So I bought Thunder yesterday. I played around with him in both pubs and ranked matches, and then I had a conversation through Steam with a friend about how I think Thunder should move forward to be more effective in DB. This is that conversation.
(I’m Laughable!)
↑Laughable!: Okay, so listen
↑Laughable!: Every merc has a purpose right? Medics heal and revive, engineers complete objectives faster, fire support mercs supply ammo and aerial support
↑Laughable!: All to help the team make progress during the game
↑Laughable!: Eliminating key targets, keeping the team up, creating alternate routes to minimize congestion
↑Laughable!: You know?
MoonMoon: yeah
MoonMoon: thunder is with the assault mercs, like nader and fragger
↑Laughable!: I disagree
↑Laughable!: Hear me out
↑Laughable!: Thunder’s conc grenades scramble deployables and blind enemies for a short time
↑Laughable!: So, if you’ve got a bunch of enemies clammed in one place, like a room, thunder can give the team a nice intro to take down that base
↑Laughable!: The problem is, the conc nades blind Thunder if he’s close, and blind teammates if they’re close
↑Laughable!: So what’s the point? He can’t help his team in ranked play, because his attack hurts them
↑Laughable!: But they need to be there for his attack to even have purpose
MoonMoon: and it has a larger radius than even fraggers nades, so theres that
↑Laughable!: Yeah
↑Laughable!: It should not affect him or teammates, in and out of ranked
↑Laughable!: So even in pubs
↑Laughable!: Plus, the effect should last longer. Let’s just get that out of the way
↑Laughable!: The 2-4 seconds it has aren’t good enough
↑Laughable!: Thunder can’t really do too much on his own, his purpose (imo) is giving his team something to stand on
↑Laughable!: So he shouldn’t hurt his team, because then he’s useless
↑Laughable!: Make sense?
^To clarify, what I’m saying is that Thunder isn’t an assault merc. He’s more of a support merc, who could be vital to his team. So, by having friendly fire apply to Thunder’s teammates (and himself in pubs), you’re taking a non-combat merc and making him less effective at his support ability. Then you’re left with a guy with a gun. That gun is either the MG (Okay at combat, but not good enough for that to be his ABILITY) or the Timik-47 or Stark AR (Need an ability with them to be effective in combat).
I also mention the time that the grenade’s effect lasts. It’s really not long enough in my opinion. 2-3 seconds more would give your team more time to get acquainted and attack before the enemy has recovered.
What do you guys think about Thunder? Do you agree with me that friendly fire should be disabled completely for Thunder? Do you think his concussion grenade timer should be extended?
