You might have stumbled over a thread resembling my discomfort about using the Engineer anti infantry turret. Apart from blind teammates stumbling in front of my muzzle, getting killed by enemies with ease is my second problem. All your nice notes about placing the turrent in the right spot and leaving it from time to time didn't really help, since enemy snipers just wait for me to enter my turret (yes, even in rooms) and grenades keep killing me, even though I use FLAK armor. So, my suggestion: How about a bubble shield ability, an Engineer can activate, when in his turret. Said bubble shield would last a limited time and also need time to recharge. Duration and recharge time could be upgraded with a seperate cert-line. It could be activated with the ability key, since an Engineer can't drop ammo when in his turret anyways, so this button is inactive when the Engineer is in his turret. When activated, it would reduce bullet and explosion damage for everyone in the shield. Wait, keep reading, I am not done yet. HEY, stop scrolling down to comment allready and keep reading! Some of you also may have read a thread about why Engineer is such a barely played class. The main reason seems to be, that all other classes have a usefull ability. Infiltrators can get invisible, Medics can heal themselves, Light Assaults can fly, Heavy Assaults have an overshield, MAXes have high resistances against damage. The Engineer can put down ammunition, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. This seems to be too boring for 99.99% of PlanetSide 2 players. If you would give Engineers the ability, to create a shield, similar to the Medics shield regenerator (maybe smaller), which reduces damage, you would give then an actual tactical advantage before other classes, which is increasing the surviveability of oneself and the teammates in the shield. Engineers would have an actual tactical purpose in fights, additional to putting down ammunition. Sicne the shield would be bound to the turret, have to be activated by the Engineer and only last a little while (20-30 seconds?), it would not be OP, but actually give defenders or attackers a bonus. (-> http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/a/af/Heavy_thanksfortheteleporter03.wav?t=20110320073438 ) Feel free to leave a constructive comment about your opinion on my suggestion. A constructive comment contains, what you think about my idea and at least one argument. Comments like "How about no?" do not fit into this requirements and are not appreciated.
How about no? Seriously though, I believe turrets and Engineers in general are perfectly fine. Turrets are amazing at locking down fields of fire. AV turrets are still quite powerful against armor. You get ATM's and APM's for when fighting inside. Carbines are plenty versatile and you get Battle Rifle for long range. Ammo boxes aren't "WEEEEEEEE!" fun, but they're indispensible to any assault. They also give you loads of XP for tossing them down. 1 of hte best ways for new players to get certs, and getting certs is ALWAYS fun Additionally, for personal fun, Ammo Boxes let you use Underbarrel Smoke + IRNV like it's going out of style. That IS something engaging and fun that only Engineers can do (sustainably, without an engineer buddy to toss down a box for you everytime you move positions) Repairing MAXes is another cert happy activity. There's talk of a couple new ACE tool options to compete with current AI/AV options... an AA turret of some sort, likely either a Coyote style or burster with limited FoV, and a shield wall that, I presume, would stop bullets/projectiles but allow infantry to move through (to prevent using it for trolling) These are conceptually only at this phase, but it's what they've said they're thinking about adding for Engineers when they get around to doing an Engineer update (LA's are in desperate need of update first)
Hopefully we get the stuff higby talked about, which would be a spitfire turret (ai) or sort of deployable shield barricade. Oh and the upcoming QOL of maybe some better leeway on uneven terrain for turret placement.
The turret just needs a 360 turn radius, then you'll find it being pretty viable. Also allowing it to be deployed on slopes, edges of buildings, behind rooftop railings, etc. It probably would be the first viable weapon for suppression if those are added. A single barreled AA gun that is the equivalent to a AA max burster cannon would suffice. Would be bad *** too if it looked like a German Flak38 gun.
I mean I'm all for more engy toys... but I don't think the AI turret is at all suffering from what you're complaining about.
