Class Balance - Wrel, Koolaid, and Youngblood

PS2 isn't a mix of the two, it's just flat-out Game B. Game B means roles are determined by loadout choices. Game B doesn't mean every class necessarily has access to a loadout for filling every possible role.

PS1 wasn't like Game A at all. Game A means roles are determined by class choice. PS1 didn't even have classes! You had a cert build which determined your available loadouts (after which it was similar to Game B, where your loadout choices determine your role.)

One thing we agree on is that SOE never had a clear vision for MAXes' roles indoors. Which is weird since as I mentioned before plenty of games have done tanky/brawler archetypes before and it's always balanced by having a reasonably low damage output.

Regarding the business model, PS2 definitely makes things worse on a new player than PS1 did. With multiple new characters in PS1 I would spend 10 minutes in VR getting to BR4, then immediately be on even footing with every other player in the game within the limited roles I had unlocked. There wasn't a bunch of vertical progression stuff making high-BR players stronger than me (as there is with Nanoweave, NMG ranks, scopes, etc.) The worst there was was that I'd have to reach BR6 (in a couple paltry hours of play) in order to get my first implant Personal Shield, at which point the remaining vertical progression (Surge implant at BR12) was fairly unimportant. I was able to take those fresh BR4s against some of the best players in the game and win fights against them, which would be much harder in PS2 with its vertical elements.

So the better model is more like TF2 or LOL, where you're becoming more flexible, but not more powerful. In PS2 terms this means starting with a max-rank thing in every slot, but having plenty of other slot items that are worth unlocking in order to try out new playstyles (much like how you start with free champions in LoL which aren't in any way disadvantaged, but that you need to play the game a ton or spend money to unlock new playstyles.)

It's true PS2 isn't the worst offender in terms of vertical progression, but that doesn't change the fact that any amount of vertical progression harms PVP quality. The amount of verticality determines the amount of harm done.

Vehicles are the same as PS1: the dominant lifeform outdoors. Which is perfectly fine in the above model where all new players start with a competitively-viable loadout, but play (or pay) to unlock new loadouts. The idea extends just as well to new vehicles, which would offer new (but balanced) playstyles.

- Most powerful ability, possibly along with IWINSHIELD, HA shield, etc
-Easy? Not even close
- The time it takes to get a Max up was fine before but now it is painful how long it is.
-It does not trump skill, in fact it rewards it more than anything
- Necromancers.... sweet
You forgot the part where nerfing medics nerfs a HUGE portion of the teamplay aspect of the game. There needs to be something to encourage more people to run Engineer/Medic and help out the team instead of being kill ******.

Pistols don't have a TTK fast enough to beat the Shield activation gap, especially when the HA had Nano5 on top.
(and don't say "shoot them in in the head only"... that might be "easy" for you to do. But it's not easy for the rest of us, especially when most HA's never stop sprinting and weaving unless it's to ADS).

HA is literally a Soloing anomaly in a Team/Class based MMO. Their entire TTK numbers & balance is based around 1v1's as in they are not supposed to lose 1v1's to anyone of equal skill. This is the weirdness with all of PS2's combat infact. Every single clip and TTK is designed around finishing a 1v1 duel without needing to reload or even switch to a secondary. It's very confusing for a game that is supposed to not just be team based, but infact Squad or even Platoon based. In that regard, this video really hit on something relevant and important to PS2's core narrative. Meanwhile whenever I play my HA against infantry I just get bored instantly b/c the kills are too easy. Especially when I pop the shield before ADS'ing. In that regard medic Bloodmoor BoneSpirit Necro is a lot more fun and lively with its ADADAD regen dance instead.

Who's talking about pistols? lol

I guess it's part of the holistic conversation or something.
This whole video infact spent a good deal of time talking about over-versatility of specific classes in the sense that it left other classes like the Light Assault especially (probably b/c Youngblood set the tone there and that's what he plays for infantry) to a different degree for different reasons: Infiltrator and Engineer also really lack a dynamic role once they enter the tight confines of any base where the Capping Point is always surrounded by a convoluted maze with 2 ways into every single corridor. It's relevant because pistols are perfect for silencing and the Knife as well is supposed to be a good damage supplemental for CQC. ...Yet the Shield in its current state can completely invalidate both of those weapons way too easily. So you literally can't talk about HA's being balanced if you don't exclude a large portion of CQC tactics required for weaker classes to compete with them on DPS. And if not DPS, then atleast on raw tactical element of maintaining the elevement of surprise with silenced Off-hands.

Why Off-hands? B/c that's the entire argument about the HA's balance.... It can purchase (esp in VS variants I'm sure you've exploited to great effect) Guns that are nearly on-tier with AR's, with even bigger Clips, and use them just as effectively in the field as they do in-doors. Yet the rest of us are expected to run to a weapons terminal every time the combat environment changes even a little bit. If off-hands and the knife weren't countered at all by the quick-shield (and they won't be, sooon), then the overall versatility for all other classes would go up a little. I'm not happy that it will make SMG's even better. But that's something that can be fixed soon enough too.

Whenever i get shot in the rear and go down to an infiltrator, shield up i now wonder where my OP auto iWin shield" is

thanks forumside...

well hope you cleared things up with that TIW guy, gotta apologize quickly because people love c4ing tanks for accidental TKs.