Phantom Feedback

(DarkangelUK) #1

So I tried Phantom out last night for the first time and I must admit I enjoyed him a lot more than I thought I would. It was quite nice to change the pace and become a stealth player, I’m not the best fragger by a mile but I was quite happy to get 19 sword kills in my first game. So here’s my feedback:

The Lunge: The idea is neat, just maybe the execution needs some tweaking (no pun intended). It seems at the moment, unless you get the distance spot on, you’re going to fly right past the enemy. If the enemy is within a certain FOV in front of you, you should stop closer. Maybe that’s the point, lunging is a fine art with the reward being an instant kill… if that’s the case then I’ll work on it more.

I love the unintentional movement side effects of the lunge ability. It can get you to some neat places and also get you round the map quicker. With some fancy button pressing you can also perform a higher than normal jump to get on top of things you wouldn’t normally be able to (used it to find a route over the wall on Waterloo). I’m sad though as I know this is going to get removed/nerfed, I had great fun running around the maps last night and getting to some great places.

The Cloak: the implementation is pretty neat, it behaves exactly as I expected, and I expected it to be like Crysis… drains quicker the faster you move, lasts longer if you stand still. On defense this is particularly handy, I was defending a popular entry area to the doc objective on LB and just back slashing all night long. I like the balancing of not being able to use it if you’ve been spotted by a cov ops, seems fair.

One thing I’d like to see is an assassination move that keeps you cloaked kinda like Crysis 3’s stealth kills with the knife. Seems the quick knife ability is just the lunge, if I get up close and personal with someone to a point where I can count the hairs on their neck, I’d at least like to count them with a knife.

Overall I had great fun with Phantom and will play him a lot more… though I suspect some of the fun will be removed in future patches so I better enjoy it while I can!

(RasteRayzeR) #2

+1 for the feedback

-1 for the kill move that leaves you cloaked, the cloak is not lasting long enough anyway no ?

(INF3RN0) #3

I’d like to see more specialized map paths for Phantom. Heck, that bug you found is really quite awesome and I think it should become part of the merc. Phantom ought to be able to sneak around the map like that, whether your going for a big flank or sneak obj. I also sort of wish he had the ability to throw his sword as a projectile weapon. It would make for a cool combo to throw your sword, lunge retrieve it, and then continue on. More combo potential there.

(Violator) #4

I found the lunge quite frustrating - it keeps deflecting you off the enemy though you often get the hit anyway (even with a back-lunge on a stationary target). The lunge is good for some speedy movement round the map though. Clock seems to last 0.1 seconds and you lose if after a lunge :frowning:

(RasteRayzeR) #5

Cloak will last less the more you move, if you stay idle on cloak you can stay in this state for 30 seconds more or less. The lunge is indeed hard to master, but this is exactly what we asked for : learning curves.

(DarkangelUK) #6

Yes, the more I played it the more I can understand why the lunge is the way it is. I can also understand why you decloak when lunging and attacking, it has to even out some how. I’m also hoping that he isn’t as nerfed as I think he will be.

To me Phantom is a specialised character, and in the right hands can be absolutely devastating to an enemy that likes to group together. I’ve seen me waiting patiently for a group of about 3 to come close, I’ll lunge into the middle of them and wipe them out. It doesn’t always work and I may only get 1 or 2 of them, but still, it’s about time something was introduced that made people think twice about sticking close together in a group

EDIT: Just an update on my reasoning since ive been reminded of a drunken rant I had on Sat night! To me Phantom is Xt’s panzer, he has the ability to make or break a team and provides a level of fear now to an enemy that constantly group hugs. Combine that with FF on and you’ve got a bunch of panicky players suddenly ****ting themselves as he uncloaks in the the middle of them and starts taking them out.

I hope he’s left as is for a few weeks yet, there’s going to be the instant shouts of ‘Phantom is OP!’ but people need to be forced to adapt and counter first instead of instantly nerfing. This is now a learning experience for the vets of Xt, there’s something now that adds a negative to grouping and that’s a good thing. All positives should have a negative, and grouping never had that before.

I also love that Phantom can stay cloaked while repairing the EV, it means the def need to pay attention instead of just sitting back and enjoying the meat grind. Please please please keep this in!

Phantom to me is finally a class that can reap great rewards if time is taken to learn him, in all ways. Killing, movement, stealth… he’s the biggest breath of fresh air to Xt so far, please don’t spoil him :frowning:

(shaftz0r) #7

uh. he seems completely useless to me honestly, specifically for competition. i would take a med over some cloaked baiter hoping for a couple of frags any day

(RasteRayzeR) #8

get on a server with Toomic playing Phantom, you will understand why he is viable in both pub and comp …

(shaftz0r) #9

unless hes getting 2+ frags every spawn, i still dont see it. i suppose a cloaked plant to make the def fall back is one thing, but thats really the only reasonable scenario i can see

(Loffy) #10

Mr P is also awesome for guarding the team’s own plant.

I really like the fact that you can cloak for a long time if you remain stable, or move slowly. On a sidenote: In W:ET, I loved playing the sneaky Engineer. Still do, and it is possible to sneak around as an engineer, but this Phantom character adds yet another possibility for me to get that special rush feeling when sneaking around.

(Violator) #11

I can see there is a learning curve which is nice (judging the lunge distance, getting the right angle etc.), but the decloak is almost guaranteed insta-death if you miss the lunge, but could be OP otherwise I guess - needs more testing. The deflecting thing is still annoying though :).

(Glottis-3D) #12

How about Phantom being able to use his shield as a block with (???) no headshots, but with slower movement.
like defense mode? this could be used to body-guard defusing engie for example.

(spookify) #13

Other players need the ability to push!

Phantom is a little BS right now especially if a USA player is in a euro server…

People that arent Phantom already glitch! Now you add this guy that can literally teleport is dumb. I am all for it but that lunge or teleport should be on a person only not free space. Trick all wall jump crap makes him more hard to trake but whatever.

Fix collisions, rubber-banding and glitching and maybe add push and I will be find with him.

(DarkangelUK) #14

I guess it’s lucky that this is a beta and he has a lot of tweaking still go to :rolleyes:

(tokamak) #15

The lunge is pretty weird. Been experimenting with it but it turns out that you can lunge two/three times as far if you lunge of a slight slope. You can’t achieve the same by jumping and lunging.

I mean, first I thought ‘well duh, you’re jumping from a height, you’re supposed to be able to get further’. But the sloping doesn’t have to be big. Even the minor depression in the terrain will send you flying.

Now I don’t mind because that’s exactly the length Phantom should be lunging at. It’s the non-sloped lunges that are too short right now. Even the ones you do while sprinting or jumping.

(Erkin31) #16

Tried it, disliked it. The lunge forces our movement, when we miss, we cannot cancel until the end of the animation. I would prefer a simple dash forward with no attack or the ability to dodge like in UT.

I imagine I could practice it, but its utility seem too specific (dependent of the situation/objective/map) compared to other merc, so that doesn’t attract me to have a merc that I can use only on specific conditions.