A counter would actually achieve a higher than 1.0 expected K/D (if you don't reliably beat what you're countering, you're not countering it, are you?) As a frequent MAX user, none of those weapons have higher than 1.0 expected K/D against me. They're too unwieldy or weak-hitting to win. If somebody manages to spot me first and rocket me, I charge up on top of him and kill him before he can rocket again. So I'm telling you that from the MAX's point of view there is nothing I fear. There is nothing that counters me. Because I can kill infantry in 0-2 seconds and it takes them 4+ seconds to kill me.
I fear good HA's and LA's still, especially the former one, even in a 1v1 scenario. In other scenario's you got to keep in mind there's probaply 4 more infantrymen having you in their sight. You will die if all four of them, instead of running away, decide to open their mag on you. For some reason, however, most PS2 players seem to think MAX has bullet immunity. EDIT: Of course, I am not saying MAXes are UP. Far from.
That's a one on one situation. Hardly relevant in a massive online game! More often than not there are multiple heavies who will have spotted you and know your EXACT location. Two HAs = dead MAX. It is stupidly easy to hit giant MAXes outside the range that MAXes are dangerous, thanks to MAX units slow walk speed. One HA lands a rocket, while an LA or another class readies/drops a C4, or one HA gets the MAXes attention while LA C4s. You must be playing on one hell of a low pop server if you experience a lot of one-vs-ones. I'm a dedicated MAX player, I know what I'm doing, but our job is to go DEEP to get in the thick of it to be most effective - and within that space - we can die in one shot to C4 from above/behind/the side.. C4 needs a slower deploy time or cost ramped up to equal MAX. A cost which IS too high for a MAX. As for the guy saying "MY RESEARCH HAS PROVEN MAX UNIT PLAYERS HAVE A HIGHER K/D", you are missing the ******* point. They are SUPPOSED to have higher K/Ds for everything they lack in other areas.. When that is what your argument has come down to, you clearly don't realise the joke is on you man.
The efficiency of any given player matters regardless of combat scale. If my team fields 50% MAXes and your team is the same size, do you seriously think you're going to win when 100% of your team is heavies? (Because 2 heavies are required to beat each MAX) As for the K/D statistics, they pretty blatantly show MAXes are overpowered. The game is about combat. If most of my team has 2x K/D, we're going to win combat and then all we need is 1 lousy infantry to cap the point. The joke isn't on me. I play MAXes all the time knowing how overpowered they are. I smash people regularly. Got a 49-killstreak a week or two back (and unlike other classes, I didn't have to play ultra-cautiously to get it and was able to maintain a high KPH.) Then I come to the forums to point out the clear facts based on my anecdotal experience and the objective stats: MAXes are overpowered.
That's not true. A counter just needs to be more resource-efficient than the thing it's intended to counter. That's why c4 is also a counter to tanks, even though LAs die more often than not when they try to c4 tanks. If c4 cost 200 nanites per brick, yes, you'd expect better results, but it doesn't.
I have no real opinion on the topic being discussed, but as someone with 71% decimator accuracy with a purple medal to boot, landing a direct hit on a max outside the range it can quickly kill me is not something I would describe as "stupidly easy"
PS2 is not a game about exhausting your opponent's resources. If you're playing that way, you're gonna lose.
Ironically, with overpowered MAXes that's exactly what happens: you can play like crap, and still do great in a MAX. Whereas with balanced MAXes, playing sloppy would cause you to always lose.
An Open Letter to MAX haters: MAXs have weaknesses. Signed, C4 and C4 traps, Rocket Launchers, Concussion Grenades, AV Grenades, and Concentrated Fire.
No, C4 is painfully slow to deploy on demand. If you've ever tried to C4 a mag or an attentive MAX you'd know. C4 IS pretty expensive, since unlike a MAX it does not last for an entire life unless you do not use it, and then it is only a 1-2 time use unless you re-arm at a terminal. If you place C4 and do not detonate it, it counts as expended, will not detonate unless shot at, despawns when you respawn and you lose the resource investment. It requires you to be right on top of your target, meaning either you have drifters from high outdoors, or more likely you are right next to them, in which case the delay between dropping bricks and pressing the trigger gives a high risk of death if your target sees you. Finally, 1 block of C4 will not one-shot a MAX with any points into flak armor, which is the most common suit slot I run into. It requires at least 2 blocks within minimum splash range, effectively doubling the amount of time it takes for you to get a possible C4 kill. Literally keeping infantry away from knife range and having situational awareness easily counters C4.
Don't forget underslung grenade launcher direct hits. Got a headshot with it today by chance. Killed a MAX from about 2/3rds his health.
The simple answer: YES! Max units are 100% good for the game. They REQUIRE teamwork to be used effectivley, and they REQUIRE good team work to be neutralised effectively. This game is about teamwork...... Maxs prmote teamwork.
It was the same on Emerald as it was on Connery, and everyone I've seen across all servers has about the same 2x K/D with their MAX as their next-best class (out of ~26 players I've looked at only about 3 players didn't have 2x. In one case because they focused on infil K/D as a sniper (makes sense.) In several cases, players had higher than 2x K/D with MAXes, including myself. Other stats like KPH and SPM were always slightly superior too.)
Well, yeah. It IS an equipment you spend nanites to acquire, like any other vehicle and is a force multiplier. Let me help you focus on the concept of "Force multiplier". If a guy getting in a MAX suit wasn't AT LEAST twice as effective, it would be totally laughable and sad for that player.
Let's put the two sides of the argument into perspective: Side A says, "Uh, it's big so it should be strong. Oh, and FORCE MULTIPLIER!" and doesn't consider the gameplay consequences of having unbalanced playstyles. Side B fully considers the gameplay consequences. They want MAXes balanced because they know that overpowered classes create uneven matchups where skill doesn't matter, and they know that PVP games are at their best when they're about skillful competition. This doesn't mean there can't be soft counters, but MAXes go well beyond soft counters (I stomp over many players each MAX life who are fielding "counters" against me, so they're not actually counters. Those weapons are merely those players' best hope of doing a little bit of damage to me before I stomp over them.) Games are most interesting when they're about skillful competition. MAXes reduce that. They replace what might otherwise be a good skill-rewarding matchup and replace it with a one-sided slaughter. Obviously that's not a very good system for a PVP game. Do you really want to be on the side that's bungling through this discussion with poorly-thought-through ideas that don't take the gameplay consequences itno account? Or would you rather be on the side of those thinking about what's best and most interesting for gameplay?
