As in, what roles should MAX units fulfill in PS2? Here's a list as to what needs to be changed about MAXes no matter what : 1) [AI] Give indirect fire support weapons to them, akin to the NSO Defector MAX. Stuff like projectiles that deal limited AoE damage behind cover which isn't great in a 1v1 but amazing in a support role, weapons that heal friendlies and deal low damage to enemies and potentially new melee weapons. This is to compensate for losing or significantly changing their existing AI weapons. [AV] Add new powerful, but relatively easy to dodge weapons like dual AV MANA turrets and similar mouse guided projectiles. [AA] Same with AV with the emphasis of having no AoE flak, intended to hurt big targets like Libs and Galaxies. 2) Three unique abilities for all MAXes : A generally useful, can't go wrong ES pick (like NC Aegis shield for other factions) A powerful but situational ability (something like a buffed ZOE, Lockdown or not as debilitating Time bomb) A good team support ability (like Seraph shield but for the three factions) Potentially an offensive AV/AA ability/third weapon. 3) Make MAXes count as a vehicle body that can collide with vehicles, with more mass than Flashes and slightly less mass than Harassers and make them survive orbital strikes by default. Fallout hardening gets removed. Resistance to A2G damage type improved. Passive XP gain for drawing fire if blocking shots for non-MAX friendlies. For their actual purpose, I'd say active ability focused support with very strong but unconventional weapons, since it's something that doesn't exist with other classes - they either specialize in killing and their abilities help them with that, or they kill and support is something they do on the side. Weapons - should be pinpoint accurate but balanced around slow velocity and/or heavy drop, melee or weakness in 1v1. Weapon crosshair - should reflect inaccuracy of shots, and should expand/retract as CoF increases/decreases. Small grenade crosshair and potential rangefinder built-in when using heavy drop weapons. Abilities - powerful but situational. Movement - potential return of Charge but with limited turning and long acceleration and potential limited flying ability, possibly have movement as a means of attack by ramming into things/melee combos but no conventional weapons to speak of. MAXes could deploy as some vehicles then activate some support abilities like limited, long cooldown spawning or consumable resupply.
In PS1 the purpose of the max was to "crash" dug in infantry positions. Ergo "max crash". In PS2 we neither have dug in infantry or maxes that can run. (How can infantry dig in when every building has 4 windows and 5 entrances?) What is the purpose of the max again?
Usually severely entrench a position or push as a soak or distraction while killing, there is flexibility to do bot as optimal, citing mostly the consistency and high clip sizes to have almost full uptime and make a position near immune to 1-2 man runins trying to do sneaky things. As well as most people wanting to swap weapons to deal with them, it represents a lock that can get people killed if misplayed or generally surprise, headshot nerf helped them being too dangerous and allows ability to scrape away with decent consistency if you arent horribly out of position. This update had sus on it but while it isn't how i'd do it i think it worked out decently.
In response to the latest update that has come out for PS2, I would like to see the ability for MAXes to be revived be brought back for those of us who enjoy playing that class. MAX suit weapons have been nerfed and tweaked across the board since this game came out hence for those of us who are willing to spend the resources to enlist the class, we should have the luxury of being able to be revived as well.
