I love playing Max, I hate being attached at the hip to an engie.

I would give my left weapon for the ability to have a shield. When I play any other infantry class, I can survive a fight and come out with half of my life regen'd in the form of my shield a few seconds later. As a max I can have all the downtime in the world between a fight, but if there's not an engie around I'm not going to be able to do much.

in before regen perk.

At the very least we should be able to cert in to an infantry consumable to restore some health. Other infantry can carry up to FIVE of the bloody medkits. Just give me ONE nanite-auto-repair-tool to restore half my life between fights, even if it takes a few seconds to use. Nothing is more frustrating than having 25% health and no engie in sight. Except maybe them running past you.

Once upon a time in beta the Empire specific Max ability for the NC was a deployable riot shield.

So if you are NC you have that going for you whenever they get implemented.

The regen cert is good once maxed. It won't keep you in heavy fights quite as well, but if the fight is heavy there will be engineers about.

I just think with the current prices, the regen cert needs to be better at the top level. If you're forgoing damage resistance of any kind (lets pretend kinetic is a worthwhile cert) you should get a decent amount of regen that doesn't last for ages and lights you up as a target. I think good values for certs at the current cost would be:

1: 0.5% per second. Takes 25 seconds to activate. (after last taking damage)
2: 1% per second. Takes 20 seconds to activate.
3: 1.5% per second. Takes 15 seconds to activate.
4: 2.5% per second. Takes 10 seconds to activate. (the last 1000 cert priced one)

max need to regen some without even certing into it.

what kind of BS is it that the max is forced to spend hundred of certs to even become useful without an eng backing him. while the heavy who does all the things the max can (except the heavy does them all at the same time and the max HAS to reconfigure), gets 2 regenerating shields, and the max is stuck at low health until someone takes pity on him.

Lol 10 seconds for it to kick in. And you can wait up to nearly 60 seconds for a full heal.

well i like the idea of it being that it activates after 10 seconds, because if i get injured from an encounter and kill the guy, and take... 25% hp down like i normally do after doing a 1 on 1 with a less shielded class. it would only take 30 seconds to get back to full. enough time to keep you in the fight and ready for the next guy or wave of guys.

it is certainly better than no healing at all or having to abandon a post to find an eng to heal you

A MAX is basically a vehicle you can't get out of to self repair. Sure a heavy can do "everything" a max can, but not nearly as well. A HA's ability shield is good for a hit or two, after that its the same as any infantry. When I'm MAXed up I can mow down heavies and other infantry, if I could self heal it would be over powered. This is a balance issue here and I don't really want to play against mostly MAXes.

MAXes need to be highly dependent on engy support. If we weren't than we would need a massive nerf. As it stands right now if I can keep my engy alive I stay alive and slaughter infantry. If my Engy dies I will die shortly afterwards. I think its fair.

I recently got the lvl 1 regen for my MAX - now at least I don't have to scream for repairs all the damn time. However, I still need to be near an Infantry terminal or ammo pack to keep that full (especially on dual-bursters, those things drink ammo insanely fast)

I would rather see it go the other way: Remove health kits and regen for everybody.
We should increase the need for teamwork, not decrease it.

Hmm....shield..

I'd totally take that, just to look really awesome.

The regen only helps with armor, so I think that's fine. Health kits? I have yet to try that out yet... I have always thought that it wouldn't fill up your HP entirely though.

Shield arms should be a thing. Like the Engineer turret shield, but, attached to your arm. Have it be powered off normally, but holding down the fire button for the shield arm brings it up and covers almost all damage from in front of you until a heat meter builds up. Having dual shield arms would work, but you would have to alternate which shield arm you used in order to keep a shield constantly up.

.. As someone who played HA and MAX exclusively since early this year. I have to say yea ******* right. HA's are faster, more accurate, can move faster, has two shields that help protect during that movement. Don't need to certify to regen. Gets LOADS more weapon options. Can drive vehicles. ect ect ect.

So excuse me while I laugh at your statement and shake my head in disbelief this was even said.

I will kill your HA in the blink of an eye with my AI MAX as well as your 4 friends standing with you. That's the difference between MAX and HA.

In combat max>heavy, which is what I was obviously talking about.

Odd thought I has.

Why the hell do HA's get those nano-shield things but MAX's do not? Seems really odd.

Edit: Unless the MAX's is kinda built into the armor and always on, or something...

It is a balance feature for the max. Think of the heavy and medic from TF2. What MAX really need is utility and a purpose besides AA.

Perhaps if you could cert a MAX into a brief (8-15s?) invulnerability shield, for attacking directly into chokepoints (like the 2 doors/drop pad area on the...Amp stations?).
It could be balanced by preventing the MAX from firing during its activation, and perhaps by having it replace/lock out the sprint ability. Maybe even making the shield frontal arc only?

You know what max really needs?

A shield, as you mentioned.

And a massive melee weapon that does 80% damage to infantry and does descent damage to vehicles.

now that would kick pure ***.

nanite-glowy *** shield n sword for the VANU MAX. (think some glowy *** f****t with halo wannabe wep )

Big chunk of Riot shield n Chain-sword for NC MAX (think Crusader)

Big Round shield n Circle-saw Axe for the TR MAX. (think Viking)

Normal Melee attacks without weapons should be as fast as using knives, while Melee attack with melee weapons should be as fast as current MAX melee is.

Combines with charge, would make maxes quite interesting and very usefull to push through super-choke points *coughtechlabbackdoorscough*

Aswell as engaging individual armor. Tanks AP shells would **** you, but you would be able to withstand HE and take reduced damage from HEAT. given that you are blocking with youre shield.

however, blocking with your shield, Severly reduces your mobility, speed and turning. (meaning its easy for normal infantry at point blank range to run around you and shoot you on the sides. )