Why do people think the heavy assault is overpowered?

Can't imagine it's the Saw or the MCG., though you may have a point about weapons in general.

Seeing more and more HAs with SMGs, and truth be told some of the LMGs don't actually act like LMGs, they act like Heavy Assault Rifles (Orion, Anchor, even the Carv), especially before the hipfire nerf.

I

I'm digging the 100 kills in 5 hours as the "most op class". Lowlevelnoob, you are bad.

They shoot radar/drop motion sensors/spot things so the Soldier Boys can function with less situational awareness than they'd normally need.

Personally I think HA is perfect as it is but as infiltrator I mainly flank. I understand fighting a HA face to face as LA medic or engineer might be a problem. In particular the fact the shield can be toggled on during the fight feels a little like the "I win" button.
A little bit of delay in shield activation imho is fine, the important thing is this nerf doesn't go too far (see zoe and hsrasser).

I'm going to answer OP's post, but I tldr the rest of the posts in this thread because I'm not interested enough in the plight of the heavy assault.

Heavy Assault is considered OP because:
1: Heavy assaults have rocket launchers and can handle vehicles like no other class except maybe an AV max. This is their 'secondary' role to most people. The only other non-max class that comes close is the engineer because of their AV turret, but the turret is more situational than a RL. Rocket launchers also double as anti-infantry OHK close range weapons, which is extremely frustrating to the recipient of the rocket to the face (except for lock on launchers). This gives heavy assaults an edge over both infantry and vehicles, which many people view as OP.

Nobody likes lock-on launchers. Most people will complain if they are in a vehicle and they get locked-onto. Most people also complain that being restricted to a strictly anti vehicle role is not fun, as most lock-on launchers restrict the user from doing any dumbfire with the launcher, which means they won't be able to OHK infantry like they can with their more powerful dumbfire only rocket launcher. Heavy assault is the only class to get dumbfire launchers, therefore, overpowered to some people.

Like it or not, the rocket launcher on the heavy assault class is probably why most people view the class as overpowered.

2: Heavy assault shields make them harder to kill than the game is balanced for. This has probably been harped on the most. Imagine if you are playing with a weapon with a smaller mag size, say a SMG or a shotgun. Now imagine having to use twice as many bullets to kill your target. Suddenly 8 shotgun shells can kill maybe that one heavy. Suddenly that 30 round SMG can only hurt the heavy. People complain that the game is not about 1v1 encounters, but it totally is. If I can't outdamage my enemy in a 1v1 scenario, then 10v10 or 40v40 it isn't going to matter. Of course this is flawed logic, as the shield literally only adds a few more bullets required to kill the heavy and the primary classes using those lower bulletcount weapons should be the ones getting the drop on their target, but it's a line of thinking many people fall into. Thus the believe of 'Heavy assault is overpowered' gets perpetuated.

4: Huge freaking magazines. Nothing looks more unfair than seeing a heavy assault's 100-200 rounds in the magazine primary weapon. To somebody who has 40 rounds maximum in their carbines, this just looks overpowered. There's so much killing potential there, some people even believe that the heavy assault is intended to be the 'best anti infantry class'. But wait, aren't they already considered the 'best AV class'? Heavy assault has potential for both roles, and this is overpowered to most players.

In truth the bigger magazines are there, but the accuracy is balanced differently. Coming from TR, it seems I may go through 20 bullets of a 100 round magazine to kill an enemy on my t-9 carv. This is because I'm not hyper accurate with the weapon, and each bullet does only like 143 damage. Maybe this is just my experience, but unless I manage to land all the shots, the killing potential drops significantly with these weapons because of this. Also, while the damage max is there, the DPS is significantly lower than, say, an SMG or shotgun at close ranges. Interestingly, my least favorite way to get killed in this game is by heavy assaults wielding close range weapons like shotguns or SMG's, because to somebody who plays a lot of infiltrator and light assault, people using my close quarters weapons on the class that generally uses LMG's is just plain annoying since it evens the playing field.

3: I don't play a lot of heavy assault. The reason for this is because I was not interested in them in the early game, and once I joined an outfit, one of the first things I heard was 'Heavy assault is so boring to play'. This turned me off from ever playing one seriously. Sure I've dabbled and for the most part I just found I was terrible at heavy assaulting. Why is this? for the better part of the first 6 months into this game, I played infiltrator and light assault. I learned to flank well, to use my terrain to my advantage. I did not learn to reflexively hit F as soon as I was getting hit, nor did I learn to front line very well. I'm sure with a little practice I'd be a real beast at the class. But I do not play them, so when I hear other people's opinions, Heavy is OP, heavy is OP, I do not disagree because I do not know any better and tend to agree.

Did you know that the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side of the fence. That's how I see it with the heavy assault, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's how a lot of other people see it too. I don't play a lot of heavy assault because they're overpowered, or maybe heavy assault is overpowered because I don't play a lot of them.

Give this guy a cookie, anyone?

HA should be anti-vehicle class. With abilities and weapons to support ground troopers against air and armor. But instead of this HA become best and the most efficient player vs player class in a game. Heavies dont work like support class, they work as main anti-infantry class. While they have better magazine size and extra health (shield) deal with them on battle field is a big problem.

Heavy assault is not overpowered.

Because people will whine and complain about anything that kills them. Light assaults got nerfed to hell, infiltrators got nerfed to hell, and now heavy. If you die it is obviously because the other person is an overpowered class duh. whats that? It is the JOB of the heavy assault to kill things? wow that is overpowered! How dare he have a role!

I hope soe removes all classes and unique weapons just so people will get what they finally want and destroy the game. Vanguard shield get nerfed despite the fact if you just avoid the ****** for a few seconds he has no ability, light assault get nerfed because "omg he flies! So op nerf now!" , infiltrators get nerfed because "omg I got sniped! what kind of bull is that! Fix it soe!"

No it isn't it makes perfect god-damned sense because it is listed in their job description. They literally say that the heavy assault is meant as shock troops and make up the meat of most armies. They can't heal, they can't revive, they can't give ammo, repair or hack . Their only purpose in life is too kill things and that is all they are good for yet people complain because they do that ONE thing and nothing else. This is planetside and yet all people saying "X is SO op in 1v1!" one versus one? Seriously? What the hell are you doing 1v1ing people? You should be in a massive battle shooting at everything that isn't your color and you are worried about a 1v1?
We should take away their rockets too while we are at it because "omg that hawk killed my scythe. Why do heavies even exist!"

planetside already have unit with extra health, no reason to keep in a game second one. People complitely forgot how to play without win button.

Oh woe is the HA! My instant +500 Hp shield has been removed and now I must scuttle about actually seeking cover and not rushing headfirst into people knowing I can win like the rest of the insects. ALAS! ALAS! ETC AND ****.

Seriously, it was stupid. Now it takes a tiny amount of forethought to use correctly. Big F***ing deal.

Nothing really to add just these two comments with the associated avatars made me chuckle.

And why would anyone use ad or NMG shield if they are forced to activate it in advance? Resist is clearly the superior option for that playstyle.

Consider resist + medic is a highly sustainable combo that allows you to soak a player or even two's rounds as long as they aren't consistantly hitting you in the head and accurate to a fault. NMG is useful for doorkicking, IE stack outside a room, activate NMG, toss in concs, shield activates, charge in.

Much better than "Getting shot, time to hit my Iwin button!" and virtually no other creative usage.