Future Recons

(Drac0rion) #1

Do you guys think that recons might/could split into 2 sub-categories:
Spotters (snipers with spotting, currently Aimee, Redeye Vassili) and… saboteurs?
Not sure what to name it exactly, but like Phantom and his EMP.

Could we need it? Want it?
Backline spotters with their snipers and frontline saboteurs with SMG’s, maybe AR’s or shotguns.

I’m only considering this due to the new merc, Guardian and her ability, on top of which we already have Turtle’s shield and Aura’s station.
Phantom can already disable those 3 abilities with his EMP. In addition Phantom can currently also disable sticky bombs, proxy mines and ammo stations.

There could be so many iterations of how the EMP effect could be deployed. Not to mention it could always be easily balanced depending on how long or often the effect could be used.
Also some or most of them could have secondary abilities. Personally I’d imagine their secondary abilities either being utility or debuffs (like smoke or debuffs like snitch has).

I think of saboteurs as a fun concept, but I’m not exactly sure if it could fit or if it could be needed in DB. At least as of yet.

Thoughts?

(GatoCommodore) #2

phantom is like Guardian and javelin

phantom is Recon, able to identify stuff over communication, but it cant mark enemies and can attack like assault

Guardian is medic, able to revive friendlies in an AoE but its incapable of healing and have assault rifle and machinepistol

Javelin is fire-support, able to give ammo to teammates but its inefficient at killing EV and its role is more to assault than fire support (anti-infantry not area denial)

all of them kinda dont belong in their class
hybrids…

(XSheepieX) #3

I saw recons as people that can kill but aren’t as good at killing in situations with multiple mercs at the front. Like assualts go up at the front and they excel at the front line. I see recons as Mercs that kill but don’t excel at being on the front line.

I feel like the spotting ability is just something that plays into Mercs with snipers. Aimee doesn’t really have a spotting device, it’s not the primary function, Redeye needs a spotting device… And for Vasili, wallhacks is just his ability. I feel like the spotting abilities are just coincidental. The only problem with Phantom is that his EMP overshadows his killing potential so he plays more like a bad engi.

Recons are like… Situational killers.

Though I honestly don’t want any more recons till Phantom is fixed. I have no idea what a future recon might be but I would like to see something other than a sniper.

(Whetstone) #4

but recon is short for reconnaissance so they have to be able to “spot” targets or am I wrong?

on the topic of saboteurs, smoke grenades blocks line of sight and snitch device halts health regeneration so they kinda sabotage in a way

if I want to add more on the “saboteur” category, I would probably like a merc that can hack deployables but I’m not sure how to balance that ability in this type of game

(TheStrangerous) #5

Or maybe rename recons into “OPERATIVES”?
So that it piles recons and saboteurs together?

The 6th merc group would mean 5 more new mercs…

(Guziol) #6

Just rename recons to “Teenage angst”

(XSheepieX) #7

Recons are just like assassin classes… High capability to kill a single target but a little weak on their own. They “spot” their target, and kill them. That’s all it means to me.

If you take the whole recon as surveying the area all it has to mean is watching the enemy and choosing specific targets. Recons just have a higher capability to focus on a specific target and eliminate them which seems kinda recon-like to me.

It’s probably best not to take it too literally.

(Drac0rion) #8

I’d like to consider recons more as enablers.

Spot the enemies for the team, so your assault can cook a nade or something or just warn your team when the enemy is about to rush a certain location.

Enemy team has some deployable that’s really causing a problem to your team? Just EMP it and push the enemies out from there.

(XSheepieX) #9

I agree with that but I also see them as deniers as well. In that you can deny pushes and also enablers/deniers in that you can kill key targets like medics.

Though I also see them as area control mercs. Like pretty much all of the Mercs except Phantom are pretty good at locking down an area. (Phantom is kinda lacking in that area (which will hopefully be fixed one day (though that isn’t important atm (triple backets woo!))))

(FishRolls) #10

I think I’d like another Recon like Redeye and Phantom. Their weapons aren’t too powerful like the other recons, but their abilities can help survive in fights and enable them to be aggressive and kill more.

(TheStrangerous) #11

Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t recon mercs labeled as “Field OPS” or something in the game files?
Definitely much better group name, unless Bethesda sues SD, for using copyrighted word from ET:Wolfenstein.

(Drac0rion) #12

W:ET - DB

Soldier - Assault
Medic - Medic
Engineer - Objective Specialist
Field Ops - Fire Support
Covert Ops - Recon

(TyroneTheRed) #13

For the next recon the two best ideas I can think of is either jump pack, or A wall crawler (I’m thinking play style attacking like the xenomorph in alien 3) The major issue though is they might need to fix up some areas of the map that people may be able to get to that you’re not supposed to.