if c4 is gonna be their only team play item, i suggest it costs less for LA to use and acquire (at least the first) upgrades, 200 to become useful to the team? when everyone else already starts with their team play items, only a little unfair but its hard for the blossoming LA player in a group. hell, maybe even take away the whole resources thing(or reduce it) for LA only so it resuplys like the nade launcher. take it away from the heavy too so that its just a tool like the medical aplicator that takes the utility slot? as drastic as it sounds, it makes LA really a viable team player even if you are not the squad leader. this is the only way i see them getting an actual unique role other than the epic jetpacks. currently i don't see any heavys using c4 anyway-.- just a thought... makes more sense than a couple other ideas iv seen so far. the only problem i see with it is c4 spam, which would suck for maxes so it would need a nerf against them which would enrage the LA population that loves max hunting, mabey reduce it to only half dammage for them so that it takes 2 to kill? idk, i dont balance things, but i try. TL;DR c4=LA tool after rework, thoughts?
What about the 'demolitions expert' class, aka the Engineer. Changing C4 to be LA only would leave them standing in the rain, don't you think?
You don't need to take C-4 away from other classes, the cost should be lowered for the Light Assault Class. Engineer's Anti-Tank Mines cost 100 certs, and are widely viewed as the Engineer's main "role" aside from repairing/resupplying. Light Assault's should get ranks 1 and 2 of C-4 for 100 and 250 certs respectively.
If I play dedicated Light Assault for an hour, I normally burn through 10-20 C4, and have to play conservatively, and mostly Heavy, to refill it, in around double the time. Even when i get 600 XP for a tank kill or Sunderer, it feels like a waste of resources. Killing a MAX? Well, he didn't pay any more than you did, so it's a wash.
Too much of a bandaid for the class. Having a lowered cost for something that is still available for everyone is not special and it doesn't give the class anything team oriented or specialized. Here are some working ideas to help buff the LA: Adrenaline Pump needs to be a constant passive for the class. Keep it certable, maybe increase the cert cost to 100 or 200, but once you unlock it, it needs to be a passive benefit that does not occupy a slot. A new certable passive ability will be introduced that allows a LA to count as 2 or 3 people on a cap point. Again, this is minor, but puts emphasis on the "storm trooper" role that LA should have, get in and get out quickly. Combined with passive Adrenaline Pump, you now have a class with the fastest run speed and fastest capture ability. Replace C4 with a specialized "det pack" that is more powerful than C4 and cheaper. Allow the LA to carry up to 5 of these at once. The det pack can be used like a traditional C4, but can also instantly destroy generators due to its power (balancing point would be 2 det packs to kill a shield generator, all 5 are required to kill an SCU, which means a LA would need to take the time to place 5 individual explosives, giving defenders a chance to counter it). It can kill a Phalanx turret with one det pack. It can be placed on jump pads and teleporters and used to destroy those (same XP reward as destroying a generator). It can also be "wired" to vehicles and terminals, so that it would detonate upon enemy usage of those objects. If you found an unoccupied vehicle, you could sabotage it silently, so that instead of blowing it up and letting the nearby owner know someone was around, you go unnoticed and they die when they try to drive their vehicles. Same for terminals. The balancing point would be that the charge is visible, so you give an aware enemy the chance to catch it ahead of time. Allow Engineers to be able to remove it by holding E on it (they should have this ability for C4 as well) instead of shooting it and causing it to explode. The idea here is that you put emphasis on the LA as being a quick, devastating assault class based around sabotage and demolition. You can get into bases, run around faster, cap points faster, have the capability to destroy generators without waiting for the arm timer, have the ability to instantly take out a Phalanx turret to help soften defenses for your team, can annoy the defenders by breaking jump pads and teleporters they own, can sabotage terminals and vehicles. This way, you avoid removing C4 from everyone else, but you give the LA a very versatile and specialized explosive option instead of C4. And in future game updates or patches, SOE can now consider adding more unique targets that only a LA can destroy, maybe even in the future we would see destroyable base walls and stuff.
I think you should be able to pick up C4 after placing it. It's a real pain when you don't quite get the C4 on a vehicle and you just have to look at it there, a waste of your 100 inf resources...
I did originally come up with a long, eloquent reply to your post... but honestly, most of the ideas are unnecessary and imbalanced (read: overpowered). There are many ways we can individualize the class, but most of that doesn't suit. I understand and agree with the intention behind your changes, but the Light Assault class is incredibly solid as it is. You've reinvented the class in a way that will not just make the individual extremely powerful, but will also disrupt the whole flow of battle that PlanetSide 2 is building everything else around. 1 Light Assault makes it to a generator, drops it instantly with 1 (of his 5 available) det packs, then runs to the SCU and drops it instantly with another one of his now 4 available det packs. Effectively stopping all enemy reinforcements, while simultaneously capping the base at an increased rate. Any of that sound a little off to you?
^ That. I am not in favor of removing the C4 from other classes. However, I do believe C4, if it is to be the LA's utility tool, needs to be made more accessible to LA's. Personally, I'd like to see an option to get EMP grenades / flash grenades etc on multiple classes, but with barriers of entry that are a little higher than the default class. (Eg, 200 certs for EMP's on infil's, 300 on LA, 200 for flash nades on LA, 300 on infil's) But, on the topic of C4, if a class's tool is to be a tool most classes can access, if that barrier for entry is the same as with all the other classes, it is effectively a step down. Light Assault is my core class, and I have made several videos about how to do LA stuff. I have had to deliberately avoid attacking tanks except for filming reasons as a rule of thumb because I do not have enough C4 to kill sunderers and aircraft AND tanks. If you fight on a continent your team does not hold dominance on (meaning a continent you may actually be needed on) your infantry resource income will be slashed dramatically. I do not make enough infantry resources to afford enough C4 to kill every tank I see. In fact, I get so little that I as a rule do not allow myself to destroy enemy tanks - only sundy spawns and the occasional enemy aircraft to keep the battlefield free of enemy air-to-ground bombardments. I do not even play with grenades most of the time, though once in a while the auto-resupply thing picks one up for me. I am required not to use grenades or attack enemy tanks if I wish to have enough C4 to destroy priority targets such as deployed sunderers. If I am required not to destroy tanks that are attacking my teammates, by a mechanic that is my class's utility ability, we have a problem here. C4 either needs to be free for Light Assaults, or significantly lowered in infantry resource price, or LA's need to be given another utility. It is bad enough that a LA is asked for 700 certs simply to be allowed two C4 to attack an enemy sunderer. My "mobility" is pointless as a threat to tanks if I have no ability with which to damage them. Even attacking only enemy sunderers, I am still scraping together infantry resources just to get by, and still am denied the use of grenades. *sits on a street corner and holds up a cardboard sign* Will pledge unyielding loyalty and vanquish the enemies of your empire for infantry resources = (
if it didnt cost resources and had a lower cert cost, i dont see a need for any other tool. like medics without an upgraded medic gun, light assaults without certs into c4 would be wanted on the squads, just not as much. that would also solve the whole not being able to pick c4 up thing wouldnt matter as much. although, takeing it away from heavys is a good idea to me, we dont need them with any more explosives. its kinda pointless. mabey for attacking ams sunderers but they can do that nearly safely at range with that launcher of theirs. just a thought i forgot engies could cert into it too, but they can actually use it well so it seems like some may need it for their playstyle my main problem with c4 was that even in beta it was really expensive and really hard to get for LA, i usually played infiltrator because atleast then i could pretend to be an asset to my team. (obvious refund of some of the certs if it is to be lowered)
C4 is over rated TBH. Not really sure why people put so much stock into something that is probably the single slowest method of killing enemies. It can take out a sunderer, so can a tank or an engineer with anti-tank mines. I really hate anti-tank mines by the way.
At this point, I'd honestly just settle for a worthwhile mobility boost. Passive, certable, or both. It wouldn't be overpowered considering it has no bearing in a gunfight, but it'd sure as hell be handy. Currently Adrenaline boost is well. Sad, to say the least. It's an extremely minor boost that only pays off if you literally run from base to base, all the time, and even then it's very minor. Consdering how unrealistic it is that someone in this game would rationally decide to run everywhere. The current Adrenaline boost increase should be passive and you should be able to cert into further increases in maneuverability and fall damage reduction/maximum safe drop height. Considering the plethora of tools available to most classes, I don't think this is asking for the world.
