Clarification on the phantom hate: re loadouts?

(moonlitAbility) #1

Hey, so ive been on the hate phantom train. Not my style. Luckily (or unlucky) i kept ending up with phantom loadouts (a cobalt, gold, silver), so I felt compelled to grab him to try him out.

Anyways as someone frustrated by phantom, I was surprised when I learned only 3 of the loadouts had the katana on it (watching phantoms you would think they all did)… and only 1 of those 3 has the melee damage increase trait chopper, putting the katana into that frustrating damage range. obviously this is the loadout they all use.

So my question for everyone is, it simply 1 single LOADOUT of the class that is overpowered?? I do not have that loadout (and only 1 loadout with a katana), and i assure you he does not feel OP with those cards.

I now believe this to be true. If they balance the class around that 1 loadout, the other 8 will be total trash (they are already close).

why dont they just swapped chopper with something else (attack speed vs attack damage maybe?) and see what happens? if it really is just 1 loadout, it should be a fairly easy fix IMO

(moonlitAbility) #2

I bring this up because everyone complaining seems to be just like ‘lower phantoms shield and make him a glass cannon. done’. which makes sense, in that it would probably balance THAT ONE LOADOUT. however that will make any loadout other than that one unplayable. maybe thats what people want.

Fix the loadout, dont nerf the class

(Gi.Am) #3

Kinda yes, the katana right now works in a way that makes it way easier to kill. Compared to the other melee weapons.
That however is not really intended afaik and will propably be fixed with one of the next patches.

I tried several rounds with a non katana loadout and the difference is night and day. Without the Katana you are 100% relaying on your primary weapon. People will jump out of range because they expect a katana, which means every stealth melee atempt, looks like melee only skyhammer, in a combat situation. Sure you might score a kill here and there but way too unreliable and dangerous.

The Loadout in question also comes with 20% longer stealth and the Kek-10 which is pretty popular. So yeah Phantom right now has 1 Loadout that is better than the rest and 2 that are still good enough. And the rest is for when you feel you need a handicap :smile: .

(RuleofBooKz) #4

we do not need to talk about this again until after the devs make the change and we can see what is what. anything else is just speculation and needless shitfighting

but go ahead if u just want to shitfight

(XavienX) #5

Yea, Phantom needs a tweak first, and maybe there should be more diverse loadouts too.

(watsyurdeal) #6

What I don’t get is why the katans isn’t on a loadouts. If they were making load outs for gun centered phantoms…well they’re shit, sorry.

(capriRocket) #7

i think they just run a random augment tool to generare loadout cards. then make one stand out so people buy it.

(elegantRoyalty) #8

first, he never wields a katana
second he never was op

hes about the least played merc out there right now. if he was so op wouldnt he be more popular?

depends , youve got more chance of killing a rhino with a knife or a heavy secondary pistol than the sword for eg. the word really is only good for killing lone one shot bait . in any other situation going to guns is nearly always better

(watsyurdeal) #9

The Katana is his trademark, I don’t think anyone on this forum will deny that.

Regardless how the knives compare, it’s still the thing that seperates him from the other mercs.

So, if they are going to have gun centric loadouts without the Katana, the least they could do is make it worth your while. Stuff like Toughness or Try Hard, because without the Katana he really is just a Skyhammer with SMGs, the cloak doesn’t really do much unless you aim first and blitz their face.

(capriRocket) #10

[quote=“elegantRoyalty;48881”]first, he never wields a katana
second he never was op

hes about the least played merc out there right now. if he was so op wouldnt he be more popular?

[/quote]

i dont play him cause hes broken and feels cheap, im sure im not the only one.

its usually newbs still running around as phantom, because they dont know any better way to get kills.

(Jojack) #11

He should have Katana on all load outs, in my opinion. I don’t really care about the Katana. The really good Phantom players that really use him to max “OP-ness” rarely use the Katana anyway.

It’s the KEK and the Crotzni that is overpowered when the player uses the stealth/shield as it should be used, to gain superior positioning and guaranteeing first strike advantages from flank position(especially with the current aim punch) and he uses selective targeting to “pick” high priority targets before slipping back in the shadows. Identifying his next target.

Most play him (badly) as face rushing idiot and try to take down groups. While they may be able to pull this off once in a while, it generally just ends in his bloody death and the impression that Phantom is not OP.

My suggested changes are to:
-Remove shield
-Completely overhaul primaries to lesser used weapons (ala Fletcher)
-Buff Katana damage (maybe extremely buffed from behind - possibly a second ability on a cool down that does extreme damage and can only be activated from stealth).
-Give him an ability to spot enemies for teammates.

I think this would give him the proper flavor of a stealth assassin while giving him a proper skill threshhold to actually be dangerous if used skillfully, but trash if not (like Vassili).

edit - and regarding loadouts, pretty much every merc has 1 (2 if you’re lucky) loadouts that are superior and make all others trash.