Heavy Assault Class

The problem is that the HA can fulfill most of the game's goals.
To capture a base, it can destroy vehicles, overload generators, capture points and is the easiest in infantry combat due to it's costlessness, big magazines and additional shielding, meaning they can get the game's secondary goal of "get a good KD" as well better than other classes.

The rest has other fuctions, but they are not as powerful and easy as the Heavy. Motion spotters require some luck and planning to use and flank enemies, LA jetpack requires planning, layout and enemy composition, Medic is basically a Heavy but without a shield and rocketlauncher and a different weapon, but still vital to the effort and Engineers can hold points and support you, but again are less useful in most (infantry) combat situations.

So what do we need? More specific things that the Heavy can't do well.

As mentioned, in the past you had to destroy terminals to move up in a base. To destroy them you needed mobility or stealth, favoring the LA or Infiltrator as basic soldiers. Heavies could hold those points as defenders, but didn't function as well as attackers. If we added such mechanics again where the attackers need a quick insertion or stealth to destroy something, we can improve the game for other classes, making the Heavy less used.

The Medic and Engineer could then get some kind of high-priority thing to destroy, but require support to achieve it. For instance, overload 3 different mini-SCU's in a base, which only they can overload and no other classes. Alternatively secondary points could be stationed in bases. These lower the capture timer if they are in your hands, but can only be captured by the engineer/medic again.

"everyone plays this class" is a lie.



Now let me ask you a certain question.

Are you complaining about the class in general or are you complaining about a Certain empires class usage?

The other classes need to be made progressively more interesting.

Oh come ******* on. This **** again? What I had to do last time this was seriously considered was bad enough...

I am, of course, complaining about the class in general not empire specific weapon that HA can wield.

Now let me ask you a certain question : Did you even read the first post of this thread?

Which empires HA's do you have the most problems with?

As Demigan said, the issue with the Heavy Assault class is that it can fulfil most roles that all the other classes can perform. It is a generalist class that is ideally specialist, yet the Heavy Assault class in this game is very potent and can fill most roles, (with the exception of healing, reviving, resupplying etc.). The Heavy Assault can...

• Capture points and destroy points of interest efficiently - who needs stealth when you can waltz into a room with an over-shield and decimate everything you see? Heavy Assaults tend to have meaty guns that carve through enemies, or kill them before they themselves are killed, at any rate, and the Heavy Assault can also abuse its rocket launcher and use it to smear enemies across a facility. The classic "Press F to win" hypothesis really becomes reality here. Heavy Assault guns have more ammunition per magazine than those of other classes, so they can quite literally take out many enemies with their shield protecting them and their guns blazing; firing many more rounds than individual enemy targets are firing at them. Clearing points for capture should be the MAX's role; the Heavy Assault does it well also.

• Destroy aircraft and ground vehicles more reliably - guided rockets are spammed a lot. The Heavy Assault can use C4, like other classes, and has a multi-purpose rocket launcher. As discussed previously, this can be abused by the Heavy Assault when they realise that you might win the fight; they pull out a rocket launcher and annihilate you. Rocket launchers are also effective anti-vehicle weapons, and they can also be guided, meaning that they can deal massive damage to ESFs and Valkyries, and moderate damage to beefier aircraft. As a part-time Scythe pilot, I can safely say that it is very easy to dodge incoming rockets, though they come around again. This is problematic when you need to escape, or when there are multiple rockets tracking you. Moreover, thanks to the shield, Heavy Assaults can also take more hits from vehicles, meaning that they can dish out even more damage than other classes. While Light Assaults, Medics etc. can use C4, they often have to put themselves at extreme risks in order to place it. Guiding a rocket, then hiding, seems like a much better solution, and you're pretty much guaranteed a hit if your target is inexperienced.

• "Outplay" enemy infantry with the victory button - this doesn't need to be discussed to great extents in my post, because it already has been. The ticket to victory with the Heavy Assault is the "F" button that ensures you a victory, unless your enemy is particularly skilled or your levels of ineptitude are exceedingly high. Heavy Assaults have great guns, rocket launchers, grenades, explosives, and more, and can outplay enemies with the press of a button. It's really that simple. Aiming for the head doesn't work because the shield absorbs the shock. I could fight a Heavy Assault with my Combat Medic and offload as many rounds into his head as possible. He could aim at my toe and kill me before I knock his shields out because the over-shield will absorb the impact.

There are many more reasons why this class is so popular and, to be honest, so good at everything, though these are my main three. The Heavy Assault can do most things that other classes are ideally supposed to be good at. This is why many veterans and newer players alike are drawn to the Heavy Assault class. It ensures a higher K/D ratio because of the victory button. You can do lots of things that other classes can as well. The Heavy Assault is an excellent generalist with its own specialised role, which ultimately make it too versatile, which is why we see many Heavy Assaults on the battlefield.

It may be a hyperbole, though he isn't far off the truth...

Rather than nerfing the HA...

BUFF MY ENGINEER! BUFF THE ARCHER!

YEAH!

Engineers should have deployable cover.

Also the spitfire needs to be on a cooldown already.

Now for the Archer.......

They really need to decrease the chamber time from 2 seconds to 1 second.

According to developer notes, Heavy Assaults and Engineers are the two most common pure Infantry classes represented on the servers, about 25-30% both (they don't pilot a Vehicle within a certain amount of time after spawning or switching classes). I forget what order the other three classes were represented but I recall that MAXes were dead last, with an encounter rate of 6-7%, the only class with single digits.

Edit: if you take Vehicle drivers into account, Engineer is probably the most common class over-all.

Said it before ..

Shield or RL not both ..

The class will still be as good at Infantry combat as it is now ...
The class will still be as good at AV as it is now ...

Only difference being it's not as good at both at the same time ...



Also and cross class

Increase / ADD proper player momentum
Add a cooldown to Medi kits

last data i found for it
https://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside..._played_classes_ha_26_eng_20_infla_18_med_13/
"By playtime, last 90 days, not in vehicles:
• Heavy Assault: 26%
• Engineer 20.3%
• Infiltrator 18.2%
• Light Assault: 17.5%
• Medic: 13%
• MAX: 5%"

Thank you. I'll remember to round down by 5 whenever I next quote numbers for HA and Engineers.

Got to say, it's a weird day when I find I agree with you on something.

Rather face three HA then single invisible good for nothing wannabe hero

Time to buff flashlight, already colors of enlightened infiltrator is easy to oversee in bright cone of light.
Reduce brightness of flashlight or make them more visible when enlightened.

Yeah I love infiltrators

Personally I feel the issue is not really with the shield, but with a mix of shield and LMGs. Those weapons are vastly superior to most of assault rifles and carbines in many combat scenarios.
Then shield + ADADADA + 0.75 is definitely the killer combo in 1vs1.

I still feel a short shield ramp up is the way to go. It should take like 0,5-1 secs to activate.

HA aren't that problematic to deal with since they are straightforward. Good engineers, medics, and LAs are what keep things working, otherwise all sunderer a would be destroyed and choke points would be held forever, and nothing would get hacked or recon darted to make things easier.

HA is the simple to play class because you don't need to do anything but shoot stuff, that's you job and the expectation is to soak fire and return it.

HA is a winner in a 1v1 fight yes but as always the game isn't balanced for 1v1 fights.

as a HA only player, giving the HA the ability to class-morph would make it even more popular imho...I'm a great fan of the "no class, just max carry weight" system and this would make the HA very close to that (YAY!), but it would leave other classes with less options.
removing the RL would not stop the complaints, but it would be nice anyway! I'd really like to see a whole new AV class, the only one able to equip RLs and armed with AV primary weapons that could also deal little damage to infantry, just like the archer. HAs have 2 empire specific weapons types, while infiltrators have one and other classes have 0 lol. we should give every class an empire specific weapon type and see if that bunch of new mechanics helps the population to even-ize a bit.
I don't see the shield itself better than a jetpack at getting kills, it's the variety of HAs weapons that makes me use it. I mean, no other class has access to a chaingun or a lasher, that's why those two are my main weapons.

concerning the adad momentum, adding that would surely make 0.75 etc weapons worse, but it would also impact the effectiveness of those weapons that use good hipfire accuracy to compensate whit adad spam their lack of dps.

lasher, for example, makes use of its tremendously good hipfire CoF when dealing with stuff at close range, and being able to constantly damage the enemy (with AoE and aiming for the feet) while "nerfing" foe's dps with ADADA is the key to success. chaingun does this too with its ability to tighten or increase CoF size at will during fire, compensating for its weaker damage output past ~9 meters due to its fixed CoF. also, chaingun's ADS CoF has no variations if you crouch, stand still or move, making standind still while ADS totally useless. adding momentum would nerf this too.
the adadad momentum should only be added (if ever) to those weapons that we may find "problematic", in order to avoid unnecessary nerfing.

I like this idea. But also think a modified version of PS1's armor mechanic could be cool. Take away the over shield. And Let's say you actually give heavies a bit of armor, like legit max like armor. Just with much less durability. This would give them increased survivability in squad play, where they have friendly engies to repair there armor as it gets damaged. But take away there solo Rambo edge as there armor would be worn away eventually. Reducing them to just there regular shields and HP, like everyone else, not putting them at a disadvantage, just removing there advantage for being a unsupported heavy.

Just an idea. But IMO, planetside should be focusing on less Rambo-oriented gameplay. And IMO, they have done nothing but increase the heavies ramboness since release.

It's the unfortunate inevitability of making one class that is best at combat - in a game entirely about combat.

Sure - if you don't have any other classes around your team composition is arguably weaker for it (at least in some situations) but...
a) Most people are going to prefer someone else support them rather than the other way around, often to the point of there being little or no support.
b) Even an optimal composition (as it scales up) is going to be comprised of mostly HAs. You don't need a ton of medics, engineers or sensors to service a buttload of heavies.

Personally I just think the core design of the heavy is misguided. A class with an advantage at close-medium infantry fighting works as a role (even if that is a very broad role) but it's a mistake to also have the primary anti-vehicle role (land and air) on the same class.

Engineers would IMO make more sense as the rocketlauncher class (a choice between RL and repairgun as in the toolslot). In return HAs could be in charge of the ammo. Essentially all classes should be good at some aspect of combat and also have some worthwhile support utility. LAs are also kind of notable for not having any support utility that isn't directly combat-related, but at least they do something differently than other classes - not just better.

MAXes kind of fall into the same trap as they are essentially just super-heavies (they fill the same roles - they are just even stronger), but at least they have some limitation on their use (even if personally I think nanites are far too plentiful)

Something as basic as this isn't going to change at this stage of development though...
-Stigma