The correct way to balance/nerf the Heavy Assualt Sheild

HELL NO
Or every heavy in the game is gonnah switch to SMG infiltrator, you already get torn apart even if the infi didn't have the jump on you if you have an LMG equipped.With shotguns it's highly dependent on the situation.

Please read all my post before saying something like that. Of course, add a delay on the actual NMG will be a bad idea.

All medic drops are super scary.

They just never end.

SMG shouldn't be getting a headshot bonus to begin with .... nor should Shotguns.
They're not situational skill-based guns. Why are they getting a random "skill" Reward??
They're no different than "rocket primaries" were and those got nerfed recently.... everyone's happy about it too
If MAX suits become a bigger issue, then just revert the overly generous Small Arms resistance they were given




/begin rant

People aren't ever actually listening to themselves in these arguments. I see it every time & it's always the same exact story. At the end of the day all they really want is more survival so they won't die so easily to the game's cruddy update interpolation and super finicky latency. So many players stay on HA b/c it's the only thing that lets them duck behind a corner and then not die to 5 more shots hitting them AFTER getting behind the corner. Everyone, regardless of what they'd rather be playing in infantry, is clearly sick of being instagibbed in a split second reaction time that gets stretched out on the other guy's lagging Client with a couple completely random headshots. There wouldn't be so many HA's in every base fight if people actually DID what they CLAIM they do and play without crutches.

Removing their "i win" shield will not make Infantry fights better. The demographics on this have already spoken. The TTK is shorter than the combined reaction time plus margin of error in Latency and hitbox bugs. And they obviously can't fix those lag issues. They've only gotten worse over the years. So it's time everyone stopped pretending to be hardcore when we know most of them are crutching on HA's or SMG inf's .... or in the case of the players I end up with as allies the most: Getting rez'd 10x while they overburden my Triage so I've got nothing left on my bar when I have to save my own ***....

People just need to drop the tough guy act, and admit that it's time for the QCQ game's TTK to atleast match the stinkin LAG. Escpeically when you've got some packets that are 4 or 5 shots being compressed into 2 server ticks and ghost-shots on ADS'd players simply b/c they're using an Orion and are from Japan. .....man I hate that ****, it's why I stopped playing the game after 1pm on connery. I'd rather NOT play the game, than have to crutch heavy to win every gunfight.


HA should be for protracted battles against Armor in the field when you ran out of Resources for your own Armor & Air. It shouldn't be the first thing everyone pulls by default to go rambo in every single base. Where's the depth in that? If people don't snap out of it and face the real monster in the room here.... the LATENCY vs. TTK.... then we already know what's going to happen b/c we've seen SOE do it a hundred times. They're gonna find a way to N.G.E. the heavy shield anyway and then everyone's gonna be equally squishy getting equally boned by lag at every turn and nothing will get fixed because that lag is a consequence of the SPEED OF LIGHT and computer chips. There is no other way around it besides making TTK fair for every class. This isn't COD. Having teammates should matter. Strategy should matter. Not who corner peeked & shot first unless they had an "i win" shield or "i win" cloak /w SMG.

/RaNT

Yeah that's true, but Engies are well played (infantry-wise) even if 50% of them are in vehicles, medics are well played too (and probably aren't in vehicles).

Listen here scooter:

1) Heavies are you know... Heavy. They need to be on the front lines with MAXs pushing points (although they still die just as fast as other classes due to how many explosions are in the game).

2) The game isn't balanced off 1v1 encounters. Too bad for you

3) Its stupid easy to get head shots in this game and most PS1 vets agree that something needs to be done about it. Nanoweave is completely useless as it doesn't protect against head shots (why are we wearing helmets and wearing personal shields?).

There are so many bullets flying around in a fight and along with noob bolt action snipers, its so easy to get shot in the head. So no once again. The last thing this game needs is more head shots. Honestly, if you're not using an SMG, you're doing it wrong. You can spray and pray and people's heads and drop groups of people fast. That's how easy it is to head shot.

TLDR: No.

Dude, can I like... Keep you? That was the most amazing post I've seen in years. You must be a wizard to understand or something to understand what's really killing the game so well.

Hats off to you good sir. Seriously.

Sorry m8 you've missed. HA is not my main class. I play EVERY class the situation requires. I adapt. I always pick something to counter my enemy. But what I want to say:
HA<- the front guy. Should be the easiest class to use properly because it doesn't require much thinking and as such should be able to kill every other class (except for MAXes) if they don't have some kind of advantage over the HA (4 example the infiltrator should attack from sides/behind and not run straight at the heavy like rambo and still win)
Infiltrator<- the smart stealthy guy.Has weakest armor and lightest weaponry so he shouldn't stand a chance in open fights.Instead he utilizes ambushes/traps/flanking to gain the advantage (not what we currently see though...)

So, open fights:
HA>Medic>Engineer=LightAssault>Infiltrator
Ambushes
Infiltrator=LightAssault>HA=Medic>Engineer

Then why does it feel like
open fights
Infiltrator>HA>Medic>Engineer=LightAssault
Ambushes
Infiltrator>LightAssault>HA=Medic>Engineer
?

If you completely ignore Turrets and AP mines... sure

Or the ability to endlessly spam smoke and use an IRNV sight....

Also the Engineer is key to any infantry force. They keep MAXes alive and keep everyone with ammo and rockets.

LA's......... flank. That's it. That's all they do.

LA needs a team role. Something.

No problem, that rant wasn't directed to you anyway, Hence the large amount of space between the initial response...

/shrug

It's not a gift or autism or even OCD. It's just perspective. IE: NOT letting the tryhard tendencies out, but instead aspiring to be a filthy casual. During the game's release, I was the one pointing out that N.C.'s weapons were fine and the only reason they were underperforming so badly as infantry was because of how Latency and the rates of fire would exaggerate the "Flinching" mechanic that Clegg eventually convinced Higby to tone the hell down. Now that Implants are in, guess what Higby's favorite implant is? ....that's right, Battle Hardened. The Anti-flinching implant.

If I was actually smart, I woulda just found a way to communicate this stuff directly to their designers instead of pleading with the Forumside Committee for it to eventually gain enough traction to be mentioned directly to the Devs in their streams or at PAX or wherever else they go to hide from people like me. You should check out Mustarde's posts & videos if you haven't already, he's got a much better handle on this crap than I do and is awesome at the game

I stopped reading after you said "Its stupid easy to get head shots in this game and most PS1 vets agree that something needs to be done about it"

I didn't say that the engineer does not have utility. He probably has the most utility out of any class. However, if you consider his killing potential, especially in 1vs1 encounters, then he is indeed a wingless light assault.

I would not like the HA to get something stupid like a delay mechanic and it's health to be reduced, and the speed lost is practically their so i don't see the problem? And of course a freaking HA should destroy a LA in a one on one fight, just like the MAX should destroy a be-shielded heavy in 5 seconds, or LA an Infiltrator and so on, because if they were all "equal" then where's the diversity of gameplay in that lol. I don't know what to say about the multiplier because idk how would it be like in-game.

The argument that HA is the "main" or "front line" combat class so the shield is justified is BS cuz the shield does not allow you to effectively "tank" damage from more than one source. Hell even MAX suits have trouble tanking concentrated fire and pushing through a choke point and they have far more durability than what the shield provides. The shield does not give heavies any real pushing power at all or the ability to act as a force multiplier.

The shield is used the same way the old personal shield implant from PS1 was used, as a crutch for 1vs1 fights to give you extra HP over your opponent. Thats all it does. Its the worst designed ability because its OP in 1vs1 and UP in team play. It does not need to be just nerfed it needs a complete rework into something that is actually useful in team play and not a lame win button in irrelevant 1vs1 fights.

Heavy assault doesn't even make or break until you get to the top tier of infantry play, stop complaining. Even then you can usually out shoot heavies since the other classes have guns with much higher accuracy that can out dps a HA via head shots. I can just as easily go on a 5-10 kill streak with medic as I can with heavy assault. Hell I went on a 35 kill streak the other day as light assault. Git gud.

i beg to differ

an engi with a turret set up in 1 v 1 will wreck anything coming through there, including MAXs
also, this game is NOT balanced around 1 vs 1 encounters, never, and it shouldn't be, it's a damn war game, not Counter Strike

It's a bit more complicated than that.

A turret in the current implementation can be useful, but under very specific situation that don't come up often. It is used more as a trolling tool and a portable cover, than an actual weapon you can use at any time.

As for the game, while as a whole the game is balanced around all classes being useful, on a constant basis you find yourself going 1vs1 against other people. Why do you think this thread is now 10 pages long? Because people playing as engineers, medics, whatever, are having trouble successfully handling heavy assaults. To an extend, they are right to feel that this game is not a paper, rock, scissors, where if the rock bumps on the paper, it automatically loses. Now, whether the perception of power that heavies have right now is actual, is another matter entirely.

with my squad, as an engineer, i use the turret all the time for point defense and get almost as many kills as a max while defending, while also being able to repair maxes, give ammo and lay down smoke and AP mines
people dieing to my turret i can deny of being rezzed by just spamming their corpse as it is doing the stand-up animation, and hitting the turret with a rocket seems nigh impossible for most heavys since i almost always die in my turret when someone flanks me and my squad is mostly dead anyway, not through rockets
the AI turret is far stronger than people think it is, but now to the HA shield:

a heavy not only has an advantage in fights, they are also restricted to very special ranges
carbines and assault rifles are far better at doing well at medium and close range fights, while an LMG is almost always restricted to one of those
combined with the slowdown every HA shield gives you, this implies that the heavy is mostly a defensive class, meaning when you run into him, it's pretty much your fault
you can disengage an overshield HA easier than a LA, or an Infil that got you by suprise

i would say 1vs1 a MAX kills everything if you take it head-on and just unload your gun on it, but should the MAX be toned down to infantry health as well? if you think "yes", this game is not for you i am afraid

You have as many kills with your turret as with your MAΧ? That would be hard to believe and interesting to see.

Getting kills with the turrets is dependent on so many conditions, it's not even funny:

• You need to place it in a spot where snipers can't get to you
• You need to place it in a place where you can't be flanked or where friendlies will cover your back
• You need to place it in a place where AV grenades won't land near your feet
• You need to place it in a place where the legs of the turret are not exposed to rocket fire
• And last, you need to place it somewhere where enemies pass frequently, but friendlies won't stand in front of it.

I admit that the AI turret is a lot better now that doesn't explode the second a rocket hits it, but it's uses are still extremely situational. I mostly use it when I suppress a corridor, while my back is covered by allies and to scare away MAXes who would hesitate to charge my position.

As for the heavies, they are not really restricted to specific ranges. Their LMGs however are not the highest DPS weapons in the game, though they do provide sustained fire. MAXes are even worse, they have the worst DPS weapons in the game (TR & VS that is), but they can make them work simply because they are so durable.

Personally, I think the current implementation of the heavy is working. Unless somebody can suggest an actual improvement, this whole discussion about how unfair it is to fight heavies is not productive.

1) would fix the preactivation issue, the problem would be HAs would have them up most of the time.

2) just suffers from the same issue as mentioned before, that is if the ramp up is too quick nothing changes and if it is too slow then only the Resist Shield remains as a viable shield (the lack of movement penalty simply doesn't balance that).