For some time, I’ve been one of the handful of folks (Well maybe more than a handful) that believe the HA to be the most over powered infantry class in the game. But after a good amount of thinking and listening/reading other people’s opinions, could it just be that those who think it to be OP are the ones who folks more on *kill, kill, kill* rather than to do what needs to be done to take a base? Are those same people who complain the ones who choose not to play a engi when the time is necessary? Or back off of the killage and do more of the healage as a medic? Being one of those folks, I’ve noticed that. I play Planetside 2 for the hell of it. The only time I play super cooperatively is when I’m in a platoon, and even then I tend to stick to one class. (Which if you look at my NC profile would be the light assault for the most part.) It’s starting to feel like some people are forgetting that each class holds a role of it’s own on the battlefield. Not every class is meant for upfront killing. That’s the HA. When someone gets killed by a HA, they call it BS. But they never think that the HA is just playing it's role in the battle. A Killing Machine. You can argue that LA's are just the same, but they're more meant for uncloaked stealth, to out maneuver other classes to either kill or place a spawn beacon for their troops to drop at. When I first started playing Planetside 2, I believed the Light Assault was the main infantry class. Why? Because of the blur trailer that was made years ago. After watching the trailer repeatedly, I finally figured out that the light assaults were not at all meant to be the main foot soldiers in the game. The soldiers waiting for the beacon up above in the pods are indeed the main foot soldiers. If you look closely at the video you can tell that the trooper sitting in the pod is the “default NC heavy assault.” (Although he’s wearing a full helmet of course.) I think it’s confusing to some, because Heavy Assaults come off as more of mini-boss battles than the shooting gallery bots that you see in COD. Some people expect the main infantry in the game to take less shots to kill nowadays, when it comes to a game with a large amount of classes. It’s somewhat hard to come to an agreement on these sort of things. I compare a heavy assault to a thicker and heavier version of the Engineer in the Battlefield Series, only because they both carry rocket launchers. They just have too much at their disposal. But that’s the point I suppose. Lol, if that all seemed sporadic I apologies. I’m just trying to say, as a single player I’ve come to terms with the HA combat abilities in-game. Why should you care? Well you shouldn’t. Or, I mean. If you’ve read up to this point then you must care some of a bit. These are only my thoughts. And I’m not trying to start a harsh debate or anything. What are your thoughts?
What does it take to capture/defend a base? 1: move through a base towards an objective. Due to the nature of most objectives you will encounter a lot of resistance while moving there. You can circumvent this by using an LA or Infil to get there, but then you have the next point: 2: overloading generators (if any) or capturing points. Which means you need to walk up to it and then keep defending it while it overloads/starts base capture. Defending is best done with the HA, who has great DPS and sustainability with the LMG, good extra damage capabilities with a rocketlauncher and a shield for extra health to survive longer and be capable of defending longer than other classes. 3: possibly defend yourself against vehicles. The HA has the rocketlauncher which, coupled with his LMG and shield, allow him to be excellent in all infantry tasks of PS2 at the same time. Everyone has a role, but not all those roles are as useful. If we got things that require more stealth and agility to take out, like small security consoles that control advantages for the defenders until destroyed, then the HA would be less suited (has to fight through a bunch of enemies) and quick LA/infil strikes would be better.
Speaking as someone who plays whatever class seems most useful in a particular battle I must say I was very pleased to read this post. It reflects my own view quite well. HA is a killing class, pure and simple. There may be a debate about whether or not they are too good at what they do but I see HAs getting mowed down in large numbers during big battles (happens to me as well when I play HA). The best counter to an HA is an enemy HA frankly and if you are another class and you find yourself up against one then you should expect to be in big trouble. I think that certain HA exploits, like chugging insta-heal med kits while overshield is up ought to be dealt with but I am convinced these are exploitative behaviours and not originally envisaged (a bit like C4 used as flying bombs to kill infantry) - legal but a great shame (in my opinion). There have been some sensible suggestions about reducing the incentive to play HA e.g. making them slower and more exposed to fire as a result, changing the way med kits work or not allowing medkits if you have an overshield etc. But the flip side is what about increasing the incentive to play other classes? Medic and LA in particular?Any number of suggestions get posted but it is not an easy thing to address. If I'm not mistaken your post is about encouraging people to play a mix of classes to achieve a goal. So, rather than focus on attributes of individual classes perhaps we should talk about setting up bases in ways that mean just killing defenders isn't enough? Having to destroy generators to bring down shields in some bases is a good example but I'm not sure how else design might be changed to encourage the use of light assault, for example.
I know you can come to terms with an enemy HA by shooting him until he's dead. That plan's rarely failed me.
My opinion on what you stated is that you had an epiphany. The most dangerous heavy is the prepared one. Either he knows where you are, or knows trouble is coming and has dug in somewhere. In most 1 on 1 engagements with any other class, the heavy comes out on top. And yes that is what everyone focuses on... the one on one engagement. The 0.60-1.0s duel. And when they complain about heavies winning.. they are going off the assumption (intentional or not) that a 12v12 fight is Twelve 1 on 1 fights. That couldn't be further from the truth. As you've come to terms with. For every heavy that kills someone. There's a medic to revive. For every heavy, there's an engineer who killed 2-3 people with AI mines. For every heavy there's an infiltrator that opened up a new spawn point or put down sensors to see the approach. Of course there are more heavies than those classes individually. But if HA's were so OP, why wouldn't there be more heavies than all the other classes combined? If the medics are there to heal the heavy, engies to resupply them, and infils to spot for them. Why don't they make up 7-9 of the squad? Next time you're in a squad and fighting primarily infantry, take a look at the squad's loadouts. I have done exactly that and its usually mostly Engies and Medics. In fact I've seen more Infils and LA's than Heavies. Don't get me wrong, Heavies have their place. I've seen 12 HA's in a squad when we needed to Gal drop on a sundy. 12 Decimater shots usually does the trick. Its not as simple as supporting the heavy assault. Thats not the primary role of the 'support' classes. They are there to kill too. Maybe not in the same way as a Heavy. But they can do it. Medics get the Assault Rifle, Engies get mines, turrets, and Carbines. The heavy that comes around the corner to a group of engies and medics with his shield up is a dead heavy. Use a heavy if you want kills. Use something else if you want to win. There's no stat tracker that tracks squads. But in my experience, the squads that get VPs and take continents do so by using everything but the Heavy in most situations. Heavy's aren't fast or flexible enough. They are the Rangers and Hunters of Planetside 2. Everyone plays them, but nobody wants them.
Yes deal with it... because we are coming. Forever. See my new HA below with its mighty HA Shield of Death. Deal with it puny human sub-creatures.
Im going to say with certainty that everyone knows the heavy assault role and most dont have an issue with that in particular Its really just how well they do it
