@ OP let me put this in a very simple manner: "Providing recon via Motion Detector and Sensor Dart" THIS is one of the most game changing abilities of ANY class. Infact i would go as far as to say the only thing more important on a squad level is a good Medic or three. People seriously underestimate the power of these recon tools. Having advanced warning of the enemy is of utmost importance. Having a class that can do this and still stay in the fight (xbow darts are very, VERY bad at this) is a boon to any squad. If your in a squad where the squad leader starts bashing you for being the only Infil....... Just leave, he should be thanking you for making his squad more effective. On the filp side of that coin, if there are to many infils (any more than two) dont pull one. If i lead i have a standard setup i like, and my ideal setup.... Standard setup: 1 Infil, 3 Medic, 2 Engi, 6 heavy Ideal Setup: 2 Infil, 3 medic, 2 engi, 5 heavy In my ideal setup i would be asking the Infils to have both types of spotter, the first Infil should keep a motion spotter up to cover his squads immediate area while the guy with darts covers the extended area around the squad with darts. You can cover a MASSIVE area with this setup meaning you know when the bad men come, how many of them there are and exactly which entrance / entrances they will attack from. This kind of battlefield intel is HUGELY important and can only be carried out effectivley with an Infitrator. All that said, this game is about squad balance. There is no point in having to many Infils just as there is no point having to many HAs or Engineers.
With this setup, it's clear the problem isn't the infiltrator but the LA. I still don't understand why forumside want an infiltrator gameplay improvement when it's clear light assault can't play in team.
Any good tactical squad should have at least one infiltrator putting up recon darts all over the place. The crossbow ones can work, but aren't anywhere near as effective as a maxed out recon tool. On top of that, a skilled stalker cloaker with a good pistol can hold down a capture point in small skirmishes as well.
This is my problem with both the Infiltrator and the Light Assault class. Unlike Medic, Heavy Assault, and Engineer (and MAX), the LA and Infil are really only used in squadplay for a single admittedly powerful tool. I.e. Darts and C4. Whereas the other classes have the capabilities to be useful in their own right, as a class, instead of relying on one thing. So I suggest rather significant buffs to LA and Infiltrator so as to give them value as a class, as a whole, rather than for a single tool.
Good infiltrator never stops, always on the move, and that's what I provide beyond the obvious use of darts, EMPs, and hacking. I'm not talking sniping or SMGs but scout rifles, more specifically, the full auto scout rifle. The great thing about this weapon is that you will never be forced to commit to a kill, but still allows you to open fire from an unexpected angle, much like how a LA does it. In a fast paced fight you will be amazed how freely you're able to move. Well, maybe not too surprised since I'm sure most of us sometimes wonder how the f*** the enemy allowed us to get through them. I quite frequently go on sundy protection duty as well, providing darts, resupply, provide darts, resupply, etc etc. Excellent way of remaining in the fight yet also be there to take out that clever LA or Engy thinking he's being clever. If you already own a base, you can do the same except now you cover the flanks with hot lead or plasma and darts(just logged off with a 44 kill streak doing just this). No one will thank you because very players will actually notice you. I guess this could be doable with a low magnification BASR too, but I do not think you'll be as effective(unless you are extremely skilled with it). I prefer my Artemis/Stalker with a 3.4x scope though as it is more effective in the areas I operate. As always, never fight fair and revel in the rage tells.
Both LA and Infil are specilist roles that require you to be creative in their use. Saying that the only useful thing they do is RDD / C4 is frankly, wrong. I do however think LA is in a pretty bad place ATM, much worse than the Infil. Let me put a situation to you: You squad is mid cap taking a base, they are dug in at the point and the enemy are having a torid time trying to get to the point. What would you do as an Infiltrator? Stay with your squad dug in the point? Maybe use your cloak to flank outside of the building so you can get aroud the back of the enemy trying to breach the point? Personally i would tell my SL i am not required for this defence, i would make my way to the next base along the lattice. I would then proceed to hack out the vehicle term, pull a sundy and find a good spot to deploy. I would then communicate to my squad the fact the Sundy is up ready fro quick redeploy to the next base. I would then go on to hack out any Infatry terms and turrets. I would then go sit on the point waiting for the point to flip. While waiting i would relay any information on hostile vehicle pulls, infantry numbers, flank direction and any other useful information i can relay. Now you have an Infiltrator that is not only useful to the squad but also providing information over and above what his RDD tells, he is providing the logistics for the squad allowing fast redeployment to critical locations and supplying heavy fire support from the rear. ALL this good stuff without the enemy even knowing you were there! In short, the cloak on the Infil allows you to do much more than just run and gun or flank. Try to provide INFILTARTION for your squad..... not just another squishy gun! In terms of buffs, what would you suggest? There is the obvious, give shileds back, make cloak less visible etc etc. We ceratinly dont need any more powerful guns (unless you want to give me a bruiser ).....
I find that I actually can run with a squad, literally...as in that I am with the other solider as part of the fire team. An infiltrator can work with a squad just as well as other classes. It often just needs a play style change. Recon - as others mentioned. Ammo packs allow you to keep the sensors going. Very valuable for the squad or other players fighting with you. Hacking - good to have when needed ordinance support - Sure engineers have it also, but more mines is good. Also emp nades can bring an new option to the table. damage support- DM (designated marksman) - Infils have access to hard hitting alpha strike weapons, even if it's not one hit kill, you severely weaken the target for you squad mates. A rolling sniper can take care of targets while the squad approaches an enemy position. I find this is where the BASR with lower range scopes, semi-autos, and scout rifles work well.or...using subs, you can contribute general fire support. Nano Armor Cloak - I feel like this cloak type was designed to be used when running with your buddies. Since you don't need to do prolonged cloaking running with a group, I find Nano Armor works well to increase survivability.
Well, sure both classes do have a use outside of their single tool, but in my experience (read: opinion) it's pretty lackluster in terms of power compared to the general play of the other classes. As for buffs that I'd like to see though... Besides QoL stuff like auto-decloaking when you fire, Stalker/Nano cloak buffs, and speial grenade improvements, etc., I'd love to see the Infiltrator have a bit more game-changing power in big fights aside from just the radar darts and headshots. It would be way neat if they had some kind of replacer for the dart tool that gave them a few seconds of an infantry-style gate shield defuser, letting them infiltrate tech plants and other special shielded areas (probably not spawns though). And with the new Auto-sentry coming out, it would be fun if the infiltrator could hack those and turn it on the enemy! Making bases have alternate routes that can be unlocked by infiltrators would be pretty cool. But without asking the devs to redesign bases with the infiltrator in mind, I'd like a weak anti-material rifle and an Anti-Air focused tracking dart or laser pointer (which could potentially decrease lock on times or something). My reasoning being that the most powerful classes are the most adaptable. I believe that Heavy Assaults, Engineers, and MAXes are so powerful and so well utilized in squadplay is because they have the loadout options to deal with any threat (save AA engineers, but they should get an AA turret anyways). Giving our lackluster classes the tools to deal with AA/AI/AV just like the HA, MAX, and Engie (and all vehicles) would help a ton to alleviate the class's woes in the usefulness department. C4 on infiltrators could do this, but I don't think it could work out unless C4 damage was decreased by at least half. So if I made a list; Infiltrator: Anti-Material rifle/tool, Anti-Air dart/laser tool, QoL buffs LA: Grenade Launcher/Rocklet Rifle tools (AA/AV/AI/ES like Heavy rockets), QoL buffs, 1v1 oriented Jetpack ability (like a short-range strafe/burst pack ala Halo 4 or something) Engineer: AA turret, a new 'F-key' ability besides ammo drops (just for QoL mainly) Medic: Triage buff/change (passive AOE heal that only tops off friendlies above X%?), some way to support/combat AA/AI/AV (totally open to suggestions) HA: Remove shield speed debuff but make the shield run until it's out of juice like the Vanguard's MAX: Make them harder to kill but non-revivable I think those changes would really go a long way to helping all the classes have better balance and value in squadplay. HA/MAX changes are kind of just my personal opinion on their arguable "OP-ness", but I think they're fair.
I agree, LA's needs the most work. They kill just fine, but I would like to see them have access to area denial options like Molotov Cocktails as a special consumable which could be thrown on the ground, discouraging enemies from making a push for a short period of time. The only role which is not filled right now is area denial. Engineers are slowly taking this potential role away too with the automated turrets, which I agree is a VERY cool concept but I worry as to where that leaves the LA. Another Idea would be specialized suits that grant passives. Personally I feel an anti-thermal device as a passive would be a welcome change for LA's considering how I have watched many brave LA's on rooftops avoiding farming tanks by virtue of dodge skills. The roof tops are totally exposed in most cases LA's get shot down very quickly without a means to retaliate to those firing upon them at a distance. I am sure tankers would be unhappy with this but considering there is no counter to farm vision right now... I don't see why it would be bad to have options for a LA to survive by lowering their profile while on the rooftops... Maybe if it worked like cloak (did) where the thermals would not detect the LA at a distance but would pick him up around 50 meters. Or perhaps a specialized suit that converted fall damage into a shock wave when the LA lands. No damage done to the light assault on landing but anyone nearby looses shields like how our EMP's work. I know silly idea but I am trying to come up with something "fun" for new players to enjoy. The hardest part for LA's is working within a team environment. They have to bring something to the table or do something better then another class to earn their spot. Beacons are not enough in most cases after placement... LA's will suicide and come back as something more useful. What could a LA do which benefits his or her team? How do they get back to the team after a death quickly, or validate going outdoors often? I have considered a large deploy-able indoor self spawn as well. A little light pad, Nanite Disc.... (like a mini circle jump pad) which reconstructs them would be fine. To avoid "abuse" it would need to be placed by the LA, and the player would have to respawn as a LA in order to use it. The disc would need to be well hidden or guarded by the LA's team members to remain intact, and would enable the light assault who placed it, the ability to re-spawn after venturing outdoors and getting killed. The ability to flank is core to the class. Allow them to do what they do best and return to the group. I already do this with a well timed spawn beacon and proxy mine + emp to prevent Max Crash Support. The trouble is my leader and squad have to beacon swap and unless your groups awesome and nice, they might find doing this constantly for their LA's a bit irritating. Allow the LA's to manage themselves. The LA could provide counters SO MUCH BETTER then I could if they had a toy that allowed them to go outside without concern or micro-management. The light assault "welcome home mat" would let them use C4 very effectively in a team setting. LA's are also kings of the rooftops. The disc could allow them to fortify an elevated position, or venture over to a capture point and harass it for a short time until their disc is destroyed by the enemy. Interdiction is just as important too but again right now LA's are limited by very punishing deaths in a team setting.
Well, having been playing Infiltrator (to a limited extent, I'm pretty new at BR 29, but I do pretty much exclusively play Infiltrator) in a more tactical Outfit, what I've had success at in supporting a squad is: Long-range recon with a sniper rifle (my fellows had a huge advantage in knowing where the enemies were long before the enemies knew where they were, as I was on a hill and could clearly see the entire battlefield) Precision killer with a sniper rifle (Those AP MANA turrets are dangerous, you say? Wrong. They're sniper food.) Close-range recon with Stalker cloaking (by which I mean physically sitting there and using voice chat to alert of enemies, not using sensor darts) Killing any particularly annoying enemies (there's nothing quite like unleashing 60 rounds at once to make sure someone dies. Or two crossbow bolts.) Thinning out the enemy front-lines (+a bit of recon) with a semi-auto scout rifle (HSR-1 outperforms any non-infiltrator weapon at a distance in my experience). Hacking stuff, of course (Imagine this attack on an enemy base: all the turrets are friendly and there's a Sunderer out before you even get there.) And the grand finale... I have, on a couple occasions, had an entire squad occupied just chasing me around. For the purposes of the main battle, that squad no longer exists. This could just be me being a noob, but I honestly find spotting to be more useful than motion darts if I'm in the right place. Most enemies aren't observant enough to find me from the spotting noises. Of course, these may be a bit of a stretch because I almost exclusively play Infiltrator and I have to do something useful.
I play the infiltrator as an entirely different breed. While I hate sniping from afar, I like fast paced closequarter combat giving me an enormous adrenaline rush. So this is what I specialized in. Squads ask me to play infiltrator for a reason. Ive come quite close to perfecting the art of mowing down infantry when holding down a point. The sensor beacon provides my team with intel while they do their work (and it gives me a nice XP boost from any kills they make). Usually squads ask for people to stay in res range "hold B!". Me? No, Im left to my devises. To scour around any point we're supposed to hold and finish off or lay damage to the enemy as they move to the capture point. Hack a vehicle terminal, steal a fury flash and start tearing into the enemy armor (sunderers, magriders, you name it) or infantry moving cross a field. Lay waste to any spawnpoints causing the enemy to have to chase after me as I dart around like a panther. Kill enemy infantry with a SMG or scoutrifle at close to medium range. Relocate, rince and repeat. Flank the enemy and keep biting at their feet. Eventually they all swap out to darklight. Oh, you're fighting a standoff with lots of armor on both sides? No problems, grab the cloaky flash. Get behind enemy lines, rain down hell on the enemy spawns on a sunderer and finish off people repping their tanks.
Something else occurred to me, besides recon/sabotage: CQC Sniping is extremely effective against the more dangerous targets. The good ones, the ones that almost invariably win a close-to-mid-range encounter and have good situational awareness (i.e. shotguns are out of the picture) can still fall prey to a shot from the TSAR-42 or faction equivalent. And it keeps the recon aspect as well.
I am really not sure how this is going to change once SS Rank 4 and 5 make the scene. From what I can gather Maxes cannot use Sensor Shield, so motion spotters will display positive presence and still act as an early warning system. Yeah CQC sniping engineers off turrets is highly effective, or peeking and waiting for them to poke out behind predictable cover because they don't think anyone can kill them quickly enough. It only takes one good shot.
Marker + EMP nades works wonders against people holding down a small room, as it acts like the Threat grenade from COD AW
Another Thing: SASR + marker. All you need to do Is rain fire down on your enemies, Auto spotted, And they all of a sudden have 600 HP instead of 1000.
You've forgotten that the Light Assault class turned, over the time, into the only class being used by pilots without balls 95% of the pilots. I would definitely call this a kind of "being useful as a class", even besides my personal opinion about it. Something that constantly leads to annoying problems for cqc hunter cloakers but barely gets mentioned in cloaker discussions, is the random behavior of the cloaking/decloaking reaction timing that appears around bigger fighting areas. Why the hell is the infiltrator the only class having some problems occuring just in those fights, where it's special abilities make the most sense for any good squadplay?!?
To me, bailing out of aircraft is the same niche kind of capability that plagues the LA. Just because a class if good at something doesn't mean it's a good class. Comparing the LA to say, the HA or the Engineer, squad leaders can look at their roster and say "Good, we have a nice amount of Medics, MAXes, Engineers, and Heavies" because these classes are adaptable as well as powerful in their own right. They don't need to worry about individual strategies because they know that those classes are well rounded and very capable in whatever situation. But the Infiltrator and the Light Assault are severely underpowered for general play, and so their only (most often) use in squad play is to abuse their niche abilities, i.e. aircraft bailing or C4 bombing or radar beacons, which while useful, are no more potent than Medic revives or HA rockets, and both of those classes have combat power and adaptability to boot. That said I totally agree that the cloak is buggy. I don't know what they can do about it though since the reason it seems slow to turn off sometimes is because it's serverside (they don't want cloaked people shooting). Maybe they could just counteract the slow serverside registration with some general buffs like recharge rate or cloak time.
