@DarthValtrex It ain't me laughin', I main Lifeline!
@DarthValtrex I actually hate the new revive passive. The fact it has no cooldown is one thing, the other thing was that Lifeline basically needed no buffs (IMO) nor balancing, nor anything else. The way the developer's worded the changes initially (with blue bins) was "Hey these characters don't need anything (Octane was included in this so you can see why my general opinion of the devs is extremely low) so we're going to explore side-grade options!" AKA "We're just f-in with crap for no reason instead of fixin' crap people've been askin' for!"
Then they swapped her only solo utility (fast heal) for a cheap gimmick (blue bins) and an annoying revive shield that's hard to play around and actively punishes players for not being able to quickly finish off enemy teams. Old revive kept things fair by keeping LL in place, amplifying what's already a dangerous situation (player downed / if you need the shield that means someone's shooting at you), but the new shield just throws that out the window since it has no cooldown and lets LL provide overwatch on the immediate area OR provide covering fire, making it much safer to revive people and much harder for disjointed / 1v3 squads. We've all been stuck in crappy situations where you down someone, drop back to heal, and you immediately hear LL's revive shield going off, and a smug LL sitting behind her shield just daring you to come over. It's dog-crap, and the fact the developers thought this was a good idea is BEYOND laughable.
I picked LL initially because I enjoy the combat medic role in many other games. Great mix of offensive and defensive skills, with DOC drone and shield being great defensively, drop-pod was good for utility, and fast-heal being great for offensive or defensive scenarios. Now she's got no solo utility, a clunky new revive passive that's both annoying and hard to play around as an enemy and as a teammate, and the same crappy drop-pod. Losing fast-heal stripped her from being a priority target due to versatility both offensively and defensively, to being a priority target because she's a pain in the rear. Combat medic down to just A medic. Imagine Bangalore but she doesn't run faster while being shot at, Mirage without invisibility upon being downed, Octrain without stim, Gibralter without gunshield, Caustic without vision in gas, etc. etc. That's the new and "improved" Lifeline.
@pastaclown I wouldn't say the new revives hard to play around personally, quite the opposite.
It really does need a CD though.
@MandatoryIDtag It's not hard to play around when you have someone with you or with good comms, but I never got those on my team, so I was quite literally always 1v3 against Lifeline in my experience.
In my experience, it'd usually go like this:
-I knock 2, my teammates fail to knock Lifeline.
-Have less than 200 health (usually around 50-125 total health) have to pop battery or other consumable. No time to thirst because I don't know how far or close the enemy LL is.
-Enemy LL starts reviving, I now have a split second to re-knock the enemy AND start pushing to kill LL.
-If I miss the re-knock I have to blitz LL down as fast as I can preventing the recently revived enemy from healing up too much OR focus them instead of LL due to health difference if they shoot instead of heal.
-If I hit the knock I start pushing forward because most people understand that the revive has no CD so it's free abusable cover. I once again have to blitz LL down before the revive can be completed.
-If I fail to blitz LL I am now in a 1v2 situation at close range which could turn out in my favor or not. This didn't happen often.
New revive should've been added as a secondary function to Q, with a 30 second cooldown, with a 180 degree shield, and allow it to be cast on teammates. Shield itself should be changed to be + shaped, with the center mark arching over the revivee protecting them from enemies shooting from above (but not fully) and to block grenades, and the sides coming up to waist height so the shield itself could be used as actual cover, but can't be shot through while crouching for anyone.
@DarthValtrex specifically in the scenario I've described, I've only talked about Lifeline who the community didn't believe (from what I've seen on Reddit / on here) didn't quite need anything, though it would've been nice to have something. I'm not disagreeing with you on the fact there is a point to toying with abilities, but specifically with Lifeline, from what I saw, no one really thought anything needed to be changed.
Edit: Again, yes, ability changes are necessary much to the dismay of the people playing said characters. I liked Path's old grapple CD, but I also agree that it was way too short and offered way too much utility in fights. Wraith is...Wraith. Much to my disgust. Lifeline IMO did not need said changes simply because she wasn't really a problem and held a steady pick rate throughout the seasons.
