If you are going to add an activation time to the HA overshield, give us one thing in return

Naw, lets just get Stalker cloak Infils with radar beacons and commissioners.

That is a terrible thought for a game that requires balance.

Each shield is supposed to be adaptive to different playstyles. Each one is supposed to be viable.

I don't think the "iwin" shield was intended to be used the way it is used.
HA seemed to be the tank buster etc.
Not the solo infantry guy who has a shield to use to get more time and advantage over others as it is used now.
I sometimes get in a tank rarely am I killed by a HA.
I am infantry alot and I feel like HA kill me more than anything.
Especially when its one of the well known VS outfits.
So I have to go HA just to feel like I have a chance.
It reminds me of MMORPG's

You HA's had this coming. So long Heavyside 2 and goodbye win-shield.

Take hunter cloak it lasts for seconds. So you have to time when to use it. And when to not.

I see making the HA shield charge up as the same. It just means the player has to think more strategically. Popping shield before he thinks he needs it instead of as a reaction.

After playing as infiltrator and LA I see why they need to implent a ramp up time. But they should also decrease the movement penalty to balance it up.

I personally think that the HA shield is fine where it is, but if they absolutely have to nerf it, then lessen its effectiveness against bullets by 50%, but leave its resistance to explosives untouched.

Master Chief is sad.

We'll just have to wait and see how it pans out. If it truly hurts my play style, i'll just have to try another shield. Although i would be slightly hacked off that i maxed out my NMG after they nerfed resist, but hey, who knows i might go back to resist or opts for some other shield or choose another suit slot to off set the issue.

But i would love to have the ability to use carbines and ars on the HA. it allows me to be pretty much the ulitmate bread and butter class for me. Plus they get the work out they so desperately need and deserved.

I can understand the reasons why the HA is being addressed, i must admit that i use to play support roles and when i go toe to toe with a HA (Which there are a lot of them) i chose to fight fire with fire and never looked back until i got better at the game and opted to sit in the back rather then charge out in front. But how to do it effectively is going to be tricky balancing act.

I would address it in another way..

Since HA can be to versatile within a single loadout I would move the shield to the launcher slot ..

So you can either equip one or the other but not both

Yeah, give HA´´s something like Rocketlaunchers as secondarys

It'll give me a pretty nice advantage in the intial contact against heaavies in CQC, im happy. Im mostly medic and engi anyway, so muahahaha imma gonna get my shotgun for these heavy bastardos!

While im totally fine with this change if it's gonna happen, as mentioned, i would have the HA's absorb shield lose it's extra consumption for switching it on, it'll allow the HA's to be effective at supporting, while in CQC they will be pretty much be paired up with all other classes in CQC.

However that idea can also backfire by giving a little delay before the shield is on, if it's too short, HA's will have an even better chance to win CQC because, in that short time only the overshield will be drained, while HA's absorb shield can last longer thanks to it's longer activation time. So either to balance that out they have to nerf either the overshield or the HA's HP, yeah that's the solution...

I wonder what SOE wants the Heavy Class to use the shield for.

The shield will be useless in CQC due to an activation time.
The shield will be useless in long range as it simply makes you an easier target by lightning you up like a christmass tree.
The shield will not be a viable utility to storm heavily fortified positions due to the movement speed penalty.

The shield's new role seems to be stationary defense when you KNOW the enemy is coming.
But Engineers already do the defense role better with their turrets and mines, so no reason to pick Heavy Assault either.


I think the Heavy Assault class is going to face a serious personality issue in the future as they have no specific role anymore beyond soft AV.

That's actually a really good idea. More meaningful choices is always a good thing.

Well if it's gonna get an activation time on let's say barely a second like 0.79 miliseconds it'll be an advantage for you.
Well shield already pops up with a flashing aura around you char... So your point is?
Shields already give a drastic movement speed reduction... So again what's your point?

Don't take it as offensive... Just, a what's your point? question..

The power of the heavy shield is greatly exaggerated. It lets you win in a 1v1 face to face fight against most other infnatry if both have the same weapon. As a medic, I pick of heavies at a bit of range with no problems with my TAR. As a LA, I just shoot them in the head from above. They often die before they manage to figure out where I am or if they see me, it's generally too late. And the list goes on. When I play heavy, I tend to die quite a lot to other classes. It's not an instant win button if the other players play to their strengths.

I just love it when infils get angry when I kill them when they try to just run straight at me. Had they used the cloak properly and snuck up behind me, then the shield would probably not have helped since an SMG to the back of the head kills very very fast. Same with LAs that run around on the ground. You are supposed to use the jet pack to get to places where I do not expect you.

How PS1 balances infantry
-cloak: no armor, can only carry 1 pistol, smallest inventory space
-agile: little bit of armor, 2 pistol slots and 1 large weapon, medium inventory space
-exxo: most armor, 2 pistol slots 2 large weapon slots, slow move speed, large inventory space, can't pilot any vehicles

^^^^AWESOME!!^^^^^^



This is how you don't balance infantry: Battlefield classes.

Apparently your experience doesn't match up to reality then. The reason it is being nerfed is because it does in many cases prevent "correct playing" by flanking etc. to beat you. When someone takes the time to flank a heavy properly, the counter to that shouldn't be hitting F fast enough.

Any decent player with the shield can reactively hit it as soon as damage comes in, and in many cases there's nothing another class can do to counter it in time. Sorry, but the power of the shield is not greatly exaggerated, you just aren't using it well.

Could it be, that the HA shied is meant to be a proactive ability that you engage before you act (storm a room or whatever), instead of a last line of defense in a SHTF scenario where you're ambushed?