I wish. We need more HAs'. In every fight I've been in we've have 10 medic XP leechers, 10 engineer XP leechers, 5 cloakers, 5 LA's, and a couple HA's.
Heavy assault is the real infantryman, everyone other class is a specialist/support. HA is your basic storm trooper. Medics exist to revive/heal everyone while providing some limited firepower, engies resupply/repair/mine/turret. Infil and LA is a waste to have more than 1 per squad (squad lead LA is usually a good idea). Maxes the more the better, but are very limited by resources so filling maxes as main squad composition is reserved for special occasions only. Basically a robust squad would have 2-3 medics, 1-2 engies, 1 LA, 1 Infil, fill the rest with HA and if resources permit maxes. That's your basic squad loadout to head into the unkown. Obviously there are cases where most of squad should consist of LA, or have more engies if there are many maxes (or if your squad is an armor squad), but those are also special occasions. So in situations that aren't "special" you tend to see a lot of heavy assaults. That's how it should be. It's frustrating when there are 10 medics around, all you do is get killed and rezed non-stop, hardly anyone is shooting back. Having 10 ammo packs in a single room is also rather annoying. 10 infiltrators getting owned by 1 lightning because they have no tools to deal with it is another example. 10 light assaults flying to their death trying to get close enough to enemy sunderer 50-100m away to C4 and getting cut down by machine guns from range is also stupid. 10 maxes with AntiAir and AntiInfantry loadouts get easily cut down by one MBT, even if few of them brought Anti Armor arms they will still lose more net resources than enemies in vehicles. All these situations would benefit from more Heavy assaults.
hmm.. good post. I might switch back to heavy. Been playing engineer and sticky grenades and mines are fun but so is the rocket launcher.. The only real upside of engineer is you can repair friendlie maxes and vehicles. The downside is not having the shield especially versus heavy (and smg Infiltrators!) it's hard. If I play heavy I win most one on one fights. If I play engineer I do not and have to rely on friendlies to keep me alive. Light assault is nice but you give up the rocket launcher and the shield. I don't play Medic.
Its a long overdue nerf to the shield, you actually have to be smart instead of getting free kills because you can press f.
Why not play HA? Well, sometimes a frontal assault will be a very dumb move, so you get LA and go vertical. Other than that — no reason at all, HA's great.
Your problem (and the problem of many other players who cry about heavy assaults) is that when you think balance, you think of it in very linear 1 v 1 terms. Your balance perspective should be from the perspective of a 12 man squad, and once you figure that out (keeping in mind the notion there is zero cost for switching classes for any and every player) You will understand how the heavy assault class is balanced as being the backbone "damage" infantry unit. To anyone who has ever lost to a heavy they had the complete drop on, only to have them spin around and kill you : They were a much better player than you. Reaction time is usually between .2 and .5 seconds, add in latency and target acquisition after the 180 spin, the shield will not save you against any competent opponent.
Lol, "I win button" Its only that if you meet them 1 on 1, and guess what, if that happens YOU made a mistake. If your an engi or medic you should be supporting your heavies and max suits in order to kill their heavies. If your a light assault you have a massive advantage over a heavy, an extra attack angle (this more than compensates for the shield and IMHO is actually faaaaar more powerful) and if your a max, well then you splat them. This is a team game, if your struggling taking down heavies get help and stop overextending.
Something has to be the "default". If you want to use roof-top attacks or go over obstacles you can't use HA. If you want to heal or rez you can't use HA. If you want to drop ammo and repair you can't use HA. If you want to have the surviablility and firepower of a MAX you can't use HA. If you want to Snipe or Stealth you can't use HA. I really don't see any way to avoid this that doesn't simply make some other "class" the default. It's not like HA are unbeatable (even remotely so) against any of the other classes.
To me (still a noob, so take my opinions with a grain of salt) HA seems the ultimate generalist, the Line Infantryman of PS2. For every specific task there seems to be another class that can do it better, even heavy assaulting seems to be done way better by MAX units. HA is a good all-rounder though: LMGs seem to be able to engage at most combat ranges with decent efficiency and for CQC you get non-class specific choices like SMGs and shotguns, you can somewhat hurt vehicles with rocket launchers (not nearly as effective as an AV turret or a LA with C4s though). Not sure how much an OH**** button the shield is though. Maybe it gets better with certs and experience, but if something like a SMG infil or a shotgun LA gets the drop on me, then I'm dead, shield or no shield. Where I find the shield most useful is in head-on engagements, where the DPS coming from both sides is comparable, but, barring skill/weapon differences the HA usually wins due to having more raw HP. If the shield gets nerfed to the point it no longer helps HA win head-on 1v1s, then what should the role of HA be?
If they change it how the are going to change it currently, the only thing that will happen is 100% of people will run Resist shields and 0% of people will run Nano or Ad shields. The Nano and Ad shields simply are utterly subpar to the Resist shield if you have to use them pre-emptively.
I don't fully agree here. for most players, including me, hit detection on average is random to a certain extend. sometimes the server is sharp for you and you will shred the HA when getting the jump on him or because you are plain better and his shield won't save him. mostly because you use your hipfire trait to the head but sometimes they just won't go down. My KDR per 100 kills is ranging from 2 - 5 depding on "what" day it is. the Shield isn't op, neither are LMGs. ARs are probably overall best compared to other gun classes but not much. I think guns are pretty balanced if you use them to their strengths. you don't like to hipfire in CQC? well than carbines aren't really for you What seperates the HA from other classes is that they are the only class that has a true (and very powerful) secondary, the RL. so why aren't there more LAs although they can carry C4? it's the only class that has to choose between self-heal and explosives. If it was my game, I would divide up their utility slot and let them have carry one med-pack and one C4. HAs imo don't really need a shield nerf. maybe a larger RL equip delay
You think from a solo player's point of view. As a solo player, it is easier to be HA for some players. Here's some cheese to go with your whine: LA C4 & backstabbing tactics, engineer mines and high RPM weapons, medic zombie, etc. etc.
I generally find a LA a more terrifying foe. Sure they have a 'Iwin' shield but that is good for one use then they become just as squishy as everyone else. I do think it is a newbie friendly class and I do not see anything wrong with that.
Nano will still have its use. Combined with a bit of reactionary dodging, it'll still function as an "oh ____" button to some degree whereas resist will be more important to use preemptively. Plus nanoweave and nanomesh work together whereas resist doesn't stack.
Why play LA? It is after all also an ASSAULT class... All we get is a jumpjet, which is better than the shields, but HA also get a rocket launcher and a LMG
Nano/Ad will have no use. "Dodging" and then activating Nano/AD when you're jumped won't save you anymore than Resist will (the current Nano/Ad shield don't save you that much in that situation, unless the person simply cannot aim), however Resist will be far, far, faaaaaar superior in every other situations. So why would anyone (at all) use Nano or Ad Shields when they have a delay long enough to die in?
