Is Sparks' revive-gun sniping OP?

(bizarreRectangle) #21

I don’t have a problem with sparks in close quarters or duel. I won’t deny her gun’s damage is strong and perhaps needs to be toned down. But by her self in a duel, she’s not very strong. Quick on her feet but weak, if you can adjust your aim to her speed you have no problem.

The video shows perhaps one of the best situations for the revivr, shooting unsuspecting people while teammates are in the front and fighting. If you strafe, jump and just move when you see the sparks, it becomes way harder to get hit.

Vassili would’ve been a better pick with is instant gibs. Now perhaps bring those back in a way or bring sparks down. I’m not sure about making her not able to one-hit-kill on headshot. Perhaps tweak with mid-charged headshots and fully-charged headshots. To discourage mid charged rapid fire.

Everything else about her is fine imo. Her heal is good, but sawbonez is probably better overall. Machine pistols are just worse than primary weapons, I feel her selection of sidearms (basically her primary and secondary) is fine.

(3N1GM4) #22

All they really need to do is lower the hip fire accuracy. No more super speed snipers.

In the video that @Watsyurdeal posted, she never once engages an enemy while ADS.

(bizarreRectangle) #23

So give it spread while moving perhaps? I feel that will give it a certain inconsistency. Let’s say they find a good way to prevent 100% accuracy while moving, they would need to make the sights better. The white blends in and it’s just simply hard to aim with.

I think her health more than balances her speed. I’ve been able to shoot down sparks easily when they miss their initial charged shot. The problem I have is if she is accurate she can one hit kill while moving super fast. Or spam mid charged shots.

I’d be happy if they find a way to reduce the hip fire and maybe get rid of instant kill potential. It’s still very easy to switch to your godlike empire 9 and finish them off.

(scavazzi4) #24

It’s a know fact that revivr has quite a bit of killing potential, but instead of thinking “you can one shot most mercs” you should look the whole situation: revivr is given to the medic with the worst healing and the lowest health pool.
While playing as Sparks you can’t afford to push because you are extremely easy to be gunned down.
While empire-9 is that good for finishing or dealing some puke damage it is real bad if you need to deal with a healthy enemy.
Sparks suffers a lot from flanks since she will try to keep her allies on sight as much as possible.
Sparks has a ton of counters and cancelling revives makes her a lot less significant.
Both Sparks and her revivr are fine but people still don’t get how to fight her.

(watsyurdeal) #25

[quote=“scavazzi4;115919”]It’s a know fact that revivr has quite a bit of killing potential, but instead of thinking “you can one shot most mercs” you should look the whole situation: revivr is given to the medic with the worst healing and the lowest health pool.
While playing as Sparks you can’t afford to push because you are extremely easy to be gunned down.
While empire-9 is that good for finishing or dealing some puke damage it is real bad if you need to deal with a healthy enemy.
Sparks suffers a lot from flanks since she will try to keep her allies on sight as much as possible.
Sparks has a ton of counters and cancelling revives makes her a lot less significant.
Both Sparks and her revivr are fine but people still don’t get how to fight her.[/quote]

The thing is that it fits the REVIVR fine, it’s long range revives are it’s primary function, which means you do not have to expose yourself to enemy fire at all.

Plus, those medpacks aren’t for her team mates, they’re clearly for her, 2 med packs and you’re back to full health in no time.

The machine pistols are there because REVIVR is essentially a sniper rifle without a scope, and does a ton more for the team. Think about it, would you rather have a Sniper, or Sparks, a second medic? She can pick up your sawbonez/phoneix from a safe distance, and when she’s not reviving she can pseudo snipe just fine, killing anything with 120 hp or less with one headshot, that is literally 15 of the 18 mercs currently.

Add all that together, and it’ pretty easy to see why people just HATE fighting this chick, she’s incredibly versatile, and even though yes, she does require a high skilled player to be useful, you have to question if she’s TOO useful.

(3N1GM4) #26

[quote=“bizarreRectangle;115879”]So give it spread while moving perhaps? I feel that will give it a certain inconsistency. Let’s say they find a good way to prevent 100% accuracy while moving, they would need to make the sights better. The white blends in and it’s just simply hard to aim with.

I think her health more than balances her speed. I’ve been able to shoot down sparks easily when they miss their initial charged shot. The problem I have is if she is accurate she can one hit kill while moving super fast. Or spam mid charged shots.

I’d be happy if they find a way to reduce the hip fire and maybe get rid of instant kill potential. It’s still very easy to switch to your godlike empire 9 and finish them off. [/quote]

If they reduce the hip fire accuracy, they could also remove the extra get up gib time on it as well, as theoretically, it would limit the revive trains she can do from 45 miles away. adding a few extra misses on long distance revives would give you ample time to gib the downed player.

Maybe just a simple rename would suffice: The Railvivr

(LifeupOmega) #27

There’s a reason that comp players I know hate her. Getting sniped for no risk by a medic who can get away from any fight, heal instantly, and then return in seconds isn’t fun.

She’s far more versatile than Vas now too, which is hilarious. I’d give up spotters for a medic who, on top of being able to spam bolts at a distracted team across the map, can also pick up the people who’re doing the distracting.

(DeadAlive) #28

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the fact that, unless you are a top notch player, spending time sniping is time you’re not paying attention to teammates around you who need those “worthless med packs”, or a revive.

It’s a fast paced game, and it is very easy for a needy teammate to go unnoticed on your flanks, or behind you. Personally, I let my teammates handle the fighting, 98% of the time.

I love playing Sparks, and I consider her the easiest gravy role in the game, and as someone who is normally towards or at the bottom of the scoreboard, I can easily hold the top position with Sparks, and maybe only die 2 or 3 times an entire match.

Sparks is literally a rolling gravy train, and by contrast, Rhino is such a big slab of dead weight that I can sometimes go an entire 8 hour stretch of gaming and never once see him played. (see the recent Rhino thread for talk of buffing him)

Some people prefer every class/Merc to have good assault power in shooters, while others, including myself, prefer more role oriented balance, which means more visible weaknesses. It’s an age old shooter dilemma: Which do you prefer:

  • Multiple assault classes + abilities

  • Role playing + shooting

I prefer more strict roles.

(stealthyCharm) #29

Right now her revive gun is good.

Her battery drains faster, and it takes skills to kill people with it. And they nerfed her revive time, where someone getting up can easily be shot down. I think she is at her most finest moments.

(Gung-ho) #30

They should remove the headshot capability.

(sonsofaugust5) #31

not really. the 383 load out is op. Quick charge, potent packs. She is a sniper with no reload imo. Her reviving isn’t that great if you play a team that knows how to gib. When I play comp matches and with a group of good players, sparks revives almost never go through. In pubs, sparks is quite amazing though, especially on chapel. After looking at al the discussion, I think a good fix would be to make her hip fire less accurate. Its harder and slower using the scope then to just point and get insta kill head shots. The only issue is that this would also affect the healing from range, which is the purpose of her ability.

(sonsofaugust5) #32

Reduce the time you can hold a charge?

(DeadAlive) #33

Adding some RNG to motion sniping does not have to affect healing darts. It’s computer code and a sci fi game, after all, they can design it however they like. I don’t think that would be anymore ‘illogical or unrealistic’ than many other things in the game.

So, I say either add some ‘sway’ to motion sniping, and also nerf the damage. It could also be adjusted so that she must be still for 1 second to fire it (just the attack mode, not the heal).

I guess the bottom line for me is, Sparks isn’t supposed to be sniping…certainly not like we’ve all seen in the game. She should be healing and using weps only when necessary or there is no one to monitor for heals.

The Revivr should be rebalanced so that she is back in her role.

I don’t have a problem with the Revivr doing some damage, to be clear, but the damage should be described as, “a little bit here, and a little bit there”. Perhaps a 50% charge could do 10 HP damage, and a 100% charge could do 20 HP

(3N1GM4) #34

Everyone complains about revive trains, everyone complained about insta-revive sparks, making the sparks reviving harder wouldn’t be a bad thing lol. No other gun has pinpoint accuracy on every single shot when firing from the hip, so why should the Railvivr™?

How many times has an airstrike been ruined because it landed 1" under something, or a moli bunched up on a wall, missed hitting a downed player with paddles, set up a turret in a horrible spot and have to pick it up causing a 5s cooldown. Missing with your ability happens… but sparks really doesn’t have a penalty for it… at all.

(Neb) #35

Picking the only skill-based class to ask for nerfs. Excellent.

(Chubbster) #36

While she does have low HP, it’s really easy for a Sparks to escape a situation. That being said, i’d probably opt that her revive gun be toned down in damage. I’ve seen people in pubs where her gun is almost a semi-auto sniper gun and it takes out people in a few hits. It’s quick, you’re not reloading, and it’s long range. I like the idea that she can counter snipers in her own way, but I agree, she’s being used more as a sniper.

(Ctrix) #37

The time you can hold a charge is already 3 seconds. You have to either predict successfully where enemies are going to be or first verify and then charge.
I have frequently tried to outsnipe Vasilli and Redeye on Sparks, and I can tell you it only works if they miss like 3 times in a row, because a body shot will kill me.

(KayDubz) #38

[quote=“ThaiSan;114917”]A medic should not be able to replace a sniper and pin down the whole enemy team with a little support.
First stage on Terminal. A good sparks on the outlook near the gate. Every enemy gets headstot and every ally gets instantly revived. Got that situation going quiet a few times now. So damn annoying…[/quote]

Agree with this. Sparks should not have sniping headshot ability. Shes a medic.

(respectfulGraph) #39

The problem is, when you think squishy medic with the ability to revive from range, the first thought that comes into mind is someone who stays out of sight and takes care of downed teammates, really working for the team. In reality, because it’s much easier to heal yourself then your teammates, because it’s hard to always catch those downed teammates, and because the revivr is essentially a sniper, it’s more efficient to use her offensively, self healing to make up for being squishy, and charging and resetting the revivr quickly for relatively fast and strong snipes. I rarely see good Sparks on my team and really appreciate them. I don’t think this was the intention when giving her the revivr, and that’s why I think she should lose the sniping and gain a real primary like the other medics. Less uniqueness, but more medicinationering.

(Your worst knifemare.) #40

Im pretty sure this thread died out a while ago.

I also think Sparks is good where she is.

[spoiler]http://nxcache.nexon.net/umbraco/1917/sparks-web-post-banner.jpg[/spoiler]