So, after a literal tidal wave of complaints regarding Phantom, people are questioning his role in the game and what exactly he brings to it. But…then again, let’s think about Vasilli real quick, what does he bring to the table?
I mean, besides being a Sniper, what point is there to have one where the majority of our fights are hipfire? Close to Medium Range at best? A good Vasilli is basically constant area denial, anywhere he can get a good sight line, he’ll basically dominate. And since head shots instant gib, he basically stops a hold or a push instantly. Cause a Medic is rendered useless for all intents and purposes.
And you might say, “well that’s the point, other classes can gib too”, yes but their abilities have a cooldown. Fragger’s Nades, Naders Launcher, which only gibs on already downed enemies, Skyhammer’s Air Strikes, I could go on. Each of those have a real tactical drawback to how they are used, you have to be careful and time them right to get the most out of them. With Vasilli it’s constant, it’s completely in control of the Sniper in question, and that makes him more deadly.
They tried to fix this by adding sway but…does it really do any good? People who were already good at Sniping don’t even notice it seems, and those who aren’t so good, the skill gap widens more because of it. Plus there’s aim punch which is a whole other topic in itself.
So, then, what about the other Recon guys? Surely they add something right? Well Red Eye can smoke an area, and use thermals to see though said smoke, and those thermals directly counter Phantom…as does Vasilli’s Motion Sensor…and…shit this is a problem isn’t it? We have classes that basically counter each other…which begs the question of why they exist at all.
I think we really need to take a good hard look at what Vasilli and Phantom SHOULD do, how they should do it, and what does it bring to the game? And we might as well do it now, because Red Eye and Aimee aren’t going to be any easier to figure out.