LA/Infiltrators are built to surprise attack, a shield delay on HA will give HA no fighting chance!!

Extract from the main page of Planetside 2 :
" The development of the Heavy Assault soldier was a relatively recent innovation designed to combat the surge of instant nanite-assembled vehicles. Not only do they boast some of the most durable armor on Auraxis, their Nanite Mesh Generators allow them to instantly form a temporary extra layer of protection that absorbs the impact of incoming enemy fire.
In addition to their ability to take damage, Heavy Assault soldiers are well known for the devastating weaponry that they wield. Their anti-vehicle rocket launchers can punch holes in enemy tanks, and their high-capacity LMGs and Heavy Assault weapons can lay down sustained fire that dominates in close quarters.
Only with the introduction of Rebirthing and recent improvements in shield technology has their mantra of "endure and eradicate" become viable. While the Heavy Assault's brute-force strategy may not be the most elegant solution, it's proven itself as an effective one.
. "
HA are supposed, by definition, to shrug off and deal a lot of damage, it's the class bread and butter. It was intended from the start that the overshield deployed instantaneously.

If they redesign the overshields, they'll have to re-purpose them too. I could live with more vehicle combat oriented shields, in fact, I'd love it more I think, to finally give the HA it's true role of armor fighting.

Otherwise, if it's for the current shields, I believe they'll have to remove some or all the downside they already have to compensate if they add this ramp up.

I think now we are getting to the true cause of the HA nerf calls, rockets-hate from vehicle players. That the HA has a weapon for all opponents does not make then too versatile. It takes several hits and even more time to take down the frailest ESF and there are hard counters for all the guided rockets.

I've yet to see any evidence the HA is Master of anything. The top infantry weapon is a sniper rifle, top anti-vehicle weapon (despite the fact the number of rocket users out numbers the other av weapons by magnitudes) is another vehicle weapon.

On the contrary, remember when nanoweave and resist shield went hand in hand? I'd fire at a heavy in the back and then the sob would turn around and kill me with half of his regular shields still up. I had emptied more than 25 rounds into his back. The only way you could kill one is if you drilled 30 rounds into his head.

Issues that arrise with needing Shields to be activated before hand is 50% reduction in Speed. That is why HA's never move with it on because it's a Death Sentence. They need to change a lot of things about the Shield to make it viable if they add the ramp up time, alot more then most people expect.

Well than that's unfair considering the fact that I as an individual am not facing only you as a player but a crap load of players who rely on their crutch to survive. I should be rewarded for getting the first shot so I can continue mowing the lawn and not get stuck on a pesky pebble.

Indeed. The reason I played HA first when I started playing this game is because the HA is the most "accessible" i.e. its the class most familiar to you if you have ever played any other FPS.



On a side note: I took a look at your player stats and I see that although you use a Max avatar its your least played class Your time is split between the others fairly evenly and although I have no overall evidence, my guess is that your stats would not be far off the global trend, your best class is the Inf, HA close behind, the others not far behind that but LA the bottom. I would love to see some global data, I wonder is sites like DA have global class stats?

No-body said HA is a "Master of anything [sic]", but that it's a Jack of All Trades. That means while it isn't the best in every field, it CAN participate in every field.

*Edit (didn't want to double post): Don't forget that medics and engineers still exist and can't flank. And think about it for a second; it's fairly easy to see when to use shield (ex. in buildings or when you see a red dot on minimap, or when turning the corner in a 'hot' combatzone). Think about the times you've used a shield as you found an enemy (due to not seeing them on minimap or hearing them). I'm fairly sure those times are when there is a med.-long distance between you and the opponent. The TTK for those situations are a bit longer, and I have no doubt you'll still be able to turn shield on. The only thing dramaticaly changing is when people (namely LA and Inf) get the drop on you. In those cases, they *should win if you're of equal skill.

HA needs our shield reliable, and we need nano-armor to protect our head. It's one thing that snipers can OSK HA, (that makes sense to me) HOWEVER, we didn't need a blanket nerf to our head armor for every class. EVERYONE SHOOTS EVERYONE IN THE HEAD SOE... wth...

Add the new shield nerfs and HA is pointless.

Terrible bad horrible, unnecessary changes to appease 1% of the population with nothing better to do but, cry about a class everyone has access too... Bad form... really bad form, soe.

HA should remain the absolute best class for infantry and vehicle suppression, nerfing it is unacceptable, effects many many many quietly happy players, and will need to be reverted after the silent majority understands what was done.

There are valid reasons for EVERY CLASS, nerfing HA because it's performing it's role as intended, it's infuriating.

(tldr; LEAVE HA ALONE)

I didn't bring Medics into the argument because you didn't. But why isn't the Medic function getting a similar delay? Apparently its similarly as effective as the shield (not going to argue that tho, as they were not my numbers).


For the record I play all classes (except LA, can't seem to make that work) and "try" to fly. My best performing class is Inf, despite the fact that HA is my highest certified.

Today, on forumside, I learned that Halo is a twitch shooter.

*points at Phazaar's post*

Thats not sound reasoning. Just because something has been in the game, does not mean it could stand for a change in function.

Vanguard Invulnerability shield anyone?

I have played a LOT of HA, but LA and Infil more so. I know how it feels to be on both ends, and let me tell you, the NMG and Adrenaline shield are indeed iwin buttons for clueless HA players. All you're complaining about is camping corners. What prevents an HA from doing that, anyways? Anyone can do that. If you're a completely unsuspecting HA who isn't smart enough to activate your shield BEFORE checking corners, etc., then you definitely deserve to die to the infil/LA.

This is called balance. It usually hurts at first, but in the long run, it'll make the entire game run far smoother in terms of gameplay. There will be a lot more class variety (rather than seeing a good 40-50% of players as HA), and I definitely look forward to it.

I guess because the combat medics auto heal isn't that much of an issue? It's their res tool. LAs are fun and effective under the right hands and can outplay any class head including HAs provided they can aim and make use of their jet pack. Infiltrators can take on HAs head on too, I do it. It's not as bad as before where every scrub ran resist shield/nanoweave so I'd have to blast 40 rounds of smg into them and be close enough to knife and survive with 2 bars of hp.

HA getting nerfed? Good. My MAX was getting tired of those jerks using their shields to live long enough to fire a rocket at me. Now all those infils, LA, Medics, and Engies will have to rely on skill to take down my MAX rather than depending on a HA and his RL.

All joking aside, less HA = More MAXs running around unopposed.

This is total BS the HA as been overly abuse for the last few years , you could say the same with HA agains anything at the momment they always have to upper hand in any situation , because the shield buff is simply to good at anything and the HA class as no restriction what so ever in terms of weaponry and caracter moovement ability ( considering the shiled can be trigger on and off on will ) , THE HA YOU DESIRE EXIST ITS CALL A MAXS SUITS ' POWERFULL But slower and slugish but extremely resistant compare to anything ...

The HA classes as to be look into , and this HA bs as last way to long in my opinion , also in your Tough if i can call that a tough , You dont even consider Engi or combat medic in the balance is those suffer from the upper hand of others ?

Whats should be the upper hand is the player skills , not the classes capacity , i rarely get beat by LA or INF , if i get beat by LA its because i fight multiples LA as a LA myself lol

HA class is curently broken as is it , and i understand abusers or exploiters to not be happy to have their KDR going back to Minus 3 to where they have been or those who generally deserve a 0.5 kdr who are at 2 with a HA , they are not happy about a potential change , but the fact is this change is needed

Well when HA gets nerfed were only going to see more medic balls.

I called it here first.

I think they are going to have to look into buffing the HA a bit after this change. That might be the route they are going.

However if it isn't. Then the medic becomes the new heavy. AoE healing can be activated instantly and acts as a sort of minishield while fighting. The further away an opponent is, the more like a shield it is. Try it, you will win through attrition and mititgation against ANY Engie, LA, Infil, or medics that don't know about it. Just use a Medic like you would a Heavy. The moment you take fire, hit F and return fire.

Works great at 50m. The shots don't hit as hard and misses are common. You pretty much heal up every hit you take. Works against SASR's if they aren't hitting your head too. If they are all body shots, you can just tank it. Remember AOE healing has a timer, it doesn't fade on damage.

This AOE heal won't be nerfed since the medic has been nerfed heavily already. Switch to it now and Heavies won't be touched. SOE won't nerf something nobody is using. You don't even have to heal. Nobody does anyway.

Because this game doesn't just have HA, LA, and infiltrators. Typically, anyone who gets the jump on another player, sneaks up behind them, etc is going to get the kill. Why should the HA be special and get an "oh ****" button that allows them to turn around and take you out when other classes can't (Medic, Engineer, other LA/Infil).

And this change is only really going to affect people of moderately equal skill who see each other at the same time (i.e. neither got the jump on the other), and will make it a fair fight (rather than the HA being able to always pop the shield and be guaranteed a win. I also said "moderately equal skill", because if one player is more skilled than the other and able to land more headshots, that player is going to win, sometimes even regardless of the shield (as an engineer I've killed my share of HA even if they pop their shield simply by getting mostly headshots while they are only getting body shots on me).

HA will still be able to pop their shield as they're heading into combat (i.e. breaching into a room, rounding a corner, getting the jump on someone) and still have that advantage, that's what it's there for: to use proactively, not reactively.

AOE healing cant be as efficient as a HA shield , gimme a break mate what kind of experience do you have in this game ? Aoe in combat situation might save you from 1 shot if your opponent as really bad aim otherwise its a NULL buff , AOE heal can be usefull to flee or get to cover ,like the restoration kits, its the same usage same purpose ... The shield is truly different and there is also a weaponry difference , while a HA and lets say any other classes with 30 shot mag , the HA will swallow damage like no end considering that the greatest players will have a 40 to 50 % accuracy in medium or cqc range , it mean a portencial of 10 to 15 shot can land on target , while the HA with a 50 + shot mag will kill you in 6 to 8 shot and will die in 12 + shot most peoples in a frantic combat agains a fully shield and health HA will have most likely to reload or swtich to pistol to finish the HA while the HA will simply old the trigger down and kill

weapons acess also change a lots of thing in the balance the Orion or the carv are 1800 + DPS weapons with from 50 to 75 shot mag , the SVA88 from the vs is also a insanely broken and accurate LMG that deal so much damage at range with a so easy handle recoils and accuracy its beyong ridiculous , ALSO the HA shield also work even better at range since most weapons have range mitigation of the damage so yeah

What was your aguement agains ?