Heavy Assault - Why it is that OP

***Correction. Title should have read: "Why it isn't that OP."

I see tons of threads about people complaining that HA is the predominant infantry class and how it's overpowered because of shields. It's a little funny to me, actually, because the situation isn't as dire as some make it out to be. It's important to take note of a few things:

1) In terms of infantry combat all classes have the same amount of health, and same amount of armor. The exception here, of course, is that the infiltrator has 10% less but that's specific to that class.

2) All classes have an extra "primary" functionality. Infiltrators have Sniping (naturally) and invisibility. Light assault has flight. Medic has healing and revives. Engineers have repairs to vehicles, max units, etc...And Heavy Assault has damage reduction/absorption shields.

3) All classes have "secondary" functionality/advantages as well. Infiltrators have sensor darts, anti-personnel mines, and sniping. Light assault has under-barrel grenade launcher and one of the best anti-max abilities due to the primary flight ability + C4. Medic has mass-revive grenades. Engineers have AI/AV turrets, Mines (AI and AV), Ammo and ammo Packs. And Heavy Assault has AV/AA rockets (which, admittedly, are surprisingly accurate for long-range sniping....) and C4.

One of the big complaints against the use of HA, is by vehicle/aircraft users. They say that HA is overpowered and that's why everyone uses it and as a result, it makes their life more difficult. The funny part about this, is that most people go Heavy Assault "Because" of vehicles/aircraft. Many also go Engineer to drop mines and repair turrets, and to use the very powerful AV turret.

It's important to note that Heavy Assault is the intended generic "Grunt" player. If working as a squad, it is actually more beneficial to have more medics to heal and revive players, and engineers to provide ammo and repair max units, and have a few Heavy Assault classes, but certainly not to have them as the most used. I've been running with some squads and platoons dropping into heavy territory lately and I've noticed that around half the players are medics as I kept getting revived or healed within a second of dying. The point is to have Heavy Assault be the standard class, with you giving up the extra survivability in exchange for other features that may be useful.

One of the biggest complaints about Heavy Assault is actually from other infantry players. This one, in my opinion, is blown out of proportion a bit. The most powerful HA is actually the guy with Nanoweave 5 and Resist Shield. This gives the player a whopping 2272 hit points of damage taken before dying. That's quite massive, to be honest with you. There's no doubt about that. 2272 vs 1250. However, there's a very important piece of the puzzle that people are not taking into consideration.

1) Resist shield only provides that benefit if you are aware of the combat engagement prior to being shot. Otherwise, the later you activate it, the less benefit it has. For example if you are being shot and take 500 points of damage prior to being able to activate resist shield, your total effective damage taken before death drops from 2272 to 1863. That is not an uncommon scenario at all. Even at this point, however, 1863 is still far better than 1250 that other classes would have.

2) Weapon availability. This is a very important part of the equation. Looking over at the VS weaponry, the popular SVA-88 LMG has 1663 DPS. Now...compare this to the Engineer's Serpent VE92 at 2013 DPS. So in this example, the weapon the Engineer class can get, has 21% higher DPS than the HA LMG. This actually matters a lot. Looking at stats on paper...let's see how this all players out.

1) Engineer attacks a Heavy Assault who has Nanoweave 5, and Resist Shield active. With the Serpent VE92 at 2013 DPS, it takes 1.13 seconds to kill the Heavy Assault.

2) Engineer attacks a Heavy Assault who has Nanoweave 5, but doesn't activate Resist Shield until 4 bullets have already hit him. It takes 0.89 seconds to kill the Heavy Assault.

3) Engineer attacks a Heavy Assault who has Nanoweave 5, but is caught off-guard and is unable to act fast enough to activate resist shield. It takes 0.62 seconds to kill the Heavy Assault.

4) Heavy Assault attacks the Engineer with Nanoweave 5. It takes 0.75 seconds to kill the Engineer.

So based on these scenario's, let's see how fast the Heavy Assault was able to kill the Engineer:

1) 51% Longer to kill the Heavy Assault
2) 18% Longer to kill the Heavy Assault
3) 21% Shorter to kill the Heavy Assault

So even though the heavy assault has 82% more "Hitpoints" than the engineer in Scenario 1 (2272 vs 1250), which is the "worst case scenario," it only took 51% longer to kill because higher DPS weapons are available to the class. And that is a scenario in which the Heavy Assault spotted the engineer first, and was able to activate the shield before engaging in combat.

When both spotted each other at around the same time, but the engineer was able to get the first shots in, it only took 18% longer to kill the heavy assault. And when the engineer got the jump on the Heavy Assault, he killed him 21% faster than the Heavy Assault could have killed the engineer. Making it much harder for the Heavy Assault to react, by giving him even less time to do so.

So while I understand the 2272 vs 1250 argument, the actual numbers play out differently. And as long as Vehicles and Aircraft and Max Units exist, Heavy Assault will be commonly used. And other classes will still continue to give you reasons to drop the shields and play them. Because living 51% longer under the best circumstance...still isn't as good as being able to cloak and put up a sensor dart, or repair a max and set up a turret, to fly up on roof tops and get the jump on people, or heal and revive team mates around you so instead of being all alone with 51% longer life expectancy, you have allies there with you who would otherwise be dead.

Heavy Assault isn't as big of an issue as people make it out to be. At the end of the day, Laggers and Hackers are still the biggest frustration in the game. Cheers.

They're overpowered because they don't have to choose between great AI and great AV.

Tl;dr - stopped reading after you listed sniping as an infiltrators primary AND secondary ability.

HA is fine, though I'd like to see some more love given to alternative HA builds rather than the default go-to nanite armor/resist shield combo.

My personal favourite is shotgun or SMG, adrenaline shield and maxed out grenade belt with 5 concussion grenades and a couple of blocks of C4. Turns the HA from being a miniMAX into a deadly room breaching ninja warrior.

People just need to learn to use the right tool for the right job.

A good mix of all classes is a lot better than a 100% HA team.

I go full NMG and ASC with the carv 9, cuz screw the haters.

Although I do find it the best combo for hit and runs on maxes and tanks.

HA is fine... if u head 1 x 1 with a heavy on mid range u are on heavy assault terrain. If u are playing your prefered class the way u play heavy, viceral combat, u need to change to heavy. Infiltrator and LA are classes for indirect, surprise, positioning... for special situations, smart combat.

And this game is not about 1x1, all classes have their importance on the battlefield. Heavy Assault is for... Heavy Assault of course, and u can use it too.

It isn't so much that the HA is overpowered. It's that both the HA and the engineer are like swiss army knives right now. Both HA and engineer have a lot of choices and some of those choices are fairly powerful at that. No other class has their versatility right now.

The only class that's admittedly "broken" right now is the medic and that's because revives/revive grenades need to be re-balanced. [ impossible to clear a room since it only takes one or two medics with revive grenades to bring them back up. Mix this with the fact that Assault rifles are arguably the best weapons in the game and that's why some outfits run pure medic squads for base capture/kill whoring] Infiltrator, Light assault, and medic need more choices and tools to liven things up for those classes.

Heavies aren't OP , it's just frustrating in 1v1/AI scenarios when using an Smg or a pump shotty.

Infiltrator-smg are already squishy as hell and smgs don't deal that much of great damage.
Pumps already don't forgive and incase you're fighting a heavy you need atleast 3 shots or 2 at point-blank to kill one , the time taken for 3 pump shells < TTK on most LMGs.

It's just frustrating not OP or broken.

For some reason people think that HA is a specialised role dedicated to AT due to its AV grenades and launchers. It's a grunt.

If you're an Engineer or Medic you are a direct support player. (Heal and Repair)

If you're an Infiltrator or Light Assault you are a combat support player. (Infiltration and Flanking)

If you're a MAX you are a moving tank.

Going up against a Heavy should be the job of your HA's. A HA that straight up 1v2s will usually get destroyed unless there is a marginal skill deficit. It's the most played class for a reason.

HA is the "default" class, I think, as it is focused on dealing and taking damage, and it seems especially useful in open battles where LMG's tend to do well at long-to-medium ranges and, with shielding, even give you a chance to survive medium-to-short encounters. As for its anti-air and -vehicle abilities, I don't see why pilots complain because for a lot of infantry players who aren't pulling Maxes or Skyguards (I tend to use my infantry resources on consumables and my vehicles resources on Sunderers), our HA builds are the only way to try and address vehicle combat. I like the class for its simplicity, though I'll admit that I usually have to force myself to play it, but that's just because the mobility of the LA and INFL fits my gameplay better.

Lissen mang, every normal infantry classes are balanced. If you make this big QQ thread make it about Empire Specific abilitys / weapons those are the only ones that can be unbalanced

You had no issues since Beta, why know?

oh you mean like a medic, light assault,oh and ENGINEER ?

People cry about heavies because they love the utility but get ******** when a heavy kills them.

HA are overpowered and win engagements with class advantages rather than skill. No amount of lawyer like analysis of which classes get what is going to change the reality of that happening all the time in the game. But there are some imbalances in the game that most people are happy to have continue as they are. They do not totally dominate all the game.

So basicaly, what you are saying is. Heavy Assault IS better than other classes, but please dont bring it in line with the others?

You clearly didn't read the thread. There was no QQ on my behalf. I stated that all classes are good for different tasks.

No. I'm saying that while Heavy Assault is better in one way, which is the way it is intended to be better, other classes have other abilities that take its place and are beneficial enough where one would use that class to gain that utility. Such as the ability to repair/set mines, or cloak/snipe, or heal and revive your whole team. Losing 1 v 1 against the class that is designed to be better at 1 v 1 is intended (assuming equal skill. I kill plenty of heavy assaults while playing other classes). It's like a heavy assault complaining that it has no chance at long range vs. an infiltrator in an open field.

And as I pointed out...you will die faster to a medic or an engineer using a higher dps weapon that is not available to the heavy assault class. The only advantage that heavy assault gets, is that in a "best case scenario" with everything going perfectly for them, and they being the initiator of the fight, they will take 51% longer to kill than it would take for you to kill them. But realistically in that scenario, someone using a weapon with 21% higher DPS against you would kill you faster anyway.

HA is fine. In terms of its AV/AA ability the rocket launcher rarely kills a vehicle by itself. I find it good at scareing off aircraft & I get the odd esf & plenty of assists. C4 is probably better against a vehicle or the AV turret for engineer at range. So the HA rocket launcher can never be considered OP.

I have resist 5 & nano 5 on my HA. He still gets killed easy which really is now I know the class is fine. The day you can get a 10+ kill streak & the shield stops you taking any damage is the day the class is OP.

The class does its frontal assault role well I think people just don't like getting killed. And the shield is an easy thing to blame a good scapegoat.

Honestly I don't see any problem with the HA or the other classes.

If you intend to be first in line then you should go HA, while engineers and medics keep the team running. Ex: setting up defensive turrets, reparing max units, reviving people attacking.

Why would anyone start comparing medic vs HA or engineer vs HA in a 1v1 scenario? If you are an engineer / medic and end up in a 1v1 on a HA then you are already out of your natural place in the fight and should be the loosing part. It's the same with a tank and a lightning, given both start shooting and both have AP shell then the tank should win! - if the lightning however fired of 2 shots first it is a different story. So the HA should have the upper hand in that situation, otherwise why would anyone be HA? Like the OP said as well, that shield does require you to respond fast enough to actually be of use.

I play HA 90% of the time not because I feel more powerfull as HA, but because I am a grunt and always have been since PS1, MCG+Deci/Striker always. When someone gets the drop on me I loose 2/3 times, often I'm dead before having time to even react (like infi with smg). The only time my shield is of use is if I get the drop on someone else or we have a fairly equal drop on each other.