Balance WINS!

(Kaori1) #1

Oh man, after quite a few months the devs finally decided to think for themselves and buff one of the more under preforming characters in the game:

Phantom

Phantom has also received a long-deserved buff. Instead of focusing on his stealthy solo play, we wanted to improve his team-utility with something that complimented his ability slip past the meat-shield up front and get up-close and personal with the squishy people in support. With that in mind we’ve added an EMP effect to Phantom’s Refractive Armor. While active, this will disable enemy deployables for a short time, creating an opening in even the most heavily defended position.
-Added an EMP field to Refractive Armor, which disables nearby (~10m) enemy deployables while cloaked
-Enemy deployables remain disabled for 5s after leaving the EMP field
-Increased Refractive Armor duration by ~10%

[center]PRAISE THE SUN! OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN FINALLY ANSWERED!
https://media.giphy.com/media/l41lVeXxNGrFseFTq/giphy.gif[/center]

Lets take a look at all of the adversity this topic has faced over the last few months shall we:

Phantom (and the community) pre nerf:
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/626348527290367965/38A8DCDD66E974B01D812F8036DA4BB0647AF445/

Did phantom need a slight nerf after he was released? YES! For the love of god he WAS a bit OP. But the way the devs handled the situation was horrible. So much so that the community eventually realized just how bad Phantom had become. Thread after thread people begged for Phantom to recieve slight buffs here and there. However, what people really wanted was his identity back. His stealth was worthless because it had become more noticeable and louder. His primary weapon of choice was the KEK which got a well deserved tweak/nerf. His shield/cloak prevented him from ever getting a speed buff. And last but not least; a forum moderator by the name of Amerika decided to hijack every single thread regarding phantom balance.

Examples (only a few, trust me theres more):
http://forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/16645/phantom/p1
http://forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/16587/when-is-phantom-going-to-be-balanced/p1
http://forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/16166/could-u-guys-pls-buff-phantom/p1
http://forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/15473/phantom-all-but-a-fun-merc-lacking-an-identity/p1
http://forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/15248/everyone-complained-about-phantom/p1

But quite possibly the most staggering discussion was this little gem. Amerika CONFIRMS that Phantom is balanced because he posted a video of himself pubstomping lowbie players as phantom:

[center][quote=“Amerika;84959”]He’s horribly underpowered. Please buff. If he was properly balanced I would have won.


[/center]

Source (notice the poll too): http://forums.dirtybomb.nexon.net/discussion/18015/phantom-as-viewed-by-the-community/p1

Taken from my response to this post:

So wait, you’re lvl 47 playing against 6 players under lvl 20…and you’re killing them. Yup hes balanced, case closed! Thank you for reminding me why I stopped playing this game.

Your steam profile: http://steamcommunity.com/id/amerika 505 hours played
One of the random lowbie pubs you were fighting: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197965552177 42 hours played

“Levels means nothing”…but playtime speaks volumes and levels are a small representation of that.

[center][b]So why did I go through all of the effort to make this post? Because I would like to remind the community that this game has SO much potential. However, if we allow people like Amerika to curb stomp every single idea we come up with, then this amazing game is doomed to fail. This entire situation proves that if you TRULY believe that an injustice or mistake has been made by the devs, then you should fight for what YOU think is right.

What do you guys think of these Phantom changes? Do you think it was enough? [/b][/center]

(reciprocal) #2

I’m happy for you, man. I hope the EMP and 1 second more cloak will bring you much joy.

(Drac0rion) #3

I’ve only played for the first day, but so far it only feels like a nerf.

EMP only gives your position away, especially around corners where you can’t even always predict somekind of device(some random ammo station) and it just feels punishing in most cases.
Running solo, it’s actually nice as I can literally ignore the mines spread randomly between paths, but running into anyone nearby any device just raises their awareness, reducing his sneaking/flanking ability even further.
At best you just stop and stay completely still if you realize your EMP has disabled something and hope they come look for you before the cloak duration runs out, giving you the only hope that there are less enemies around or that your backup is arriving any moment.
The other choice is simply to try your best and run from more targets and hope your half burnt cloak can still soak some damage.

The 10% buff to the duration is actually nice, as it reduces the value on Undercover and other cards seem a lot more valuable now. BUT, with the cloak cooldown always starting at 7sec minimum, you have to be even better with the timers and predict enemy movement even better to use stealth as efficiently as before.

So yeah, to sum it up, EMP can be useful, but definitely not to assist his team play.
The choice between loadouts is rather nice.
But sneaking is even worse than before, as in you have to take into account more factors than before.
In general, at the moment I consider this change more of a nerf than an actual buff/rework, what ever SD wants to call it.

(JJMAJR) #4

Phantom isn’t buffed to the point where I’d play him over anyone else in any situation. He recieved a huge nerf on his loadout cards, where they made the class a complete weaboo with the katana and removed every high-mobility melee weapon on his person.

He’s still shit, and his loadout cards aren’t even worth getting over the first edition. Tell me, why bother purchasing him?

(KattiValk) #5

The cooldown nerf needs to be reverted.

(watsyurdeal) #6

The only reason the cooldown nerf would be reverted is if they separate the EMP and Refractive Armor. Which honestly would probably be best imo, at least then they could also add some sort of spotting to disabled deployables.

Like with Bomb Squad, that little icon that they use to point them out, same thing, but through walls so people know where they are.

And even then, THERE’S STILL MY MAIN ISSUE, he’s not stealthy enough. I’d gladly trade the whole armor concept away for better invisibility.

Also, his mobility is still there, you can equip the Refractive Armor with 4, and run at good speed. I think someone should post a video comparing it to someone with the same speed as Phantom.

It’s not like you’d be using your melee to attack people anyhow, that’s the quickest way to die.

(Drac0rion) #7

To be honest, if Phantom could spot enemy mercs just for himself without marking them with the current EMP field with the EMP effect removed, it would be just perfect for him, allowing him to do his flanks well without accidentally running into enemies.

The current EMP field proves that he needs that information for flanking, as in currently the enemies are instantly aware of his presence if you happen to disable device around a corner. But if this field would detect mercs, you could approach closer and wait for the enemies to either split up or wait for your team to collapse.
(I think spotting the enemies within the field would again alert them of Phantoms presence.
If you notice them moving, you could tell which way they’re facing and maybe chase them or more preferably have one of them walk into you.)

He needs his counterplay as he has an opportunity to one-hit-kill, even with these horrible melee hitboxes.

For me personally, this change would make Phantom near perfect. He would finally be a recon, just a frontline type compared to the rest of the recon mercs that requires a little more communication with the team for maximum efficiency.
He could actually set himself up for team play and collapse on enemies with his team and wouldn’t have to just play the solo role of an annoyance in the enemy territory only taking his chances in 1v1s.
(Would still prefer +10hp and not so many melee oriented loadouts.)

(watsyurdeal) #8

That is true, I didn’t think about him being essentially a walking motion sensor, and how useful it could be for him and his team.

I’d dig it