New riot merc

(derpyMoonMoon) #1

I thought of this merc out of the blue, and I realized that it actually seems like an amazingly balanced merc if done correctly. A merc with a riot officer look, possibly face shields or a SWAT type logo/uniform, with an attack dog at their side (can be male or female, although we don’t have a female tank other than Nader, so it would be nice to see another woman out there).

Theme: Riot or crowd control officer, with a backstory as a deserter or was honorably discharged, explaining they kept the uniform.

Weapons: Heavy. Lmg, Timik/M4A1, but preferably not burst (I may be biased, I don’t like the feel of burst in this game). It would be nice to see another shotgun only merc though, since most have an smg alternative other than Rhino (who uses his minigun anyway).

Health and Speed: Both tank like, on par with Fragger or Thunder.

Ability: An attack dog that stays at your side and attacks anyone that comes close. Think of it as a mobile and melee alternative to Bushwacker’s turret. Active ability could be to command the dog to attack someone (with a lock on feature, maybe an additional UI element that goes with it, can’t be used through smoke or Phantom’s cloak), call it back, and summon it, all of which would be the same key, depending on which state the dog is in. Possibly slightly higher health than the turret, depending on balance issues, and much faster than the fastest merc, forcing you to kill it, because you can’t run from it (it will be a dog, no running away from them). A respawn time similar to Bushwacker’s turret, with a summoning sound of a whistle, or even just a “silent” dog whistle, with a bark when it’s summoned (audible to the enemy).

Let me know what you all think!!! Is this a good idea or absolutely horrible like Vassili was (:3)? Is a mobile or “heat seeking” AI just not possible in this game due to how the game is coded, or not practical due to the amount of parkour or obstacles in the game? Has this already been brought up before, and if so, how can we get the devs attention on this? I apologize if some of it doesn’t make sense, I’m not that apt at explaining things, so please, ask away if something doesn’t make sense.

Always loving you, always watching you,
-goodDeposit

(HunterAssassin5) #2

Weapons: that’s pretty much thunder.
Also lmao no the timik and m4 will always be full auto, just like the BR will always be burst fire. Firing modes are bound to certain guns in DB.

Ability: there was another guy suggested a dog ability while I was here some time ago. Counteratgument I put forward was that there would probably be a guy who just uses the dog while hiding in a corner, though that could be discouraged by a range limit or something, and that a dog is too easy to kill, I mean, a single 3-round burst from a non-burst fire weapon should be enough to kill a dog, if not, it’ll be a little weird, but if so it’ll be pretty useless. You could do it like the hunter from the l4d games where the dog holds a mc in place while damaging it, but have you played l4d2 versus mode as the Hunter? Against 4 survivors it’s not easy to get shit done and against 5-8 mercs with a 3-hit health pool…

Synced with a smoke or conc or any form of distraction like a push…maybe, but I wouldn’t buy the merc personally

(derpyMoonMoon) #3

I meant I don’t like the Stark or BR-16, not saying there’s a burst fire Timik.

I’m mostly comparing the mechanics of this ability to Bushwacker’s turret. If you sit in one spot, it’s the same as putting a turret in a corner. Also if the dog has a range where it’ll attack around you in passive mode, it would be quite easy to counter (Fletcher, Nader, Stoker, just to name a few that could easily dispense of it), with the player having to command the dog to attack a certain enemy if they’re out of that range, making this merc high maintenance because of everyone dying so quickly.

Now I understand that there are quite a few, much better merc ideas out there, many of which I would largely prefer over this one, but it’s just nice to chat these things out and see what the community thinks of it.

(JJMAJR) #4

The dog also might need crit spots attached, which would make it perish quickly to any burst rifle, making it weaker than the standard turret when comp play’s involved.

Also, I think this class may be more fitting as a recon than an Assault. Reason? Scent, and hearing gunfire. Two primary purposes for dogs in the battlefield. Probably make the dog a moving heartbeat sensor (with longer delay intervals) that could also track the source of gunfire when someone nearby is hit.

This could also fix the problem of the dog being too weak in combat.

If the dog was a cyborg or something to justify added hitpoints, it would also fix its vulnerability in combat as well. But, it’s still likely that there should be a critical hit spot on it.

(Naonna) #5

And if you thought the pyro from tf2 didn’t require aim…