Hello. In the most recent update, a bug that allowed a player to revive through walls was fixed. This fix was reported as nonfunctional, but it actually was implemented correctly. However, it was only applied to rank 1 medic tools, which means it effectively does not exist except for new players. While this bugfix does prevent revive tethering, it does so in a way that utterly cripples the medic class. In this post I’ll break down what revive tethering is, its extremes, what the fix did, why its implementation is a serious mistake, and options for improvement. Revive Tethering: underlying mechanics and extremes Revive tethering is, technically speaking, an exploit. It’s also one every single person who’s played medic has used constantly to a minor degree. While we have a stance against openly discussing major exploits on this subreddit, revive tethering falls under the same category as wall jumping or Magrider launching. While not officially endorsed, these mechanics have become so normalized that it’s hard to call them exploits. There are two components to revive tethering, the first of which relates to line of sight. Once the medic tool is “hooked” onto a corpse to start the revive (or heal), the medic does not need to maintain line of sight and only needs to stay within the beam’s range (6 meters). This has the benefit of making revives more consistent and responsive, and allows skilled medics to dodge and reposition more effectively. The second component is where problems arise. Beam effects maintain their link to the recipient until the user lets go of the trigger even if the maximum range is temporarily exceeded. The link does not break once the six meter range is exceeded, even though the heal/repair/revive effects cease. This means that a revive beam can be hooked on a player and then sustained through multiple deaths and resurrections. Heal beams follow the same logic, and the engineer’s repair tool likewise sustains its connection after overheating. At its extreme, revive tethering allows a player to be remotely sustained by medics that are quite safe from harm. This outlier is clearly not intentional behavior or a mechanic that can be hand waved away, and it makes sense that this is being addressed at last. Heal tethering, while related, is not problematic. A medic tool heals at 150 hitpoints per second. An Orion fires a bullet every 80 milliseconds. In the time it takes an Orion to shoot its second bullet, the player heals 12 hitpoints. Heal tethering is a problem only in the sense that you’re not aiming well enough to kill that player, and you almost certainly wouldn’t kill them even if they did not have a pocket medic. The Fix The revised revive mechanic requires a player to maintain line of sight between their crosshair and the victim. The fix does stop revive tethering, but it comes with considerable downsides that I believe are crippling for medics. The problem with requiring sustained line of sight is that ANYTHING can break that sightline and interrupt the revive. And by anything I mean allies, enemies, your own body, infantry deployables, shielded doorways, railings, and other small objects that you find on the battlefield. Effects on Gameplay I played several sessions with a level 1 medic gun to get an idea of how the class plays with the tethering fix, and it was absolutely miserable. Hand reviving felt extremely inconsistent and frustrating, and I could not trust the revive tool to function when I needed it to work. Restarting the revive for a single player 3-4 times because of various minor interruptions feels awful, and I cannot see myself playing medic at all if this change is completely pushed to live. You can view the footage in the video linked in the next section. There were several instances where a player timed out waiting for the revive because I could not sustain line of sight due to allies stepping in the way. I could not move closer without being shot and killed. I could no longer dodge or move around to avoid incoming fire. Doing so risked breaking the sight line, and so I found myself forced to camp bodies. This meant that I became extremely vulnerable to snipers, grenades and other explosives if I wanted to play my class in its designed role. I stopped trying to revive players who died near or in doorways or away from cover. I could not justify the risk of dying as a medic to pick up someone out of position, given that I had no chance of dodging away and that the revive tool became so inconsistent. For a decade now, the medic class's skill ceiling has been based around positioning and the use of cover to revive allies while staying safe or forcing enemies to overextend to kill them. The best medics are the ones that stay alive in increasingly stressful situations, and this fix cripples their ability to do so. With this change, medics have their mobility stripped away. They're forced to camp on top of bodies, sit in the open, and remain stationary. There is no skill involved on the part of the medic, only a hope that the enemy lacks the skill to shoot an immobile or slowly moving target. Being revived will no longer rely on the medic's talent, and instead will be dependent on where the player died. Video Comparison: With and Without the Tethering Fix Varunda, a very competent medic main, has shared this video as a demonstration of how the class is used by skilled players. Also included are annotations of all the times a revive would not be possible thanks to the revised sight line mechanics. Here is my experience with the “fixed” medic gun, and you can easily see how unreliable the revive tool became. While the level 1 gun’s range is very poor, it cannot explain the terrible consistency of reviving players. Revive Spam While the ability of a medic to sustain a team can be problematic, fixing revive tethering does not improve this issue and instead will likely make it worse. Making hand reviving inconsistent and unreliable does slow down the rate at which medics can revive fallen allies, but there are much cleaner methods of solving this issue. Increasing the time taken to revive individual players or limiting the number of times a player can be revived would be far more effective solutions that do not rely on making core gameplay mechanics uncomfortable. This fix additionally does not address the far bigger problem with revives, which is revive grenade spam. Players are likely to rely less on unreliable revive tools for hand revives and will likely use revive grenades more often. Fighting against revive grenade spam is not fun, and encouraging their use further is not something the game needs. Alternatives This current anti-revive tethering fix solves the problem, but in the process cripples the medic class. Consider the following option instead: Break the tether once a revive is completed. This allows a single revive that is consistent and easy to execute, but does not permit chain reviving. This is how the original fix attempted in the September 16, 2022 PTS update was meant to work. Conclusion While it’s nice to see revive tethering finally being looked at, the current attempt to fix this degenerate mechanic makes the core mechanic of the medic class- hand reviving- unreliable and frustrating. For a decade now, medics have developed play styles based around only needing to maintain line of sight with the victim long enough to hook the revive, and this change utterly breaks that movement meta. The primary problem with revive tethering is the ability to repeatedly revive a player through a wall with only one action required, but this is not a problem that requires sacrificing the medic class’s main teamplay function. Early this year, community feedback was instrumental in stopping the release of implants that would have utterly compromised Planetside 2. You said it yourselves- “We have a test server. Thought it might be a novel idea to use it.” Work with us to iterate on a proper fix for revive tethering. After all, it’s why PTS exists.
why would they nerf the most needed class in the game? especially with a staple like tethering? you know what doesn't have this terrible nerf though? console
The fix is worse than the problem, way worse. If LOS was necessary to start a res but not maintain ressing, this wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem but would still be annoying. As it is rn with lvl1 heal it's virtually impossible to get revives in most situations without hugging downed friendlies. I'd rather see this change reverted entirely.
welcome to the club. you reddit goblins made flail targetting system nerfed for no reason because yall lack awareness to move out of the way for a mortar system that takes 8 seconds to actually reach its target now you try to paint targetted areas and it interrupts itself by saying target moved when the target never moved nor did the player, which in situations where you have a few seconds to paint the target before getting shot at and it gets interupted is as frustrating. construction neutered as well and we are having to deal with it with no fixes in sight. funny thing no one talks about the flail targeting laser now being so annoying to use as it doesn't work half the time and reddit didn't care, now they are malding that they have to actually get close to res when it effects their gameplay. as for the topic of this ****ter class, just give them defibulator physics instead where you go up to the body, click once, and the player is revived within the same amount of time as a maxed out res gun. that will fix the res through wall issue. the koolaid beam has no counterplay like flail complainers used as their point. medics can be behind a doorway wall corner and res the guy in the doorway with little to no repercussion. having to walk up to the player to revive them is a better way. this will also stop all the trashfits who exploit their way into ressing their entire squad on points
Hi all, just dropping by to say your feedback on this topic has been noted this week. I will share further updates if any become available. Thanks!
Nice that our feedback is been noted...but the massage is from 14.10!! How long they need to fix it? My motivation to play the game is now very low, and i think lots of main medics feels the same.
I think the announcement to reset the change of the medic is great, because it completely took away my desire to play the game. After 2 weeks after the announcement I slowly lost hope. That this will happen in the next few years, as many other bad patches have not been touched again. If they take months to do this now, many players will be irretrievably lost.
Yes, an announcement dont bring me back to the Game, and i think lots off main Medic Player feels the same. U can play a time Heavy or the never nerft Spy class, but this dosent help. We see what is on Wednesday, this Wednesday!
