Okay so it may be me just pissed off but can someone explain to me why DB chose to release Phoenix before Stoker? Medic work now good as it is but on the other hand fire support has a huge disadvantage indoors and Stoker could have balanced it out. guess they are still balancing him but i’m still mad.
Can someone explain this to me?
Eox
(Eox)
#2
You can still comfort yourself by using Fletcher as a Fire Support ! Well, you won’t be able to drop ammo… But anyway you’ll still do a better job than most of the Skyhammers around. 
Joke aside. I was very surprised too, and a bit disappoint. But half the fun is in the waiting right ?.. No ?.. Well, I should stop talking now.
I hope I cheered you up… I maybe didn’t. 
N8o
(N8o)
#3
[quote=“Eox;72888”]You can still comfort yourself by using Fletcher as a Fire Support ! Well, you won’t be able to drop ammo… But anyway you’ll still do a better job than most of the Skyhammers around.
Joke aside. I was very surprised too, and a bit disappoint. But half the fun is in the waiting right ?.. No ?.. Well, I should stop talking now.
I hope I cheered you up… I maybe didn’t. :/[/quote]
I can’t tell if you’re a pessimist or an optimist
Eox
(Eox)
#4
[quote=“Raw;72899”][quote=“Eox;72888”]You can still comfort yourself by using Fletcher as a Fire Support ! Well, you won’t be able to drop ammo… But anyway you’ll still do a better job than most of the Skyhammers around.
Joke aside. I was very surprised too, and a bit disappoint. But half the fun is in the waiting right ?.. No ?.. Well, I should stop talking now.
I hope I cheered you up… I maybe didn’t. :/[/quote]
I can’t tell if you’re a pessimist or an optimist
[/quote]
I’m a wierdo. It’s far worse.
Amerika
(Amerika)
#5
Wel, Phoenix fixes some issues for the competitive scene due to the 1 merc limit. Few actually want to play Aura or Sparks as medics yet it’s pretty much required to have two medics for competitive play. Phoenix should help fix this as I believe he’ll have more HP than both of those mercs, I believe he comes with a Kek10 (so a much better weapon) and I don’t know how his healing will work but it will most likely be better than sparks and quicker to get out than Aura.
Stoker doesn’t really change as much even though his molotov will definitely be a better choice on a lot of maps.
So that’s at least some logic as to why Phoenix would be released before Stoker when viewed from a competition standpoint.
Faraleth
(Faraleth)
#6
You have to take lots of factors into account when considering WHY they would release a merc before another.
The most obvious is the fact that Phoenix is perhaps one of the more “balanced” mercs that was removed from closed beta. If you look at the difference between Phoenix and Stoker’s abilities you will see that Phoenix will be much easier to balance with other medics and mercs because there’s nothing too outlandishly “special” about him, other than his self-revive which is both easily countered and balanced with small tweaks.
Stoker on the other hand brings an entirely NEW mechanic to the game - his molotov. This of course be another case of the Phantom, and could potentially be an over-powered (or possibly under-powered) ability right from the get-go, and thus entirely new things are harder to balance, as opposed to small changes with existing ones.
Also, as Amerika said it fixes a lot of problems with the current competitive meta due to the 1-merc-limit, meaning you can no longer have 2 Sawbonez on a team. Phoenix would fill this role nicely as a lot of people don’t like playing Aura or Sparks in competitive.
You also have to remember now we have a VERY even split of 3 mercs in every class (due to Phantom and Red-Eye bringing the recon’s up to 3 as well), so it’s a very even split. You already have a lot of people playing fire-support in the game, because Skyhammer is free, and you can’t deny there has been a LOT of complaining recently about the “lack of medics” in pub matches… This will certainly help towards it.
Just a few factors off the top of my head. I’m sure there was internal debates and reasons behind it. No one can answer that but Splash Damage or Nexon though…
EDIT: And don’t forget, it is still NOT confirmed 100%! We were all convinced the Stoker gloves were a hint towards the next merc because they SAID it was a hint! Now they are saying there’s a hint in this Dishing The Dirt… is it another too obvious one? c: Only time will tell…
SteelMailbox
(SteelMailbox)
#7
[quote=“Faraleth;72909”]
EDIT: And don’t forget, it is still NOT confirmed 100%! We were all convinced the Stoker gloves were a hint towards the next merc because they SAID it was a hint! Now they are saying there’s a hint in this Dishing The Dirt… is it another too obvious one? c: Only time will tell…[/quote]
So I checked the photo out and it I am pretty sure it is fake, Stoker’s gloves are black (like Kira’s) not white so yep Phoenix is next :’(
Mister_Wiggles
(Mister__Wiggles)
#9
@Amerika
Really a Kek? He will easily become the medic of choice down to that. I can’t imagine how effective he will be alongside a Fragger…
Mister_Wiggles
(Mister__Wiggles)
#10
And the hint is for Phoenix, one of his audio lines is, ‘make sure you eat plenty of fruit’. Pretty much obvious now lol.
Edit: Go to 1:02 in this and listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLxOPOcxq-0
Amerika
(Amerika)
#11
That video really makes me miss the birds and the old ammo dump placements :)[quote=“Mister__Wiggles;72950”]@Amerika
Really a Kek? He will easily become the medic of choice down to that. I can’t imagine how effective he will be alongside a Fragger…[/quote]
I don’t think he’ll be as good as Sawbonez still due to his healing not being as good and his self-revive only being good if you happen to die where people can’t gib you easily. But he will most definitely be the #2 medic since I believe he has similar HP to Sawbonez and has access to much better weapons than Aura and Sparks.
Mister_Wiggles
(Mister__Wiggles)
#12
@Amerika
I only started playing when the open beta was released, never knew this game existed and it upsets me that I never had the chance to get a founders card :(.
Fiktio
(Fiktio)
#13
It would be actually super amazing to see double release of Phoenix AND Stoker, but I have to say that my long waiting time is over when I’m able to hire Phoenix to my team.
Though I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we are getting trolled hard and the next merc that will be released would be totally someone else like for example Turtle.
Mister_Wiggles
(Mister__Wiggles)
#14
@Amerika
Yeah i’ve noticed his healing pulse has a very small reach to it which I guess balances him out against the other medics. The fact he has Smg’s though is a massive selling point. I personally will be interested to see what he can bring compared to Sawbonez.
B_Montiel
(B_Montiel)
#15
[quote=“Amerika;72906”]Wel, Phoenix fixes some issues for the competitive scene due to the 1 merc limit. Few actually want to play Aura or Sparks as medics yet it’s pretty much required to have two medics for competitive play. Phoenix should help fix this as I believe he’ll have more HP than both of those mercs, I believe he comes with a Kek10 (so a much better weapon) and I don’t know how his healing will work but it will most likely be better than sparks and quicker to get out than Aura.
Stoker doesn’t really change as much even though his molotov will definitely be a better choice on a lot of maps.
So that’s at least some logic as to why Phoenix would be released before Stoker when viewed from a competition standpoint.[/quote]
I’ve read a couple of posts where you directly mention that light mercs (aura, sparks and proxy, kira is a bit different) are somehow unusable in the competitive side of the game. In my opinion, you’re totally right, but this is also assuming that light mercs have a massive disadvantage once players know how to play. Hence a possible major balance issue.
Amerika
(Amerika)
#16
[quote=“B. Montiel;72982”][quote=“Amerika;72906”]Wel, Phoenix fixes some issues for the competitive scene due to the 1 merc limit. Few actually want to play Aura or Sparks as medics yet it’s pretty much required to have two medics for competitive play. Phoenix should help fix this as I believe he’ll have more HP than both of those mercs, I believe he comes with a Kek10 (so a much better weapon) and I don’t know how his healing will work but it will most likely be better than sparks and quicker to get out than Aura.
Stoker doesn’t really change as much even though his molotov will definitely be a better choice on a lot of maps.
So that’s at least some logic as to why Phoenix would be released before Stoker when viewed from a competition standpoint.[/quote]
I’ve read a couple of posts where you directly mention that light mercs (aura, sparks and proxy, kira is a bit different) are somehow unusable in the competitive side of the game. In my opinion, you’re totally right, but this is also assuming that light mercs have a massive disadvantage once players know how to play. Hence a possible major balance issue.[/quote]
SD has tied HP to character speed and in a pub sense it is an OK way to balance. But when you start throwing players on a server who have insane aim the reduced HP that the faster mercs have tends to be a huge issue. The increased speed doesn’t help reduce the amount of damage you’ll be taking or help get objectives done faster since engineers almost always have to wait on a clear anyway making speed irrelevant. I’d personally like to see all of the faster mercs given 10 more HP apiece across the board and maybe a bit more for a couple of them.
There are other reasons tied to these mercs as to why they aren’t as popular (weapons/abilities) too so it’s not all HP based. But the low HP definitely doesn’t help.
inferno_puppet
(inferno_puppet)
#17
For my 2cents i still think it will be stoker. but another interpretation of the apple hint in dishing the dirt is “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” so i think its hinting at stoker cause @MissMurder had an apple that day so it will keep the doctor away.
SteelMailbox
(SteelMailbox)
#19
It’s aimee… YALL GOT TROLLED TWICE!
Source: I know everything.[/quote]
That source is fake.
Faraleth
(Faraleth)
#20
@steelMailbox Wait, which image do you think was “fake”? If you are referring to my Stoker’s gloves image, it definitely wasn’t fake. You can see in the background the damage radius sphere’s of his molotov that was in-engine. I also showed the comparison of the gloves xD