Too much incentive to play HA

Discussion in 'Heavy Assault' started by Phsychotica, Nov 27, 2012.

  1. Phsychotica

    From my experience at least 80% of all infantry v.s. infantry combat occurs at close range (<50) because the majority of capture points are inside or surrounded by buildings. At close range the best class hands down is the HA for two reasons:

    1. LMGs: A lot of bullets meaning reloads usually aren't necessary in a firefight, you kill your targets then take cover to reload. Also having some of the highest fire rates coupled with a large amount of bullets means they have an advantage in hip-fire because a 20 - 30 bullet carbine/AR has to stop firing to reload if they don't kill you straight off.

    2: Over-shield: The heavy assault's over-shield means that they can beat most opponents in 1 v 1 simply by having a large boost in health over their opponent.

    So they are the best at close range but because they carry the rocket launcher they are also the default anti-vehicle class what this results in is that at least 60 - 70% of all players I encounter are heavy assaults which is disappointing in terms of variation as there are 5 classes.

    My personal suggestion is HAs should lose the rocket launcher and it should be given to the engineer while HAs get the ammo pack. To me this makes more sense as the HA is a suppression, CQC class and it revolves around having a lot of ammo while engineers are the default vehicle class and so they spend most of their time around vehicles.

    (In case anyone suggests I just want to buff my class, I play medic when on foot.)
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  2. Gary

    I must be the minority then since i only play engineers... Yet on woodman i see tonnes of engineers and medics as its easier to get XP with these classes.
  3. Nehlis

    As someone who plays mostly as LA, going toe to toe head on against an HA, I can say that HA's are not overpowered. For some reason they can't be bothered to actually aim their gun at the jetpacked mad bomber knifing them. Mind you, this is a head on fight, where both of us are aware of each other. just fly up while hip firing and they drop like pieces of candy. cause hey, headshot.
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  4. SomethingObvious

    I play medic most of the time, and even I can stand up to a HA in a fight. I can run back to cover if I need to, but most of the times the AOE heal does the job in keeping me alive long enough to take down him/her down.
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  5. GoldmanSachs

    The reason most fights take place at close range is that the position update rate for this game is so pathetic that you can barely aim at anything further than 50 meters.

    The solution SOE will come up with to resolve this problem is to make infantry combat turn-based.
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  6. gunshooter

    Theres incentive to play HA because everyone dies instantly in this game, EXCEPT HA thanks to resist shield.

    This will never change as long as the TTK is instant. It's just a massive flaw in the base design of the game. Playing the other clases isn't very fun when all it takes is someone looking in your direction for 1 second and you die.
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  7. StrangerDanger

    I typically go LA even in situations where the jetpack isnt needed. I know im at a disadvantage but i like the LA over the HA. The LA has a more controllable gun, the big machine guns are noticeably more inaccurate and seem to shoot slower...bigger gun bigger kick.

    As an LA i have no problem putting many rounds into a head of an opponent. As HA i can but fewer bullets, the over shield is nice but its one extra thing i need to worry about using during an intense fight.

    The LA jetpack saves me more than the HA shield, in a room i can kinda jet around and the guy shooting me will miss, the HA im a big lit up object that anyone in view now shoots at.

    All in all i see the LA as having a more controllable, faster shooting gun thats more accurate close range...with the option for great escape mechanics even if its to the other corner of a small room.

    I see the HA as bigger fire power, a few more shots worth of health, and a rocket launcher that in my eyes defines the class. If you have a really good FPS shot HA is probably the best choice for standoffs, LA seems the more versatile option when its not a situation where the enemy is turtled right near your spawn point.

    Other than that my choice is really: do i want to get into gun fights or do i want to use a rocket launcher?

    Sometimes ill just pick HA and regrent not having the mobility, simply because they look awesome with the CS armor and composite helmet.
  8. Nehlis

    Also, the HA is the closest thing to a frontline soldier in the game. The engineer, medic and infiltrator are obvious supports and in no way should try to head on a HA. Light assault is debatable, but since it is outright stated that it has the lowest armor, and has a flanker role, then that should clarify some. MAXes are special tools that are kinda like a cross between an HA and a tank.
  9. iKickz

    Why would I go light assault or recon and go all pissy pushy trying to hide from people, when I can just use heavy assault and get the job done?
  10. Deladin

    That's because you play NC. Go play the LMG from other empires, most noticeably the stock CARV...it will put your easier to fire LA gun to shame.

    In the game of HA vs everything, NC really just get whipped, so most of us have to use the other classes. I see far fewer NC HA running in my outfit, or in my empire, then I see on the TR. Its why NC does not do the tank zerg, as TR already has TON of HA at the ready due to there OP LMG's and that overshield, where NC has to go and resupply HA to counter the massive TR tank zergs that dominate the server, something most will not do because as soon as you roll HA for the rocket launcher, you just massively gimped yourself in infantry combat.
  11. RobotNinja

    I've killed more HAs than I can count with the default pistol.
  12. commiedic

    You are definetly not the minority. I have to yell at my squad mates all the time because we will have around 5 engineers in a offensive infantry squad. That makes no sense. You need 1 maybe 2 for ammo resupply . You shouldn't be deploying your turret on offense lol.
  13. Grotpar

    HAs do need to get the fabled "AI and AV" specialization they talked about.
    I'm playing the HA way more than I should. At least I'm not afraid to switch classes on the fly if the team needs it.
  14. Hellspawn

    I used to play ENG during beta but have switched to almost always HA with a S-AMS. If it's damaged, I'll quick switch to ENG but a lot of the time it's HA. I love to park out a bit from the battle, setup and use the S-AMS for rocket launcher ammo. Couple of us fill the skies with AA guided missiles to slow the usual air-zerg.

    HA weapons and the shield are crazy. Can rack up mad kills with it while the S-AMS brings in more XP with people spawning.
  15. absolofdoom

    If you had 20 dudes in an infantry force, you'd need maybe 4 medics, an engy (maybe 2 if there's a lot of gens to deal with), an infiltrator, and the rest would be fighting classes (HA/LA/MAX) based on the circumstances. Support classes are very important but you don't need as many or they actually hinder each other. HA is the bread and butter of the fighting classes and is built to do the heavy lifting. It just makes sense the way it is.
  16. Phsychotica

    The role of a machine gunner is to lay down suppressing fire so others can assault with limited risk, if this is not support I don't know what is. (Take into account that LMGs are also known as LSWs: Light Support Weapons) The fact that they are called assaults is pretty inaccurate when their primary role should be to support.

    Also on a side note: How do they even move? They are carrying an LMG (These tend to be quite heavy), a ton of rounds (Also rather heavy), a rocket launcher (Yup, you guessed it, heavy) and spare rockets.
  17. serenekaos

    HA should beat other classes except for Max in a 1v1.
    • Up x 1
  18. Nehlis

    In this sense, all classes are support. That's not what it is. This is teamwork. Supressive fire only works if people are actually afraid of dying, and in a world where you can be reborn within seconds, i'm not so sure that's the purpose of the heavy assault. Like I said before, the heavy is the closest thing to a frontline combat soldier. Infiltrators and Light assaults are flankers and scouts, Medics and engies can go toe to toe, but obviously the Heavy has the best defined role for the head on front.
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  19. Nehlis

    Things don't work out like they should most of the time. lol. LA racking up heavy kills with their superior agility, FTW
  20. Kyutaru

    For starters, the Heavy Assault class is definitely supposed to be the most common one. You don't need an army of snipers and medics, you need an army with machine guns and armor. Other classes are purely support roles that lend a huge service to the war effort, but the core of any army is the Heavy Assault. What good is a Heavy Assault squad WITHOUT a medic? Without infiltrators hacking terminals to pull sunderers, or sniping other infiltrators picking off your men? What good is a squad without an engineer, when ammo runs low and can't be replenished without death? What better spawn camper is there than the engineer turret? The only shooters that don't have assault classes as the majority are ones like TF2 where the Heavy is given a suppressive tank support role, yet in PlanetSide the MAX units cover that role in discouraging infantry from haphazardly rushing (though each faction's MAX has a different engagement range... see below).

    I've seen this sentiment all too often from people who apparently have yet to figure out how PlanetSide is balanced. You're finding TR weapons OP because you are NC and not playing as NC should.

    The NC possesses Heavy Assaults and MAX units that wield autoshotties as their anti-infantry weapon, with the MAXes capable of instantaneously dropping infantry. They use a high-powered tank called the VANGUARD (look up that word) and all of their weapon hits deal higher than average damage, which is why the Gauss Rifle can destroy people at close ranges. The NC faction is by design attuned to close quarters combat and gifted with being the most destructive faction at short ranges. Mind you, they still have weapons for mid and long ranges, but they are edged out by other factions in those areas. The specialty of the NC trooper is CQC.

    Meanwhile, the VS have many weapons that feature no bullet drop, the fastest projectile speed, the fastest reload speed, the highest accuracy, and the lowest recoil. The Magrider is a rocket strafing tank that can only fire straight ahead, making it the perfect mobile artillery sniper vehicle. Their MAX units are terrible at close ranges, able to be face tanked by heavies, yet their weapons have easily the greatest range of any MAX and splash to boot, so even if you miss with it, you have a chance to damage the enemy. Similar, the Lasher is the VS heavy weapon with lower DPS than a pistol, yet it splashes too. The VS faction is by design attuned to long distance combat and gifted with being the most perilous to face at long range. As with the NC, they still have weapons designed for other areas of combat, but they are edged out by other factions in those areas. The specialty of the VS trooper is distance combat.

    That's where TR comes in. Faster rate of fire, but worse recoil, bullet Drop, accuracy loss from ROF cone expansion, average damage and large ammo clips all make TR weapons the superior mid-range combatants, especially the most hated rifles which are by design MID-RANGE WEAPONS! The Prowler can deploy into a rapid firing turret, the MAX equipped with Mercy chainguns rips enemies from mid-range but fails to live up to the Scatmax at close range, and the TR Chaingun is a squad suppressing murderer that can be outmatched by a simple shotgun. The TR is by design a mid-range combat faction.

    This is why the TR -HATES- attacking the NC, because assaulting any NC base means CQC, the NC advantage. This is too why defending against the VS or approaching their bases is so tedious, because VS have distance combat under their belts and can hold off armies from approach. It's why the NC hates the TR weapons, because TR will destroy them in the mid range before the NC can close the distance (assuming the NC even ATTEMPT to close the distance like they should). It's why you have no issue with the VS weapons, because Close Combat vs Long Range is a wash at Mid-Range. Know the first thing I try to do when playing TR? Get into mid-range because I know that's where my weapons will be the MOST effective.

    Every battle is a three-phase stage, beginning with long distance, moving to mid-range, and ending in close quarters. Each faction has a slight advantage in one of these stages, but it's pointless if you don't exploit that advantage or if you allow your enemy to move past it into THEIR preferred combat range. This is why TR sets up sunderers close to a base. It's why VS usually lines up on the outskirts or up a hill. It's why NC should be charging in close to the objective with their own for a troop dropoff.

    Moral of the story, stop trying to pick off TR players from a hill. If you're NC, you're a close combat specialist fighting a mid-range combat specialist. Get closer or don't wonder why you suddenly dropped dead.
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