! I already did some kind of big feedback like that back in the times where Phantom got his release. As Javelin is effectively being an extremely controversial merc, I feel the need to do another one.
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! After testing Javelin for three or four whole matches, I can definitely agree with one thing : she’s sure one hell of a cheesy version of Fragger. This fire support is definitely way less axed on objective destruction as she will need at least three rockets to get rid of an EV, which is effectively equal to 60 seconds. It’s a bit less than skyhammer but it’s not an instant “EV kill” button, so I consider not a good choice for dealing with an EV whatsoever. She can still do the job fairly well for those small 500 hp generators secondary objectives (especially if paired with Nader), but that’s about it. However, if there’s one thing Javelin exceeds at, it’s at flushing players. Like Fragger, Javelin is able to do an incredible amount of radial damage in a rather good radius, potentially taking down a whole push in a single rocket. There’s two major difference with Fragger : the first is that the cooldown is almost twice as long (but still mildly enough to ensure almost one per spawnwave), and the second is that it’s cheesy as fuck.
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! Javelin’s rocket launcher is basically Fragger’s grenade without any proper preparation or skill required. You aim it, you fire, it explodes on a surface and do a massacre. The rocket has a wind up time of 1s, which is usually 1.5-2 less seconds that you need to fire the thing compared to the Frag Grenade. The rocket also effectively deals more damage than a Frag Grenade, with 200 hp damage per explosion, but also 200 additional damage if the rocket directly hits a target, making instant gibs effectively much more common with the rocket launcher than with the Frag Grenade. It also features a guided mode that will help the slightly more skilled people to get multikills on an aura station around a corner, increasing further the unpredictability of that ability. Unpredictability : this is the main reason why Javelin is so annoying to fight against. There’s no sound queue or visual indication that the rocket is coming. Where a Fragger must cook a nade for between 2 and 3 seconds, making it fairly obvious, Javelin can pop her rocket out in a single second, mid fight, with also a better way to hit enemies around walls and cover. Basically, what Fragger does, Javelin does it much easier. Also expect the rocket launcher to effectively gets much more enemy kills than any other fire support abilities in this game. Yes, even Kira’s space mop that tends to be usually so good at mowing people down.
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! She also doesn’t require any action from the player to give ammo to her teammates, and effectively never runs out of ammo. Basically, you can effectively expect Javelin to replace most fire supports if there’s no EV in the game. There’s of course some kind of cooldown going on after giving some quantity of ammo, but as far as I saw it was barely hindering. The cooldown felt fast enough so I and my team did not end up with no ammo at all at the worst moment. Basically, I was able to sustain the team extremely efficiently with ammunition without even bothering pushing a single button or paying attention to my teammates. Basically, I just get free xp just by staying near my allies. I still need a bit more playtesting about that though.
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! However after playtesting her, I must admit that it’s not that bad (though it still is). 1s wind up is of course not long enough to me, but it was usually enough to die if I dared to show up without proper positionning. It’s however another issue if you fight a Javelin that just wants to cheese a duel : 1s to kill a 120 hp merc is possible, don’t get me wrong. But we’re not all killing machines able to instantly lock down on someone’s head and stay on it. Hence, cheesing a duel by poping your rocket launcher just in front of someone is extremely common and usually works a lot (though the guy effectively wastes a rocket for a single enemy). If a Javelin ever finds you un the open and really decides that you must eat her rocket, chances are that you will go back to spawn while crying like a baby. That 1s cooldown can also be very easly compensated just by hiding behind a random obstacle and poping out of cover at the right last moment.
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! Her new weapons mostly feel fine. I read bad stuff about the SHAR-C yesterday, I don’t know why. It feels a bit like a blishlok, but with more range and less bloom of course. I do feel like this weapon was efficient. I almost felt like headshots had a superior damage multiplier but I am not sure at all. I felt many time like I was dealing much more damage than I should usually do.
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! The Axe is a weapon of mass destruction ! I am just half kidding when I say that. For some reason scoring kills with it feels incredibly easy. That weapon definitely has a bigger range than expected. Maybe it shouldn’t be able to be swung that fast ? Anyway, it’s a fun and effective melee weapon though I really wonder what its whole stats are.
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! I would also highly criticize the way SD advertised the ways to counter Javelin in the merc role call, because if anything Turtle and Phantom are fairly poor counters to begin with. Turtle will only be able to block a rocket if it effectively blocks a whole corridoor, else you can perfectly expect a curved rocket right behind it, or just a regular rocket fired at the side. I also perfectly expect a rocket to down a shield very quickly. Phantom ? He just blocks the guided mode which is only half an issue. It’s simple, if there’s a Phantom in the enemy team, just don’t use guided mode. You can perfectly play a whole match with regular mode anyway. Really guys, advertising those two as counters weren’ta good idea at all, since they don’t even really do the job.
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! To conclude, a nerf is required (though not a gigantic one) not only because she feel cheesy as heck, but aslo because she feels like she effectively outshines any other fire support when no EV is involved. I am afraid that the fact that she’s effectively able to give ammo incredibly effortlessly with a superior killing potential would basically mean the end of other fire supports if there’s main objective to shut down. Because she’s not as objective focused than other fire supports she needs to be better at killing people, but right now it’s probably too efficient due to her frustratingly high unpredictability. This is why I suggest the following changes so far :
! - Increase wind up time from 1.0s to 1.5s. Can be increased or decreased if further tweaking is required. This will effectively make cheesy Javelins less painful to fight against in duels for more average player.
! - Add a fairly loud sound cue when the rocket is winding up starting exactly after 0.3s of wind up time (effectively gives 1.2s to hide if you did not see Javelin at first). Paired with the additional wind up time, it’ll make rockets much less frustratingly unpredictable.
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! Let’s keep the amount of damage for now. It’s high, but it gives a rocket a quite needed strong impact in the game as the Rocket Launcher isn’t as efficient on the EV.
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! I am also very worried about seeing other fire supports disappearing from non EV based maps since Javelin is so effective at giving ammo without efforts and usually frags much easier than them. Enventually, you might want to make it so the Javelin player has to manually give ammo. Maybe make it an ammo pulse that works a bit like Phoenix’s healing pulse. Anyway, I don’t think Javelin should be a walking ammo station with no need to pay attention to any players around, or at least she shouldn’t do the job that efficiently. We need a good reason to pick something else than Javelin for non EV maps.
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! I think that’s about all I have to say. I hope this thread was as insightful as possible for most users around. Don’t hesitate about giving your opinion about all that stuff. That feedback is really needed for SD.
AFTER NERF EDIT :
It’s now about time to do a small after-nerf feedback.
Did the changes helped ? Yeah for sure. But javelin still remains the most efficient Fire Support when you aren’t facing an EV in my honest opinion. The rocket launcher still remains as easy to use as ever. Cheesing is still a thing. Also, by the time you hear the sound cue, it’s usually too late to attempt to escape, at it does not happen at the start of the wind up, but slightly after. The rocket is basically still too quick to pop out. I’m sure Javelin is going to be the number one secondary DPS in competitions right now, due to her being able to wipe down one to three enemies each spawnwaves.
I still think a small increase of the wind up time could be made. But not as big as I used to suggest. 0.3 more windup time would be the perfect final tweak in my honest opinion.
