I play on miller too and have seen and used that tactic but honestly 9/10 now our squad leader is going to be calling in 2/3 guys to squad deploy as engineers with mines to kill a sundie it has a far higher success rate over a LA C4 drop does. But what do you do when you get there? The LA might be able to go places quickly but there is nothing for us to do when you get there as we can't deal with the infantry or vehicles and because of this we can't hold a point or help our team at all. And most of the time a competent leader will know that its just a few LA's or an infiltartor and will calmly send a HA and medic to deal with them while everone else carry's on as normal. The jet pack that defines this class dose very little other than help the LA get into a position that they cant do anything about. And what makes one vehicle more important than another? AMS is all every other vehicle can wait till the sundie goes down. Everyone and his dog knows this but as I said above LA C4 is not the best way to go about killing these. And C4ing tanks is the biggest waste of resources and time ever a good group of focus firing heavies with rocket launcher is always better. Having a class that has to pick who and what to kill one at a time is useless in a game that is all about numbers as killing one man or tank in a life will do very little unless they are the only one. But when 5 more will take his place instantly it becomes meaningless.
Use the LA if he can do the Job best. Distraction could be a mighty weapon. In your example the single LA binds one HA AND one Medic. Kill the medic and run. Kite the HA. It could be very funny. He has to run the stairs. He will call for friends, and they will come. Do not believe you will come out living, but have fun. My mates ask me sometimes, what i am doing, while i giggle then mostly i tell them "aergern" (ger. for annoying/anger others). After that trip i do dutifully my work as a serious supporter
I stopped reading at "no team utility". Sorry but Light Assault is the best class to destroy enemy sunderers, which is one of the most useful things you can do for your team, obviously. In fact it requires a bit of teamwork, like coordinating with a HA so it fires a rocket at the sundy, damaging it just a bit so your C4 can blow it up.
Not true considering probably 70% of the sunderers I see now are using blockade armor. Most tactical squads I know use engineer drops to destroy sunderers as they persist past death and almost no sundies use mineguard anymore. His original point has quite a bit of merit - other classes can do squad roles better than LAs. The one thing people like to mention is the LA being a disruptive force behind enemy lines, but I think that's largely marginalized by the ease by which medics can quickly rez any (and all) dead allies. At best, LA as a whole is a situational class where those situations have marginal impact in most cases. LA is fun as heck, but form a squad point of view, it's the class that you very occasionally call out "Hey, could someone drop as LA and do XXXX". All other classes fit a much more necessary role.
he isn't saying it is useless, just not as useful as something else. 90% of the time I would rather have an extra medic than a LA. The LA can kill infantry but the HA can do that as well equally effectively if not better in many situations. Also, making the class more diverse wouldn't hurt. I stopped reading this thread here... LA used to be anti-sunderer machines, but with C4 changes as well as the mine changes that is no longer the case. Most everyone I see runs blockade which kills any chance of a C4 kill and 2 C4 on a non blockade sunderer wont even take it out without some extra damage. My point is that the class is lacking in utility. The engineer can carry four C4. That seems like something the LA should be carrying IMO. Why use a LA when I can beacon drop with an engineer and take the sunderer out MYSELF using the extra person to defend a point being pushed rather than waste resources on a second man?
I've fought platoons that don't use LAs. Nothing is more hilarious than fighting groups of people that don't understand how important controlling the roof tops actually is in PS2. I run with a 3.4X scope and a silenced ACX-11 most of the time and I get work done. I get to and cap points and generators faster than any other class. I pick off medics and engineers from above and disappear before anyone even gets a chance to shoot back. I get people looking up at the rooftops only to be shot by my friends on the ground. Every day when I play planetside I do dozens of things with my LA that I simply could not do on any other class. We can fly and it is amazing.
Going up against a platoon that knows to watch the rooftops means that the LA can't do squat. I've fought good enemies who realize that is the direction that LA come from. Might as well give up playing the class in those circumstances. You don't have rez capabilities up there and the enemies down below are most likely running with lots of heavies PLUS medics. Simple as being out-classed. Sure there are situations when people don't have a clue what you are doing. Honestly, those situations are becoming far fewer though as more and more people realize where the LA strike from. I know when I run on the ground, I spend at least 1/3rd of my time looking up at the skyline. "Oh damn that was easy to spot LA up there! They stood out like a sore thumb against the sky." Yeah I get that feeling all too often, simply because I've learned and I know others have too. Sure LA can do a few things that other classes can't but overall we are weak compared to the other classes, who have far more choices as to "things they can do," at least compared to the Light Assault. SOE NEEDS TO FINISH OUR DAMN CLASS!
I started playing this class a couple of months ago, and it's true that at first it seems quite weak in comparison to other classes. I've learned though that you need to play in a more guerilla style, quite similar to the SMG Infiltrator in fact, in order to keep your enemy off-balance and make yourself effective in combat. Without the element of surprise (and sometimes even with it), other classes are more than capable of dispatching a LA. That's why, as soon as I feel that the advantage is not mine, I just move on, and that's very easy to do with this class. Jump over a wall, or on to the next roof, whatever. I find it easy to reset the combat ground. Other classes can only run away.
Well, tbh, the Engi got to have an -S version of the gun to equip the launcher, while you can have the weapon you like, so it's not really an "Engineer wins here", just different. Want an -S with smoke or a better gun and smoke 'nades? I don't see EMP being better than Flash, and even Concussion are 50-50%. BUT you need to be an HA to get those, and so you can't drop them from the air into a room. Well, I don't really see the need for those while you have access to some amazing guns, both MidRange and CloseRange: - NC: GD7F for close - RazorGD23 for mid - TR: Lynx for close - T5AMC for mid - VS: VX6-7 for close - PulsarC for mid What do you expect getting from the Assault Rifles? Better MidRange fire? Well, take into consideration that the "poor" medic doesn't have the chances of going up to a roof and getting closer-better positioned to the enemy. So you trade some mid power for being closer to the enemy. Closer is easier to kill, and compensate your "damage drop" on carabines. AND, if you go for shotgun/close range carabines/smgs, you are even better served. With a Razor/T5/PulsarC silenced and some roof gaming, you scout for your team and popshot medics and uncloacked infiltrators. Do not expect to be the perfect Lone-Wolf. You are a team player. You strike where it hurts the worst, and you aquire good information for the team. The class problem is just one. The name ASSAULT. You are a SCOUT. And you can do your job quite well.
@OP - I disagree. LA is a great class that is a part of unique flavour of the game itself. 1. Fun to play. 2. Mobility gives access to unique playstyle, where positioning and fuel management come into play, and you can use it to outsmart the enemy. Also gives you a role of a more agressive recon trooper. 3. Acess to C4, combined with said mobility, makes LA perfect for breaking out the siege. Eliminating enemy tanks allows allies to take a second breath and push attackers back, even if it's only the bad tankers being eliminated. 4. While heavies are walking tanks designed to deal a lot of damage, and survive a lot, LAs are more like skirmishers. It is a fun playstyle, and a skilled LA can cause just as much chaos, as a skilled infiltrator. There are plenty of ways how to help your team, just not as obvious as pointing a med gun at others.... but certainly more interesting and exciting.
LA is completely fine. Sure, there are minor issues that need to be addressed, but overall it's fine. Unlike the other classes, it requires a working brain though.
I'm sorry OP but I can't help but giggle. To the engi saying "LA forums are infiltrator forums 2" actually lol very hard, thumbs up. Right this moment there is a thread in infi forums with quite a heated discussion how infiltrators haven't got much to do beside shoot people, how the cloak is completely useless by some etc etc. When I started reading this thread I actually double checked if I wasn't in my own thread just in case. LA is like the big brother of the infiltrator. Both classes csn play as line wolfs, and both classes require you to have a few brain cells. You must have situational awarness and be able to predict who will spot once you start shooting people. Jet pack has no synergy? Umm are you using it in the middle of an ooen field to get on a rock? You flying up in a biolab and then just standing on the top of buildings camping? Well the lack of synergy with the jet pack is due to your own use of the tool. Buildings such as in crown and xroads and places alike are where LA are the b*stards (along side infi) that everyone looks out for. Especially LA are these kind of places dominate. Give LA a shotgun, xroads, and good LA will use the jump pads for a boost, shoot people at one level and fly down to another. LA is a fun class to play with as you can have many creative ways to kill people. Sure, there are problems with the class, just as every other class im not denying it. But you make it sound like LA are meh. They are not. Just as with the infiltrator this class demands A LOT off the player, rather than on its tools at hand.
I don't think the issue here is whether or not the LA can fight. Clearly it can. The real question is how the LA can become more team oriented. If you look at other classes, you'll find that those classes have tools which contribute to the team. The LA doesn't have any tools. The closest team utility I've found for the LA class is when using it to place spawn beacons. This thread would be more productive if it focused on LA tools. Some ideas might include: Climbing rope. A LA jumps to a high area, then drops a rope so the rest of the squad can scale the wall. Players can not fire when climbing. Heavy Lifting. When the Lifter tool is activated, a LA can pick up a fellow player and lift him into the air; at the cost of expending fuel at twice or three times normal. Neither player can fire. Zip line tool. Creates a zip line between two points. Players can then ride the zip line down to that location, while being vulnerable to fire. (I love the idea of zip lining between the top of a tech plant and the SCU room.) Deployable Grav-lift. Place it and members of your team can use it to get on top of buildings. Binoculars: Used to silently mark targets. Decoy Spawn Beacons: Make your team look bigger than it really is. I personally like the idea of having a tool which helps improve your own team's mobility. It would fit the LA's MO.
To be fair, LA is the most noob-friendly (or uncerted friendly) class in the game. It does have niche roles apart from new players grinding up to cert out other classes/vehicles/etc, while still being somewhat effective... Apart from C4 the LA's role is basically shoot from above, assuming your enemy doesn't look up. (I've learned to, despite the fact some BR100s I've gone up against seem to be brain-dead in this situation.) Other than this you can say stuff like, distraction, infiltration, harassment... Basically an alternate way to play SMG Infiltrator, which is why I run a silencer on almost all my LA classes. You could say LA is useless, but then you'd have to say Infiltrator is useless, too. They're both... eh... Indirect killing classes, not like the heavy were you just get in your enemy's face and unload a storm of bullets. You have to flank and play smart, basically play with finesse. Exploiting the jet packs abilities, even if the enemy looks up, should net you some kills if you're sneaky and slippery enough.
[quote ] Two C4s and a rocket launcher shot and the non-blockade sundy is toast, whereas other ground vehicles will generally go down with one well-placed C4 detonated by a rocket launcher. As a LA taking down a sundy entirely by yourself is impossible. And you will be killed as soon as they notice you.[/quote] I don't know about you but as a LA, I can take out Sundere with little problems.
Light Assault will always hold an essential position on the battlefield. Every squad should have at least one light assault to act as a scout and to flank from behind an enemy formation. Often a single light assault can change the course of a battle by destroying an important vehicle. It is also the class with the highest skill ceiling, requiring situational awareness, plotting of trajectories, use of cover, and expertise in dodging, and is almost as stealthy as the infiltrator when used right. However, light assault are arguably the most neglected class, as they have the weakest weapons (with poor mid-long range potential), lack of a significant running/jumping advantage over other classes (adrenaline pumps being barely noticeable), poor movement mechanics constraining dodging in firefights, and a limited method of dealing with vehicles which is possible only with surprise. Hopefully after the optimization there will be movement tweaks to benefit light assault, plus possibly more cool gadgets like a net-gun to impede opponents.
