Because they cost no resources (MAX/Vehicle) but can contribute effectively against any threat in a reasonable amount of distance. Engineers have turrets but those are not mobile. HA can use high caliber anti-personnel weapons as well as seeking rocket launchers to take out vehicles. They only run into problems against experienced snipers.
If OP thinks are so broken and feels so strongly about 1 shots being op. He has 3 shotguns and 2 explosives in his top 6 used weapons. Nuff said
Popularity is not a sensible basis for balance changes. People play HAs because they are a good all rounder and a good starter class and because of the number of vehicles in the game. Not because they are over powered, which they aren't. Mind you, with each "balance pass" this game received, I more and more believe SOE puts more weight in "usage" than "performance" when deciding on nerfs.
So, you see, SoE should move to buff whats underused so as to make it more appealing. Not nerf whats used and good so as to make everything un appealing and crap. But thats just me... Obviously, in some occasions stuff needs nerfs, no doubt, but oh...this is used 8/10 times over x item...lets nerf the 8/10 item... Then players need to improve and change their playstyle to overcome w/e...not forumside whine... *leaves to go ***** about Pump Actions and Liberators...which are insanely annoying and kinda OP*
I'm not sure why people are pissed about the number of HA in play. Yeah, sometimes you find yourself in a position you'd liked to have more medics on your team than absolute zero or that people actually used those sensor darts / ammo packs / whatever, but that's about it. It's not like PS2 is an arena shooter with maximum amount of players at about ~18 people mark or something, the game can afford to be something other than cookie-cutter 'everything is viable against everything in 1v1 engagement' rubbish.
Heres a good list. *They cannot heal *They cannot resurrect fallen allies *They cannot repair vehicles/maxes/terminal/turrets *They cannot hack terminals/turret *They cannot emplace badass vehicle destroying turrets or anti-infantry shielded turrets *They cannot place mines *They cannot place ammo *They cannot stealth *They are not maxes and cap able going one-man-army on room *Once the shield is down they are as vulnerable as anyone else and it has a sizable cooldown. *They move slower while using said shield Need I go on? All you people care about is how good well it kills people, not what it provides to the team. The heavy assault is MEANT to be the meat of an army. They are meant to take the hits because that is literally all they are good for. Their entire purpose in life is to kill people and take a beating. Their only objective is to push and destroy enemy vehicles. Thats it. They provide nothing else. This isn't call of duty where half the fight you enter are a 1v1 in a hallway, this is a game about huge giant battles with vehicles and massive amount of infantry and what they can provide to their respective army. Hell you would get a meatier more efficient infantry push if everyone would have picked medic instead, because a constant self-healing push of people who never die is way more efficient than a push of dudes who can pop a shield to take a few extra hits before essentially not having an ability any more. Heavy assault is not overpowered or even close to it, they are doing the one job they are meant to do. Kill stuff, and provide nothing else.
what was YOUR best killstreak with this "OP-class"? can you record/upload one or two of your best HA-runs?
I dont record, but my last run was around 16 kills using the high capacity shotgun. I got bored of it so I went LA.
tried to find something like that on your killboard. longest killstreak with a HA there is 1 kill in a row, not even 2. 16 kills in a row as infantry seems to be far away from your killboard...? can you do something like that again? maybe 2 times in a row a (boring) killstreak of 16 and then you show some evidence?
LA shouldn't be the default class, it should just be able to compete better with HA, especially in squad play.
There will always be a default or backbone class in PS2, it is not a trinity MMORPG, it is simply never going to be the case where all "classes" can be balanced to be remotely equal in take up. LAs have the problem of being situationally exceedingly powerful, that tends to lead to them not being buffed in other ways (or, again, they'd simply become THE default class and be the ones being complained about - effectively changing nothing).
