Unnecessary Nerf of HA by Wrel?

We all know by now that the Heavy Assault has been nerfed. And I have a question: Was the Neft necessary? And could there have been a BETTER way to make the class less OP than other classes, if that is the case? And did the HA even deserve the ironically Heavy nerf that it got?

What makes you think that it was the work or Wrel?

Also the Nerf wasn't even that bad considering the recharge rate of the NMG and Adrenalin Shield got buffs to their recharge rate and a decrease in the amount of HP drained during activation.

I wasn't sure if it was Wrel who provided the numbers for the shield nerf, thats why there is a question mark. But thats not the point. Basicaly you're saying that the nerf had minimal effect on HA gameplay and class remain OP compared to other classes correct? This is why I am wondering if there are any other ways you can nerf the HA, so other classes could 1v1 HA and win 50% of the time assuming the same skill lvl of the two duelists, which should happen with good balance of all classes?

Considering how the vast majority of players play HA.. No, it needs to be stronger. HA needs to _not_ be the be all end all class they _need_ a trade off somewhere.

I don't know whether you could call it a straight up 'nerf' I think it was more of a rework.

Before the change, HA's had a huge advantage but only for the first engagement that you had.
Now, they have a smaller advantage but it's available to utilise more often.

It makes HA gameplay more paced.

If you're talking about the resist shield.... then the change is barely noticeable. The reduction in % damage resistance translates to 1 less bullet for most weapons which is pretty much negligible and the buff to duration is also negligible as its uptime was sufficient before the change anyway.

It's not that I think that the nerf had a minimal effect, it's that I don't think that it was a "Heavy nerf" as you put it. Though the HA still has a noticeable advantage over other classes it's simply not as large as it was. I honestly I don't think there is any way to make the other classes able to compete with the HA on even terms in a 1v1 situation with out removing the HA's overshield or significantly changing it.

The Devs chickened out. You call that a nerf?

Its in a better place than before

WTF? Let me try using your logical fallacy in another way.

Are the recent string of prepubescent child molestations related to SpartanLazer's alleged mental issues? I don't know -- that is why there is a question mark.

Or better yet: This link will sort you out.


Your Thread pretty much falls under this.

*Looks at Thread* *Requests lock for so many obvious reasons, that I start to think about life."

HA is in a pretty good place now, and as a Resist/ASC player, I actually feel like I got a buff. But let's be real here. NMG and Adren shield were a crutch. They needed the nerf. The fact that you could take an HA completely by surprise and all he'd have to do is press F, spin around, and kill you was pretty ********.

Only bad HAs got nerfed with the rework.

It's not much of a nerf really. Resist shield barely lost any effectiveness and now lasts forever. NMG lost a fair amount of HP but recharges SO much faster so it's a lot more usable beyond the first single engagement.

I think the problem with HA is that there isn't really a downside/trade-off. It's a master of all trades and a jack of none. It has good guns with tons of ammo and large magazines. It has anti-vehicle/MAX/air capability with a rocket launcher AND can still heal itself with health kits. Then on top of all that it has shields which make it more durable than any class other than MAX. Despite all that a HA can move at the same speed as other infantry just by turning off its shield.

Remove just one of those factors and it would be a lot more balanced IMO. If it was up to me I would have them move a bit slower at all times (since they are HEAVY assaults), like halfway between a MAX and normal infantry. Just my 2 cents.

an NMG/AS + Nanoweave HA still has 1750 HP and a RS-HA has 1667hp: do you really want to tell me that you loose 50% of the time to 1000 or 900hp players in 1o1?
the HA is still my last ditch scenario class when i cant get what i want with infil for LA and then the HA still works pretty fine for me. The nerf wasnt really a nerf. Having your shields back faster than before is an upgrade and you can still take a lot more damage than other classes.
So if you cant kill other classes 1o1 while playing HA i have bad news for you....

And so the hate campaign against Wrel begins!

Anyway, it's stupid to put this at the feet of Wrel, or "blame" him for anything. All the things that happen are in the end are done by the developers, Wrel is just one part of that dev team now.

As for the Heavy shield nerf. There were other options which relied on gameplay and meta changes so that the Heavy was less capable of functioning on par or better than any other class regardless of the situation he got in.
The current solution was a quick one, it wasn't the best but it was better than leaving the Heavy in it's position. The nerf didn't invalidate the class as a whole, and it only increased the skill that Heavies required to stay alive during ambushes (or if you are bad, in direct combat).

I don't really see everyone's problem with HA. It *should* be the go-to infantry class. The alternative is a zombie horde of constantly rezzing medics with infinite engineer ammo and even more mines everywhere as those 2 classes would spike from support/indoor to general purpose.

Shield being a bit of a 'get out of jail' move is semi lame bit that's just the class. A harasser shouldn't be taking on a prowler head on, likewise a LA can't expect an easy time of walking up to a heavy. They should be using flankery to get the jump.

But getting the jump itself is not a free kill vs a heavy since they can shield, turn and fight back if they're on the ball. Often they're not, occasionally they are. That's the game.

Wanting to nerf them to where they are engineers with a rocket launcher instead of an ammo pack is not the way to go.

Except the Medic Apocalypse didn't happen. I called it too a couple of months ago. But the shield nerf wasn't enough. What I have seen is more LA's being used. I didn't quite expect that, but its a welcome sight.

all classes should be the go-to infantry class! At the end of the day, all classes should be equally viable and usable.
The alternatives you name shouldn't exist either. A simple, good mix of all classes should be the norm, anywhere.

I blame Wrol........ Wrel's Evil Twin!


To be honest what I think mostly resulted in the HA nerf was the significant rise of scripting (take fire, auto-shield, auto-spam medikit, auto-turn toward nearest enemy), although why they didn't just put a proper hard cool down on medikits first I dunno.

Really? Because last time i check i still can't OHK a heavy with my ghost and i still can't kill him with two body shot, but i heard they have their shield regen faster now.
Can i have a nerf like that for my infitrator, 0.5 less cloack for 3 sec regen speed...

Are you sure that so much stuff does exists and was/is used by people ? I mean, it seems to require time spent at coding, time spent at getting accustomed at using those. I'm not sure that so many people are able to do this. But perhaps i'm wrong.