Abilities and Help for Hackers...er Operative

(Bittermetal) #1

So there was a thread last week about the Sense of Perspective ability… I had more to say on that but, I feel it needs a separate thread. It’s more about abilities in general with special note about Operative vs Medic. I think Medic has too many abilities. I can easily get 9000XP in a single match playing medic. But the Operative is so hampered.

But before I get into that.

Sense of Perspective…Anyone else not getting SoP while Firewalling and Upgrading command posts? Seems SoP should work for those too.

Moreover… My Lazarus Grenades do not “Revive all team mates within its healing cloud” as the description suggests. it seems to heal a single teammate.

Regarding the MEDIC and upcoming DLC: It seems the medic can do so much already. Why give him the super cool healing station mentioned for the DLC? Sounds great. And I will surely use it. but…

Would be cool if soldiers could deploy weapon supply cache’s ala Battlefield 2 or something similar.

Operatives need some sort of buff. There is a thread that is guessing a silent running buff is coming. That could be interesting. How about a melee buff? Operative could lend that for +melee dmg. Or… Poison buff to coat knife in poison for continued and accumulative knife damage after initial swipe.

Would allso be cool if Operative could toss out adhesive wifi adapters to nearby teammates to either boost the signal of a long distance hack OR boost the speed of the hack—mildly similar to the way file sharing works. The more seeds the faster the download (such as torrents and…uh or so I’ve heard. I know nothing of that sort of Tomfoolery). But the hack reception signal returns to normal or reduces incrementally as teammates move out of range or die.

Finally, why can’t Operatives spot their remote controlled turrets as easily as the soldier can spot his satchel charges in the game world? It took me a long time to realize you can take control of your remote-device turrets from just about anywhere in the gameworld. This is super handy if you want to scan a remote area and works as a sort of spy camera that mows down and enemies on sight, if used properly. But its not clearly visible or outlined through walls, like the satchel charges; so you have to remember where you put them and slowing scan in that direction until the yellow outline appears and “PRESS <F>” is shown.

While I’m on it… Why is the camera resolution so horrible when viewing through remote controlled turretd. That’s kinda funny.

Oh one more… when a Soldier is down…but not dead, why can’t he set off his satchel charge if he can still see it in the game world?

(wolfnemesis75) #2

You know. This has come up a lot… I think once we see what the UAV does, that could help OP out, or feel more part of the team. My fear is that a fully specked OP is pretty powerful, but he is the only dude who doesn’t give some sort of buff. Maybe if its just something small like a “Pick-Pocket” buff. He gives you silent feet. I don’t know…

(Bittermetal) #3

True. I think the UAV could help a lot (sounds like the UAV in 2142 with the ability to detonate it like a bomb). Still the OP needs a buff.

What if he could buff medium and heavy’s parkour ability for a few seconds. That could be interesting but funny as he|| to watch the fat boys bouncing off walls. LOL.

I really like the wifi adapter idea. Because the OP misses out on so many othe possible XP points while hacking. The reward is not that great for spending all that time hacking something. I play OP and soldier mostly now and would really like to see the OP get a solid team-assisting buff.

Such as buffing friendly melee damage.

(thesuzukimethod) #4

upgrading/firewalling doesn’t use SOP for me either (and i think it should)

i’ve def had the laz nade get 2-3 ppl at once, but they were pretty close together…i’d be curious to hear what the splash (anti)damage radius of the laz was…either from devs or by some experiment.

I like that medic is well compensated for helping. it’s good to have motivation for people to help in this way (which isnt always as fun as mowing people down).

some of your operative skills seem interesting, but I’d love to see hacking extended to a mine as well (e.g. you can hack either a turret or a mine) or made as a separate ability. it just feels right.

(nephandys) #5

When I am upgrading and firewalling my SOP still goes off. There is no visual indicator, but the noise still occurs so I know what’s up. You also have visual indicators as soon as a bullet hits you. You either get the blood indicator that it hit you or you get the bulletholes through glass as it hits the CP. I know we’d all prefer that SOP visual indicator and not bullets hitting us to let us know whats up. I’m just describing the situation as it goes down for me and what I find useful. As an Op I need my pips for nades. No buffs plz. kthx.

I don’t know why, but I really don’t think the OP needs anything additional. With them adding the UAV I am already struggling to try to decide whether to drop sticky, caltrops, or EMP, all of which I use all the time. I also don’t share your problem of finding my turrets that are controlled any more than finding satchel charges on my soldier. Especially considering the circumstances in which I use that ability I am usually not all the way across the map or something.

I’ve spent more time playing OP than any other class and I just don’t see the need to add a buff to the class just because all the other classes have it. Maybe people want to earn more XP on their OP? If you are leveling then just utilize every corpse for comms hack and disguise and spot anyone you can for your team. I think I’ve gotten upwards of 22k XP in one match that way. If you’re not leveling XP doesn’t matter anyway as you can contribute enough to basically pull off the win for your team even without earning a ton of XP.

IMO the real fix needed for the Op revolves around tweaking hacking objectives. Making hacking faster, slowing down dehack time, moving around spawns, adjusting spawn timers, etc. Any of these or some in combination would help a lot.

Lastly, the thing about the way the Op class works is that unless they make it OP (no pun intended) there’s never going to be a need for more than 1 on a team. I feel like that sucks to a certain extent, but at the same time the class is designed for going behind enemy lines and causing chaos. Therefore, having 4 of them on your team usually detracts from your ability to complete objectives and push forward as a whole.

(Hortey) #6

Operatives are getting a UAV when medics get their healing station… and a good operative can rip a team apart, turning them on each other. As for the XP, being an operative can net you the most XP out of any class, when disguised and waiting for an opportunity to strike they can continually spot the enemy for 50 points each time. The highest XP matches I’ve ever had have been operative.

I think it would be cool to give them a buff though, maybe take out firewalling since it really doesn’t help much and add “cerebral implant”. This would increase run speed(only run speed not movement speed), reload speed, and ADS speed by 10%(getting rid of the half second ADS shooting delay).

VV-- but this is my favorite --VV

Or how about a “counter buff” that works only when disguised? When disguised as a soldier you give out blanks, so when the player gets to his extra ammo that he thinks he got refilled from a friendly soldier his gun would shoot blanks (getting an ammo buff by a friendly player will overlap this counter buff and refill his ammo like normal). When disguised as an engineer he will give out a “weapon buff” that makes the gun glow, but instead of a damage increase it DECREASES damage dealt by 5% (like the soldier buff, would be overlapped and disabled by a friendly engi buff). Then when disguised as a medic he can give out poison syringes, when looking at an incapacitated enemy he can give out boobie trapped syringes so that when the player injects himself… instead of reviving, it instantly kills them. These syringes would need to look a bit different though, like a small color tint in the icon so players who are aware could check for poison before injecting themselves (a friendly syringe will overlap this poison syringe and the operative would not be able to overlap a friendly syringe, he can only give it to people when they don’t have one in their hand)

Now THAT would be awesome and really make the operative worthwhile to play in competetive mode instead of stacking medics.

(Hortey) #7

a buff would take the place of one of your nades, so you could choose to use nades and use your pips solely on them or could choose to take the buff instead of one of your nade slots.

(its al bout security) #8

[QUOTE=Hortey;349017]Operatives are getting a UAV when medics get their healing station… and a good operative can rip a team apart, turning them on each other. As for the XP, being an operative can net you the most XP out of any class, when disguised and waiting for an opportunity to strike they can continually spot the enemy for 50 points each time. The highest XP matches I’ve ever had have been operative.

I think it would be cool to give them a buff though, maybe take out firewalling since it really doesn’t help much and add “cerebral implant”. This would increase run speed(only run speed not movement speed), reload speed, and ADS speed by 10%(getting rid of the half second ADS shooting delay).[/QUOTE]

that sound like a good idea, or a handout cloaking device sounds really cool!

(mortis) #9

Can I customize my operative with a LulzSec tshirt? Please?

(Bittermetal) #10

You’re talking about Combat Awareness. I’m talking about SoP where you can spin the camera 360 degrees around your character and his surroundings. It doesn’t engage when firewalling or upgrading command posts.

(Bittermetal) #11

[QUOTE=Hortey;349017]Operatives are getting a UAV when medics get their healing station… and a good operative can rip a team apart, turning them on each other. As for the XP, being an operative can net you the most XP out of any class, when disguised and waiting for an opportunity to strike they can continually spot the enemy for 50 points each time. The highest XP matches I’ve ever had have been operative.

I think it would be cool to give them a buff though, maybe take out firewalling since it really doesn’t help much and add “cerebral implant”. This would increase run speed(only run speed not movement speed), reload speed, and ADS speed by 10%(getting rid of the half second ADS shooting delay).

VV-- but this is my favorite --VV

Or how about a “counter buff” that works only when disguised? When disguised as a soldier you give out blanks, so when the player gets to his extra ammo that he thinks he got refilled from a friendly soldier his gun would shoot blanks (getting an ammo buff by a friendly player will overlap this counter buff and refill his ammo like normal). When disguised as an engineer he will give out a “weapon buff” that makes the gun glow, but instead of a damage increase it DECREASES damage dealt by 5% (like the soldier buff, would be overlapped and disabled by a friendly engi buff). Then when disguised as a medic he can give out poison syringes, when looking at an incapacitated enemy he can give out boobie trapped syringes so that when the player injects himself… instead of reviving, it instantly kills them. These syringes would need to look a bit different though, like a small color tint in the icon so players who are aware could check for poison before injecting themselves (a friendly syringe will overlap this poison syringe and the operative would not be able to overlap a friendly syringe, he can only give it to people when they don’t have one in their hand)

Now THAT would be awesome and really make the operative worthwhile to play in competetive mode instead of stacking medics.[/QUOTE]

+1 to your OP suggestions. Especially the blanks. I would love an OP who had de-buffs against opposing team. That’s awesome. Giving enemies blanks, depowering their weapons and stealing supplies instead of giving them.

(wolfnemesis75) #12

Its hard to come up with a buff that makes sense for OP. They can cause enough mischief already… maybe they just don’t need a buff.

(Bittermetal) #13

[QUOTE=nephandys;349016]When I am upgrading and firewalling my SOP still goes off. There is no visual indicator, but the noise still occurs so I know what’s up. You also have visual indicators as soon as a bullet hits you. You either get the blood indicator that it hit you or you get the bulletholes through glass as it hits the CP. I know we’d all prefer that SOP visual indicator and not bullets hitting us to let us know whats up. I’m just describing the situation as it goes down for me and what I find useful. As an Op I need my pips for nades. No buffs plz. kthx.

I don’t know why, but I really don’t think the OP needs anything additional. With them adding the UAV I am already struggling to try to decide whether to drop sticky, caltrops, or EMP, all of which I use all the time. I also don’t share your problem of finding my turrets that are controlled any more than finding satchel charges on my soldier. Especially considering the circumstances in which I use that ability I am usually not all the way across the map or something.

I’ve spent more time playing OP than any other class and I just don’t see the need to add a buff to the class just because all the other classes have it. Maybe people want to earn more XP on their OP? If you are leveling then just utilize every corpse for comms hack and disguise and spot anyone you can for your team. I think I’ve gotten upwards of 22k XP in one match that way. If you’re not leveling XP doesn’t matter anyway as you can contribute enough to basically pull off the win for your team even without earning a ton of XP.

The real fix needed for the Op revolves around tweaking hacking objectives. Making hacking faster, slowing down dehack time, moving around spawns, adjusting spawn timers, etc. Any of these or some in combination would help a lot.

Lastly, the thing about the way the Op class works is that unless they make it OP (no pun intended) there’s never going to be a need for more than 1 on a team. I feel like that sucks to a certain extent, but at the same time the class is designed for going behind enemy lines and causing chaos. Therefore, having 4 of them on your team usually detracts from your ability to complete objectives and push forward as a whole.[/QUOTE]

You should never have 4 of any one class on your team, anyway.

(Bittermetal) #14

really?! I mean REALLY!?!? Tasteless

(nephandys) #15

I know I simply picked 4 as a random number. Even 2 ops is too many.

(Bittermetal) #16

Right. But often I see none! OP is a might character I just think more could be done to push people to play operative.

(nephandys) #17

The buff wouldn’t have to take the place of nades on the Op in particular if you added it just the like the soldier hand out ammo buff doesn’t take a slot, the engies weapon buff doesn’t take a slot, and the medics buff health doesn’t take a slot. Also, like I said I use all the nades available and have a hard enough time deciding what I might give up for UAV. I think it’s a nice idea to give Ops a buff, but the argument really just sounds like “everyone else has a buff. why don’t we?”

(Bittermetal) #18

You know, with the level cap going up to 24 you will probably be able to earn more credits to add the UAV to your current loadout without sacrificing anything. Or so I hope!

(Hortey) #19

OOoooOOo I never thought of that. An easy automatic (doesn’t take a slot like kevlar) buff for Operatives could be a cloaking device. This buff would stop combat intuition from activating and give you silent running even if you don’t have it.

That ability needs a counter, it makes silenced weapons useless… if you added a buff that nullified it, everyone might not have it and silent weapons might actually be usefull.

(Bittermetal) #20

[QUOTE=Hortey;349064]OOoooOOo I never thought of that. An easy automatic (doesn’t take a slot like kevlar) buff for Operatives could be a cloaking device. This buff would stop combat intuition from activating and give you silent running even if you don’t have it.

That ability needs a counter, it makes silenced weapons useless… if you added a buff that nullified it, everyone might not have it and silent weapons might actually be usefull.[/QUOTE]

I think the disguise feature is SD’s version of the cloaking device. I much prefer it too. Many games allow for a cloak. Very few allow you run around disguised as the enemy.

I also think it’s hilarious when I see ME running around in the game world. My outfit and my name above their head. Much more entertaining than a cloak.

I like the de-buff idea much better.