Phantom state of play.

(planetaryArtery) #1

Long story short, I’ve played him, and seen all the posts begging for some changes, so I thought I would make a post about what I would like to see if a rework or buff ever comes his way, since I too am not particularly fond of the way he plays currently, using cloak for the armour advantage rather than a stealthy surprise approach, but then I get why people play this way and I’d like to keep it viable, alongside giving him an actual role to play, like every other mercenary. Since now he’s basically that guy with a gun that cloaks when he needs to reload and has no other objective duty. One whom gets outgunned by every other merc in a straight up firefight, which is all he is really capable of now.

I’ll try to go over every change in reasonable detail:

Sprint speed - 410>450

Pretty simple changes, putting him on par with other front runners who support those doing objectives, giving him the speed to put him where he belongs, and giving him the ability to get into place, I was planning on lowering his health to counter act this but I noticed they pointlessly did that already. Making his stats lopsided instead of standard.

Abilities:

I think the best option would be to split his ability into two abilities that synergise well with each other, allowing them to be buffed.

First off, we now have two abilities, his Q - refractive cloak, and his E - Refractive armour, these cannot be active simultaneously, and cannot be switched between freely whilst either is active, and having a 1 second cooldown when deactivated.
His energy system has been changed, he now has an energy pool of 100, whilst either ability is active, this pool is drained by 10 every second, whilst they are inactive it is replenished by 10 every second, it does not have a hard cooldown unless his energy pool reaches 0, if it does it will suffer a hard cooldown and must fully replenish before it can be used further.

Q - Refractive Cloak:

Using this ability no longer requires phantom to lower his weapon and push a button on his arm laptop, instead it is activated instantly when he presses his thumb and forefinger together, instead, it now has a fade period of 1.5s.
When the cloak is active he is considerably more hidden than he is currently so long as he is not sprinting or jumping. Now to the good stuff, whilst this ability is active, if Phantom fires a weapon he will expel all remaining energy (causing the hard cooldown and instant visibility) and charge the first bullet fired, causing it to explode on contact dealing extra damage and slowing the targets movement for 2 seconds, if he successfully kills the target during this time his hard cooldown is removed.
If however you have a melee weapon out, attacking will again expend all energy, but cause phantom to dash forward up to 10 foot and cause his next melee attack to deal bonus damage, if this strike successfully land phandom gains increased movement speed for 2 seconds, if he kills the target within this time his ability comes off its hard cooldown.

If phantom is damaged whilst using this ability it is immediately deactivated and his energy is is drained to 10.

E - Refractive Armour:

Activating this ability will cause Phantoms armour to harden, causing him to take less damage from all sources whilst his energy remains, whilst active this ability cannot be disabled as such until phantom has stopped taking, or dealing damage for 2 seconds, though if he gets a kill or assist his energy will replenish by 10. If however you force it to disable by reactivating the ability, his armour will overload, expending all his remaining energy, forcing an extended cooldown and causing an electronical explosion around him that destroys all equipment and damages/blinds all enemies within its radius, also damaging phantom himself, the damage, blind duration and self damage scales on how much energy phantom had when used. Maximum scaling I would suggest is 7 damage/self damage and .2s blind per 10 energy, giving it a maximum of around 70 damage/self damage and 2 second blind duration in a small area around you, but I’ll leave that to the balancing team.

This split gives him far more utility and sets him up in a role of his own, he will no longer be that one guy who has a gun and some stuff.

And there we have it, some pretty cool Idea’s (I think) which would really set him apart in a role of his own.

(Olipops) #2

what state of play?

(Ottah) #3

I dont mind Phantom getting an E ability, as long as they dont reduce his hp and/or cloak, but i actually prefer the current cloak over your version. It already does two pretty decent things at the press of one button and i like that.

(Kevin) #4

Uhmm yea no, he doesn’t do anything decent with his current ability. His cloak sucks and people can see him from a mile away and the armor only works for a couple of shots and thats if you don’t fight back. So, no it isn’t fine as it is.

(Killerbee) #5

You should play fragger if you think his currently cloak is okay.

(planetaryArtery) #6

Yeah I noticed I was the only one playing him, haven’t seen another in 30 or so matches. Pretty shocking!

(planetaryArtery) #7

So this is what the other threads about phantom which are labelled “Either fix him or delete him.” are about.

Because it seems only those that hate playing against him want him to stay as he is; broken. And the number that hate playing against him is a considerable amount more than those of us who actually still play him for what ever reason, probably nostalgia.

The whole point in this buff is to transform Phantom into a merc whose entire play style revolves around manipulating a situation to give him an advantage, drastically increasing his usefulness in a team and giving him his own role.
At the end of the day what is worse, a stealth based merc that has to play well, tactically and have great awareness at each turn of the game to be a successful pain in the arse.

Or someone who obliterates an entire team in 2 seconds and can destroy an RV as soon as it is repaired in an instant without caring about the what, where and when and has no punishment if played poorly.

(_retired_) #8

I love this thread.

Great sarcasm.

Exploding first bullets and electronical explosions. :lol:

(TheDoctorHax) #9

[quote=“crabbyDimension;70559”]I love this thread.

Great sarcasm.

Exploding first bullets and electronical explosions. :lol: [/quote]
It sounds bad at first, but if you think of it, the downside to that is the damage to himself and the reduction of energy. This would give phantom a MASSIVE skill cap that would also make him viable again. @Amerika @MissMurder what do you guys think?

(planetaryArtery) #10

[quote=“TheDoctorHax;70574”][quote=“crabbyDimension;70559”]I love this thread.

Great sarcasm.

Exploding first bullets and electronical explosions. :lol: [/quote]
It sounds bad at first, but if you think of it, the downside to that is the damage to himself and the reduction of energy. This would give phantom a MASSIVE skill cap that would also make him viable again. @Amerika @MissMurder what do you guys think?
[/quote]

Yeah exactly the idea, if a stealthy approach is available to him in the current scenario then he has the tools to initiate with against a single target, but as soon as he does this he is vulnerable until he is successful, if he is, he is rewarded with a short burst of survivability in the remainder of the fight or the ability to re-stealth.
There are many, many variables to this, for example: Only the first shot fired grants bonus damage and a slow effect, miss it and you get nothing but a hard cooldown. The same goes with the first strike after the dash.
Then, even if you are successful you might have 30 health when your cooldown is cleared, against two remaining enemies, meaning you can’t re-stealth and two/three seconds of damage reduction won’t help very much. This means waiting until you have a perfect shot/strike and the targets teammates are unawares. And of course time is a dangerous variable in itself.

If that option is not available he still has the damage reduction available to help him out in face to face fights, balancing him there.
Using it as a last stand explosive device is only effective if you are on top of peoples heads, a very risky option that gives you the chance to help your team out in a building or objective rush for example. There is also the scaling to remember, which I will leave a professional to balance, but even if it is the following for every 10 energy used; 7 damage, a .3 second blind and 7 self damage, if you’re using it to get into place to detonate it, you might only have 5 seconds left, causing 35 damage, 1.5 second blind and 35 self damage. Probably killing you and giving your team a very short window to take advantage of.

It’s all about trade offs which demand organisation and strategic gameplay. You can’t run in a building invisible and switch to armour instantaneously, nor can you firefight with armour activated and suddenly go invisible to retreat or reload. YOU decide the best option, and If you mess up at any point, you’re screwed and you’re the only one to blame. A MASSIVE skill cap as you say, how I believe this type of merc should be!

(Sloggy) #11

Do you think at the very least they could give Phantom a slight increase in objective completion speed.

It is not going to match Proxy, Fletcher, or Bushwhacker. But it will allow for sneaky objective completions.

(planetaryArtery) #12

[quote=“Sloggy;70602”]Do you think at the very least they could give Phantom a slight increase in objective completion speed.

It is not going to match Proxy, Fletcher, or Bushwhacker. But it will allow for sneaky objective completions.[/quote]

I don’t think he has a problem with objective capturing, he should have an easier job getting to the objective as opposed to capturing it, we have mercs for that. Ones which are designed to lay traps on it also.

(_retired_) #13

[quote=“TheDoctorHax;70574”]It sounds bad at first, but if you think of it, the downside to that is the damage to himself and the reduction of energy. This would give phantom a MASSIVE skill cap that would also make him viable again. @Amerika @MissMurder what do you guys think?
[/quote]No the ideas are stupendously horrendous.

First of all, they are wwwaaaayyyy too complicated. If you look any abilities of any mercs they are usually easy to learn and simple to use. Why?
Because not only the player who handles the merc but other players as well have to “learn” the abilities. Now you don’t really know what is going on.

AND…
So, someone comes INVISIBLE towards me, shoots me with EXPLODING bullets and then it’s me who STOPS moving and this somehow is “bad” thing for Phantom since he “must” kill the target or he goes to hard cooldown.
Then if he uses his energy shield he turns basically into running before death martyrdom tool which people are complaining Nader is about even when she doesn’t even move when she’s killed.

No, we don’t need an army of one or team army of wannabe-pyjama-ninjas running around being one time invisible next visible then under shield while there are exploding bullets flying and electronical storms erupting.

NO, we don’t need TeenageNinjaRamboTerminatorTurtle in this game.

Phantom might need SMALL buff to be more useful especially recon wise, but already he’s a menace in good hands and even a pest not-so-good-hands.

Still, love the sarcasm.

(gg2ez) #14

Phantom works surprisingly well as an assault class instead of recon. As a major Phantom player I have found that firing and strafing left-right whist advancing at your enemy and melee when you get close enough works really well if you know where a health station or medic is. If you’re not playing with medics get ready to use your cloak so you can flank and sandwich the enemy between you and your own team, your own team often works as a pretty handy distraction. The current way melee is - DO NOT USE LUNGE, seriously, the recovery time from LUNGE takes to long and unless your enemy has gone full retard you will be met with retaliation. If you want to use lunge, only use it on MG mounted players and bomb planters.

Phantom still works as a recon merc, however, only in close range and I do wish he had a spotting ability like all other recon mercs.

(planetaryArtery) #15

[quote=“crabbyDimension;70712”][quote=“TheDoctorHax;70574”]It sounds bad at first, but if you think of it, the downside to that is the damage to himself and the reduction of energy. This would give phantom a MASSIVE skill cap that would also make him viable again. @Amerika @MissMurder what do you guys think?
[/quote]No the ideas are stupendously horrendous.

First of all, they are wwwaaaayyyy too complicated. If you look any abilities of any mercs they are usually easy to learn and simple to use. Why?
Because not only the player who handles the merc but other players as well have to “learn” the abilities. Now you don’t really know what is going on.

AND…
So, someone comes INVISIBLE towards me, shoots me with EXPLODING bullets and then it’s me who STOPS moving and this somehow is “bad” thing for Phantom since he “must” kill the target or he goes to hard cooldown.
Then if he uses his energy shield he turns basically into running before death martyrdom tool which people are complaining Nader is about even when she doesn’t even move when she’s killed.

No, we don’t need an army of one or team army of wannabe-pyjama-ninjas running around being one time invisible next visible then under shield while there are exploding bullets flying and electronical storms erupting.

NO, we don’t need TeenageNinjaRamboTerminatorTurtle in this game.

Phantom might need SMALL buff to be more useful especially recon wise, but already he’s a menace in good hands and even a pest not-so-good-hands.

Still, love the sarcasm.[/quote]

I believe it’s just your ability to understand something so ‘Complex’-it’s really not- that is the problem.
Or even more so the fact you seemingly haven’t read the post, where do you get half of this information from? Because it certainly isn’t accurate to anything I have written.

Invisible? Not really.
Exploding bullets? ‘Explode’ doesn’t define a nuclear explosion covering half the map and obliterating an entire team in an instant, C’mon, we already have one skyhammer… Rather in this example a minute case of energy dispersion when in contact with a single target. Nor did I state there would be multiple bullets exploding, rather I clearly stated otherwise.
Stops moving? Did you know movement impairment isn’t actually movement prevention?

“Rather if he uses blah blah he blah blah martyrdom” You know he would have a maximum of 20 energy after a successful stealth attack right? Which would create the smallest, least powerful explosion dealing a maximum of 14 damage to both sides right?
And in no way can you compare an active ability that requires meticulous and thorough usage to be effective to Naders passive which automatically activates when ever she dies regardless of where and when? But good luck using it in every building you enter ever. Dealing a maximum of 70 damage to those in a close radius around you and consequently dying because of it. Having to wait 20 seconds to spawn before you can do it again. I mean brilliant idea and all, especially in ranked play, as it totally wouldn’t be preferable, nor beneficial to play fragger/nader/fletcher/skyhammer/stoker and bomb the crap out of the building with ease from a safe distance killing everything inside whilst simultaniously being able to assist your team somewhere else and not dying as a consequence.

Do you even understand that these are concepts? Not a definitive post made by a developer and will definitely happen? No? Explains the vitriol.

I actually despise those who cannot apply constructive criticism to their comments, especially when they haven’t even read the damn post they’re commenting about.
But then again you seem like you’re trying harder (and failing) to apply a dash of sarcasm to your comments than leaving anything beneficial.

(gg2ez) #16

[quote=“planetaryArtery;71031”][quote=“crabbyDimension;70712”][quote=“TheDoctorHax;70574”]It sounds bad at first, but if you think of it, the downside to that is the damage to himself and the reduction of energy. This would give phantom a MASSIVE skill cap that would also make him viable again. @Amerika @MissMurder what do you guys think?
[/quote]No the ideas are stupendously horrendous.

First of all, they are wwwaaaayyyy too complicated. If you look any abilities of any mercs they are usually easy to learn and simple to use. Why?
Because not only the player who handles the merc but other players as well have to “learn” the abilities. Now you don’t really know what is going on.

AND…
So, someone comes INVISIBLE towards me, shoots me with EXPLODING bullets and then it’s me who STOPS moving and this somehow is “bad” thing for Phantom since he “must” kill the target or he goes to hard cooldown.
Then if he uses his energy shield he turns basically into running before death martyrdom tool which people are complaining Nader is about even when she doesn’t even move when she’s killed.

No, we don’t need an army of one or team army of wannabe-pyjama-ninjas running around being one time invisible next visible then under shield while there are exploding bullets flying and electronical storms erupting.

NO, we don’t need TeenageNinjaRamboTerminatorTurtle in this game.

Phantom might need SMALL buff to be more useful especially recon wise, but already he’s a menace in good hands and even a pest not-so-good-hands.

Still, love the sarcasm.[/quote]

I believe it’s just your ability to understand something so ‘Complex’-it’s really not- that is the problem.
Or even more so the fact you seemingly haven’t read the post, where do you get half of this information from? Because it certainly isn’t accurate to anything I have written.

Invisible? Not really.
Exploding bullets? ‘Explode’ doesn’t define a nuclear explosion covering half the map and obliterating an entire team in an instant, C’mon, we already have one skyhammer… Rather in this example a minute case of energy dispersion when in contact with a single target. Nor did I state there would be multiple bullets exploding, rather I clearly stated otherwise.
Stops moving? Did you know movement impairment isn’t actually movement prevention?

“Rather if he uses blah blah he blah blah martyrdom” You know he would have a maximum of 20 energy after a successful stealth attack right? Which would create the smallest, least powerful explosion dealing a maximum of 14 damage to both sides right?
And in no way can you compare an active ability that requires meticulous and thorough usage to be effective to Naders passive which automatically activates when ever she dies regardless of where and when? But good luck using it in every building you enter ever. Dealing a maximum of 70 damage to those in a close radius around you and consequently dying because of it. Having to wait 20 seconds to spawn before you can do it again. I mean brilliant idea and all, especially in ranked play, as it totally wouldn’t be preferable, nor beneficial to play fragger/nader/fletcher/skyhammer/stoker and bomb the crap out of the building with ease from a safe distance killing everything inside whilst simultaniously being able to assist your team somewhere else and not dying as a consequence.

Do you even understand that these are concepts? Not a definitive post made by a developer and will definitely happen? No? Explains the vitriol.

I actually despise those who cannot apply constructive criticism to their comments, especially when they haven’t even read the damn post they’re commenting about.
But then again you seem like you’re trying harder (and failing) to apply a dash of sarcasm to your comments than leaving anything beneficial.
[/quote]

Rekt son.

(planetaryArtery) #17

Pointless bump.

(deerMirror) #18

So basically he has a crysis nanosuit? Don’t tell me i’m not the only one who heard “maximum armor” in their head when they read the Refractive Armor ability.

Oh also you should change that to Reactive Armor instead of Refractive Armor. Technically isn’t true to the definition of reactive armor but it’s closer to that then being refractive.

(planetaryArtery) #19

[quote=“deerMirror;73057”]So basically he has a crysis nanosuit? Don’t tell me i’m not the only one who heard “maximum armor” in their head when they read the Refractive Armor ability.

Oh also you should change that to Reactive Armor instead of Refractive Armor. Technically isn’t true to the definition of reactive armor but it’s closer to that then being refractive.[/quote]

Believe me I’d love to add maximum strength, speed and so on to the list but I doubt people would enjoy playing against him. The general idea is to give him a role as an anti merc, allowing him to go toe to toe with any other merc so long as he takes advantage of each situation, like he kinda was before the nerf, only this time he cannot have everything at once. And yeah I probably should of but I typed this as fast as possible!

(Sterling) #20

No no no, we don’t need to split anything. We just need Phantom to be back to his original transparency. Boom, he’s back to normal and people still can’t go full pubstomp on him. Win/win situation.