Heavy Assault, defend thyselves

I've said it like ten times before and I'll say it again: The problem of HA isn't its AI or AV effectiveness; the problem lies in the fact that it is effective at both at the same time.

For all non-MAX classes, the overall best AI class is HA and the overall best AV class is HA, and to top it off the said HA is the overall best at AI and AV at the same time.

Make them choose. Force HAs to either take the rocket OR the shield.

That was the day that I decided to play Orion Heavy, and you know what? They were right..
I am now playing Cyclone Heavy for NC, and I thought Orion Heavy was OP, oh the lulz this cyclone brings me..

i could go for that, its a far better suggestion then pick rocket or LMG only.

Rocket or shield. I like that. It might actually bring some balance to the Force.

And lol to whomever suggested that C4 is an appropriate counter to an HA. What are HAs now, MAX suits? Now that would be OP, if I had to drop 75 nanites every time I wanted to kill a 0 nanite unit. Although, the way it stands, you practically HAVE to drop C4 to whack a shielded HA, and they do trigger that shield on a whim. Had a friendly pop his shield against me just because he saw me. Wasn't even a conscious decision. Pure reflex.

jeez, it's simple.

Heavy's abilities are:
-LMG, good for longer ranges due to lower damage drop than carbines and good ammo capacity, good for defending.
-Warden
-Overshield
-rocketlauncher

Engineer:
-Repair gun for vehicles, MAX's, turrets. The only thing that can safely disarm AV mines without them exploding.
-deployable turret AV or AI. AV is great, AI can actually solo a MAX if placed correctly.
-ammo resupply
-Warden
-AV mines
-most AI mines and most C4 available of all classes

Medic:
-Heal/revive gun with unlimited capacity
-can revive an entire squad with one revive grenade
-AOE heal/deployable AOE shield regen
-has assault rifles

infiltrator:
-access to different scout/sniper rifles
-stealth module
-recon darts/motion sensor
-AI mines
-hacking turrets

Light Assault:
-Jetpack/drifterpack


For anyone who didn't understand. The reason why the Heavy has all these things is because every class (except the LA) has access to multiple class abilities, only a few of these abilities aren't unique across classes and shared with another class (such as AI mines). No one complains about the infinite repair and ammo of the engineer (well, a few do). There are complaints about the Medics infinite revive ability, as well as his revive grenades. The infiltrator has an incredible boon in his stealth and weapon access etc.

If anything, the only thing we should wonder is why the LA doesn't have more abilities. The LA is good, it can do tremendous damage because it can fly/hover around. It's one of the reasons it's so good against tanks with C4. But that's still one ability, nothing more.
The Heavy gets a free-of-charge rocket-launcher and a shield to protect him when attacking tanks to boot. The LA has to use skill to get close and then a jetpack and 75 resources per C4 to destroy tanks. The other classes all have incredibly powerful class-specific abilities that synergies with their other abilities. Infiltrator can go to ideal places to snipe, place mines, hack turrets and his reckon darts/motion sensors are as useful for him as for others when going to infiltrate. This counts for every class... but the LA.

The LA needs more abilities. No one denies that the LA jetpack is powerful, but everyone is more angry about the Iwinshield of the HA (even though the shield is grossly overrated). Even if you removed the rocketlauncher from the HA and created another class to combat vehicles people would be complaining about this. So the LA needs more class specific abilities that improve it's ability to create confusion, to flank, to have perfect mobility and to take away from people's vision. Mess with that radar, replace the jetpack with a stimulant pack to allow the LA to run at ludicrous speeds, give the LA goggles to make him immune to his own smoke/flash abilities if he so chooses. Something!

Only two classes you really need to stack are Heavy Assault, and Medic. The Medics are necessary to revive/heal, and the ARs are equally broken as the LMGs (lower mag size, longer effective range, more accurate). Engineers are just there to heal Maxes and give ammo, Light Assault are just there for people who can't aim, so that they can throw C4 on people, MAX units aren't a real class (designed to be overpowered hurr hurr hurr), and Infiltrators are less than useless

I main with Engineer... probably the least combat oriented class... I take Heavy Assaults down with ease, they are mainly brutes that don't use tactics or strategy. The only times they really kill me is when they use rockets for an easy one shot kill... or when I juuuust graze them with Bruiser pellets.

The issue isn't the class in the slightest, they all have balance and I have been able to prove that numerous times as a solo player taking on(Seemingly) legions of enemies while the entirety of my faction hides behind a rock or spawn shield. The only real advantage Heavy Assault has are the faction unique "Heavy Guns"(i.e. Mini Chaingun/Jackhammer/Lasher), but that could easily be remedied by giving similarly unique weapons to other classes... in fact I have a thread on that topic covering faction unique weapons for the Engineer. https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/empire-unique-engineer-weapons.189071/

I don't get it...

Complaints like this is what drives me crazy in this game.

Everyone has the ability to play any role they wish.

Stop approaching the game as if it's class restrictive like a MMORPG.

You aren't JUST a Light Assault, an Engineer or a Medic, you're EVERYTHING.

Use the class to its tactical advantage battle by battle.

So often I hear or read things like this; written by people that consistently try and change the game to suit their prefered method of game-play.

People that ONLY play Light Assaults are the usual suspects when it comes to HA hate.

The classes are not supposed to be balanced and you should think of ALL OF YOUR CLASSES as your repertoire in the "big dance" that is a PS2 battle.

The following is (very nearly) an excerpt from a discussion with a fellow player once upon a time.

LA: HA's are too damn powerful

ME: Why is that?

LA: Are you kidding!? They have shields, they have rockets! I can't take one down 1v1 in a straight up fight.

ME: So, if you see a lot of HA's play a MAX or, god forbid, another HA.

LA: Are you kidding!?! I want to be able to use my jets, get to places no other class can. I want to use my C4 on unsuspecting targets since no one looks up.

ME: But what if using the LA class doesn't make sense tactically? What do you do then?

LA: See, that's the problem with this game, the classes aren't balanced. If I meet an HA where I can't use my jets or get the jump on them, I lose.

ME: The classes don't need to be balanced, their use is situational.

LA: But I want to jet around and fight from areas no one else can get to with my shotgun. I don't like having to stick to running along the ground. It takes too long.

ME: Sometimes the maps or base design doesn't allow this.

LA: Well, the dev's should have thought about class balance then.

ME: An LA doesn't have to run through bottlenecks, doesn't have to use stairways, can get on roofs and has an explosive that can take out lots of targets in one shot. On certain maps, LA's simply own battles.

LA: Yeah, and that's cool. It takes skill to be an LA.

ME: Ok, so HA's own straight up fights, that's what they're built for.

LA: Yeah and that's not fair. I should be able to have at least a chance one on one in situations where I can't use my class skills.

ME: I see...

This is the mind-set of many players in this game and it drives me nuts.

Yeah, whatever. If this combined farms game is supposed to be a rock-paper-scissors to incentivize cooperation between classes please educate me what exactly does counter HAs that would require support from others to fill the gaps.

HA = I-win-shield, annoyingly accurate and powerful LMGs and a protube for every occasion = one man army.
All the pro-farmers who couldn't care less about the ultimately meaningless PTFO gravitate towards the class for the KPH farm in this thinly veiled TDM. Once you see TDM, one class being head and shoulders above the others is infuriating.

Both really.

In my opinion HAs need an small 0.5 seconds delay to the shield activation, during that period you can cancel the activation if you wish, no energy consumed.

LMGs/ESHA weapons and rocket launchers become primary weapons, with the rocket launcher equipped you can equip any primary non-LMG, non-ESHA weapon in the pistol slot (SMGs, Shotguns, etc.).

If you actually identify yourself as being a class when you are on the forums that just actually might be a good reason to change that class.

Ehm.... you know that all factions have access to HA right???

Honestly...probably the shield can be nerfed again, maybe with a enginner support recharging system or something to improve teamwork... and probably you can make a sistem to choose betwenn loadouts (RL or LMG)... but right now... HA are the shock troopers for all factions, they do what they are intended to do, you can't expect to be an enginner supporting maxes and giving ammo or a medic reviving people... and also stay in front of a big assault butchering people... HA it's the main and pure combat oriented class.

Without the shield the HA would be terrible, they're basically the VGs of the infantry world, they have no special ability other than they can take more damage when the shield is up.

Engineer and medic are support classes
Infiltrator and light assault are flanking classes
Heavy assault is the main combat class. It lacks support tools and flanking tools(cloak and jetpack). What it gets is overshield which gives it 70% extra health and ensures it can win in 1v1 but not 1v2 scenario. Is that really OP? What is the point of playing heavy assault if you can't have assurance that you will win 1v1 in face2face encounter? If overshield gets nerfed then medic will become new assault class like in Battlefield because it has assault rifles and revive ability.

That said if you manage to surprise the heavy assault by flanking him and still not kill him in 1v1 then problem lies in your aim, not the class.

Interesting, I win 1v1 head on against heavies every now and then as a medic. It's not always but it's in no way a guaranteed death if I run into a heavy. If you can't take out a heavy from behind, you are doing something wrong.

As for the rocket launcher against infantry. It's cheesy but not very effective. It's mostly used as a close range weapon and then a shotgun would have done the same thing with the added bonus of having a much higher refire rate. You have better chances against a rocket launcher since he has to hit or he is guaranteed to die if he can't run away.

The heavy is supposed to win in a 1v1 head to head. The sniper is supposed to win a long range engagement since they have a freaking sniper rifle. Belive me, heavies die just like all others when they take a .50 cal to the face.

The LMG is a decent allrounder but it will be beaten by a lot of other guns at long range and short range.

yup, the game performance is silk smooth, fps is in triple digits, stable with zero jitter, hitching is unheard of and no hit detection issues... oh wait no, it's planetside 2.

If i use let's say scout rifle that has 24 bullets i have to have around 50% accuracy to stand a chance of downing shielded HA. Only HA can comfortably take on another HA because only HA has enough margin of error - moar ehp, moar ammo in the mag.

I see. But the truth is:
You've got to make up your mind, man!

Problem still lies with you if that happens, lol.

I'll let you in on a little secret. The medic is a beast against infantry.