So before we start I'll state that I am a TR main and this is more of a gripe regarding class design than anything else. I have played many hours across all three factions and whilst I don't enjoy Max play terribly, I have still given enough hours into it to have an opinion. Firstly; the incoming buff to the NC Max is slightly worrying. I don't think they are in a great spot, but I worry that we may see them being overbuffed and be in for a period of fine tuning. This however isn't really my main concern. I feel that the Empire Specific abilities for the classes are just not balanced at all. The NC Max gets the Aegis Shield, which allows it to avoid big chunks of damage or small amounts as it advances to effective weapons range. They can also be used for friendly combatants to hide behind which is useful for pocket engineers. There is a synergy between the ability and the weapon set. The VS Max gets the Overdrive ability, which allows it to walk into a room and mow down everything. Sometimes it can be a case of blink and you miss it with the rate at which these things can kill. Stack them with a rep nade and a pocket engineer and you're in business. Now the TR Max gets the special ability of standing still, sorry, Lockdown. This just feels so much weaker. The buffs don't make up for the fact that the COF is still fairly wide and that the Max is now a stationary target. What is this AI Max meant to be about? It definitely isn't an offensive Max like the NC and VS variants as it's ability is not designed for attacking, but as a defensive ability it is lacking as it makes the Max an easy target and is still inaccurate. I'd rather see the TR MAX either get tighter COF on their weapons to be more accurate at range (as presumably that's what they are about) or have the Lockdown come with an extra level if damage mitigation. Maybe throw in 360 rotation to increase the stationary turret vibe. I look forward to seeing what the rest of you think.
one thing about ZoE, you say it lets VS maxes mow down a room, but in reality it just grants them a movement buff and a rather hefty defense nerf. the damage increase is 10%, Blueshift, Cosmos and Nebula all deal 143 dmg by default (7 shot kill.) with ZoE it gets boosted up to 157 dmg (which is still a 7 shot kill.) Quassar deals 167 dmg by default (6 shot kill), and with ZOE it becomes 183 dmg (still a 6 shot kill.) so if anything its a placebo, since the max should already by able to mow a room down (or a whole base with 224 rounds of Cosmos ) where ZoE is useful is for buffing AA/AV output a little bit. you can knock a couple of seconds off the TTK an ESF with bursters if you have ZoE active but anyway lets talk TR! i agree with you that its generally not very good to use lockdown for AI work, unless you have a premade squad built around it so you can just set up at the top of a staircase, knowing that you have repairs/ammo and your back is covered. but if you do get one of those situations then it is incredibly powerful, grab a pair of pounders and you're spamming an endless stream of high damage splash death. or grab something like Onslaughts and you're hurling 1,476 RPM of limb-shredding lead down upon your enemy. but where lockdown really shines is for AA/AV duty, the velocity buff makes landing long range shots with bursters/Fractures a breeze, and the RoF increase offers a substantial DPS boost over VS/NC. lockdown bursters let you hassle ESFs in a different hex! or absolutely chew up ones that are close to you. imho if i could chance Lockdown i wouldn't do much, all i'd do is give them the ability to crouch while locked down so they can take cover for reloads or if you see a round incoming.
I'll accept that Lockdown is great utility for dealing with vehicles and air, though standing still still makes you an easy target for AP etc, however I was more focussed on AI. It still comes back to the faction flavour of more bullets, less damage. If you are nailing your shots, then great but when the weaponry comes at a cost of COF bloom per shot then you are going to be bursting to reset. With the bullet spread already fairly wide, using TR AI weapons at range is literally hit and miss, they aren't strong enough to perform consistently at range On the subject of using Pounders, they are completely meh for AI. They were not designed for AI so the splash damage is negligible and the direct damage poor. Maybe with a HS multiplier we would be in a good spot here but that is not the case. Again I think that the TR AI Max is a level below its counterparts. It has a defensive tool which doesn't sync well enough with the AI weaponry and that weaponry isn't good enough in itself to compete in an offensive sense.
