Hey guys, I've been playing Planetside 2 for about a month. When I first heard about the game I instantly decided I wanted to main the MAX class, especially after hearing them described as indoor tanks. Unfortunately, it turned out that the MAX isn't this nigh-invulnerable indoors tank that was described, but simply a beefy bruiser who can take a bit more punishment than the other classes and dish out tons of damage. I still main the MAX class but the MAX doesn't feel nearly as tanky as he should be, and I would gladly give up my damage for better defenses. So I came up with a MAX ability that does exactly that. Here's the idea: MAX Electro-Reactive Armour 100 Certs The MAX unit draws energy from it's firing mechanism in order to power up its Electro-Reactive Armour. While active, the MAX unit fires it's weapons at only half the speed. In exchange, the MAX unit becomes bulletproof and takes reduced damage from explosives. This ability is a toggle ability, which can be turned on and off at will, however the MAX unit takes a few seconds to power on and power off its Electro-Reactive Armour, during this time the MAX cannot move or fire its weapons. The idea here is to sacrifice the insane damage that a MAX can do, in order to make them become the true indoors tank. While the armour is active, anyone firing bullets at a MAX will not receive a hit-marker indicating they hit the MAX, and the MAX will not hear the normal bullet damage sound, instead they will hear the *plink* *plink* sound of the bullets bouncing off (similar to the sound of a Sunderer being shot by bullets). Also, the MAX will take half damage from all explosives. This way the MAX unit can become a mobile shield for his allies, while preventing the MAX from become this invulnerable lone wolf instakilling everyone and never dying, due to their firing speed being cut in half, thus it takes twice as long to kill someone. What do you guys think of this idea? Oh and by the way I play an NC MAX on Genudine, in case you guys were wondering.
This was discussed in various forms in the beta, it never really went anywhere. The MAX can already get a similar effect by just pairing with an Engineer (trading the engineer's firepower for survivability instead of the MAXes firepower) What you're proposing probably wouldn't break the game, but it wouldn't really add much either.
.... uhh... hrm... well I'll just give the best answer I can. Your suggestion is in ignorance of gameplay. Maxes are NOT indoor tanks. In development they don't start with a goal, they start with a purpose, they have a general outline of the mechanics they want, and then create classes to suit the purpose. If the max was intended to be an indoor tank, it would be, it's not for a very good reason, because that's a terrible terrible idea. It's a terrible idea because it's not needed, and adds many negative elements. The max's purpose, aside from a support weapons platform, is to be a force in breaking lines that normal infantry would not be able to, ie being potentially instrumental in breaking stalemates in infantry fights, or otherwise applying force in situations where infantry simply could not. However, it's not a HARD purpose, much in the same way tanks are not undisputed winners in open combat or air are undisputed winners against ground. They provide the edge needed, not the method needed. With the ability to negate the vast majority of incoming damage, it wouldnt matter if they only did half damage, or hell even 1/4, that line would most definately break, and that's no good. That said, with a decent level of kinetic armor, you do feel like the goddamn juggernaut. And that's pretty damn awesome. I still think some aspects of survival need tweaking (mainly shotguns, headshots, and the massive discrepency between having an engie and not), though I wouldn't be too sad if these things were not tweaked. Being an indoor tank might be fun, but it's bad for the game, and personally that would ruin my fun within a short period of time. I like using superior tactics and applications using my max to break a line, I don't want that handed to me.
I think the Kinetic armour is a ripp off, it costs a hell of a lot of Certs to get a 5% damage reduction, for every hit I take from say a Vanu Quazar, which is 167 damage, the 2250 certs I spent on the 5% reduction gives me a resistance of 8.35 point of damage per hit. If a MAX takes 3000 hp, then the 5% resistance will only stop a total of 150 HP, not even a single shot from the Quazar. Yet Nano weave armour on a HA will stop up to 25% for a cost of 1211 Certs.
As somebody who mainly plays HA, I have to say this is a terrible idea. A Max shield would make it hard as hell to finish off a Max. In a Max suit if you play smart you can stay up for ages, pair up with an Engi (if you aren't in an outfit get in one since you'll meet people through it willing to co-op with you) and take up smart positions, be willing to back off and for the love of god don't chase infantry outdoors. Also remember if you chase me through a door I will concussion grenade you and kill you.
5% damage reduction added to your base 80% is quite considerable. Myself, I still prefer the flak armor and have raised my 25% base explosives resistance to 50%.
It may sound like it, but it is only the difference between taking 100 points of damage or 95, and for 2250 certs. I've changed to the regen and I'm finding my lastability on the battlefield much longer.
It depends on whether you run with an organised squad or mostly solo. Personally I run mostly solo, but I'm bearing the pains of not finding support regularly if it is to be just a little bit more effective.
Yet MAXes with shields was exactly what PlanetSide 1 had, so it's not beyond reason that a reappearance of past technology could occur. The NC MAX had a barrier they could put up similar to the Vanguard shields we have currently. It made NC maxes extremely tanky. The TR MAX had the ability to deploy like the Prowler does while the VS MAX had the ability to fly like the Magrider does (more literally as opposed to ramp + afterburner). If anything, implementation of this suggestion would give a strong case to nerf the Hacksaw damage since the shotguns wouldn't need to be autodeath if the MAX could pop a shield when using them. TR maxes wouldn't feel so bad when they can lock into turret mode and destroy anything at midrange. Likewise the VS have always been about mobility, so having MAXes with jetpacks again would give them that advantage to use their comets with. Just saying, it was done before, it can be done again.
I'm not entirely sure that the VS max will regain the jetpacks, not when they are given to light infantry. One idea that I would love to see is VS max to become sort of a spider max, ie ability to climb walls and hang from the ceiling.
Imagine Burster maxes standing on the very tip of every antenna of every spire for miles. Each fending off ESF's like those zion dudes in the matrix.....glorious.
I don't think that firing at half speed is enough of a trade off to invincibility, toggle something on and off at will sounds a little too easy, it would have to be an ability as in the charge, that would have a cooldown and you would not have the use of both of them. No firing while "invincible" and no charge, the abuse that would lead to in a bio lab or similar area would be epic.
Actually the 5% is added to your base 80% resistance. So in effect it reduces small arms damage by 25%.
The VS max in PS1 had jump jets that are pretty much what LAs have now. But since there were tons of locked doors everywhere, it wasnt quite as useful as you'd think. I dont see the comparison with the magrider working too well here. The NC max shields was very different from this suggestion. It added a buffer to incoming damage for a very short time but prevents the max from firing. And an anchored TR max pretty much felt like the engineer mana turret. Its pretty awesome with its fire power, especially up close, cant turn around and its a huge target if someone points a rocket launcher at you. The main difference would be that they wouldnt die as quickly as MANA operators. But still mostly useful to ambush at choke points or while having other people secure your flanks. The thing suggested here would simply turn MAX & engineer pairs into the next FOTM.You'd see lots of outfits run around with MAXes and enough support to repair/revive them because it would require a bigger group of MAX+support to defeat them indoors.
The NC shields are another matter entirely mentioned purely because the NC should be the ones to receive such a bulletproof ability. MAXes in planetside 1 were bulletproof by default, only Heavy Weapons like the MCG and Jackhammer could harm them. If that ability were given to the NC as a temporary shield, it'd be great to see the revival of faction-specific abilities. MAX and engineer pairs are currently only lethal on the NC side, which is why I said that having the NC gain this ability would warrant a reasonable reduction to the Hacksaw damage and reduce their lethality in exchange for more survival. The TR Maxes are thought of as inaccurate, deploy mode makes them extremely accurate and removes this fear. The VS maxes are often thought of as useless and the return of jetpacks would revive that element of their playstyle, which actually was as useful as I know it to be because it was quite handy in dueling tanks and leaping over mountains. The VS are long-range oriented and highly mobile, and their MAX could leap at incoming aircraft and blast them point blank.
TR MAX also had a capacitor function added, allowing them the option of more damage while moving, seperate from lockdown.
So the abilities were in at some point and got removed like the flamethrowers. Future patch content? YAY!
Bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away, fire away. Ricochet, take your aim, fire away, fire away. You shoot me down, but I won't fall I am titanium. I'll trade the NC shield ability for the other crap that the devs is gonna give TR max.
