Medic Skill order after Sparks

(humaneCushion) #1

Long story short, the with the release of Sparks, the subject of Skill 1/2 for medics returns in full swing.

Even prior to Sparks’ release, medics having med-packs/stations as Skill 1, as opposed to Skill 2 the way support characters have their ammo packs, was a source of much confusion and some debate.

Some, me among them, consider reviving allies to be a Medics primary function.
That alone would be reason enough for many people to see med-packs as Skill 2, and Defib as Skill 1.
Medics being the odd class in regard to control scheme makes it somewhat awkward to include them in one’s line up, especially alongside a fire support character.

With the release of Sparks however, a new very strong argument emerges for reversing the order of medic skills, or at the very least reversing it for her specifically.

Her skill is a weapon.

While applicable to the defibrillator pads, for Sparks this statement rings especially true, as unlike Aura or Sawbones, Sparks actually relies on her REVIVIR gun to the extent Nader or Rhino rely on theirs.

Which makes it incredibly bloody awkward when she’s the only character to have her weapon on a different key(which one is irrelevant, I use Mouse 4), and you end up throwing a med-pack instead of pulling it out in the heat of battle, especially considering her small health pool.

TL;DR: Swap medic skills, or at least swap Sparks’, cause she’s bloody awkward.

(Szakalot) #2

don’t think of it as weapon… : P

(humaneCushion) #3

I find your comment intellectually insulting.

Not only do you bring nothing to the discussion by making light of my concerns, but your statement also goes directly against the intent behind the revive gun, which is both advertised as and designed to substitute a proper primary weapon other mercenaries use.

(animatedFrog) #4

I agree with this change, it makes no sense that Rhino and Nader have their weapons on Q but Sparks has it on E. It really screws with my muscle memory.

(Gi.Am) #5

Mercs have a uniqe ability and a class ability. Unique is 1 and class is 2. Fieldsupports class ability is giving ammo, therefore it is on 2. Unique is AOE denial (everyone has a different spin on it) therefore 1.

Medics class ability is considered the faster revive. Therefore defibs are on 2. The revive gun is sparks defib substitute therefore 2 again. while every medic has a different spin on giving HP (big medpacks, small medpacks, healingstation, personal healing aura) so they are on 1.

It is consistent.

That said coming from Nader, I have thrown way too many medpacks already at enemies and fallen comrades not to support a switch in this case ^^.

(humaneCushion) #6

This is exactly the kind of issue I have with it.

Incidentally, something I only now noticed to further suppoer swapping the skills for Sparks at least.

Her skill icons in the barracks are already swapped(compared to other medics), as though that was in fact the intent.

Which may mean her current skill button assignment is a bug, instead of just a poor design choice.

(Szakalot) #7

I find your comment intellectually insulting.

Not only do you bring nothing to the discussion by making light of my concerns, but your statement also goes directly against the intent behind the revive gun, which is both advertised as and designed to substitute a proper primary weapon other mercenaries use.[/quote]

i find your comment hilarious

intent of the revive gun is to revive. its combat ability is pretty poor, and heavily situational

(heavyRaven) #8

Is there not a key bind change function implemented? You’d think they would add something like that, it would solve issues for everyone. Me personally, I would just keep my REVIVR on E since I don’t play Rhino OR Nader. I’ve only played Proxy, fragger, and I played Sawbonez before Sparks, so Sawbonez having medpack set to Q set me up for Shocks pretty well.

(heavyRaven) #9

[quote=“Szakalot;31584”]

intent of the revive gun is to revive. its combat ability is pretty poor, and heavily situational[/quote] I agree with this, unfortunately… I feel like if they WANT it to be a primary weapon for her, they would make it do more damage, because if you use it vs. someone using a gun and you just hit the chest , you die. To top it off you have the secondary weapons of other mercs, so basically her firepower is shite.

(avidCow) #10

Well, it is a support weapon. And it’s quite good at that it if you have great aim when ADS. MG users and Rhinos are a prime target for Sparks.

(Szakalot) #11

my biggest gripe with Revive gun is the aimpunch. trying to line up a HS against a rhino often results in my lazor muffling his bald head, as minigun spam screws up aim heavily. Adding the fact you have a short time window to make your shot, and it makes for a heavily support weapon indeed.

(watsyurdeal) #12

It’s be nice, seems kinda weird that we can’t just choose how we want certain things bound for certain classes.

(Jojack) #13

Oh man, if you moved revive from E to Q, it would feel really weird compared to the other medics. As it is now, E is revive no matter what medic you are playing. I would hate if they changed that.

(humaneCushion) #14

Which dose not change the fact that it is in every single way designed as a substitute primary.

It can be used in combat to damage enemies.
The skill key that activates it pulls the gun up to be fired with LMB, just like the weapon keys do.
The skill key that activates it pulls the gun up to be fired with LMB, just like it dose for other special weapons(Nader and Rhino).

Also of note, as I mentioned, the UI icons in the barracks are already swapped for sparks(the gun is first).

All that points to either a horrible design inconsistency, or at the very least a bug/oversight which had Sparks use the “standard” medic layout instead of a more intuitive one.

(Szakalot) #15

?? If your machine pistol is much more powerful damage-wise, clearly revive gun is not a substitute for a primary.

Sparks has no primary weapon. ‘support snipe’ revive gun, and ‘support close combat’ machine pistol.

Not that I disagree - people should be able to bind merc-specific binds for each merc.

(insaneCylinder) #16

Q has always been either grenades or tossing things, that’s not only in dirty bomb, that’s universal. E, well that’s mostly been interacting with things and it works as a revive tool for sawbonez and aura.

Never played sparks though, so I don’t know how that feels but Q/E for Aura and Sawbonez is best left alone.

(Ghosthree3) #17

I wouldn’t call a 130 damage headshot poor… Hard to use I agree but that’s just devastating when it hits.

(ebonyMountain) #18

TL,DR: Don’t swap the skills, but give an option for ingame swaping.

all medics are consistent: heal on Q and revive on E

(capriRocket) #19

add bind options for each ability, problem solved for everyone.

while youre at it, please add an option to charge sparks revive gun with one click and let the shot go with another click :stuck_out_tongue:

(giftedStatue) #20

Why do you care so much
like
srs