Has Phantoms playstyle taken a turn for the worse?

(XSheepieX) #1

Personally with the changes to Phantom I feel like they took away a big part of him. Phantom used to take some skill and game sense to get right. It was fun. If you ran around, people would see you but struggle to track you. There would be no way you’d sneak up to people though like that. Phantom was a combination of knowing when to move and reposition, and knowing when to stay still and hide. Sometimes used move slowly as not to draw too much attention. It was exciting, it was engadging.

I feel like Phantom’s cloak while moving should be pretty bad. Not as bad as it was, but it should be visable. When Phantom stays still, I feel like he should be practically invisible if not actually invisible. This would definately stop the way that you are forced to constantly rush as Phantom in order to do well. I also feel like the cooldown could be slightly reduced to encourage a more hit and run style of play over the more annoying assassin style.

I’m going to say it again… I also think Phantom should have an ability to use while cloaked that would reveal him partially and briefly. With a shift in focus to gun-style Phantom I feel like an a ability such as -yes I’m going to say it- throwing knives to use while cloaked by pressing f for example would add an interesting way that Phantom players would be buffed in a concrete and interesting way that isn’t excessively annoying or preventative of any form of counterplay.

The main issue with Phantom now isn’t the fact that he’s OP or what not. It’s that his current state makes him easier to play against everyone. Phantom’s EMP may have become more complex and interesting, but his cloak has become considerably more simple resulting in Phantom players now constantly rushing the enemy and trading kills. As someone who used to love playing Phantom and enjoyed being able to play intelligently with him, this isn’t especially fun for the Phantom player and it is especially less fun for the enemy.

Honestly I don’t think Phantom is ever going to be in a place where I enjoy playing him after this. I was hoping Phantom would be made viable at higher level without being made very easy for anyone. That was not case. As a Phantom main, it’s been one of the main reasons for my inactivity in the community. The way I used to play Phantom is no longer viable.

Does anyone else feel the same or do you like where Phantom is now? Do you have faith that Phantom will be improved in the future if you aren’t happy with him now?

(Your worst knifemare.) #2

People complained about old Phantom being too hard to play so we got this bad Phantom instead

(XSheepieX) #3

Yeah I guess. It just feel like SD has abandoned the players who used to play Phantom well and got good with him before.

What made SD think that the issue was that he was too hard to play? Nobody wanted Phantom to be a good pick for noobs. I don’t think anyone wanted him to be easy to play. People wanted him to be viable in comp and at higher levels of play.

It just really feels like SD took the feedback of players who didn’t really understand how Phantom worked and what made him interesting.

(LifeupOmega) #4

I don’t have any faith in the recons ever being fixed for the better health of the game.

(Gire) #5

I seriously think im the only person in this universe who thinks Phantom is good now

(XSheepieX) #6

Phantom is good in that he’s easier to play now.

But for someone who learnt and love how he was before, the change was disappointing.

(CyberVonCyberus) #7

I do agree, Phantom before was a bit underwhelming compared to other mercs but he had a few niche roles such as leading assaults with the EMP and kill medics, he wasn’t the worst when you learned how to play him and was pretty fun without dragging the team too much.

Now he became the bullsh*t merc that every noob and their granny uses to get cheap kills. he just got buffed into being complete bull

(HadronZodiac) #8

I wrote a whole essay agreeing with this topic. Another reason he got nerfed was because people thought he was unbalanced, which is definitely not true.

He has taken a turn for the worse…

(Sorotia) #9

Almost think they should just delete him, they obviously aren’t going to balance him…they said flat out they aren’t any kind of ambush mechanic that will punish the newbs who just go charging in and usually get themselves killed.

They won’t give him any kind of tracking mechanic. (EMP is often unused because people care about the kill and not the utility.)

The cloak is probably the easiest it has ever been to see.

(HadronZodiac) #10

@Sorotia said:
Almost think they should just delete him, they obviously aren’t going to balance him…they said flat out they aren’t any kind of ambush mechanic that will punish the newbs who just go charging in and usually get themselves killed.

They won’t give him any kind of tracking mechanic. (EMP is often unused because people care about the kill and not the utility.)

The cloak is probably the easiest it has ever been to see.

Yup, not sure why they trying to make a 50k merc noob friendly.