Just a couple of things with the upcoming tweak to HA's that might make other classes viable again for assaulting a base, the LA is the mobility class, so why not improve on that as their niche? Relatively simple things like: Better accuracy while flying: Accuracy suffers while in the air by default to prevent people from jump shooting all over the place. The jetpack allows you to "Fall with style" for a longer period of time, and so it is far more noticeable. But why is this? I mean, theoretically we're just just strapping a jetpack on some guy, we're taking an expert trained and certified on this equipment. So through either certing into a passive ability or a new jetpack, the LA should have better accuracy while in the air. Maybe not perfect (unless ADS) but better, and no drooping scope when ADSing. Better mobility when scooting around: Given that we're wearing the lightest equipment and the most mobile units, we should be a bit quicker on our feet imo. Adrenaline boost should allow better strafe, backward, and sprint/strafe to the left and right possibly? EDIT: TVB (Thrust Vectored Boost) pack. Limited to only brief uses, or functioning in charges. It quickly propels the user in the desired direction (Except for straight back, that will go upwards and back to represent leaning back and thrusting upwards) kind of like a "Double jump" in most games, though it can be used while still on the ground for a burst of speed. At low levels it can get you quickly over obsticals, quickly dash towards or away from an enemy, or into cover. At higher levels you can string together "boosts" to move quickly and unpredictably around the battlefield, though users should learn the first stages well, as you can easily get yourself killed too.
You're suggesting nothing new actually. Many struggle to invent strange things and fancy support tools for the LA but the truth is this class does not need any support stuff as we are an assault class. Most of what we need is already in the game, but unfortunately is very lacking at the moment. - Accuracy while flying: this imho the 1st point. Right now accuracy while flying is so low that no one cares to fire when jetpacking around. LA are extremely vulnerable between take off and landing and this is not acceptable. A reduction in accuracy penalty would be needed. Not saying one should be able to snipe during flight, but right one couldn't hit a dinosaur within 10 mts. - Accuracy while skating: same as above for Drifters. Skating on ground does not offer any significant advantage over enemies because we can't change direction, we're not fast enough and accuracy penalty is so insane that you could barely hit anyone at point blank range with a shotgun. - Adrenaline Pump: this was the distinctive trait of this class, before they decided to share it with Infiltrators. It just cost 30certs but it's pure garbage as the effect can barely be seen. LA should have their own version of the Adrenaline Pump with more ranks, a bigger effect, a cooldown, affecting also the speed they reload and swap weapons. It would be nice if they could hear a strong heartbeat when the pump is activated. Once this is done we can start talking about new jumpjets, new weapons and new attachments.
What i feel would dramatically improve the LA's mobility during ground battles is for a increase in accuracy while flying, and the ability to use the jet pack horizontally providing the ability to strafe.
Apparently any kind of meaningful movement buffs are tough to do because the netcode can't handle it.
What if jetpacks functioned differently Hey, I like this....imagine if you had a new pack (return of the icarus, really) that fires in very brief but powerful bursts, but allows you to thrust in any direction (Aside from down and straight back. Using it while going back will launch you upwards and backwards). At lower levels it would allow you to quickly dash in/out of rooms, get a nice boost for getting over walls and get used to the idea. At higher levels, you could easily smash yourself into a rock and do major damage, but masters could be very effective zipping all over.
If I had to guess I'd say vehicles move more 'smoothly' than infantry. They might be faster, but they can't turn on a dime or strafe left to right instantly like infantry can, which makes it easier for the engine to guess at their movement in between actual movement updates. Same reason jump pads don't mess up hit detection that much, when you step on one the engine knows exactly what's going to happen to your character. It can't predict what you'll do with something like the Icarus jetpack and that's why it was removed way back in beta. But who knows. All I know is Higby said the Icarus was removed because the netcode couldn't handle its acceleration without screwing up hit detection any time someone used it.
Acceleration. They simply need to remove it for half the things in the game. Remove workload. Remove issues with lag. Inspire stronger skills due to the game demand in higher accuracy and reaction. Either remove it or make it really high. Planetside 2 is about soldiers who die about 100 times a day, you'd think they'd be all ripped and tough by now and and the force from their feet could accelerate them to 5m/s before they make a single step? But noooo, need to make this game "realistic". This isn't a tacticool shooter. It's arcade more than anything. Movement should be crisp and responsive. Not just for LA, but for everyone. LA just suffer the most cos it has no other tricks. Instead we get something that moves like a sludge monster from your bathroom drain.
Not really an option I think. Planetside 1 had no acceleration for infantry and the result was the dreaded ADAD warping: Lets say the servers can only send 2 movement updates per second. That means the client has to guess where the character is for 500ms at a time, which is about 30 frames if all goes well. Now if the other guy hits A just after the server sent his character's position by the time the next update arrives he's already been moving in that new direction for half a second. So not only are you getting the news of that direction change half a second too late, but your client actually spent the last half a second moving the character in the wrong direction, because that was the last movement state it received from the server. Without acceleration only one thing can happen: you see the character warp from one spot to another as the client corrects its mistaken guesswork. If you time your strafing right you can actually warp from side to side, making it almost impossible to hit you. With acceleration the client has time to smooth out that mistake so the warping isn't anywhere near as bad. That's the only reason it's in the game. Other games might be able to get away with not having as much acceleration because their servers only have to worry about synchronizing 32 players instead of hundreds, so they can send more frequent movement updates. And if I'm not mistaken this is also the same reason we don't have any high acceleration jetpacks.
It has to do with acceleration, from what I understand. Somebody going from still/low speed to high speed while moving non-linearly (Like with the ole' Icarus JJ's) causes jumping/jittering. This is why it isn't an issue with max charges, they go straight.
I 100% agree with your boost pack idea, and think it would be a great alternative jet pack, along with icarus jump jets, which IMO need to come back. I also REALLY want the LA to get a grappling hook as a tool slot item.
The problem is that stuff has been removed for technical reasons. It's not really likely to come back that easily. Concerning the grappling hook... why the hell should we have a grappling hook when we have a jetpack on our back? I'd rather be able to burn infantry when I fly over them.
The problem wasn't the speed as much as how fast the Icarus JJ accelerated. However, at the time they said the Icarus JJ caused netcode problems, regular jumping also caused problems. They fixed regular jumping, does that mean the Icarus JJ should be ok now? Dunno, but I wish they would investigate it again as Icarus were awesome.
I would actually really like it if the Light Assault had something like you desribed. Think of the jump pack they had in the trailer, something capable of small bursts to do quick movement in a direction. Right now the packs are barely faster than sprinting -_-
Why did the nerf drifters into the ground? I miss their awesome conservation of momentum and acceleration, and that reverse movement didn't slow you down, nor certain types of terrain for no discernible purpose. They took away ADS while jetting, so its not like a crazy LA could burst through your doorway and start efficiently killing. Adrenaline pump could be split into two cert lines - Fight or Flight, Fight increases strafe speed/general agility, while flight gives run/sprint and jump increases. Please let infils have access too! LAs could get the Fight cert line at a reduction, while Stealths get Flight, but alternate tree available at a price. I actually just want mobility as a whole re-examined, character movement is kinda clunky, the player jump height spastically restricted (as in my player acts spasticated while trying to jump over tiny rails/on to rocks, but will gaily run up the side of a mountain with the right angle ) A general increaese to player movement speeds, jump height, angle of climbability and general agility would make for a better game (for me, anyway ). Low TTK encourages High Mobility but just moving around bases can be awkward, let alone evading enemy fire. Of -course- LA should have an edge here vs other classes, mobility is their thing. I think its ridiculous that adrenaline pump is an accessory, when it should be a passive cert line. its not like pressing a button or something, from the sounds of it its a nano-assembly that's flooding the adrenal medulla with dopamine to cause massive upswing in adrenalin production. Hmm, so the light assault is living in an adrenalin filled perpetual reward cycle while flying around shotgunning people in the face?
