Balance: Light Assault

[Tenhi]

Originally Posted by Whiteagle

...You can be all three man...

There isn't anything stopping you from switching, you're just going to have to be more frugal with your Certification Point spending.

Personally, I'd go Engineer/Light Assault, since they both share the same weapons and weapon unlocks.

IMHO thats the biggest advantage of the two. Because they share their weapons you can easily Cert one Class for Vehicle Combat (lets face it 99% of the time you are in a Vehicle you're going to play as a Engi) and one for Infantry Fights. If you Cert the 500 Cert SwitchFire Carbine you have a Burst/Auto Firemod weapon that can adapt to any situation :/

Then again if you see Light Assault on its own I think it needs a lil bit of love. While Special Ops is an option in this game... its very limited. For vehicle play you go with Engi. For Infantry Fights you go either Medic or HA. Infiltrators are pretty much in the same boat. If you want to be effective they are pretty much your last choice :/

[Whiteagle]

Eh, Light Assault still has its combat niche and Infiltrators are good for sabotage.
For instance, there is almost no where a Light Assault can't get to on Amerish, while Infiltrators are much better now for keeping turrets and terminals out of enemy hands now that they don't instantly flip if destroyed.

[Tenhi]

Originally Posted by Whiteagle

Eh, Light Assault still has its combat niche and Infiltrators are good for sabotage.
For instance, there is almost no where a Light Assault can't get to on Amerish, while Infiltrators are much better now for keeping turrets and terminals out of enemy hands now that they don't instantly flip if destroyed.

Well you're saying it yourself. Its a "niche" during fights. And even with the hacking the Infiltrators feel rather weak, especially so after they lost their Shotguns (even thought they were annoying as hell with them^^).

What I would like to see is the ability to carry C4 and Med/Resto Packs as LA. Right now if you choose C4 you cant really sustain your "infiltration". If you choose the Med Packs the only thing you can do is ambush Infantry. It might be too powerful if they could do it without a Cert. But if you give them some kind of Cert that allows them to take both it would be fine IMHO.

And while this thread isnt about Infils... with the Cloak as is you cant really call that "invisible" its very easy to see them. And after you have infiltrated an outpost the only thing you can do to keep yourself alive is to get some distance to your enemies. Without a real med/close range weapon you're pretty much scrwed after you infiltrated a base. IMHO they have pushed the Infiltrator too much into the role of a Sniper...

[Palerion]

Originally Posted by Tenhi

What I would like to see is the ability to carry C4 and Med/Resto Packs as LA. Right now if you choose C4 you cant really sustain your "infiltration". If you choose the Med Packs the only thing you can do is ambush Infantry. It might be too powerful if they could do it without a Cert. But if you give them some kind of Cert that allows them to take both it would be fine IMHO.

I agree with this. I understand Combat Medics are supposed to be the healers, but when your real role as light assault seems to be sneaking in alone and getting to places nobody else can reach, those combat medics can't help you. This would make light assault more useful to support their squads as long as they don't die. I still think there needs to be something else added to this class, ex. more utility grenades. I mean smoke and flash are cool but, really, not much for supporting a team. The smoke I could see more as a support aspect, but flash grenades are just for popping into a room and taking out a few guys with your gun. I've heard rumors that LA will be getting some improvements soon to emphasize more so their role in a team. Is this true?

[Dkamanus]

The ability to actually jump in and run through angle most players won't notice, and lots of times getting the jump on players is what makes the light assault very good. I cleared tower with the light assault a lot of times to see the utility of the class. No place unreacheable, no wall too high. There are no paths for the light assault, and therefore, good for flanking.

[Palerion]

Originally Posted by Dkamanus

The ability to actually jump in and run through angle most players won't notice, and lots of times getting the jump on players is what makes the light assault very good. I cleared tower with the light assault a lot of times to see the utility of the class. No place unreacheable, no wall too high. There are no paths for the light assault, and therefore, good for flanking.

Don't think you're getting the point. That's great for lone wolfing but for a squad, generally you fly up to a high point that combat medics can't get to, and when you die, nobody can revive you, which makes you more of a liability than an asset. The flanking capability is nice, but they are an ASSAULT class. They should be as important to a squad as heavy assault is.

[WarChimp130]

If you aren't using your jetpacks as LA all the time then you might as well switch classes. I play LA and you will almost never find me walking through a gate or a door or anything. I will almost always jump to the roof, or through the windows, or up on a support beam. There are soooo many tactics to employ. It is a class that requires some thought adjustment away from typical FPS gaming though.

You will lose head to head. You will lose if you don't use the element of surprise. You will lose at long range. You have to make your mobility work for you but once it does it is super effective. If you aren't using your mobility you are so much better off playing Medic since the Assault Rifle is better than Carbine and you get tons of helpful powers. I always see LA guys on the ground with everybody else. That's like charging in face first as a cloaker. You need to go around the fight and flank.

LA and Recon are the two classes that need to really make smart choices with positioning and mobility because that's their only advantage.

[Buggsy]

Originally Posted by Ravenclaw

Currently Light Assault seems woefully underpowered compared to most other classes....

phffft, that thing is awesome vs infantry. Nobody ever looks up.

[Buggsy]

Originally Posted by Palerion

Let me rephrase my question; a light assault, combat medic, and engineer stand still and shoot each other, none of them miss a shot. Who is the first to die? Who is the second to die? Who is the last man standing? That's all I really want to know. I don't care about their tactical advantages at the moment, I can figure that out for my self.

You know you're looking at it the wrong way.

This is probably the same mentality that makes AP and HEAT ammunition almost do exactly the same damage.

[Palerion]

Originally Posted by Buggsy

You know you're looking at it the wrong way.

This is probably the same mentality that makes AP and HEAT ammunition almost do exactly the same damage.

Not looking at anything the wrong way. I just wanted an effective face to face infantry fighter that didn't have a massive gun like an LMG.

[Tenhi]

Originally Posted by Palerion

Not looking at anything the wrong way. I just wanted an effective face to face infantry fighter that didn't have a massive gun like an LMG.

As far as I know they all have the same HP/Shield... so yeah they would die all at the same time. If they use their Abilities it might change a little, if the Engi/Meid miss because of the JumpPack, the LA wins. If they still hit, the Medic wins because a tick from the Healing Aura will keep him alive

[apterous]

i love the light assault class. fly up, throw down some c4, wait for pray (if any ain't there already), boom! change place if noticed, always attack from above or behind, be sneaky little bitch.

my suggestions would be: more explosives and maybe a silenced smg. peace.

[Buggsy]

Originally Posted by Palerion

Not looking at anything the wrong way. I just wanted an effective face to face infantry fighter that didn't have a massive gun like an LMG.

TTK is so low who cares

[Palerion]

Originally Posted by Buggsy

TTK is so low who cares

TTK is actually quite high compared to most games... Don't know what you're talking about...

[Tenhi]

Originally Posted by Palerion

TTK is actually quite high compared to most games... Don't know what you're talking about...

In the first post here (http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/c...l_and_overall/) are spreadsheets for dmg/ttk etc.. Like I already said all classes have the same "armor"/hp/shields. So if you want a face to face shootout w/o abilities just look up which weapon will win because the classes have no diffrences. If you want to factor the abilities in it gets a little bit more complicated. If you miss more shots because the LA uses his Jetpack he will probably win. If you still hit, the Medic wins because his Healing Aura lets him survive.

I hope this will help... and end this (kinda) offtopic discussion.