sniper rifles. Why don't you just give them a rapid firing rocket launcher while you're at it.

    Most infiltrators don't know they have an OP cloak to cert into. As well, there's an easy to follow pattern with their sniper rifle aim. Sniping is a joke in this game it caters to the CoD/CSS kids. Infiltrators are fine, leave them and pray that they don't get SMG's when the patch comes out.

    LA is fine, if not broken and OP.
  13. NBA JAM

    Ah, another player who doesn't play the game. Welcome to the forums.

    Perhaps you should go play Light Assault and get back to us once you actually know what you're talking about. <3
  14. Brendan

    The cloak doesn't allow infiltration.
    has a duration of 10 sec
    Is totally visible at close to mid range .
    An infil is the only class that can't do **** against vehicle, even medic can .

    So yeah they don't need love but rather a true gameplay .
  15. JimRussle

    No other classes can throw grenades? No other classes get C4 or health packs?

    Also, jetpack is slow as hell and gets no boosts from momentum. In fact jetpacking slows you down if you are moving fast.

    Also, spending 200 resources to have the potential to kill a 200 resource tank isn't balance.
  16. ProjectRay12

    Two words that makes the LA one of the best infiltrating and CQC class in the game:

    Jetpack Shotgun
  17. Crywalker

    LA is fine, especially considering how bad the terrain is - they're the only class that's any good for rushing crown since everything else will slide down the landscape randomly too often. LA can just fly past problematic areas.
    • Up x 1
  18. Kalocin

    Basically this^

    More or less the cloak is really good for ranged sniping, but up close it is terrible with does not really make sense with their ability to hack alongside the recon tool for close quarters. Most complaints about the infiltrator are not the sniping (which we actually agree is in a great place most of the time) but rather the class is ranged combat wise but all of its tools are up close which makes gameplay really unbalanced for the class. Most people just want to be able to use their tools but the ranged aspect requires cloak to actually let you be visible, or snipers could get away all the time. I'm not game designer so I'm not going to suggest anything, but most people want to be able to remove the sniper rifle and have full invisibility. If that was the case though, most people would then realize that there is hardly anything to hack and the things that you can hack are behind shields.

    In other words: Infiltrators don't need combat strength, they need more of a role in general (such as hacking vehicles or ways to sabotage the enemy etc) because the current situation is that they are snipers that aren't all that useful outside of base defense.
  19. Talizzar

    I picked up playing LA just a short time ago. I am kicking myself as this class is pure fun! Nothing like jetting up a hill nobody else can get up and tossing two C4 packs and boom! Resource poor? They you either spam nades or fail to restock everytime you hit max. Spend 15 bucks a month and get the boosts for membership.

    I could care less about how many resources it takes to kill a tank that can kill 20 people in short order.

    Infiltrator could be a beast with an UZI SMG!

    Flash nades are ok but very limited. S guns are fun but buggy as hell.

    Limited ammo? You can cert into more ammo, right?

    LA is the most versatile class in the game. The last thing it needs is more love. Just fix the bugs on the guns and jet packs etc.
  20. Poacher

    Yup.
    It is the kamikazi class and I find it to be the most fun by far. While everyone is hiding in the wings my buddies and I are wreaking havoc with 10-12 shot shotties. Drop in and decimate them while they are plinking away from cover. Just follow the Sgt York tactic.......start with the ones in the back and clear em out working to the front....no turkey call needed. This doesn't always work but when it does it's a rush. If you worry about dieing you will not have near as much fun. This is the "twitchy" class and is devastating in the right hands. With LA if you are not getting a lot of kills from behind you are doing it wrong. Of course some days I can't buy a kill streak......