Played LA For 2 Hours: Already Know Why It's Unpopular

Discussion in 'Light Assault' started by Alarox, May 13, 2013.

  1. Alarox

    It has the least utility of any class, and half the time you realize you're completely useless.

    Personally, I use the Heavy Assault and Engineer almost exclusively. Light Assault has shown me why I play them.

    Heavy Assault and Engineer are two classes that are always useful. No matter what situation, they can affect the battle.

    When I play the Light Assault it's nowhere near the same. I love the jetpack and carbines, and I love C4. I love the combat style and I would definitely prefer this class over any other. However, it barely has any use outside of a situation that every class is useful in: infantry combat.

    It's only other role is to blow up vehicles with C4. Except you need 700 certs, can blow up only 1 vehicle per life, can't finish a Sunderer solo, and can only do so at close range. On my Heavy Assault during a defense at Nott Amp Station, I personally blew up 6 Sunderers in about 10 minutes. Three of which were in one life (I have extra rockets and 2 C4). In addition, I was also able to kill a couple of guys with my LMG.

    It's not that other classes are too useful, it's that the Light Assault is clearly niche at the moment and needs to become more useful in more situations.

    Heavy Assault and Engineer are useful in every situation the game can possibly present (they're the 2 most popular). Infiltrator is useful in every infantry situation regardless of range, has massive utility with hacking (and therefore assaulting any base), and has a scouting role. Medic is useful in every instance involving infantry (a near requirement for any infantry activity). Light Assault is useful for close/medium range infantry combat and sometimes blowing up vehicles (HA can do all of this better in all instances except for when positioning is key).

    ----------------------

    Light Assault needs more utility somehow, whether it be offensive/defense, support, anti-vehicle, or anything else.
    • Up x 13
  2. LibertyRevolution

    As a mainly light assault player, I agree that we could a team based utility..
    Yes there is a high certs needed to max out your jumpjets and get 2 blocks of C4, but once you do your a major threat on the battlefield.
    I think we are fine as far as anti-armor goes, we can blow MBT solo with the quickness.
    We are the go to class for taking out maxes, we are the aerial C4 delivery system.
    Just don't expect to have a high K/D when your going up against HA with overshields and LMGs...
    • Up x 1
  3. Alarox

    Coming from someone who plays an Engineer and HA with 2 C4, I understand what you mean. However, I can do essentially the same thing. I destroy most MAXes with C4 pretty quick, and with either I destroy vehicles pretty easily.

    I see how the jetpack will make this much better for C4 usage vs vehicles, but it's still nowhere on the level that I get with either my Enginner (AV Turret + 2 C4) or Heavy Assault (7 Phoenix + 2 C4).

    Surprisingly though, I seem to be fighting Heavy Assaults pretty well. Maybe because I know their weaknesses so well.

    I don't want to presume too much with my only 2 hours of testing though.
  4. ih8Darian

    /CAN'T WAIT TIL DUAL WIELD
  5. InterSpectra

    Light Assault is indeed a niche role, but damn if it isn't fun with the right mindset. Were there were more of us, it wouldn't be the same, people would be expecting us!

    • Up x 4
  6. XRIST0

    Light assault is my favourite class .
  7. Seron

    You can take out more vehicles per life as you can resupply. I also disagree that LA's don't have much use. The use of the LA is being able to jetpack over this or that wall and compromising generators before anyone knows what hit them. Also as a squad lead, i allways roll LA to get my beacon in the most obnoxious place to reach. It's just a completely different playstyle then HA or engineer. use your jetpacks to avoid enemies or flank them (both vertically and horizontally) instead of facing them head on.
  8. Leo Cyrule

    It is a fun class to play as. And really, you just need to learn how to dodge and run away when the fight is out of your favor. Killing just one guy is usually useful enough, and having the ability to quickly get to an infiltrator whos camping out, is even better.
  9. Ztiller

    It's perfectly useful, if you play it right. However, like the infiltrator, most players who play it are utterly incompetent and can't contribute whatsoever.

    That does not mean that the LA and the Infiltrator doesn't have the highest damage potential in the game. Top tier players of these two classes are so far above Heavy Assault that it's ridiculous, because the HA have a low skill-cieling. There is a limit to how much damage you can do, caused primarily due to the stiffness of the class. The LA and Infil on the other hand are free to roam around and one good player in these classes can annihilate half a platoon.

    You play a Skill-based class for 2 hours, and think you have a valid opinion on it.

    The LA and infil aren't impopular, they just have a larger amount of whiners who cannot deal with not being perfectly-good-awesome-at-everything-with-no-effort-required players.

    That said, i'm a terrible LA. But at least i am not blaming the class for my own shortcomings.
    • Up x 1
  10. Daibar

    how to show some LA stuff?
    i play the LA class and i do not care about K/D.
    i care about getting rid of the enemy in front of me.
    i care about the massive amount of hell i can unleach upon my foe.

    some videos i've made for my outfit.
    The first one is about the power of teamwork + some bragging to my outfit members.
    Prowler vs LA.


    Second is when people tried to warpgate lock us by setting up a burster team just outside our warpgate.
    Clear a mountaintop.


    i'm a terrible HA, i'm used to having the freedom of the skies but you do not see me plastering the HA forum about how much the class sucks or claiming it needs a boost because i can't kill a freaking sunderer and live afterwards.

    yes, i would love a tool, but to claim we serve no purpose in this game is directly in line with claiming the world is flat, santa is real and the easterbunny does indeed poop chocolate eggs.

    When you're used to the Mindset of a Heavy or Engy, please don't play LA, we work in completely different ways and from the post you made, i believe you have not gotten the point of the LA.

    i'm getting tired of posting the various roles i have as a light assault
    so i'll just post the links to those posts and you can read for yourself

    http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...orite-role-and-why.125578/page-4#post-1720474
    and
    http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/la-role-discussion.118109/page-2#post-1652867

    i look forward to reading no more LA stuff from you please.
    have a nice life as a Heavy or engy
    • Up x 1
  11. Hagestol

    A few situational videos and anecdotes does not a class make.
    Just because you like the class and excel at it doesn't make it balanced as a whole. Some of us like to be functional at larger operations outside of dropping C4 on targets.

    Stop insulting people who actually come here for construtive feedback. We need more of that and less of the nerf herding.
    • Up x 2
  12. SirIBON

    Hard Words.
    Find a way to be usefull :)

    Agreed.
    The HA is main fighter of the infantry platoon. All the need is some Healing and Ammo. If the have Skillfull Sidekicks they will rock a lot. I play most of the time a Engineer and like it.

    You underrate the LA, it is a niche, but i can be Important.
    They have to be few in numbers, so they can use the most important skill they have. The ability to fly unnoticeable. A Scout on the roof, that can go behind the lines, that does a LA.
    1 out of 12 in a Squad should be one. 8 of them should be HA.
    He can kill the Engy, that will repair the Tank, or something else.
    He can have a good overview, place a spawnbeacon, where only an other LA can go and so on. There Job is not only killing as a HA. Mostly there are few good of them, but also the bad once are also annoying - and that is there job also :) As a distractor they will slow the enemy and that is good for all Teamplayers.

    Edit: false quotation marks
  13. Ghosty11

    One example of how one LA can change the course of a battle: I was attacking a tower playing HA and the battle had stalemated at the stairs leading up from the base of the tower. We could not move up and the enemy could not move down. I switch to LA equip a shotgun and fly up to the mid level of tower and run into the middle a pack of NC camping the doorways to the stairs from above. Kill a few with my shotgun and let the scatmax trying to kill me finish off the rest. The Scatmax eventually got me, but upon respawning I see that the A point begins to flip. Apparently I caused enough chaos to allow my teammates to push up from the stairs to the cap point. I really didn't do anything special other than disrupt their focus on the those door ways, but it was enough to turn the tide of the battle.
    • Up x 3
  14. Daibar

    since you're mentioning situational videos.. and i'm the only one who posted more than 1 video, i guess you're addressing me.

    True, it does not define a class. 2 hours game time does the same.

    You would like to be functional at a larger operation as a LA? i can offer advice on those areas if you truly want it.

    I play LA and i have a ton of roles, i did not define the class as being C4 only, like i said, that video was made for my outfit members. (LA vs prowler)
    The purpose is to give them an idea about the power of teamwork.
    and show off in the last bit of it, because we also goof.

    Regarding constructive feedback.
    what would you like as feedback on based on the post he made?
    lets break it down:
    1. It has the least utility of any class, and half the time you realize you're completely useless.
    2. Personally, I use the Heavy Assault and Engineer almost exclusively. Light Assault has shown me why I play them.
    3. However, it barely has any use outside of a situation that every class is useful in: infantry combat.
    4. It's only other role is to blow up vehicles with C4.
    5. Can blow up only 1 vehicle per life, can't finish a Sunderer solo
    6. Light Assault is useful for close/medium range infantry combat and sometimes blowing up vehicles (HA can do all of this better in all instances except for when positioning is key).
    he made 6 claims that made my toes curl up.
    lets go over them.

    1. least utility and completely useless: not very constructive. he has 2 hours of gametime and that was his conclusion.
    2. HA + engy > LA and the LA showed him why he plays HA + Engy: again not very constructive to the point he's trying to make. claiming that the class he's talking about is the reason why he does not even play the class, WTF? why even mention that, because he does not play it, everyone else must agree?
    3. It barely has a role outside infantry combat: i break warpgate locks, i hunt Sunderes and spawnpoints, i destroy tank columns, 3 days ago along with 2 others, we've held a platoon in place (alkali mining supply on indar), so they could not leave the hex, we held it long enough (15 minutes) for our platoon to catch up and start the big fight. All done with light assaults, This is partly why i claim he has little understanding about the class and its role because he did nothing like it, in those 2 hours he chose to play LA, but he based an entire conclusion on those 2 hours of experience.
    4. Other role is c4'ing stuff: again, if that's all he took from it, he has very little understand of the options available to the class or the roles he can fulfill, he has written the class off completely, he says so in the #2 paragraph..
    5. if he's only able to destroy 1 vehicle per life and unable to destroy a sunderer, then i do not understand how he can claim to have killed 3 sunderes in 1 life and not resupplied. since any HA rocket, even with the suit that gives you extra ammo for the rocketlauncher, would still not be enough to kill the second sunderer without a resupply. a LA can resupply and kill more than 1 vehicle in 1 lifetime, ammo packs, sure, but there's little difference in the method.
    6. Everything the LA can do, the heavy can do better, except where position is key: constructive feedback you say?, he said nothing that was useful, but he did write off the Light assault class yet again.
    Everything he posted is a giant FUMI-E based on 2 hours of game play.

    Those 6 points and the msg that the class needs a tool to be worth anything is like walking into a "biker bar and yelling that they are all richard-suckers", you can do it, but do not expect a free pass out of the bar because it was far from constructive feedback he offerede on the class.

    if you want feedback, i can give it any way you want me to, i can do it the quick and dirty (which is what he got) or the long and detailed way(which is partly what you're getting here).


    Either way, He should not argue for a change in something he does not even understand the basics off.

    you do not see me argue any change to the MAX class, MBTs, ESFs or liberators, i do not find joy in those classes/vehicles, so i leave them alone and let the experts in the field talk about them.

    Back to what you mentioned, usefulness of a LA in any situation.

    if you want to know how you can make your Light assault more useful in a fight of any kind.
    Start by looking at the following:
    • What does your group need?
      • Where does it find most trouble getting through?
      • Can you find another way around that trouble?
      • Can you divert the battle in another way?
      • Is there a key player in the group of trouble?
      • Can you, even with a bit of a walk, get to that person?
      • Can you distract the trouble enough for your guys to get a foot in the door and cause a change in the fight?
      • Can you use your weaponry, Flashbang, Smoke, C4, SMG, shotty(they should be removed imo) carabine, in any way to help your guys?
      • Can you get around, on top of, move out, bluff your enemy in any way to mess up?
    • Are you squadleading?
      • Do you have the colored smoke?
      • Do you have a tactical mind?
      • Do you make the rules on the battlefield?
      • Do you react or do you act?
      • Do you have a good squad beacon?
    • Do yo have a good understanding about the flow of battle?
      • where are the people coming from?
      • Where are they going to?
      • What is coming for you from the next hex?
      • What allies do you have?
      • What other LA can you team up with?
      • Where can you go, to be the biggest pain to the enemy or help to your own?
    See, those are some questions to help you open your mind to the possibilities of the Light assault.
    I use some of the same tools to open the minds of my squadleaders and platoonleaders and we pull off some amazing stuff.
    When you start to see options in everything, even crushing defeat, then the light assault class will be the tool of which anything is possible.
    Start thinking and finding those options.
    Until you do, you will never be a light assault.
    TL;DR: if you do not master an area, do not speak as though you do, someone might take you seriously and change stuff based on your lack of understanding.
    TL;DR about improving your skill as a light assault: ask yourself the questions listed in that segment and start thinking about the options you have.
    • Up x 4
  15. Tyzh

    Give the kid a bloody jetpack and he says he's got no utility.

    Dreadful shame.
    • Up x 7
  16. Hagestol

    His insights to the class after trying it for more than the average time is actually valuable information. From that you can extrapolate that he is a) a bad player b) the skill floor of the LA class is to high c) the LA class lacks utility.

    I'm more inclined to believe a combination. I'd rather not have a lower skill floor, but I do want more utility.

    Give a person wings and he'll still be a dreadful surgeon. He'll get there soon enough but how are wings going to help him operate?

    Give the class more stopping/killing power so that the lethality of the class against infantry exceeds the HA by the equivalent amount of their increased lethality to vehicles or give us valuable team utility.

    Because why would you pick multiple LA in a group of four-five platoons when you only need four to cap the gens and cover the roofs? When the HA can deliver more killing power, more survivability and can be resurrected by medics.
  17. Ronin Oni

    "LA HAS NO UTILITY!!"

    Have yet to see a good suggestion on what utility LA could provide that doesn't step on another classes role.

    LA is amazing. If you don't like it, that's fine... but LA is one of the premier Sundy busting classes due to it's ability to often come at the sundy from otherwise protected angles. Pro-Tip: Don't make your attack run until the Sundy has taken at least a little bit of damage so that your 2 C4 will insta-gib it and not allow them to repair.

    It may not have a bunch of tools and gadgets, but combat is often dictated by mobility which LA has more than any other class.

    Mobility is it's Utility/Role.

    Hell, a lot of stalemates are broken because an LA flanked and dropped some C4
    • Up x 2
  18. JonboyX

    I love LA; I'm terrible at HA. I know my weakness comes in a head on fight. The weakness of a Heavy is in him/her not looking up...
    I think what the LA offers is angle of attack. People still don't look up often enough.

    I think the heavy is most peoples go to class because you hit F for instant extra health, which can bail you out of fights you would have lost. Personally though; if I want something with armour in a base fight, I pull a max.
  19. BadLlama

    LA is a great class. Its mobility is its utility. You can get in positions no one else can and from their you can make enemy engineers, LA's and MAXes days a pain in the ***. Not to mention being able to fly while having C4 is incredibly powerful. You can destroy a MBT instantly, hell you can even get two at the same time if they hugging each other. LA is far from useless and fits a very needed role in the game. I cringe at the thought of assaulting towers without having LA as an option.
  20. Geomancer

    I have found that sometimes just being the guy that is willing to push in is enough to get others to follow. Of course that can be done with any class but the LA does it with STYLE!
    • Up x 2