[Merc Idea] Tether

(Kend0) #1

Name - Vinh Tú

Gender - Male

Age - 26

Nationality - Vietnamese

Class- Medic

Health -150

Speed - 380

Vinh grew up on a farm. His parents were farmers. As were his grand parents. So how he managed to get into Oxford Medicine School in Britain with a full scholarship, pass with flying colours and then get scouted by many of the top research departments and divisions worldwide baffles him. Well, he does know. This story just works better at the parties. When he eventually settled on BioTech (since it had the most impressive name out of the bunch) he rose through the ranks at an astonishing rate, being recorded for an outstanding number of high-level research papers and being accredited to most of the technological and biological advancements the company made during his time there, earning himself a reputation as being among the worlds’s finest in many areas of science. But Vinh has grown tired of this lifestyle, After all, the lying, charismatic B*****d just wants to have fun.

Weapons:
Primary - Timmik 47, Ahnuhld-12, Crotzni
Secondary - Mp400, DE.50, M9
Melee - Beckhill combat knife, Cricket Bat, Stilnotto Stilletto

(Since Vinh’s merc name is the same as his ability name, I’m just going to call him Vinh here to stop potential confusion)

Abilities:
Tether (mapped to ‘E’ key by default) - Vinh lobs a very crude syringe dart of his own design attached to some sort of pulsating weird rope line thing (he could only get half the blueprint from his old place of work) at a nearby team mate and heals them at 55hp per 1.5 seconds in block chunks, (not a constant rate like sawbones and aura). This tether rope can stretch up to 2 EV lengths (dont have exact unit measurements, sorry) and when tethered Vinh matches the recipient merc’s speed up to a cap of 420 units/second. If the merc’s speed is greater than Vinh’s speed cap, Vinh is given the speed of 420. If the merc’s speed is lower than Vinh’s base speed, no speed bonus is applied (he is not slowed or anything). He can remove the tether by tapping ‘E’ again, then a 5 second cooldown is applied. If the merc moves out of the tether radius, the tether breaks (resulting in the 5 second cool down) and Vinh receives a 15 damage penalty, up until Vinh has 15 health or less. Then the damage penalty isnt taken into account.

Pocket Pack (mapped to ‘Q’ by default) - The pack is activated (not a throwable) and gives Vinh 20 health and immediately starts his health regen up, but at double its usual rate. Any friendly merc near Vinh (like, really near him) will also gain 20 health and have health regen started up, but not to double its rate like Vinh does.

Passive Ability
Persuasive - Vinh can pick friendlies off the ground using the ‘pick up’ function twice as fast as normal mercs. The health the merc will have once picked up is the same as what a pick up from a different merc would result in.

(Dysfnal) #2

facepalm pick a weapon class and stick with it, nothing says “I don’t understand how merc balance works” like giving both an assault rifle an smg and a shotgun to the same merc. Secondaries are free reign though, but you want to be careful with which mercs have MP secondaries (ie Fletcher MP=good Vassili MP= too much versatility).

Just say no to triple ability mercs, Pheonix is an exception because his self revive rarely helps

(Dysfnal) #3

As for the mechanics themselves, they’re okay, the first one tries to cover up that it’s a TF2 medic rip-off, but it still is. The second is far too complicated, it’s like a fusion between Phoenix’s, Sawbonez’s and Sparks’s healing abilities, it’s too much.

(Kend0) #4

Thanks for the feedback @Dysfnal , i will comment the new ability and weapon selection in a while (dont have much time atm).

(Kend0) #5

New weapon selection:
Primary - Hocfir, Blishlock, Smg-9
Secondary - Tolen Mp, DE.50, Mp400

I went with the 3 primary weapons since they are not exactly the same as the arsenals of other medic mercenaries (something Splash Damage seem to be actively trying to avoid). I also went with the weapons to make Tether more of a supporting to his target over the combat merc like sawbones and phoenix (so Tether is decent in extended fights, but he doesnt want to be on his own whatsoever). Tbh, im not entirely sure if the weapon selection is good, the mp400 may be a bit too much for a medic merc for a secondary (maybe just swap with m9)

Ability rework (mapped on ‘q’) : Tether instead throws a medicinal spider bot at his target. The bot then climbs to the target’ left shoulder and heals the target for the 55hp every 1.5 seconds. The bot has 40hp and can be shot off, but the fairly great hp amount is to stop the bot being shot off from a stray bullet or two. The speed buff still applies, and there is a wire attached to the bot connecting to tether. The bot cannot fly like the snitch, but must instead be thrown manually. Pressung ‘Q’ again returns the bot and the wire, with a 5 second cool down.
(this may lead to a merc rename, Spider. But it doesnt really fit with the medic theme)

Second ability. Haven’t decided on this. It could just be defibs, or it could be a sort of syringe Tether throws at the downed friendly. This immediately gets them up at 75% health, but means it cannot be charged to 100 health like defibs can. (i prefer the latter since defibs are used on 3/4 mercs).

I like this set up more than the original, because it focuses on Tether being an amazing single target healer while being able to keep others up in a fight well but has counters (his spider is pretty easily shot off if focused on and syringe isnt a good get up ability during non-combat situations) Tether doesnt have any way to heal himself though, so he might have a passive that gives constant heal regen, even when in combat.

(dont really like the passive idea though)

(HunterAssassin5) #6

Tether:
Phoenix and Aura heals in an area. Sparks’ packs give 25 health instantly while Sawbonez can heal anyone to max with a single medibag over time. Having to stay in range and line of sight to heal doesnt seem to be a great idea, and it’ll probably be slower than Sawbonez’s bags and not work well in combat like Aura’s station, and is single-target. i dunno, it might work pretty well in practice, but i cant really see it happening.

Revive Syringe:
1 of 2 things - 1. 50% health rather than 75% and/or 2. No revive invul period.
it’s sproks’ ranged revive with a definite amount of health every shot without needing the charge-up.

a neat idea would probably let non-medics swipe a jab from him to rez other mercs with, so a dumb medic can still contribute indirectly.

(Kend0) #7

@TheRyderShotgun I like your syringe idea, where non medics can take it. Maybe they can use it on themselves, like in Brink. I wasnt planning on the syringe being really range, just the range of the defibs (Tether literally just stabs the downed guy, doesnt throw it)

As for the way i designed Tether, it was to be an Aura, but with healing mobility. I mostly based this around how people play in pubs than comp. In competitive, there is communication and people actually stay around the obj. In pubs, people will just run around, even if they know the aura station is a few paces back. I wanted a merc that would follow the fragger on his advance, healing him.

Would it make sense for Tether to also shoot while healing?

(i also did my best to tie Tether into what little lore we have)

(Dysfnal) #8

Personally, I think you should make the spider drone more like the harmony orb from OW, but without the line of sight nerf, I know I just told you not to rip off the TF2 medic, but oh well, there are only so many original ideas, I just don’t think that the TF2 medic playstyle belongs in DB.

So, if you make the spider drone chase a friendly merc, and begin slowly replenishing health upon reaching said merc, that would be quite useful, it could attach to their back, where it’s harder to hit, but still be possible to shoot off.

I also recommend some type of self heal, as of this rendition, he has none, it would make sense that he has one of these spiders attached to himself, no? It would basically be a passive heal

(Kend0) #9

Maybe the spider bot should be a 70 health scarab that attaches to the back of the merc, He he throws it, and it latches onto the nearest target (or walks to them) and stays on the target until recalled. Maybe he needs a third ability of just constant regen, since he cant really throw it onto himself

(yesser) #10

how about making if the ''spider ‘’ isnt thrown it will heal the owner and since he have 150 health it will make him more durable with his regen as a tank medic

(Dysfnal) #11

@Kend0 way to repeat basically the message before you :wink: but 70 hp is just too high, I’d say 40-50

(Naonna) #12

I see this as a pocket medic merc. - In theory, it allows a new player to follow a skilled player around to match their speed and assist in firefights - I’d advise making this merc actually WORSE at healing - even if this merc becomes lackluster in comparison to sawbonez for higher-up play.
An easy to play merc shouldn’t be as rewarding as learning a more complex merc and becoming skilled at it. - We want new dirty bomb players to become skilled at the game and not rely on training-wheel mercs for their entire time playing. - coughs “proxy”

This merc seems a good introductory merc. Just don’t let it become top-tier in high-level play.

+1 for creativity.

Heal reminds me of the orb of harmony from overwatch with limited range. This isn’t a bad thing, in this case. The passive heal provided by the orb in that game only lasts for a limited time before returning. This is to discourage pocketing a single player, and allow the heals to be spread around, even if it’s one person at a time.
This time limit means that the orb doesn’t need a way to be ‘shot off’ - Perhaps impliment something similar. A skilled player would otherwise just shoot the spider, then go for head shots.

Moving back to your merc, Burst damage still can kill the heal target, but it helps them survive longer when not in an immediate firefight: encouraging defensive play on both the part of the medic and heal target.

I’d advise that while healing, your merc also be allowed to shoot. (Makes them actually useful in a teamfight: not relying on just dodging, which most nubies aren’t great at.)

A much lower power self-heal may be in order as well, since all other medics have the option in DB. - Up for debate, since we want this as a trainer merc.

Reviving at even medium range, with the syringes seems… iffy. That’s sort of spark’s only appeal at this point. Though I admire the want to find something outside of paddles to revive, It is a tricky subject. - Reviving teammates at not-full-health and being weaker than the paddles is a good balance, however. - Well done.

All in all, I see potential here. - Aren’t you all glad I’m back? ‘-’ …

(Brycko) #13

Good to see you @Naonna.

I’m not so sure about the whole thing. DB’s medics all have a way of helping people in bulk, here you’re just limited to one player. It takes too much time to switch from one player to another. This was kinda the problem with the TF2 medic; It could only really stick to one player, so whilst others wanted to get healed, the medic and the Ubered (usually Heavy) player were tanking. But it destroys the whole element of wider team play. Maybe with multiple tethers to multiple player (say max 3), then it could be viable.

The other problem is that you have to aim your darts and have them actually hit the target. I find myself usually chasing mercs with low ammo/health around the map trying to get a direct hit. I see the same problem cropping up with Tether.

A+ for effort.

(Naonna) #14

Limit 1 tether at a time please. Otherwise, you’re a walking phoenix mixed with an aura station. - even if the total healing is a little less.

(yesser) #15

it would be like angel/tf medic DB style but with alot of change i like IT !