Heavy Shield- Rocket Primary 2.0

It's that time of year again, forumside. The time where we dun ****** up gud. What happened?
Heavy Shield of course! There are many threads on the issue where bad players cry about how OP it is because they got the jump on a heavy and couldn't aim for the head.
Now, why would this be bad?
Well first off, it would ruin the heavy shield, because we all know how SOE balances (and reacts to threats).
Remember what else we destroyed?
It stands with V- and ends with -ehicles...
Of course I'm talking about the tank round nerfs, which made me stop playing!
Next, it will show SOE that we don't care about this game and what makes it unique (the class abilities and factions, for the brain dead)
And why is this bad?
Because it gives them a free license to destroy the game! By catering to the infantry bad players, SOE is destroying the game for everyone else! Now, we know that they monitor the forum and are very active talking to Forumside on the forum. (More than you think)

Remember Rocket Primary, how a video was released whining about rockets, and the community started badgering SOE to NERF NERF NERF and all the good players saw the death of the ability to kill medic balls and blobs reliably? Well, this is that time again, guys and gals. Make sure to check your facts and the post histories of whiners carefully... After all, nerfers breed nerfers and making alts to influence the forum isn't below them!

Signed,
Verviedi
(PS- I'm not breaking any rules.)

Are you really trying to imply Rocket Primary spam was used primarily as a counter to medic balls ?

And if that is / was the case then I've seen no increase in Medic ball spam since the change .. So it wasn't a very effective counter if it was ever one ...

Rocket Primary spam was never a thing. There was and always will be people who use rocket launchers for anti-MAX and turn corners with a RL ready. With splash nerfed, you can no longer kill a MAX's pocket engi and reliably kill a MAX.
And what is Forumside crying about? MAXes being OP!

In its current form HA shield is OP from the standpoint of deathmatch gameplay. To continue in the direction of improving the deathmatch gameplay, HA shield needs to be REDESIGNED, not nerfed. Simple nerf won't cut it anyway.

Alternatively, PS2 can grow some balls, tear the shirt on its chest and yell "I don't want to be a deathmatch!" and finally introduce some objective based gameplay, where individual players actually have roles in combat. Then current HA shield may be acceptable.

Can't say I'm seeing that crying

I might be wrong but the only real MAX gripe Forumside has atm seems to be about Raven's ..

But that has zero to do with your Medic balls comment

I've got a running list of Forumside names who are vehemently anti-MAX here next to me.

That statement is indicative of the quagmire in which PS2 is stuck at the moment.

Me and my brethren of the Medic guild have the ******* A balls when we take down maxes with our pistols.
You do NOT **** with the medics.
Bastardly maxes.

The truth has been spoken.
Amen.

What did it say before it was deleted?

I'm sorry what.

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...ion-how-much-hp-does-nanite-mesh-give.163867/
Its ~600 extra hp.

So, if we take the Solsitce for example. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ice&sortcolid=-1&sortasc=true&rowsperpage=250

Solstice fires at 698 RPM, with the standard 143 damage per bullet. This comes out to ~11.6 rounds per second, or 1663 damage per second. This divided by 1000 makes a 0.6 second TTK on a non-shield activated HA. with the extra 600 hp, its 0.9 TTK. This means HA sheild gives you only ~0.3 seconds TTK advantage. Yes, It is and I-win button with all things being equal, but positioning and other classes abilities can easily make up for this and more.

Do agree with you that PS2 actual needs something beyond farm, cap the base, and farm.

No it isn't... and I never play as a Heavy, FYI.

If I turn the corner with a PDW-16 Hailstorm SMG (high hipfire accuracy), see a shielded heavy, and aim for the head, I will win. At 250 damage and 800RPM, I'm out-DPSing the Heavy significantly enough to overcome the shield. Then again, if they carried an SMG (has higher DPS than a lot of LMGs anyway IIRC) or Shotgun I'm screwed. But they seem to like LMGs, probably for the ammo capacity.

That being said, I won't disagree about the change to objective gameplay. That's what I play for as it is, where possible.

Sorry, everything I can see is this:

...but they don't usually carry SMGs (low damage-per-mag I guess) and anyone with a shotgun will take down anyone with an SMG at appropriate range.

In other words, in a *normal* situation (Heavy has an LMG), with certain *minor* modifiers (I'm on my toes), I will have a fair chance at winning. Those seven shots that I need to get off (250 damage each) will get off in about half a second (and I am fairly confident in my ability to land 7 consecutive headshots at close range with Hailstorm + ALS, that CoF is puny).

If we assume the Heavy has a T9 CARV (143/750), that will also need 7 shots, so they'll be a fraction of a second behind.

Besides, I get a jetpack, so I have a much easier time sneaking up on them. If we assume TTK to be equal (which it almost is, if one of us misses one shot the other wins, or if he gets one headshot he wins), we also have to account for the fact that I'm more likely to get the first shot. And if I get the first shot, it's a near-guaranteed victory. Can you react fast enough in half a second to do anything significant? I doubt I could.

I used to be a Rocketsnipur. I was known all across the land for using my trusty ML-7 to kill infantry at long ranges. Or at least from the people I received rage tells from. Then they nerfed rocket launchers, but I still use my trusty ML-7 to this day. You will never take my fun away. Rocketsnipur shall live forever!

Regardless of all the balance numbers and statistics or whatever you want to bring up, the reason these things are ever brought up to be 'nerfed' is because they're frustrating. The HA shield is not conducive to game health simply because it is a soft counter to skill, it negates or reduces the power that high aim or high maneuvering gives you. For every HA shield popped, the effectiveness of the opponents skill or tactics is reduced.

So I think changing the shield to have more HP but have a ramp up time would be a phenomenal change. It would make the HA the room clearer/breacher (something that can be accounted for on the defending end) that I feel it should be, and make it a fair fight for 1v1s unless the opponent is sufficiently "unskilled" that they can't kill the HA in time for the shield to come up. Along with other benefits like actually giving more depth of thought to using the shield other than "Bad guy? Shield up!".

Ain't got nothin on my Pheonix!

You remind me a karate book I once read. At the end of the book there was an example - a hypothetical combat situation against four opponents. I don't remember the exact details, but the point was - the book tried predicting the actions of all combatants and giving suggestions accordingly.

"The most effective way for four opponents to attack a single enemy is to surround him completely, so assume you will be attacked from four different directions: front, back, left and right. For convenience, we will assume all of them will attack at the same time by punching you in the head. The most dangerous is the punch from back, so make an evasive move forward under the incoming punch and attack the enemy in front of you with your fists, and simultaneously kick the enemy behind you."

I don't remember the middle piece, but then there was even more ridiculous thing:
"So only the final opponent is left. By this time, the first opponent should be waking up from being knocked down by you before. Make your move to the final opponent by jumping over the lying down first opponent, and kick while jumping over him".

As you can imagine, this whole "example situation" has nothing to do with what actual fist fights look, and you post has as much to do with what happens in PS2 as that.

Sure, in a theoretical situation you can overcome a HA with overshields. You can routinely kill HAs in PS2 in your everyday game, overshields or no. That doesn't mean shield isn't OP.

It's only 600 health and they are a Heavy... Their job is to be that badass guy in the front lines. In exchange, they're less maneuverable (than LA), don't have support capabilities (Medic/Engi) and can't go invisible, do recon or do very long-ranged anti-infantry effectively (Infiltrator).

Any one of these classes could be called OP at what it does.
"Medics are OP because they can heal and I can't!"
"Engineers are OP because they can repair their vehicles and I can't!"
"Light Assaults are OP because they can get everywhere and I can't!"
"Infiltrators are OP because they can OHK me from 200m and I can't counter!"

Every other class gets to be "OP" at what they do. Why not a Heavy?

Presumably because what they do happens to be open combat, yes?
So don't let them choose the battlefield!
Set a CQC sniper on them... two headshots from a SASR, head-and-body from a BASR. Bam. No one can outgun a good CQC Sniper.
Or have an LA sneak up on them, chuck a couple grenades and finish the job with a shotgun. So far as I've seen it takes pretty good reflexes and coordination to survive a good unexpected-direction-breach. Especially if they're busy on the other side.
Or lure 'em into the open and hammer the **** out of them with a couple AI tank guns.

Point being, everyone wins on the battlefield of their choosing--so why the hell would you fight them on it?

You want more tactical gameplay? Apply tactics.

Again, disclaimer, I NEVER play Heavy--too straightforward. So I'm not exactly biased in favor of them.

I am confused.. Is the heavy shield getting nerfed? Or are they finally adding that windup delay they spoke about months ago?