Aimee QoL Buff

(Equanimity) #1

So a lot of people seem to be under the impression Aimee is the weakest of the snipers, and this really has a lot to do with her ability and lack of health. Now personally I really like playing with Aimee (as well as the other snipers just as much) but in order to “bring her up to par” with the other snipers, in a sense, while still letting her retain her unique identity (and also to make her ability far more ‘useable’) I reckon this:

Allow Aimee’s snitch device to spot/debilitate while it is flying through the air. Against decent players the snitch is shut down nearly instantly, even midair sometimes, and a 40sec cooldown is incurred. I think this would make even the instances where the ability is shut down a lot more practical, and validate the quite long cooldown that the snitch has. The spot duration is so low on the snitch anyway, that the debilitation is the main usage of the skill, so I think it should be included in this ‘buff’.

Thoughts?

(terminal) #2

The snitch is meant to be placed beforehand so when players move across an area they get scanned and debilitated. The Snitch can fly because it’s meant to be placed in areas that the Heart Beat Sensor can’t.

(Equanimity) #3

Playing Aimee against anyone with a brain makes her ability nearly worthless. It’s easier to spot than a heartbeat sensor because all the good sensor spots are tucked away out of LoS while the snitch is forced to be in LoS thus causing it to be extremely easy to destroy no matter how well “hidden”. There isn’t a lot of clutter in the maps to not make its silhouette very easy to spot. Not to mention bomb squad for anyone who actually even deems it necessary to spot a snitch… The only thing she has going for her with it is that it is reclaimable. As soon as someone is debilitated, if they’re intelligent, they’ll immediately seek refuge (or heal) to wear off the effect, and in the mean time likely destroy the snitch even if exceptionally well hidden. Additionally the snitch CAN be used offensively, but only when traveling short distances for mid-range to CQC. This playstyle works exceptionally well with the grandeur, for example. So it’s not strictly a defensive ability, or a ‘set it and cross fire’ ability. I’m simply applying this versatility to a longer range with my suggestion, if the snitch doesn’t get shot out of the air first (as it is incredibly easy to do so).

(Weekendwarrior) #4

I find that my snitches don’t get destroyed as easily when thrown onto the ceiling.

OP’s idea sounds pretty cool though. Don’t know how much it’ll improve her though

(Cuck) #5

shooting the snitch in the air is one of the ways players can counter aimee’s ability.
by which you need to have for each merc ( a counter).

some are harder to counter, some nearly cant.

in my opinion, aimee snitch should have less presence on the enemy because when the enemies get debilitated, they automatically start to search their area to find the snitch.

this is a 50k merc were talking about, and it has an ability that is (not weaker) less helpful (because of the scan range) and can easily identifiable by a smarter or even an advanced players. putting a very long horizontal scan distance can solve this problem (so you can hide the snitch in a safe distance from the enemies.

(Equanimity) #6

[quote=“Cuck;184566”]
shooting the snitch in the air is one of the ways players can counter aimee’s ability.
by which you need to have for each merc ( a counter).

some are harder to counter, some nearly cant.[/quote]

Though a different classification of merc, I can’t help but think of stoker. His molotovs have the same cooldown, and while they do have easy counter-play once formally dispensed, if they land a direct hit it is instant death. Likewise, obviously, for fragger as well. At least fragger, though, is somewhat easier to read, as the molotovs are instant. So while I totally understand what you’re saying, I don’t feel it is as applicable to Aimee, because her ability gets shut down so easily compared to most other mercs before it gets a chance to do anything. Really there’s more an “ease of negation” aspect to her snitch than any formal sense of “counter-play”.

(RyePanda) #7

[quote=“Equanimity;184599”][quote=“Cuck;184566”]
shooting the snitch in the air is one of the ways players can counter aimee’s ability.
by which you need to have for each merc ( a counter).

some are harder to counter, some nearly cant.[/quote]

Though a different classification of merc, I can’t help but think of stoker. His molotovs have the same cooldown, and while they do have easy counter-play once formally dispensed, if they land a direct hit it is instant death. the molotovs are instant.

[/quote]

Molotovs are not instant death (35 damage on a direct hit I believe, and then fire damage), and do take a little bit to throw and fly towards their target, so they are not instant and they can be countered by putting out the flames with explosives or smoke.

@Equanimity

(Equanimity) #8

[quote=“RyePanda;185332”][quote=“Equanimity;184599”][quote=“Cuck;184566”]
shooting the snitch in the air is one of the ways players can counter aimee’s ability.
by which you need to have for each merc ( a counter).

some are harder to counter, some nearly cant.[/quote]

Though a different classification of merc, I can’t help but think of stoker. His molotovs have the same cooldown, and while they do have easy counter-play once formally dispensed, if they land a direct hit it is instant death. the molotovs are instant.

[/quote]

Molotovs are not instant death (35 damage on a direct hit I believe, and then fire damage), and do take a little bit to throw and fly towards their target, so they are not instant and they can be countered by putting out the flames with explosives or smoke.

@Equanimity [/quote]

Wiki says 35 but the most recent discussion I can find about it with numbers says it does 65 on impact, followed instantly by a tick of it’s DoT, and then of course any weapon fire your take within the second it hits you. It can easily, essentially, one shot a 120hp or lower merc with a direct hit (especially if using the front-loaded stark), regardless of whichever damage value it is. It has very low arm time and no necessary cooking time. Jumping over it still results in damage typically and it has a long effective duration at 10 seconds. It is ridiculously powerful, as it should be when compared to other fire support abilities of similar cooldown. The point was that the cooldown is ridiculously long at nearly 40 seconds for each ability respectively, and for that cooldown Aimee gets a lot less potential out of it, even when used by and especially against skilled players. If you put it in the context of comparabe abilities of other recon mercs: vasilli’s hb sensor can be hidden on the other side of walls and if used properly will have nearly 100% uptime, and has a far less punishing 15~ sec cooldown if it does get destroyed. The same could be said for redeye, especially his infrared.

Additionally, the counterplay to the molotov, by putting it out, is not something as easy as popping off a round at a slow moving, easy to spot flying object like the snitch, and it takes at least a moment to position oneself to put out the flames, and if you were direct hit you’re pretty much dead anyway.

Source

(SaulWolfden) #9

[quote=“Equanimity;184599”][quote=“Cuck;184566”]
shooting the snitch in the air is one of the ways players can counter aimee’s ability.
by which you need to have for each merc ( a counter).

some are harder to counter, some nearly cant.[/quote]

Though a different classification of merc, I can’t help but think of stoker. His molotovs have the same cooldown, and while they do have easy counter-play once formally dispensed, if they land a direct hit it is instant death. Likewise, obviously, for fragger as well. At least fragger, though, is somewhat easier to read, as the molotovs are instant. So while I totally understand what you’re saying, I don’t feel it is as applicable to Aimee, because her ability gets shut down so easily compared to most other mercs before it gets a chance to do anything. Really there’s more an “ease of negation” aspect to her snitch than any formal sense of “counter-play”.

[/quote]

Contrary to popular belief, direct hit molotovs are not instant death. Even pre nerf I’ve had low hp mercs survive direct hits.

(Equanimity) #10

Regardless of semantics, her ability is weak for the cooldown. That’s the problem.

(BlazinFox) #11

Long stretches aren’t really for her. She’s meant for locking down small and linear routes. And what @Weekendwarrior said. Throw them onto ceilings. Most of the time they can blend in. And any real place that if the enemy tries to destroy it. It’s a death sentence

And going with the topic of “Let it spot in the air”. I’m not going to allow the ignorant Aimee players spot people by throwing it into the nothingness of the skybox.