As it currently is, the empire specific max abilities aren't all that stellar. They have use in certain situations, but mostly dim to the alternative, charge. Some players try to make use of them, but in most cases, charge will achieve what you were attempting to do and allow you to survive. So a few ideas. Aegis: Fix the bug that allows splash damage through. This has singlehandedly crushed any use you'd get out of the shield. C4, tank shells, grenades, etc, etc. It all goes right through. And you're just sitting there. This needs to happen regardless of any other suggestion. Make the shield clientside if it isn't already. Many cases where the player activates the shield to block incoming damage with good reflexes...only to eat it anyways because it wasn't rendered on their screen. Alternatively, drastically speed up the activation time to allow players to use good reflexes to catch incoming damage. Make the shield slightly large, roughly 10-20%, to cover the feet and like. What's the use of a shield that doesn't block damage if your enemy just aims down? In the same vein of the splash going through. The use of the shield is negated with no significant change of enemy tactics. A QOL adjustment: allow a reload to be started with the shield up. Currently, one will complete if started before, but it cannot be done if the shield is currently up. Would help a little with the NC max's lack of sustainability in fights. Allow the Max to sprint when using the shield. When doing so their sprint speed is the same. However, there are some drawbacks. The shield either moves such that the user's view is blocked while sprinting or the viewslot closes. This will effectively blind the Aegis user while sprinting. Using a rapid push tool would have consequences. Think before you rush in, or take it slow. A melee attack can be initiated with the shield. It does full damage of a max punch, takes off 10% of the shield bar, and concusses the enemy. Currently, Aegis Max = helpless max, so infantry will frequently rushdown or walk through you/your shield to access your vulnerable backside. This makes it a valid threat to not simply approach the max and the normal limitations of the NC max's agility apply to prevent sheer abuse. All in all, these changes would simply make the shield be used what it's meant to do: block damage...all damage, be used as a spacer or a breather room, and facilitate pushes so the cripplingly short ranged NC max can engage. Charge does the same but carries cooldown times and does not potentially cover teammates. ZOE: A contentious point. Also a tough one. However, SOE's original incarnation of it was a good idea with too much bad attached to it. The VS faction is mobility and versatility. The magrider's main draw is its ability to move so more easily. ZOE should follow the same principal. Strip all damage buffs from it. Useless or so niche as to be. Also strip the damage debuff from it. Reasoning will follow. Remove the timer before forced turn off. It can be turned on and off at will, for a duration. Activating has no cost, but deactivation has a significant chunk. Make ZOE buff the movement of the Max in everything but sprint acceleration. Potentially sidestepping, if ADAD deceleration hasn't been added properly, though it was purported to be fixed. The max should be agile. The spring acceleration is to prevent it simply being used as a charge on demand. Top sprint speed means a max can cover rapid distance once given the space properly to do so. Once activated, ZOE does the following: Halves firerate, reduces clipsize to quarter, and when activated, forces a reload to place these limitations in. Once deactivated, the user must reload again to refill their clips, but it is not necessary. The main issue with the old ZOE was that it was what is known as a 'lightning bruiser'. It was fast, durable, and had firepower. With the severe debuffs placed on the weapons, ZOE is not used like it was. It's not a lightning offensive tool, but a positioning one. To get into an advantageous position, escape, or appear unexpectedly. Once there, their offensive capability is crippled unless they sacrifice a small duration of time to do so, but they are not helpless while doing so. The new ZOE is to be used more thoughtfully rather then being kept on. If the user wants to charge into the room and clean it, the charge ability exists. ZOE would be more used for in between fight repositions, or in fight ones. After all, a third of a clip is more then enough to kill plenty of people if done properly and the firerate would be restored. Splash damage weakness may need to be added after testing, pending seeing how AV VS maxes engage tanks. Being an even harder to hit target when dishing out heavy damage may be too overpowering against the other factions armor. However, it remains to be seen. Lockdown: An excellent defensive tool, but it sort of falls into the same boat as the Aegis. The drawbacks are very harsh. Unfortunately, due to the nature of lockdown, it can't really be massively changed without simply throwing it away. But I feel I have some solid ideas on how best to approach. Keep deploy time the same. Undeploy becomes near instant, but forces a reload. A TR max can uproot whenever they wish, but needs a moment to restore their combat ability. The deploy time being kept is to prevent simply planting root to win any 1v1 fight. Max punch works as normal. The TR max is not completely unable to move. Instead, sprint is disabled, and forward speed is brought down to 20%. All benefits are kept even in movement. This is intentional. I envision a slow moving wall of firepower bearing down with engineer support in the back...it'd be delightfully terrifying. Their field of vision is kept in the original lockdown orientation, however, which requires an undeploy to turn around. When locked down, the TR max receives a bonus dependent on their suit slot. The bonus is independent of the certed level suit slot in question and is instead attached to the cert level of lockdown. -Autorepair's length of time since it kicks back in is reduced. At max level, it would turn on instantly or nearly so. -Flak armor adds a buff against direct explosive rounds. At max rank, it should ideally protect against one more rocket or tank shell. -Kinetic gives a slight boost to bullet resistance. This one is tricky and may need changed, since a kinetic max is already pretty tough to down. Should this be technologically impossible, a flat addition of each suit slot or simply buffing resistances would likely be in order. As well, add laser sights coming out the TR max's weapons when deployed. This is to assist in visually indicating the threat of a max in lockdown. While their stance and bright red bullet tracers do this, a max in darkness or smoke in lockdown has no such indications. Whereas an NC max with the Aegis out or ZOE being active are both clearly evident regardless of fight conditions. This turns the TR max into a good defensive powerhouse with some options in offensive capability. With proper setup or support, the TR can use their lockdown to create or push a line. Suit slots tailor playstyle and can make each TR max more specialist. The sheer firepower offered by lockdown demands considerable drawbacks, but complete immobility on the prowler, with the ranges it can engage at, is vastly different from the CQC situations the TR max finds itself in. Thus some mobility being necessary to see use out of the ability at all. It also offers more interesting options then merely the Planetside 1 'overdrive' mode, which was ZOE without the move buff. And frankly, even as an NC main, I wanna see a spartan Aegis line meeting a TR lockdown hellstorm. Out, with that random VS max that's always there, somehow.
NC Aegis shield has only minor deficiencies (splash damage, exposed feet or head) but is very useful for a coordinated push. TR lockdown is situational, but I love it for AA work and static defense. ZOE MAX is meh... The whole problem with the empire-specific MAX abilities is that TR got an offense boost, NC got a defense boost, and VS originally got both (+mobility +damage). All three empires should have two abilities. One ability that boosts offense in exchange for a drawback (limited mobility is best), one ability that boosts defense at the expense of offense / mobility.
A significant reduction to MAX Charge would make these options more attractive. Some of them (TR Lockdown, ZOE) need some very substantial work to be useful, even if Charge were balanced, but Charge is a big part of what makes MAXes completely overpowered currently.
I did start to read it but my eyes galazed over before I finished the second paragraph. No offence intended. I'm just rather bored of reading through gazillions of nerf this, change that threads. More my loss really, I suppose, because I'm sure that some of the suggestions are very good. It's a pity that, seeing this is the "Gameplay Discussion" forum that we can't talk about actual gameplay and working with the tools that we have got rather than constantly changing those tools...
