[QUOTE=Glyph;319744]So you are saying that it is balanced for a player to get downed and have 150 health, get revived and be back to full, get downed and still have another 150 health, …? I’m just pointing out that there should be some handicap for being downed more than once. I agree that the downed mechanic is balanced for the first time a player is downed but for any further it is not.[/QUOTE]As you have pointed out, Medics, are no doubt very strong.
Where game balance is concerned, I view the mechanic that you describe as very strong but not exploitive. In the hypothetical event that it is too powerful, then I see this as something that could be tweaked, but I would hope that such changes would be very minor.
In reality, I see the Revive Mechanic as introducing a tension into the game where you are forced to choose to devote your time, firepower, and ammunition to an opponent that could already be considered, for all intents and purposes, to have been removed from the battlefield, if not for the Revive Mechanic.
Opposing players that do not respect the power of the Revive Mechanic will be punished for it.
Competitive teams tend to run mostly Medics and Soldiers, switching in an Engineer here and there for the weapon buff, mines, and turrets (but mostly the weapon buff).
The mechanic of (death – > respawn --> run a long ways back to the battle) is a severe penalty to both the individual player and his team when trying to engage at a tactical position.
In practice, the ability to offset the Penalty Respawn mechanic often outweighs the utility of the other classes, because those other classes principally have utility in terms of their area denial and killing efficiency (where objectives aren’t specifically involved). In other words, the specialization of the Medic potentially trumps the utility of enhanced killing efficiency.
In terms of battle flow, teams are heavily penalized for players that run in one at a time to engage the enemy at a choke point, because they are easy prey.
A team is much much stronger if they attack (and flank) in unison. However, this type of teamwork is difficult to coordinate.
In practice, Medics generate surrogate teamwork and surrogate offensive firepower by increasing the effective number of front line troops. If those troops have any degree of competency, they will swing the battle in their favour. If, however, they are bots (or noobs) assaulting an entrenched position then they will probably have little effect.
When you can revive skilled players who have their own significant killing potential, you don’t need to rely on the potency of land mines or turrets, which can be predicted and exploited. Good players will be able to predict the placement of mines and turrets, and they will be able to overcome the limitations of such equipment.
Medics are quite strong so long as they ensure that the majority of the enemy fire is targeting the other players on their own team. This is the strength of the medic. If the medics, themselves, are targeted, incapacitated, and killed, then the push will be overcome by attrition.
Against a team that is pushing and working together, the presence of multiple medics can be quite difficult to deal with when engaging head-on. In this instance, it makes gibing the downed players even more important. A good team working together will overwhelm you when supported by multiple Medics.
In my experience, I’ve found it necessary to flank these types of coordinated assaults to bring a halt to their push by specifically taking down the Medics from the rear. For this purpose, I have had success when running Soldier and Operative, each with their own playstyle and tactics, of course.
In many ways, I think the Medic is the easiest, most straightforward, most team-oriented, and most XP-rewarding class to play. Where you will run into trouble when playing as a Medic, though, is when your teammates, themselves, are incompetent and incapable of performing the killing duties expected of them. In such cases, you will pull off a ton of revives and get a tremendous amount of XP, but you can be powerless to alter the losing outcome of the match.
Against good players, the utility of the Medic is further diminished in the event that they immediately gib your downed teammates. In this instance, the opportunity cost of the Medic becomes most apparent. You have devoted yourself to a class with very limited specialized killing ability with the hopes that you could offset the penalty mechanic of death-respawn-return to battle. However, your specialization has been deliberately negated by your opponents. Your opponents have made a Metagame Dominant choice in this instance: gibing your downed allies. (If you and all of your teammates were Soldiers, by contrast, then gibing your downed allies would be a decidedly Metagame Inferior choice, because the downed players would no longer represent any threat [assuming no Downed Fire].)
There is an opportunity cost to gibing downed opponents. Likewise, there is an opportunity cost to being a Medic. It is up to you, as a player and as a team to punish your opponents for the choices they make. That is what constitutes a winning strategy. Failure to shift paradigms (when it is necessary to do so) is a losing strategy. It’s all a matter of choice.
