Following up on my last post, which (with some of the responses) touched on the lack of interesting things to do that other players would also value.......... Has anyone ever suggested some kind of field dressing that medics could drop the way that engineers can drop ammo packs? Maybe not a full health restorative but some thing that pays certs, makes them more able to heal without necessarily exposing themselves to fire and which also (perhaps) reduces a tendency for people to equip medkits? Medics have the shield thingy, which seems to be the carebear equivalent of the engineer deployable turrets. And their healing gun (like the engineer repair gun). And why C4? apart from the fact that all classes seem to get it as a default AV tool. If we're going to be hurty boys as well I would have thought some sort of deploy-and-forget item like an AI mine would be a better option. Or a non lethal but disabling EMP mine perhaps? a bit more in keeping with the protect yourself/others but don't do harm ethos?
Healing grenades? Honestly, for all intents and purposes, medics seem to be commandos / infantry grunts with a point and click healing tool. It's not like they're actually doctors and med personnel.
Healing grenades are barely more useful than decoy grenades. The concept of some healing deployable comparable to either shield generator or ammo pack would make much more sense in my opinion.
How about a passive healing ability, like the passive healing you do when in a sunderer (mostly useless) have it work as a general area of effect, a small regen rate that could stack with the biolab regen boost.
For a start, I want a rocklet rifle/thumper that can take multiple grenade/rocklet types... Revive rocklet (one rocklet, one 100% revive with shields drained,) standard rocklet, flak rounds, plasma grenades (DoT burning.) Then I'd have a tool that can be modded any which way to operate in a variety of situations. One rocklet should be enough to really mess up a heavy's shields. Probably deal 1/8 to 1/6 a MAXes HP before flak armor. Plasma is mostly for dispersing hostile softies. Flak is obviously a poor-man's AA, coming from a thumper/rocklet rifle at least. Aside from that, I really can't think of anything for the medic (or the LA) that seems fitting to the class. The Engineer is a defense specialist and defacto driver/pilot. The Heavy Assault is a shock troop. The LA is great at flanking. Infiltrators can choose their engagements (if they're smart about it.) Medics... just heal people. They SHOULD be in an offensive supporting role. Like Iridar said - a commando. Right now, they're just basic infantry grunts. Basic of the basic at that.
I think they get c4 mainly because it's an "all" class utility, like shotguns. Both these things were cut from the infiltrator arsenal for balance reasons, but there's no reason for medics not to get them.
That would be really cool! You couldn't use your heal ability to tank shots while taking damage like the regular ability, it wouldn't heal quite as fast (maybe 50%?), it would have a few seconds delay after you stop taking damage before you start regenerating health yourself (VERY short though, maybe 2 seconds at the lowest certed level, and 0.75 seconds at the max), and it would be 100% passive. It would heal all in the immediate area. It would also stack with Triage when applicable. All in all, it wouldn't quite be as tanky, but it would be FAR more sustainable for hit-and-run tactics, especially when your side is surrounded and/or outnumbered. And it would also allow those next to you to perform the same hit-and-run maneuvers if they stayed right next to you. ++++Edit++++ Hey, mind if I post your suggestion with my above modifications to it on Reddit?
All the Medics are on the front lines using their AR (the reason they're playing the class) in shotgun range, getting mowed. Healing grenades are trash, revive grenades get denied and wasted because targets can't see them.
When I finally do see Medics, there are too many and they're swarming around a single HA. Fighting each other to see who can heal and rez the HA. Suddenly a grenade or three is tossed at them and they all die. It seems to get worse during Double XP Weekends. It looks likes the following picture. Meanwhile there are other fights and the Medics are ignoring the smaller fights. I switched from playing Medic to Engineer because I don't want to deal with this non-sense. I'll switch to Medic for our Outfit or if the PUG Platoon is low on heals.
It's somewhat negated by the Developers own passive reference to Combat Medics in terms of when a player dies. "Stay Calm and Respawn" Roughly translated, this literally means "Medics are f-cking blind aren't they?" I also don't like the part where when you're receiving a revive from the Medic that it's covered up. It's like you don't need to know what's happening because you're probably not going to get the revive you were expecting. Medics should have a dramatic revive along the lines of a blinding white return, instead of a bill board about how bad a day you're having and the Devs are being optimistically sympathetic about it. I liked playing a medic, I just know that what I'm doing doesn't have quite the visual vibe of me risking my neck doing it.
Meh, I think generally we've got enough tools to play with to keep people interested. Those who aren't interested in playing a support class probably won't pick them up no matter how many interesting gadgets you throw at them. I for one greatly appreciate having access to C4 as a combat medic. Combined with the top-notch array of weaponry, it allows for a pretty aggressive play style that can still be balanced with a supportive one by a practiced and attentive player. It is that balance and versatility that keeps me playing medic. That and I get to use things like the SABR-13 and Cycler TRV.
