A whole bunch of Loba buff/change ideas, Solutions!
So Loba is my main, and I can't help but feel to be a bit treated unfairly, and no I'm not whining, it's just things I noticed with the legends balance that does not make much sense, some get all the power in the world and are fine, while others get a 4s self-stun...
General issues and ramble, still important:
First off, Loba's hitbox was and is broken for so long, please just make it match her actual character.
Her entire kit is basically off-combat, which I know is something devs wanted to avoid, and yet, asides from using the Black Market as cover and to block doors, she has to go behind cover to use her bracelet, just to clear out, by "in combat" I mean while I either shoot or get shot, other legends like path, octane, horizon, bang, gibby, literary anyone can use their abilities in the heat of battle and make them work, there are little to no cast times and long animations, except for Loba and also wraith, which forces them to exit the battle to wait out a long-* animation before actually making their tactical work, even Rampart does not get locked into a building animation when placing her walls, despite walls themselves having a build-time.
Loba literary stuns herself for 3 or 4 seconds while using the bracelet hoping that enemies are distracted enough to let her live, and on top of that, it has a 29s cooldown, just why...
Horizon has a very short cast animation when throwing the gravity lift, when it lands it activates instantly and lets anyone use it, it's a fantastic mobility tool and way better of a tactical ability than Loba's bracelet It grants great mobility to you and your team + it has the potential to be used offensively to blow enemies out of cover, and yet it has a 15s cooldown with 10s duration which basically means it has a 5s cooldown. While Loba is sitting here with her 4-second self-stun to move through a window once every 29s, why...
What I'm saying is that the argument that "we want to stop it from being too strong" is not valid when comparing the power other legends get, the power of Horizon's tactical is far greater than Loba's and yet it has half the cooldown and nobody is complaining, because it's fun, let Loba be fun too.
Also for some reason jump drive has 2 trails that reveal Loba's position, not sure why, one comes from the bracelet itself and the other is the straight-line teleport thing, again just why...
The black market also has a lot of similar issues, it's incredibly loud and leaves so many visual queues which expose your squad's position, considering it has a 90s charge time, it basically means squads with Loba in them get their position called out to everyone within like 100 meters every 90-ish seconds, which is just bad, I get it that devs want the loot-based ults to be visible and have a risk to using them like it's the case with Lifeline's care package, but care package takes 4x longer to charge, what I'm saying is that it's worth it to increase the charge time for the black market while giving it a nice buff and reduce the risk to using it.
The number one issue is the fact that it becomes almost useless late-game, just like any loot-based ult would, there is no point in using it if your team already has loot, that's why I think it has to be able to do something other than looting, and a perfect thing would be letting it grab banners, it was suggested so many times by so many people, and there is no reason why not, she is a support who can not heal, then let her be good at respawning instead because just looting is not enough, no matter how good the loot potential is, it still becomes worthless once your team already has loot.
Now her passive for as useful as it can be, it's again completely off-combat and the ping range does not really let Loba use it to point her team where the goodies are unless she has a sniper scope, it's a personal tool instead of a support tool I will give some solutions to this later on.
If you are still not convinced that Loba can be buffed significantly just look at Revenant, his tactical used to have 1 charge and a 10s duration, his totem used to have a range limit and people used to have 1 hp left after being brought back, again probably for the same reason "to prevent it from being too strong" but look, those limits were removed and Rev did not become too strong, what I'm saying is that Loba has the same kinds of limits that can safely be removed while keeping her balanced.
Simple solutions:
Tactical:
The goal of the changes: Allowing more freedom of use and flexibility to open more skill potential while keeping the way it's used relatively the same while also making it more on par with other legend's abilities.
- Remove all action restrictions after the bracelet was thrown,
- Speed up the initial throw to make it the same as Horizon's G-star or remove it,
- Make it breakable, so that if enemies shoot it out of the air it would get canceled just as if it fell off the map, without starting the cooldown/starting a short one, of course, the hitbox would be tiny, this would also allow Loba herself to shoot and cancel it.
- Change the arc at which it travels to make it more like an arc star, considering how slow it moves it could use a range increase, which would also force Loba to wait a bit longer, which is not so bad if she can do anything during that time.
- Reduce the cooldown to 20s or less. (again, Horizon has a way better tactical on a 15s cooldown so it's really not much to ask for)
- Remove the directional queue from the sound effect, aka everybody would hear it the same way no matter which direction Loba went, as if it was "global", people will know that she is around, just not where exactly.
- Remove the second trail Loba makes the moment she teleports, it's completely unnecessary for it to be there, the bracelet already leaves a very visible trail, why add another one.
This means a couple of things, first off she will still have to put her gun down to throw it and there will still be the post-teleport delay, during the time the bracelet is flying through the air Loba neither gains nor loses anything just like Rampart loses nothing when she has to wait for her wall to build or when Caustic is waiting for his traps to inflate, combined with making the bracelet breakable, this makes her tactical on the same level as other legends who have a throwable tactical with a set-up phase during which it can be destroyed and let's be honest, those legend's abilities are not the best in the game, but strong only if used properly. Considering how the post-teleport delay works, the way you use this ability would stay basically the same but without making Loba stun herself, you still have to throw it in a smart way, behind cover, or to the high ground as throwing it next to someone is a death wish.
I often hear people talk about how the post-teleport delay should be removed, but hear me out, it's the initial cast that needs to be gone, devs said in one of the interviews that they do not want any legend to suddenly pop into existence and start shooting you, that's why wraith has all those delays, and I completely agree, but the initial cast is completely unnecessary considering that the bracelet already has a delay as it travels through the air, it also makes it really difficult to save yourself from falling off the map, just remove/speed it up, the bracelet already has enough delays.
Letting her run and shoot while the bracelet is flying is really not that much when you think about it, Loba gains nothing from having the bracelet fly somewhere asides from a potential distraction, it does not force anyone to turn around, it can happen, but does not have to, it depends on the skill, which is something that matters the most right? Having options and room for skill and creativity? This makes the game fun, but a 4s self-stun is just not fun. I also heard many times the idea of giving her multiple charges depending on the distance or something, but realistically it's unnecessary, really a flat cooldown buff would be better.
Ultimate:
The goal of the changes: Make it more of a high quality less risky ultimate with a longer charge time useful even in the late-game, quality over quantity.
- Let it grab teammate's banners which are in-range.
- Remove the directional queue from the deploy sound effect, again still notifying others that it has been deployed, but not giving away the position instantly.
- Give it a permanent supply of consumable items and ammo, so that even if there are none in range, your team could still get them, 1 stack of each consumable and ammo type per player available regardless if there are any in range.
- Grabbing a weapon from the market would automatically grab all of the best attachments available for that weapon in range.
- Remove the "floating loot" effect when someone uses the market, I don't get why is it even there, it's pointless and should be removed.
- Increase its range by 30-50%, depending on how generous devs feel, the range of an ultimate does not have to match the range of a passive.
- Increase the charge time to 120-180s, again, depending on what devs feel is better.
Loba likes things of the highest quality, so let her have strong support ult instead of a loud siren which gives away her squad every 90s while potentially not giving them anything. Black market is the only ult that can potentially have an only negative impact, if it is deployed in a later game when there is no good loot around, it gives your team nothing while alerting everyone else in the area, this needs to be changed, that's why I suggested for it to have its own supply of ammo and consumables. Grabbing banners was something that was suggested too many times, it's a great idea as it gives black market utility asides from looting, she really needs that.
Letting her grab weapons with attachments would give it a huge utility boost as it would make it useful even in very late-game, as combined with the ability to grab all the ammo around it would allow anyone to swap out a whole weapon if the situation calls for it, people are reluctant to swap to a different weapon past mid-game, and for a good reason, as attachments are incredibly important, but for example, if someone was using a sniper for a whole game but the ring in the last rounds happens to close inside a building and there are many death boxes around, swapping it out for a mastiff with a purple bolt and a digital threat can be a game-changer and the other way around if the final ring is in the open area, swapping to a sniper can have an incredible impact, just like ultimate ability should.
Also considering that the ult would charge slower, the penalty on accelerants could also be removed.
Passive:
The goal of the changes: Make it a better support tool.
- Significantly increase the ping range, so that Loba can ping pretty much anything she sees through walls.
- Add purple/gold/red death boxes to the list of visible items.
- Let her see medkits and shield batteries through walls too.
- For around 20s after landing, she would also see all weapons and body shields.
Pretty self-explanatory, Loba's current passive is something only she benefits from most of the time, but with the increased ping range she will be able to point her team towards good loot without the need for a sniper scope and as a support, seeing medkits and shield batteries can be incredibly useful too.
Seeing all weapons and body shields for a moment after dropping would not only let her get what she wants but also her team, as she could ping them, this is a 1-time boost.
Crazy solutions:
(aka changes which would require more work as they change the whole ability works, and would be added on top of the simple solutions, not required, it's just a list of cool things to think about)
Tactical:
The goal of the changes: Give it even more space for high-skill play and general support utility.
- Allow Loba to manually cancel the bracelet at any time without starting the cooldown.
- Give her an option to delay the teleport for around 3-5 seconds after the bracelet lands.
- If Loba was to teleport while reviving, the teammate would teleport with her without canceling the revive. (if only the simple solutions were implemented, the revive would get canceled)
Imagine if those things were possible :D
How cool would it be to be able to teleport teammates you revive or to bamboozle enemies even more by manually delaying/canceling the teleport, again it's kinda wishful thinking but it would make Loba much better support.
Ultimate:
The goal of the changes: Reworking it in a way that would always grant needed loot at the cost of a unique currency. (I have what you need, IF you can afford it)
- Instead of grabbing items in the area, it would always let anyone buy every item in the game.
- Instead of having the limit of slots, it would have a unique black-market currency limit.
- Accessing each individual black market for the first time would grant that player 500 currency.
- Increase the charge time to at least 3 minutes, possibly even 4+
Prices for each item types:
- Common - 50
- Rare - 150
- Epic - 200
- Legendary - 250
- Lvl 5 Evo - 300
- Weapon - 200
- Fully kited weapon - 1500
- Care package weapon - 2000
(all numbers are just examples, I'm not saying things have to be exactly this way)
Things like ammo, syringes, and shield cells count as common items, I'm not sure if should 50 is a price per stack or per "grab" of each individual item, where "grab" the same amount as picking it up from the ground, which means you get 20 energy ammo, 2 shield cells, etc, needs testing.
As you can see it would also be possible to buy fully-kited and care package weapons, but since they cost more than you get, you would have to purposefully not buy anything to save up currency or stumble upon the enemy black market, as any time you enter a new one for the first time you get 500 currency, which means if all Loba players become smart enough to collapse the market after their team is done buying, you would have to wait for your Loba to get 4 ults before you could grab 1 care package weapon, considering the increased charge time, it would be a high risk and high reward play, as you may not even be alive at the time of a 4th ult.
If this rework was to go through, grabbing a weapon would no longer come with all the attachments, as the whole concept of "range" or "slots" and grabbing nearby loot is replaced.
Perhaps having higher tier items unlock further into the game at the beginning of round 3 could work well too.
Another cool and optional thing I thought of is allowing to trade materials for Loba's currency, or making materials the currency in the black market, it comes with issues of course, but again it's just an idea to think about.
Another idea would be instead of replacing the ability to grab the nearby loot, it would be possible to buy anything that is not currently in range of the market. Stealing would take up slots, and buying would cost currency/materials, then, of course, the prices would have to be adjusted, but I'm sure devs are able to figure it out if they decide to go for it, it would be like the best of both worlds.
The reason why I like the idea of "buying" things not in range of the black market is that it makes a lot more sense lore-wise, Loba likes to say that she has everything you need if you can afford it, and also the whole concept of the "shop" and "market" makes a lot more sense if you actually buy things instead of just stealing them.
Passive:
The goal of the changes: Make it an even better support tool, since this was something I already suggested in my other post long ago, I'm gonna just copy-paste it.
Rework it into "Thief's Intuition", on top of the current ability to see leggy and epic loot through walls, whenever you or a teammate requests an item, Loba will get to choose whether she will help in finding that item, just like Wraith can choose to warn teammates, if Loba decides to help she will start seeing the requested item type through walls regardless of its rarity, the effect will last for like 60s or until the teammate picks up the needed item, Loba can help to find only 1 item type at the time, this means if another teammate requests something and Loba decides to help, she will stop seeing the previous item type. The range and duration numbers are up to debate. This will allow Loba to look for items she requests herself, it could probably have a cooldown, but it needs testing.
BOI that post is long, but I'm sure that it contains enough feedback and ideas for devs to make good balance decisions, and again everything here is just an idea/example and I'm not forcing devs to implement anything in the way I say, as a Loba main, I'm just sharing things I think would be the best to consider when balancing her.
If you like those ideas or simply appreciate the effort I put into this make sure to leave a reply and give this post some exp, I would love if devs would actually see this, I'm open to discussions in the comments x)
Thanks for reading.
