First impression of Phantom?

(LANshark) #41

i really like him. its fun just knifing people all game but you can go to your smg and invis if you have to. The fact that you can do 2 heavy attacks in a row makes for some nice killing sprees if the enemy has grouped up. Overall i think he will be great for all melee rounds or in pubs where no one is used to fighting him but he will be very limited in competitive.

(ayybailey) #42

It’s really a small issue in the larger picture of all things Phantom, but I really don’t understand why he is basically immune to mines. One of the best uses for mines is to protect unmanned flanks, yet he can run through them unscathed while cloaked. It’s easy enough to spot and disarm Proxy’s mines, why give the merc who has the most room to be patient and play slow a free pass?

He can sneak up on me all he wants, that’s his job. He can two shot me too. But there should be some kind of counter, and I think abilities like mines and heart beat sensor are the perfect counters.

(watsyurdeal) #43

Well to be fair he has the perk that makes mines and turrets trigger slower.

That, and Stoker isn’t in game yet. Maybe his fire will disrupt his cloak.

(Fuze) #44

Did you miss the part where heartbeat sensor makes it impossible for Phantom to cloak?

(noupperlobeman) #45

I think he’s going to offer great utility by breaking up stalemates
and spawn camps. I’ve seen a little of it first hand.

Presently, I really don’t have an issue with the way he performs.
Any time I’ve been killed by one it’s typically my fault.

(Cswic) #46

Remove / cut shield in half and maybe lower HP and up the speed then call it a day imo.

(loonyTop) #47

First impressions of the Phantom? Ruined my favourite game, that’s what.

(GregHouseMD) #48

Before he was actually released, I was under the impression his stealth and armor were two separate abilities that worked off the same cooldown ( or energy, if you will ). I don’t know if that’s a good idea or not, but it seems to me it’d be more fair. Then again, armor getting canceled upon attacking is nice, too.

I don’t know, though. All I know is I’m looking forward to Red-Eye. If his ability also cancels cloak, that should help greatly. I mean, I’m already tempted to play Vassili just to mess with Phantom.

(Fuze) #49

[quote=“GregHouseMD;40713”]Before he was actually released, I was under the impression his stealth and armor were two separate abilities that worked off the same cooldown ( or energy, if you will ). I don’t know if that’s a good idea or not, but it seems to me it’d be more fair. Then again, armor getting canceled upon attacking is nice, too.

I don’t know, though. All I know is I’m looking forward to Red-Eye. If his ability also cancels cloak, that should help greatly. I mean, I’m already tempted to play Vassili just to mess with Phantom.[/quote]

His smoke grenades won’t cancel out Phantoms ability, but his eye will be able to see him.

(loonyTop) #50

In an objective based FPS you made a merc that allows people to camp invisible upon the objective. How could anyone think this was a good idea?

(Disquieted1) #51

My impression of Phantom:

Overall good merc. He does need one tweak though, and that’s to his ability to 1-shot squishies. I don’t have numbers (since he’s a new merc) but in-game his run speed seems to be faster than a squishy (e.g. Proxy, Aura). I get the concept of running faster with a melee weapon out, but it’s stupid that a Phantom with a knife is faster than Proxy with a shotgun. It basically takes a possible high skill cap merc and makes him into a SHIFT+W+M1 merc.

Possible solutions: Lower run speed. This seems to me the best solution.
Reduce the damage the katana does. While this does solve things, it makes Phantom very vulnerable to heavy classes (e.g. Rhino).

I’m also not a fan of cloak. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a stealth class, but cloak, as it is, isn’t done right. The devs should emulate the Infiltrator’s cloak from Tribes: Ascend. It’s a perfect cloak, but with very limited energy. The cloak should not be visible when running, rather, the energy should drain faster when running/sprinting. Being hit with a bullet or colliding with an enemy player should reveal a silhouette of Phantom. Firing weapons or using the katana also creates a silhouette. Said silhouette is VERY visible.

(Soulfighter) #52

[quote=“Disquieted1;40743”]My impression of Phantom:

Overall good merc. He does need one tweak though, and that’s to his ability to 1-shot squishies. I don’t have numbers (since he’s a new merc) but in-game his run speed seems to be faster than a squishy (e.g. Proxy, Aura). I get the concept of running faster with a melee weapon out, but it’s stupid that a Phantom with a knife is faster than Proxy with a shotgun. It basically takes a possible high skill cap merc and makes him into a SHIFT+W+M1 merc.

Possible solutions: Lower run speed. This seems to me the best solution.
Reduce the damage the katana does. While this does solve things, it makes Phantom very vulnerable to heavy classes (e.g. Rhino).

I’m also not a fan of cloak. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a stealth class, but cloak, as it is, isn’t done right. The devs should emulate the Infiltrator’s cloak from Tribes: Ascend. It’s a perfect cloak, but with very limited energy. The cloak should not be visible when running, rather, the energy should drain faster when running/sprinting. Being hit with a bullet or colliding with an enemy player should reveal a silhouette of Phantom. Firing weapons or using the katana also creates a silhouette. Said silhouette is VERY visible.[/quote]

All melee weapons can on shot squishies with the dmg perk just like the katana and his running speed is the same than any character in his hp range, he’s much muuuuch slower than aura or proxy.

Please learn a bit about the game before suggesting tweaks to characters. Thank you.

(Disquieted1) #53

I don’t have numbers (since he’s a new merc)

in-game his run speed seems to be faster than a squishy (e.g. Proxy, Aura)

Learn to read. It also doesn’t matter what the numbers are, if the merc is still off.

I played a few more games. Phantom wrecks squishies like they’re nothing. He’s fine with heavy classes however.

(Gi.Am) #54

Another thing people have to consider before calling OP, is that phantom is a Recon. And unlike the other Recons he doesn’t have a team helping spotter ability (which I personaly find stupid but not the point). Therefore his abilities (both cloak and katana) have to compensate the lack of spotter and sniperrifle. That guy has to pull similar K/D numbers as say a vassili or an assault class since its the only thing he is doing.

(Soulfighter) #55

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;40701”][quote=“cannyEdition;40696”]
I didn’t complained about Rhino, nor Aura and neither Fragger. But for Phantom i will because i find it quite unfair.[/quote]

Well given what I see in this video

I definitely think the cloak absorbing damage should be changed, 50% reduction instead of a full blown second health meter. That and maybe -10 health, 110 seems plenty to me.

But I don’t think that’s the main issue just yet, I mean he just came out hours ago…figure things out first before crying op. Not trying to sound insulting but people do have a tendency to do that with new things.
[/quote]

Oh gee she went and engaged at close range around corners with Sparks, the squishy medic who has a secondary as her primary, and died to an offensive character. Better nerf it.

The exact same thing would have happened against any heavier unit.

I swear I’m going to make a video in which I play a melee only Bushwacker just to show it’s the people who are clueless, not the character who is OP

(KayDubz) #56

This TotalBiscuit gameplay vid of Phantom does not make the new merc look good.

Huge uproar across reddit, steam, and youtube about Phantom btw. Consensus says hes OP and that the devs didnt balance him well at all. I agree. There’s no reason he should have a super strong sword, a nice SMG, on top of a cloak and armor.

And how hard is it to simply get cool downs right on him and other mercs? People keep asking for cooldowns to be properly implemented.

PS - Something feels very wrong about a melee character in a first person shooter game thats based on skillful gunplay…especially when that character has a low cooldown invisibility ability. What was SD thinking? Phantom belongs in a melee based third person shooter game…not this one.

(Indefinite) #57

[quote=“scorchingPainting;40647”]One thing Id like to say about everyone saying that Phantom changes the game in a way they don’t like;

Why have you not mentioned this before ever? Im sure that you could have gathered this from the style of his play long before his Role Call. This is the sort of things Devs need to hear, want to hear amd can do something about. If they get the feel that half the community likes the idea of a stealthy melee class and half the community doesnt, Im sure they’d try and make him a little more like the current mercs, slightly more mainstream if you want to use that word. Sure, you might get a little hate on the Forums, but its important for the Devs to hear. The situation we have now is potentially putting a lot of active players off the game :frowning:

TLDR; Please make your thoughts known to the devs, even if its an unpopular opinion.[/quote]
Here’s the thing for me: I knew they had used Phantom before and what his mechanics were supposed to be like. I was even using him as my forum avatar up to a few days ago, too. Yet I still did not know exactly how he’d play in game. If he’d be an interesting addition or not. Really.

I was giving the idea the benefit of the doubt, instead of just making assumptions. I came onto the forums to convey that opinion after a few hours of fighting against/alongside him.

Summary of changes I would apply to Phantom:

  1. Reduce his hp to between 90 and 100 hp. 95 even.
  2. Reduce his movement speed. Not to fragger speeds, but enough ticks to where he can just run alongside most characters: Phantom will almost always have his melee out, while his targets (besides other Phantoms) won’t, meaning Phantom’s current movement speed IS a huge advantage, actually. Really not debatable.
  3. Change the secondary attack. Make it do more a little more damageb[/b]. Put it on a 5 second cooldown.
  4. Add an additional positive feature, like causing the secondary sword attack to prevent enemies from jumping for ~3 seconds, or being able to passively Recon enemies by staring at them (like heartbeat sensor, but only for one specific enemy).
  5. (Very separate and highly debatable change, which I’m only throwing out to spitball ideas:) Invert the armor. Put his hp at ~110-140, but cause him to take double damage while cloaked. The price to pay in order to be sneaky. No tapping refract to panic ones way out of a bad situation, in fact, make players fear mistiming it.

The goal of these changes would be to change Phantom so he can’t just be foolishly run into a swarm of enemies and spam melee to get 1-2 kills before being dropped, while making him useful to the team he’d play with.

(melancholyMural) #58

I think the bigger issue is how frequently he can put up his cloak. 6 second CD? come on at least make it less spammy. 10 second CD regardless if cancelled seems like a better idea than what he have now.

(KayDubz) #59

25 second minimum imo. Its unfair that other mercs with strong perks have to deal with over 35 seconds (fragger, skyhammer, etc) but Phantoms is so low. Phantom has HP, speed, shield, cloak, smg, and armor. Where’s his weakness?

Every other merc Ive used has a glaring weakness which causes me to switch mercs if the other team figures out my strategy during a match. I doubt we will be seeing that with Phantom. I cannot think of any weakness just yet.

(Reddeadcap) #60

In all honesty, Here is my general thoughts on him, I’m looking at general damage lists, haven’t used or come across him yet since I’m currently installing;

  1. His invisbility isn’t perfect, thats fine and he becomes more visible the more damage he receives.

  2. His shield is what really bothers me; but I’ve yet to see someone react to him by moving back, and they always move towards him, for some reason.

  3. Really think his cloak should have the effect other games give you. You can swap weapons, but you need to uncloak first to use them.

  4. let him have machine pistols and magnums, not smgs especially since the ones he has available are seen as the best…

  5. Always have a katana in every loadout, no matter what, since its basically his secondary ability.