LA/Infiltrators are built to surprise attack, a shield delay on HA will give HA no fighting chance!!

Well, I agree with you that there are far more important things...but I imagine they have chosen this based upon the relative ease of implementation over those more important issues. Like I said, I just hope they do it right and don't destroy the ability by just implementing this ramp up period without any additional changes...like a removal of the speed debuff, increased duration, or potentially both.

So long as they do it right, the ability should retain all its viability within the situations it's intended for...allowing the Heavy Assault to charge in, assault, and then pull out before the ability runs its course if the situation remains heated. Simultaneously, no matter which side you're on, the tweak ensures that the Heavy Assault doesn't have an advantage when they're flanked...and so long as the ability to do what it's intended to do remains in tact, there's no reason to really fight for retaining the ability as it is...and rather a huge need to fight for the buffs I'm speaking about.

Ultimately, it may end up better suited for how it's intended than it is now...or at least just as good, so long as they do it right. That's what I want to make sure happens, I want them to do this right... I have no desire to see the Heavy Assault shield go the way of ZOE.

Don't know how all this is be about shield, but what diference would you have betwen three shields.
Right now all shields have their role, and after changes and delay time nobody will use NMG and AS.

Tenebrae Aeterna has had well reasoned and thought out arguments and I agree with him. I mean come on guys, half the time I'm playing as an HA workin on vehicle deterrence or shotgunning my way through bases. I don't want a precise nerf, persay, but an tweak that would give more duration but no ability to pop on a moments notice is something I can get behind. Heck it'd help me a great deal. More duration would mean I could stay out in the open tagging vehicles trying to spawnfarm without getting intagibbed as easily. Those few extra seconds would mean a great deal to me.

I don't see why this wouldn't help you unless you just want your HA's to be invincible in all combat situations, which it really isn't designed for. It was designed to soak up a lot of damage and deal it out too, and if they add a duration upgrade that wouldn't change one bit.

And I stated that the reverse is also true. Infiltrators are not at a disadvantage vs HAs. But keep bleating your "strawman" argument. I also pointed out how poor, unrealistic and biased your estimation of the various class tools. You accept none of the limitations of the rocket launcher and dismiss all other class utilities as useless. You have no justifications, no supporting evidence and dismiss all the evidence against your position "because ..."

Yes quite remarkable that a weapon that has to be certed into gets at least twice the kills as a starting weapon. Clearly evidence would suggest that Rockets need a buff.

Clearly SOE doesn't agree. Sorry bud.

I have never contended that the reverse is untrue.

I have also never contended that class tools are useless. I have stated them as things that each class gets that puts them on a par in infantry vs infantry combat with the HA, such that you didn't need to get your panties in a bunch. As you have been since the start of this thread, you're trying to grab single sentences and 'defeat' them without using any amount of thought or contextual interpretation.

I also do accept the limitations of the rocket launcher, however it having its own disadvantages in no way affects whether HA having sole access to them is an advantage to HA or not. Carrying a rocket launcher is not itself a disadvantage, and thus it's irrelevant when considering versatility of classes that the rocket launcher possesses a slow reload speed or limited ammo. It still exists, and that's enough to make the HA the most versatile class, despite that it pays no price for this versatility.

Tragically, it seems SOE agree with me with their decision to address this problem. I apologise on behalf of all of us that don't wish to see HA as the go-to class for our childish desire for variety and strategy. I'm really sorry if you believe this tiny change to a single element of a class ability is going to make HA unplayable.

Let's not make stuff up, eh? It's less than twice even when comparing the worst dumbfire to the best C4...

It's a shame that diversity is such an obstacle for you - if it wasn't, you'd have realised that the performance of the default weapon needs to be added to the performance of all of the weapons someone may be using instead of that weapon when you're wanting to compare with an entire weapon class.

C4 is the only weapon in its class and the only weapon in the game that fulfills its intended purpose. It is used by 4 of 5 classes. There are 7 weapons available to each HA that fulfill the purpose of a Rocket Launcher (and one for Engie, four for MAX), they are exclusively used by a single class... Yet that weapon class outperforms C4 (despite being available to four times as many people and almost exclusively getting OHKs) by quite a margin.

I wouldn't see why not, so long as the speed debuff or duration is increased. As long as one of those things, or potentially both, is altered in order to counter-balance the ramp up period...the shields should still be effective for their roles due to the fact that you'll be making up that lost time used to ramp the ability up.

I imagine it'll take a bit more awareness of your surroundings than it currently does...you'll have to anticipate when you're going to need it rather than toss it up when you're caught off guard.

Thanks, and that's pretty much what I'm hoping that they do...

Right now, my primary fear is that they will simply implement the ramp up period and leave it at that...which would be bad, in my opinion. Everyone needs to start supporting the right thing and ensure this doesn't happen. At the very least, an increased duration, removal of the speed debuff, or combination of both will leave the Heavy Assault just as effective in its designed role as it is now...without the ability to simply toss that shield up on a whim when they're caught with their pants down. However, it's likely that the development team can take it a bit further and extend the effectiveness of the shields within their designed role now that this situation can't transpire due to the ramp up period.

Once people get accustomed to using their awareness, intuition, and general intelligence to decide when they want to work up that shield...the entire Heavy Assault class may actually end up performing better in the situations they're designed for than they do now.

That's what I want to see.

Are people also forgetting the other rather immense disadvantage of the shield? That fact you are lit up like a xmas tree when its on and can be seen clear across the battlefield.

So your moving slowly and are an obvious target. Now they want to nerf it even more?

SOE STOP making changes to this game based on 1 v 1 encounters. The game isn't a 1 v 1. If you are in a 1 v 1 in this game then your doing something wrong because you should be in a 6 or more vs 1. Its a team game, mass combat game not a 1 v 1 challenge match on Unreal Tournament.

I actually do always forget to include that as a weakness to the shield. Regardless, that's why I'm advocating for the removal of the speed debuff, increased duration, or potentially both. If they do this right, the shield might actually be better than it is now in the role it's designed for...but people need to start fighting for the right things.

May I ask you make a recording of you flanking a HA? One normal HA and another in the VR. Because looking at that 16% accuracy with the Sirius, I'm hesitant to say your aim is average. (Average is roughly 21-22%) You're only landing every sixth to seventh shot.

Post those recordings so we can tell whether it's your aim or the hit detection that is at fault.

I personaly agree with changes you stated, it would fit my playstyle very well.
My personal opinion is if anyone get killed from behing is playing game wrong and should never get i that kind of situations.
And I still think the same for other side.

If you are in a 6 v 1 match and you are not the one, then you are doing something wrong. PS2 is meant to be fought between large armies, with some individuals taking out numerous enemies through skill.

I can try, but I can't really run recording software without performance issues.

Don't get me wrong though, I've repeatedly admitted that my aim is terrible and I'm a very poor player. I don't play often enough to be anything else...which may or may not change when I get a new computer. With that said, I know when I hit my mark though...it's not really difficult to tell when you have hit your target because we have indicators for that. So I'm excluding the many times I'm blatantly aware that my aim was at fault, and there's plenty of times when was indeed the case.

And this game will turn into Callofdutyside2: Ghosty Brainless Noobs<<The expansion to PLanetside 2 =D

That's the problem. If they go through with this HA shield nerf, it will make them next to defenseless against insta-cloak un-cloak smg infiltrators, which will then be nerfed in turn, etc etc.

Well they can still equip shotguns and smgs too, so defenseless isn't really the right word. But this change might be worse for the noobs newbs who can't drop a heavy in two seconds, most likely they're badly damaged but when their shield pops up and they'll have to break through the fully charged heavy shield too, but i have to be honest here, i don't like this "borderline nerf" here, because atleast i knew most heavies would panic activate their shields, so i was prepared for that. Instead if im having a bad day and fail to drop a heavy in CQC in less than two seconds, again i'll have to fight against a heavy with a full charged shield, and before that is depleted im most likely dead.

On the other side, if a heavy fails to react immediately, those two seconds extra might be the death for him/her in most cases. So personally when i pull heavy if they go through with this update, i'll just take it as reflex training.

Let me fix it.

LA/infiltrators are built to pick the right moment and surprise attack enemies. So how is a LA supposed to sneak up on a hiding HA when the jetpack is SO FREAKIN' LOUD it can be heard coming a mile away? How can Infiltrator sneak kill an enemy when it takes a second to decloak before you can shoot and the HA puts 20 rounds of a LMG into you even before you can even shoot because of the EXTREMELY LOUD DECLOAKING noise giving your sneak attack away.

Infils have a delay when cloaking/uncloaking and their cloak makes a noise.

LAs cannot shoot properly while flying and suffer a huge cone of fire nerf.

What makes you think HA special abilities should be exempt from having a fault just because other people can get a jump on you when you're not paying attention?

Again, you have absolutely no evidence to say that it is an exaggeration. Its use amounts to 20% of the time LMG-playing heavies spend alive in game, and virtually ties (<0.5% difference) with MBT primaries as the most utilised means of killing an enemy vehicle. Only one of the Rocket Launchers (and once again, there are SEVEN available to each HA) amounts to 5 times as many hits and thus (mitigation averaged) ~2.5x the total damage done by a utility possessed by all but one class. It's clearly nowhere near as useless as you seem to believe it is.

To repeat myself further, I'm not downplaying the advantages or versatility of other classes; I have intentionally stated them so as to give a fair and balanced account which continues to note that there is no disadvantage the HA receives in exchange for one of its class abilities (be that the rocket launcher or the shield). The HA would be balanced when facing a Light Assault in combat with only its shield. It would be balanced when comparing AV potency to an engineer with only its rocket launcher. The reason HA are so prevalent is that it has eternal access to both and is thus the go-to class in any situation where one does not know the likely composition of an enemy force.

In conclusion, since I fear there can be no further meaningful discussion now that I'm restating things I said 4 pages back and you're not producing any cogent argument to the contrary, I'm clearly not wrong, else SOE wouldn't feel the need to address the issue. You may not agree with the existence of the issue, but clearly the developers do. Shame, eh?

Rockets DO outperform C4. The dumbfire isn't the only rocket launcher that HA get access to with no price paid for the utility, thus the comparison is only valid when comparing rocket launcherS, which as already addressed, puts them less than half a % behind MBT main cannons as the largest killer of MBTs, and amounts to what at a quick glance is going to be more than 15 times the damage output by C4.

The ostrich impression only further undermines any point you might have been close to making. The complaint isn't (for the last time) with the dumbfire launcher. It's with the HA having access to rocket launchers without paying any price for this extra utility. You wanted to compare usefulness of rocket launchers to usefulness of C4 by bringing in the last-hit MBT chart, and that's fine. Sadly, all it shows is that rocket launchers are more useful than C4 for killing MBTs. They're clearly not useless... Now if you want to have a look at the ESF chart, you tell me how many C4 kills there are there? AT mines? AV turrets? Now, rocket launchers? QED.

Calm down. I don't agree, many other players in the thread don't agree, more or less everyone involved in organised outfit combat doesn't agree, SOE don't agree, it's getting changed. I look forward to seeing what kind of effect the sky has as it passes through our atmosphere.

Next patch after the HA Shield tuning, small arms weapons will be able to damage Tanks!

Man if heavies are leading the charge, I guess that nullifies the Max suit's purpose.