Phantom's new ability : BlackOut

(Arjun) #1

INTRO ( Skip to ‘BLACKOUT’ section below to get directly into the topic )

I have already read a lot of topics regarding the Phantom being underpowered and being useless to the team mates in this section . To a far extend its very true . So when i came up with this idea , i thought of sharing it on a new thread .

Why a new ability ?
Lets not forget the fact that he is completely avoided from the competitive scene . And are often being vote kicked even from public matches because of his lack of teamplay . And since Dirty Bomb is a game that is heavily focussed on team-play Phantom was obviously a bad choice for serious gaming .

So i wanted to create / suggest a new utility that can promote his team-play skills rather than increasing or decreasing his current stats .

BLACKOUT

Now my friends who have played the game ‘Blacklight:Retribution’ might be quite familiar with the term ‘Blackout’ . And YES , it works in a similar way .

Basically , Phantom’s new ability allows him to drop a gadget ’ Backout core ’ ( looks much similar to a proxy mine) which creates a hemi-spherical Aura around it . This Aura blocks detection from enemy Recon’s Spotting abilities ( Vassili , Red eye , Aime ? ) , At the same time it can act as a detection mine which spots enemies who step on it ,

ENEMY DETECTION

The BackOut is not only useful for hiding from Recons. While active ( 25 seconds ) , any enemy who steps on the backout core will be spotted to all teammates for 2 seconds ( Radius slightly smaller than a proxy mine ) . So its useful even if there is no recon in the enemy team .

CONCEPT

http://imgur.com/zmCJNLU.jpg

STATS

Health : 30 HP ( The Blackout core can easily be decimated with 2-3 bullets into the core or automatically destroyed when enemy steps on it )

Ability Duration : 25 Seconds ( After 25 sec the blackout looses its power to produce the aura )

Cooldown : 40 seconds ( So there is still a 15 sec gap of being spotted untill the next backout can be deployed )

VISIBILITY

The Backout aura is only visible to the team , so enemy team cannot visually spot a teammate just because he is inside the backout .

But , The Backout core is still visible to everyone and can be destroyed by enemy fire

XP

  • 10xp for dropping blackout , 5xp for reclaim

  • 5 xp for each second a teammate stays inside the backout . And it stacks , so 5 teammates inside the aura gives 25 xp each second ( but on most occasions there won’t be 5 teammates grouping together )

  • 10 % xp form each kill your teammates gets while staying inside the backout

  • 10 xp for Detecting an enemy who entered the backout .

ISN’T THIS OVERPOWERED ? ?

Now the Blackout is definitely not a game changing mechanic that directly makes the Phantom Overpowered .

Its only useful if the enemy team has a Recon’ who spots your team-mates ,which cause panic/distraction for the team.

It allows to spot flankers who steps on it only for a limited time . 25 seconds isn’t much . And 2 sec spotting is also not too reliable .

The 40 second cooldown is infact a long time.

The Phantom can use the blackout on himself but that does not give him any XP rewards also he has to be stationary to stay inside the blackout , which is not practical since he is a Flanker .

So i hope , with an introduction to a new ability like this , Phantom will be a fair choice on a competitive scene . And overall balance .

(gg2ez) #2

It’s cool and all but the devs already have confirmed Phantom will not be getting an ability that has the potential to spot enemies - but I think that this would be a great way to MAKE Phantom into a Recon class.

(Alias) #3

Not bad!

(Arjun) #4

Thanks for the response .

Phantom may not be a good spotter at all even with this ability , 25 seconds is not good enough time to get enemies into the blackout after deploying it .
Also they are spotted for only 2 sec which is a much smaller duration.
Blackout ,as the name suggest is only meant to hide your teammates just like his clocking ability . The Detection ability of the blackout was added for making it useful when there is no Recon class on the enemy team .

(Boorseye) #5

@Arjun I really think this would be an awesome addition to Phantom. Since his job is to be sneaky, this just might work

(Pheromone) #6

Like it!
This could be amazing,will add much more interest in phantom.

(watsyurdeal) #7

You know, this is actually not bad, and fits his job. I say it’s a go, maybe even take a slight tinge further and have it hide health, eh?

(VincentRJaeger) #8

Having played Blacklight Retribution I recognize this idea quite well. Very fun to use when you go sniping since it blocks the legit wallhack (HRV).

I did have some concerns but they might be too specific really; things like longevity in a game and usability in a firefight. I’m just raising an eyebrow at it’s usefulness when the cover is blown but, I could be too skeptical for my own good lol.

Is the spotter ability the same as the aura-bubble and can an enemy be in the corner of it to be detected or does the whole playermodel have to be inside the bubble?

(bontsa) #9

This idea. Mucho mucho likes!

As said from Splash Damage, they don’t want this cheeky semi-invisible loner ninja-wannabe have an ability to spot enemies for his teammates, so it fits that he likes to hide from spotting stuff since he is supposed to maybe be kind of an… anti-recon… assault-ish… recon.

Like come on, this fits not only the “route” SD looks like they want to create Phantom but his personality too. Its gadget that he supposedly made/stole for his own use but realized “Meh, it has potential to keep these poor mouth-breathers, that I’m stuck to in order to earn some credits, alive for couple seconds longer so why not.” Let’s face it; when there is money to be made, even most selfish bástardós have to team up with other gunmaniacs if situation requires it.

(Arjun) #10

[quote=“Jaeger;108602”]
Is the spotter ability the same as the aura-bubble and can an enemy be in the corner of it to be detected or does the whole playermodel have to be inside the bubble?[/quote]

At first i thought about something like that , but later i thought that would slightly make the term ’ Blackout ’ irrelevant as it being a spotter at the same time .

So i went into a conclusion of making the detector work just like a proximity mine . So only when you step on it , it gives out the signal and reveal your location .But deals no damage .

(Arjun) #11

That would be a very nice addition :slight_smile:

(Sir_Slam) #12

Perfect. Suits him perfectly. Have it scramble stuff like mines and stickies as well as hide from spotting and he might actually be worth a sh*t.