[Suggestion] Lets fix ZoE once and for all

Oh man I like that idea. Personally I get bored as a max wandering from place to place, but the ability to switch out my guns for 30 secs to gain plasma swords and mobility would be intense.

Screw ZOE, can I get that as an alternative max? I want to be a Zealot from SC. Can I get cloak too? Now I am a dark templar. My life for Aiur! I mean Vanu... My life for Vanu...

Lockdown and Aegis are somehow useful. ZOE is just suicide ability.

ES Max ability suggestions:

-Shield needs to work properly; duh.

-Lockdown: full immobilisation is a very heavy penalty.
-> reduce movement speed by 50% (remember, maxes are already slow); also slow down turning, no strafing
->increase projectile speed as per current; +33-50%
-> reduce CoF of TR Max AI weapons (& the fractures if they don't get adjusted) (CoF halved? Bloom remains...), using lockdown also puts the max into a 1.5x zoom view. ( --> zoom sensitivity for turning?)
-> Increase reload speed. (max rank: 50%)
(-> lockdown increases RoF by 10%, and 10% only? Me, I quite like the idea of not a buff to dps, but buff to reload speed & accuracy.. making a "long range" option. some testing would be needed however )

--> Now lockdown is truly a ranged ability.
Since no-one needs to worry about lockdown granting ermagerd DPS, stuff like the fractures can be looked at.
Lockdown is an activated ability, that lasts X seconds, and then has a cooldown.
Max rank: something like 15s duration, 45s cooldown
The zoom, slow movement and slowed turning etc limits the usefullness at short range.
Stopping 'lockdown' once activated would simply mean the cooldown timer starts.

For the AV combo of 1.5x zoom + increased projectile velocity: keep in mind that the NC have the guided ravens and the VS have the Vortexes..


ZoE vs charge:
can't shoot whilst charging; pretty big limitation.
ZoE:
increases dmg from max melee attack to 1000; one-shot close infantry.
increases forward move speed (& forward only) by 50%.
grants "Soft point ammo" to AI weapons; 15m min dmg range.
Vortex: charges up slightly faster, and is accurate on the move too.
Comet: increase projectile speed to 120 m/s; whilst ZoE is active, mag size increased by 1.

ZoE takes 10% additional damage while active.

ZOE :

Upon activation : Replaces Ammo with heat mechanic. Would need a useful Maximum Heat threshold.
(Also each weapon would to have a different heat build up, some can be similar, for the sake of diversity. )

The % of additional damage taken is directly linked to the heat level of the MAX. (It's weapons)

Certs level could increase maximum heat threshold and/or cooldown recovery and/or reduce the reduction penalty.

Reloading completely cooldown, no buff to reload, could even debuff it a little ( the last point would have to work with numbers to decide, this is by no mean necessary if it's not.)

Ammo packs reduces the heat build-up a bit, so engies are still loved.

You become a mobile AI Mana turret.

Allows true berserk or conservative playstyles.

Activable ability by user.

Activation time before usage and upon deactivation. Weapons are useless during that maybe?

Just some random ideas.

Well, that's not much of a problem. I'm sure we can brainstorm an ability, instead of trying to fix something that doesn't work.

I actually went and looked it up; ZoE was implemented with the 23-05-13 patch; it was nerfed with the 17-12-13 patch. This means for close to a year now VS have not had an working ES MAX ability were as both TR and NC have had a working one...

Lockdown is not really working for MAXes. Aegis sort of works, but it has issues.

Lockdown works with AA, with Pounders holding choke points or simply playing long range spammer with fracturers (this is more to annoy enemy vehicles then actually kill them so value is limited). Not useful in every situation but as someone who pulls a lot of AA MAXes I'd love lock down for that increased ease of killing...

Just a suggestion but how about changing ZOEs mechanic to a short shield allowing a max to purposely take punishment and convert it into output damage for a short burst.

Basically when the shield is up all damage done to the max is absorbed and during that time period the max cannot use its weapons. Once the time has gone for the shield any absorbed damage will then be outputted in damage ontop of the weapons default damage output (we can use math to decide how much the output should be, thinking below a quarters worth maybe a 1/6 - 1/8 of the total damage) for a small period of time, like a short burst of adrenaline.

If no damage was taken, then zoe will provide no bonus damage output.

Any smart player will know during the shield phase to not touch a max until its at its overdrive phase which at then if it hasn't absorbed any damage it will be of no bigger threat than it was previously.

I really like the first idea.

For a simpler fix, I'd say
15-20% higher damage
10% reduced armour
weapons fire from the ammo pool, negating the need to reload for the duration (or don't generate heat, if we ever get that)

MAX cloak.

ZOE should not have any sort of damage buff. Give it anything else but do not give it a straight-up damage buff Honestly, just do two things:

A) Remove all ES MAX abilities for each faction

B) Give VS MAXs jetpacks

Jetpack is the worse ability to give in the PS2 universe. No. Just watch the videos of the people having it as a bug and you'll understand.

Then take away ES MAX abilities. Problems solved.

Because VS can't get JJ we shall remove all abilities?

Hmm, that's a strong logic!!

What other stuff you want balanced like that?