Thank you for the buffs! Suggestions for future Vantage changes
Vantage buffs this season is definitely going the right way with that Q buff, and I’m loving it. Thank you so much devs! Unfortunately, there’s really not a lot of incentive to use the ult when Sentinel can do the job too, while being safer coz no laser, AND it has more ammo. There’s also an argument of usefulness in the team as she feels kinda selfish. And then as a recon she's not as good at her role while other recons have better team utility. Here’s what i think can fix all her issues while still staying balanced.
Passive: Her special recon utility is the ability to tell the team what shields the enemy has. That’s pretty useful! It can tell your team it’s possible to stat check them. Unfortunately, you can also do that by hitting them once with any bullet. Hitting them also has the added bonus of making the enemy easier to kill during the push.
Solution: the new diamond ping icon should just instead either change color depending on the shield level of the target, or better yet, show the entire health bar to the whole team, and keep them revealed to the team so long as they have LoS of the enemy. We can already do this by hitting them once anyway, so why just go along with that? 1 bullet vs no bullet is really not that big a difference.
Level 2 upgrades: Controller perks is kinda weird for Vantage to have since she doesn't actually have tools to defend a location other than hitting enemies, and everyone can do that. The addiotinal shield and the shield regen is useful, but selfish. The scan for the next ring isn’t as impactful for a team, and barely impactful for Vantage herself.
Her other upgrade that reveals tagged targets while behind cover sounds useful but it’s locked behind a limited amount of sniper uses. Players can also see people’s health bars just by hitting them once, and revealing where they are behind walls isn’t impactful since they’ve already been hit and revealed by the Ult anyway. Everybody knows where they are in general, and everyone can just run in and use their ears to find them if they ran away.
Solution: The passive change mentioned above already has shield/HP reveal baked into it, so simply changing the Upgrade to one that changes the passive into a wallhack is just better, and it doesn’t feel overpowered. No need to hit an enemy with the ult, just ping them once and they are revealed even through walls for a duration. Other recon legends have wall hack in their base kit as a Tactical, let's at least give her the wall hack as an upgrade. Sacrificing an upgrade slot for a wall hack doesn't sound very broken so it's fine no?
The Controller upgrade should be changed to Support. While playing Vantage I’m often left to be the reset bot since I’m usually anchoring, further away, or sumply because I have great escape thanks to my Q. I think having Support perk just works better for Vantage’s current role in the team. Escape and reset when the 2 allies you left to push on their own die coz you wanted to keep distance.
The 2 upgrades allow Vantage to pick between being a better recon or adding more utility to the team.
Ultimate: The ult is outclassed by normal snipers. It doesn’t feel impactful even with the damage bonus. A good player can 1 clip an enemy with or without the boost. The hit scan making enemies glow orang isn’t impactful enough either coz everyone can see Health Bars of enemies they’ve damaged now.
Solution: just make it safer to use instead. Bake the gunshield into the sniper at base. It’s not very OP anyway coz gunshields glow so you’re even more revealed when you have your ult out. Safetyis a small but valid incentive to pick Vantage ult over a basic sniper.
Level 3 Upgrades: The upgrade to reveal all the enemies when pinging just 1 enemy is actually really nice, it just needs to fall in line with the suggestions to Passive buff above. The gunshield I suggested having it built into the Ult, so it needs to be changed.
Solution: The ping upgrade perk should reveal shields or the HP of all enemies in team. Plain and simple. Works the same as now, just with the updated passive mentioned above.
I also suggest giving Vantage the Fortify buff or similar as the 2nd upgrade. People keep complaining that Vantage is wide and easy to hit. Lots of people keep suggesting to just give her Fortify. I agree, give it to Vantage, but make it a choice.
The 2 options allow Vantage to pick between being being a better Recon, or better at fighting in close ranges.
What do you guys think? Is this too much? Does it fit with the identity of a sniper scanning the field from their Vantage point? Is it not enough?
