This is one part of my master feedback post going into 1.0. I will try to be as detailed as possible and as clear as possible. These will be a series of feedback posts, going by section (Medics, Fire Support, etc.). Note - I’m not trying to be absolute, but giving my personal thoughts. I absolutely love the game, what I saw isn’t meant to dev bash or say the developers are bad, just my critique and some things I’d want to see implemented and/or tested.
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Medics
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Aura
Her health station is too ever-present. She doesn’t need to worry about exactly where she places it or if it is attacked or not. She can also have another one ready if her station does get destroyed. Aura’s station also gives health too fast. I don’t mean as in rate; but in how it is given. The station has a flat rate of healing with no ramp-up or slow down depending on if the target is being shot. This makes normally light health mercs far more durable than they should be. Aura is also too fragile for her own good, she gets one-shot way too easily.
My solution – Have her station have a higher base rate (going from 23/19 to maybe somewhere around 26/24) but have a healing ramp-up. This can be a reduced healing of 50% if just recently injured, and ramp-up to the full healing after a certain amount of time. This allows it to be a viable healing method, but doesn’t make someone a one-man army. This could also be accompanied by a small radius decrease. To make her less fragile, I’d increase her overall health to 90 accompanied by a speed reduction. It makes her less of a glass cannon.
- Phoenix
His healing pulse is a good ability; however, he can use it very selfishly with no real downside (as a full charge basically gives him full health instantly). He has no reason to help his team with his pulse. Overall, he is a decent merc, but is a little too slow to catch-up to his team to heal them.
My Solution – His heal pulse could have the property of “the more players in the area, the more it heals”. The base healing would be reduced (Going from its max being 100 down to around 60), however it would increase to a max of 120 depending on how many people are within the area (perhaps a max of 3 people). His movement speed should also be increased to 435 to help him keep up with his team
- Sparks
It’s no secret that Sparks is one of the best medics. Her long-range reviving along with her instant health packs make her a very quick support, not to mention her speed. However, there are still issues concerning her that I feel make her too objectively good. For starters, her revive rifle does a lot of damage. With a one second charge, she gains a 120-damage headshot laser that is extremely accurate. This accuracy is fine when it comes to reviving players at a distance, however it becomes a nightmare to anyone fighting her at range or up close. Now she does also have the issue of using her packs selfishly and her high speed makes her ever the deadlier.
My Solution – Reduce her max revive gun headshot from 120 to 100. She is still able to drop the squishy characters and Phoenix; however, it prevents her from being able to insta-down every character in the game besides three assaults at close range. Her packs, to prevent less selfish use, would have a “speed up” effect. The first pack would be thrown slow, but then the throw rate ramps up to an overall faster rate. Think of it like how shotgun reloads have a slower first shell, but the other shells reload faster afterwards. Sparks would also have a health increase to 90 and a speed reduction, to make her a little more durable.
- Guardian
Probably the most problematic of the Medics. People give her shit because her ability is annoying, how she isn’t a medic, how she can’t heal, etc. The devs have repeatedly said that they do not plan on giving her a heal and that she was designed for FF ON (as she could quickly kill revive). So, the best thing is to change what she currently has. Her main issue stems from her bubble, it is very large, very present, and is very spammable. It also is very preemptive, meaning you can’t actually “use” the ability. She is completely reliant upon the enemy team and their team composition to gain max effectiveness.
My Solution – The major change would be to her drone. The area of effect of the drone would be reduced. It shouldn’t be smaller than an Aura station radius, but maybe a 300-unit radius (down from the current 400-unit radius). Her drone needs to be less of a large “No Ability Zone”. She also can’t throw it very far, so perhaps she could gain the ability to slide the drone along the ground. Guardian would hold it in her hand (like how Fragger cooks his nades) and it could slide a certain distance away from her. This could give her more flexibility and make her less open if she still wants to protect her teammates. The drone would also start its activation as it slid across the ground. I also propose a change to how her cooldown functions. Right now, she has a set 20 second cooldown that goes down as the drone is active or inactive. If the drone stays alive for its full 12 second duration, it leaves Guardian with 7 seconds before she can use it again. I propose to keep the 12 second duration, however the cooldown for it increases as it destroys projectiles. For example, the cool down is at 10 seconds with 2 seconds left of the drone, the drone then blocks a nade, the cooldown increases by about 2 seconds. Not the drone goes away, but the cooldown is now 10 instead of the regular 8. Having the cooldown increase as she blocks compensates for its fast replace rate. If it is actively blocking projectiles, it has an overall increased cooldown, but if it isn’t blocking many projectiles, it can be easily brought back in case it is needed.
- Sawbones
I have no issues with Sawbones. He is by far the most balanced medic of the bunch. His packs aren’t too selfish, aren’t too powerful, and aren’t too plentiful. He has this balance of being a good offense medic and a good defense medic. I would not touch anything on Sawbones.
That is all my feedback and suggestions for all the Medics. I will work on a few follow-up posts talking about the other classes, along with augments and weapons. Leave a comment whether you agree or have different ideas.