Re: [Discussion Thread] Core Feedback - Specialists
Classes may be great and all, but the problem is that the identity of this game has been scuffed up thanks to the specialist system. Battlefield at its core is a squad based all out warfare shooter, no lone wolfing, no unique identity to a gadget besides the fact its a tool to be used. Personalization of a soldier should have been left up to the player and not forced upon the player based on gadget use.
As my opinion stands: Battlefield is not a hero/specialist shooter. some could argue it is also not a barbie doll soldier simulator like Ghost Recon turned into either. But people wish to have cosmetics and freedom of personalization, I'm all for that as well if its executed properly, in the case of the specialist system it was a mistake from the beginning to throw away classes in favor of "hero shooter" like aspects. Let players have the freedom to be whatever specialist they want to be while still having the freedom of choice when it comes to gadgets and weaponry, and you can make something better than the class system every battlefield veteran has always known to like as it forces situational awareness on the player and to conduct activities pertaining to squad play or team effort.
As for the class system to work effectively, one crucial thing needs to be done first before you just throw a specialist at a specific class, and thats gadget balance.
As far as I've experienced, there are a few specialists that show to be the weakest operating, and least chosen due to gadget functionality and what purpose its supposed to serve, but lacks in execution of capability.
- Boris' turret is A paper weight asking to get shot and is not combat effective enough to be worth using him in general.
- Proposal for gadget rework: Make the sentry reactive as soon as it sees a target, it begins spraying rounds with less accuracy to balance it out. And make the sentry constantly firing until it overheats after say 10 rounds and has an overheat cycle of three seconds, not in this three round burst that makes no sense for such a device that looks like its made to be mounted into concrete or roads with its tripod stand. It should not take a weapons system platform with a targeting computer five whole seconds to shoot only three rounds, and then shoot again after a five second wait time. By that time the enemy would have already destroyed the gadget because it is so weak and prone to enemy gunfire. Replace his passive as well with a trait that allows his sentry to spot enemies for the entire team and squad just as how Paik can damage enemies to spot enemies for the team temporarily.
I believe this balance could promote more useage of the specialist and actually present more options to defend an area more effectively, and thus promote a challenge for players.
- Crawford's Vulcan minigun could serve a better purpose than being extremely niche. His passive is also ultimately useless since Ammo Boxes aren't affected by the passive.
- Proposal for gadget rework: Such as having a unique ammo box tied to the bottom of the mount that can replenish only one gadget per every so often, like the same amount of time you can replenish from Angel's resupply cache. And his Vulcan is too weak health wise to be utilized effectively if theres already two fast firing LMG's just gunning it down as soon as its deployed, It would also make sense if the device protected his feet, as the view port slot is already large enough and most players are skilled enough to shoot through the slot for a headshot than crawfords feet.
- Falck's Syrette pistol should have its stimulant shots destroyed upon impact, they are flying canisters with needles with possibly either a glass casing or a metal one. What I have seen people do is abuse its capability by laying a full magazine of them scattered about the floor, and just stand in the vicinity of the rounds put into the floor and continue to create suppressive fire while also completely negating any damage by triggering health regen just by stepping on a syrette round to re-heal themselves just enough to prevent death on multiple occasions.
- Dozer's shield needs something more to prevent people from taking advantage of maneuvering around him if they are directly looking at him, as its already hard enough to turn when the shield is deployed.
- Proposal for Gadget Rework: Bring back the broken glass effect on shields from battlefield 4, and that he can only repair it by getting a new glass plate that is replaceable from angels loadout crate, or by generating one over time (Besides, Lis generates rockets over time, and Sundance generates grenades, its only fair he could generate a new glass visor for his shield.). Make his shield carry blinding tactical lights or strobe lights to make it harder for the enemy to figure out where exactly to shoot him and could allow him to take more advantage at deflecting rounds back with the shield. And the most important one. Make the shield bash a wider affect, in both melee radius so he can swing it wide with left click. Or a right click that will put him in a short charge just like the bayonet charge from battlefield 1 and 5, The charge will only be effective against one enemy and stop him in place, If he misses the target, he gets in this winded out state just as you would missing a bayonet charge temporarily and prevent the user from sprinting.
This I believe could influence people using Dozer more for charging maneuvers and even flanking through tight corridors, while the broken glass effect on the shield could also make him prone to body or headshot damage to balance it out.
That is my proposals for gadget reworks that could aid in specialists being easily transferred into the new class system.
As far as Vault Weaponry goes...
Please test the weaponry privately first to ensure they are balanced and ready to be released for All Out Warfare, otherwise you will get the same mistakes that were made such as the weak M60E4 with no reasonable way to control the jumpy recoil unless you use a bipod and prone or go against cover or the ridiculous M16A3 with its underbarrel grenade launcher mistake. The community can easily see the fact there was no effort made to test the weaponry first to see how it faired for an environment in all out warfare. The current weaponry made for 2042's all out warfare mode as well as its generation of guns outpace any *current (*as of early conception of Season 2) vault weapons thanks to attachment advantage.
- Vault weaponry also need to have all of their sights updated. As there is too much "glowing" coming from the sight itself to be used properly, and obstructs the players view more than necessary, a comparison of an ACOG from a gun in All Out Warfare can easily look significantly better than an ACOG on a Vault Weapon and won't obstruct the players view with an obnoxious glow effect texture that is completely unnecessary.
