Players could do with a little encouragement and a handy ability at BR50 might help. Each empire has a specific ability each with benefits and a downside along with a ten minute cooldown. TR: Republic Auto-reload Support System. R.A.S.S. Lasts 10 seconds.10 minute cooldown. Pro: Limitless clip size. Using nanites replenish. Rain ammo on the enemy in true TR style. Con: Clip size is halved the the next 5 seconds on all weapons after ability wears off. NC: Blood For Glory. B.F.G. Lasts 10 seconds.10 minute cooldown. Pro: Double damage. Using your armours systems that keep you alive boost weapon damage. Freedom always has a cost. Con: HP is halved for the next 5 seconds after ability wears off. VS: Overload Charge Distribution. O.C.D. Lasts 10 seconds.10 minute cooldown. Pro: 25% Shield penetration. Overclocking your shields to up the power to weapons. Lets see what it can do. Con: Shield halved for the next 5 seconds after ability wears off. These are one passive ability unlock earned from reaching BR50. A gratz you got half way to 100, keep going. Sort of deal. Utility at a cost for the player to make of what they will. Not available when using a MAX suit. Does not affect certain weapons: Shotguns, bolt action rifles, rocketlaunchers, c4, grenades, mines, TRAP, Railjack, Phaseshift, jackhammer. Was just a thought I had while at work. 9 hours on till can leave you with time to daydream and ponder. Comments welcome.
First, the options don't provide equivalent power. The nc ability is extremely strong, while the vs ability is near useless and the tr ability is only moderately useful. For the vs ability, say you deal 667 damage to a full health/shields target. 167 damage penetrated the shield and was dealt to your target's health, while 500 damage was dealt to the shield. At this point, your target has 333 health and no shields, so another 333 damage will kill him. Overall, you dealt 1000 damage and killed someone with 500 health and 500 shields. Aren't you glad you burned a 10min cooldown? The TR ability is better, but it is still rather weak. Large magazines don't help if you die/are forced into cover after a couple of seconds of shooting. Also, some tr lmgs can nearly fire for 10s or more without reloading anyway. I guess it would have some value as a panic "oh ****, I was caught reloading" button, but that isn't nearly as valuable as double damage. Also, I don't think they'd be that fun for either side. Individual people wouldn't be able to use them often enough to really enjoy them, and dying to the nc ability would feel terrible. Dying because the other guy pressed a button and dealt double damage isn't fun. HA overshield causes enough complaints, and this would be worse.
Butt VS already has ES power. /s On serious note, imho anything that needs more than 1m cooldown to be balanced belongs to RPGs, same as anything that need high BR to unlock.
I see what you did there OP, with the acronyms and I like them. B.F.G and O.C.D fine but shouldn't the TR one be A.R.S.S. (Auto Reload..........)? The idea of faction differences appeals to me but aren't these suggestions really just extensions of current faction traits - more dakka, more damage per shot and charge up feature? If that is the underlying principle of the suggestion, then fine. But I'd be more interested in something genuinely different and new. I'm a bit lost for ideas myself but maybe some kind of faction specific ability that unlocks above a certain BR? LIke errr... short hover ability for VS LA (like, they go up and there is a short pause before they fall down again, when they can shoot with normal CoF) frangible ammo for TR Heavy (misses/ricochets shatter and do a bit of AoE damage) Strengthened rear armour for NC to reduce TKs...No? OK then, how about a cluster munition alternative to Bouncing Betty that scatters bomblets doing a bit less damage but over a wider area? As you can tell, these are not entirely serious or thought-out ideas but I felt I should at least try to make this a constructive response rather than just be thought of as criticising OPs ideas.
People aren't thinking: This is the most OP ability. Step 1: Equip Decimator. Step 2: activate RASS. Step 3. Unleash decimation.
Step1: Equip Decimator Step2: activate BigF***kingGun Step 3: Unleash decimation. Hawk: 1shot ESF Decimator: OS MAXes etc etc...
ES abilites could be a lot of fun, though I'd go with class-specific since it's easier to balance over a global ability. Make it so that each faction not only plays differently, but is different to go up against as well. Take infil for example: TR - Marksman Proper military training comes into focus. While active reduces CoF and recoil for all guns by X%. Forgoes invisibility on the frailest class to increase the ability to land headshots with dakka weapons as per the TR way. NC - Adrenaline Cloak An adaptation of HA technology for brawling infils. Longer recharge than standard cloak, but headshot kills will instantly recover X% of ability energy and shield strength. Ideal for infils that want to work up close and personal. VS - Aberration Cloak Cloak for close-range misdirection rather than infiltration. 100% invisible even while taking fire, no fade time, and minimal cloaking sound, but only lasts 1.5 seconds, recharges after Xs (5-10?). A cloak that lets the infiltrator be a ghost on the battlefield that phases in and out. Possibly hilarious when paired with knives and an enemy Sunderer. I'd certainly be a fan of radically different stuff for the factions. It's fun to think about, at least.
