Humans, like canids, are horizontal hunters. Our brains weren't given to placing much importance on vertical hunting back when we were hitting stuff with sticks for a few hundred thousand years. As such, folks just don't look up. Jetpacks are a strong tactical boon and dev has been kind enough to make LA-only places in bases (the gap over tech lab shields for example). But, these two things don't give LA enough. As such, they're getting love. Sadly, the only note of that love I saw was Higby's comment that they're getting lone-wolfy stuff. Hopefully they do get stuff to bring more purpose to mixed squads. Infils, too.
I love Light Assault and I'll still play the class no matter what happens, but the point of my post was to communicate to the devs that many organized players don't find them useful in groups and to gain support for giving Light Assault some abilities which would make them appear more attractive in a squad situation.
This debate doesn't need to go any further than pointing out which class was featured in the CGI trailer.
thats just half the story, he also said that they got something for the "team", whatever then means. edit; watch it yourself http://de.twitch.tv/gamesradar/b/343751469 LA stuff starting 1:03:50
I've flanked entire squads, sniper positions, and armor columns using HA or Infiltrator. Infiltrators especially think of ways to flank large groups. The difference here is that LA's can potentially do it faster and within a shorter field of combat while HA's require cover and Infiltrators have to move long distances on foot in order to get to really good sniping spots. In fact I'd say it's harder to flank an individual, as they aren't going to lock themselves down in a specific position for long. Individuals tend to move a lot more then groups, and their direction can be erratic and hard to predict. I do it often enough to know that when they do spot you, often within the first 4 rounds, you tend to die quickly. I'm not denying it's an advantage, I'm just irritated by people saying LA + rooftops = invincible. I know exactly how useful JJ's are, I equip a shotgun on one load out and a grenade launcher on the other. I could not begin to describe some of the awesome kill spree moments I've had. I've turned the tide of battles single handedly before by getting into that perfect position for maximum damage. However LA's are just a one trick pony, and we can't base an entire class on a situational advantage.
How many LA actually believe that though? We're squishy and we know it (but we won't clap our hands because it gives away our position).
Non one trick pony (shooting from the rooftops) uses: 1) overloading shields at amp stations (or similar) without having to go through choke point. 2) identifying hostile sunderers behind enemy lines only really accessible through altitude 3) jumping out of ESFs midair for insertion, and/or to jump into a nearby flying galaxy because it's boss. Also controlled descent on galaxy insertion. 4) using JJ in head to head fights as a defensive measure by jumping over the enemy and landing behind him while firing.
LA are also the only reason people dont keep their sunderers in the vehicle spawn room at the tech plant (C4 YOLO!)
All of your points go strait back to "one trick pony". JJ's are ALL we have. Yes you can come up with a list as long as a Galaxies' wing span of uses for those JJ's, but it's still just one trick. And again, infiltrators (or any class) can accomplish most of those feats on their own without jump jets. 1) Anyone can approach and overload a shield generator. In reality solo JJ'ers have the hardest time accomplishing this task as they either run off to the next one and their last one is stabilized, or they stay and hold to make sure it drops and are then swarmed by defenders thinking of that potential free kill. Infiltrators can get there undetected almost as easily, and a squad of HAs could do the job and ensure that it gets done with little trouble. 2) There is no point where a Sunderer requires "altitude" to spot, as it has to have a path for infantry spawning from it to run to their target destination. It is also based on the ground. In order for that path to be one way, chances are LA's can't back track it because it involves a cliff that is too steep to jump up. 3) Anyone can cert the ejection seat for their ESF or Liberator and accomplish this feat. 4) Infiltrators have stealth and HA's have their shield for defensive measures. And I can come up with a list of uses for HA shields just as easily. Yet HA has other unique qualities such as the use of heavy weapons and AV weapons. 1) Pop it on when someone starts shooting at you for extra time to find and kill them or seek cover. 2) Pop it on before entering a room to clear it. 3) Pop it on before dropping off of a wall or tower or other long drop for extra padding against the falling damage (can also work from an ESF at lower altitudes). 4) Use it to help protect yourself from splash damage from tanks and other vehicles when using your AV weapon. What does LA have? We have jump jets, that's it. Even the devs agree this isn't really enough to flesh out the class as a stand alone class. Personally I hate fielding anything other then LA and avoid doing so at all costs. I can handle being squishy, and love my one trick. However I feel like I could potentially fill a secondary role for the squad yet I lack the ability to do so because LA just doesn't have any other tools for their jobs.
I think a really big part of the problem is they seem to want to give the infiltrator all the damn toys. The sad part of this is that NONE of those toys reflect well with that class at all. Hacking is completely opposite of the sniper as that is a close range/behind enemy lines where snipers are long range behind the front lines. Cloak is much the same. Local radar? Worthless to the team for someone that is not on the front lines. Yes, the cloak and local radar are very useful for the infiltrator themselves but they would be useful for any class. The problem is that the infiltrator using a sniper is simply not going to be in a position to use any of those toys to enhance the team. All they have is if they are sticking with a group and then their primary stopping power is quite nerfed. The LA should have some of those toys. Local radar is right up their ally and so is hacking.
I agree but I believe that the idea was to help promote infiltrators getting into bases and being infiltrators. LA doesn't need an incentive to go into bases, we kind of have to. Our long range sucks and we have no ability to engage vehicles or aircraft without touching them first. I would agree that hacking terminals and personal radar would be extremely useful to LA, which is probably why we didn't get those tools just like we didn't get ammo boxes. If we could just move into a base and hack terminals then we'd never run out of ammo. If we could move in and hack turrets then turrets would never serve a defensive purpose and they would become a hindrance to the base they were part of. These kinds of things would become far to easy to accomplish for most dedicated LA users.
I agree that hacking would be OP on an LA. I don't want to see them add that to the LA I was just pointing out that it seems everything that the LA is built for goes to the infiltrator that was given snipers for some unknown reason. That makes ZERO sense IMHO because you are essentially giving the infiltrator tools that are counter to the purpose of the class. Radar however, should be on the LA plain and simple. It serves no purpose for the team on the infiltrator. Yes, it is useful to them as it would be useful to any class BUT it is not a good match. The LA is for forward ops. The new toys always seem targeted at the infiltrator though.
