Should Devs Change Phantom?

(JJMAJR) #21

Actually, the Comms Hacking ability seems to be a great spotter ability for the Phantom. Making it instant while having a cooldown, probably around the same time as Skyhammer’s airstrike, would be the best course of action for the Phantom.

(gg2ez) #22

Still doesn’t make him useful enough to make him chosen over any other merc in competitive. A simple buff isn’t what’s going to make him useful - what he needs is utility. [/quote]

What if he had an equivalent to Comms Hack in Brink, Operative characters in Brink could do what is known as Comms Hack, the operative whips out their phone over a downed enemy to have all enemies marked for their teammates after interacting with them for 3 seconds. This could give him in a way the “Truest Sight” for a Risk/Reward of incapacitating and Comms Hacking his enemy while they’re downed but not dead, rather than finishing them off.

Willing to do anything to get rid of him, his Commanding Officer volunteered Phantom to take part in an experimental Refractive Armor test program. Returning the favor, Phantom promptly stole the suit and used it to plant incriminating evidence/livestock in his former Commanding Officer’s quarters. Since then he has been a legend in his own mind. Never, ever lend him money, or your mobile phone.

Would fit his “Don’t trust him with your phone.” Bio, here is someone in Brink doing it.[/quote]

Very nice. We’ve got to keep pushing for a spotting ability on Phantom though. I’d go for this one if the devs reconsidered Phantom’s “purpose”.

(Naonna) #23

If they made his cloak actually a bit more invisible, and make the CONSTANT ringing sound while cloaked quieter, perhaps he would be useful in +lv 10 servers. - As for competitive, because he’s less efficient at killing than fragger or nader and can’t heal or revive teammates, he serves little purpose. - This section of the issue could be remedied by either making his katana or melee gib (not allow a revive by medic) on kill (so he could be similar to a sniper pre-nerf) or by making him an engineer, so he could sneak behind to lay a C4 mine on the off-chance someone somehow doesn’t notice the loud ringing or barely-see-through merc running past them.

(CCP115) #24

Can we PLEASE, PLEASE make it so that he CANNOT attack out of cloak.

I don’t care how fast he is, or how silent his cloak his, or how little health he is, it is straight up BULLSHIT that he can simply cloak, tank damage, and attack you. That has been his main problem since day 1, and yet SD doesn’t address it.

Taking 100 damage out of an invisible, armored target? Fucking bullshit.

(Naonna) #25

If they make the cloak quieter, personally, I would have no problem with making him similar to the spy class from tf2 - being required to be fully visible to attack. They would almost be required to reduce his cool down per cloak to compensate, however, along with the earlier stated re-buff to his invisibility.

(DolanAndGoobyTryHard) #26

Give him the ability to lunge and make his katana a primary weapon with a pistol.

(Naonna) #27

I don’t especially mind, since (as I’ve stated in a similar thread) two melee swings kills any <120 hp merc. The lunge seems to be the icing on the cake if you can get it to land. Only the slow-on-swing for basic attacks irritates me. Being unable to kill a backpedaling sparks as she 1-shots me with the revive gun is a bit frustrating.

(Phantombrotherhood) #28

[quote=“CCP115;109767”]Can we PLEASE, PLEASE make it so that he CANNOT attack out of cloak.

I don’t care how fast he is, or how silent his cloak his, or how little health he is, it is straight up BULLSHIT that he can simply cloak, tank damage, and attack you. That has been his main problem since day 1, and yet SD doesn’t address it.

Taking 100 damage out of an invisible, armored target? Fucking bullshit.[/quote]

He isn’t even 100% invisible, and 99% of the time if you’re a faster character you can literally backpedal and spray him down, hell, if you can’t hear him sneak up on you in his current state, you’re either deaf, or just plum not being aware. Besides, if I were to even sneeze standing still while cloaked he’d be super visible, I can’t count the number of times I’d be well out of range standing still only for someone to hop on a turret and immediately spray my cloak away and kill me before I can react

(watsyurdeal) #29

[quote=“Phantombrotherhood;110270”][quote=“CCP115;109767”]Can we PLEASE, PLEASE make it so that he CANNOT attack out of cloak.

I don’t care how fast he is, or how silent his cloak his, or how little health he is, it is straight up BULLSHIT that he can simply cloak, tank damage, and attack you. That has been his main problem since day 1, and yet SD doesn’t address it.

Taking 100 damage out of an invisible, armored target? Fucking bullshit.[/quote]

He isn’t even 100% invisible, and 99% of the time if you’re a faster character you can literally backpedal and spray him down, hell, if you can’t hear him sneak up on you in his current state, you’re either deaf, or just plum not being aware. Besides, if I were to even sneeze standing still while cloaked he’d be super visible, I can’t count the number of times I’d be well out of range standing still only for someone to hop on a turret and immediately spray my cloak away and kill me before I can react[/quote]

You literally do not understand at all

Here

What part about that is fair? That Phantom is clearly caught but he can close the gap and slice you down or blitz your face with his smg.

Nevermind that this is old footage, and his armor bleeds into his lowered health, he still effectively wastes your ammo and it takes little to no skill to kill people in this manner. And on top of that, it’s completely useless against an organized team or someone with a good eye.

It’s a freaking mess

(JJMAJR) #30

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;110272”]You literally do not understand at all

Here

What part about that is fair? That Phantom is clearly caught but he can close the gap and slice you down or blitz your face with his smg.

Nevermind that this is old footage, and his armor bleeds into his lowered health, he still effectively wastes your ammo and it takes little to no skill to kill people in this manner. And on top of that, it’s completely useless against an organized team or someone with a good eye.

It’s a freaking mess[/quote]

You were playing quite a nooby Phantom by the way. No guns?

(watsyurdeal) #31

[quote=“JJMAJR;110277”][quote=“Watsyurdeal;110272”]You literally do not understand at all

Here

What part about that is fair? That Phantom is clearly caught but he can close the gap and slice you down or blitz your face with his smg.

Nevermind that this is old footage, and his armor bleeds into his lowered health, he still effectively wastes your ammo and it takes little to no skill to kill people in this manner. And on top of that, it’s completely useless against an organized team or someone with a good eye.

It’s a freaking mess[/quote]

You were playing quite a nooby Phantom by the way. No guns?[/quote]

It’s not mine, it’s Total Biscuit’s, and second, it doesn’t matter if he has guns or not, the armor will absorb just about everything you throw at him till he gets close enough for the kill, and often times he WILL get it.

(JJMAJR) #32

@Amerika

(Haki) #33

The Blackout-ability just sounds silly.

Yeah it’s great to have a bubble where you aren’t spotted and even spot enemies, but how do you counter that??

Don’t just look for a fun mechanic to use, but also to counter.

(Gh0st1e) #34

This has been what I have said since Phantom was put into the game. The only change that needed to be made to his original state was taking away the damage absorb of his invisibility.

Sure the “beyblade” exploit was an issue but the majority of the complaints made about Phantom in his original form was that he was a “tanky ninja.” The devs then proceeded to royally screw him up by making too many changes at once instead of systematically changing him in order to find the best balance for his abilities.

(Amerika) #35

@Amerika [/quote]

Hrm? @JJMAJR

(JJMAJR) #36

@Amerika [quote=“Watsyurdeal;110280”]It’s not mine, it’s Total Biscuit’s, and second, it doesn’t matter if he has guns or not, the armor will absorb just about everything you throw at him till he gets close enough for the kill, and often times he WILL get it. [/quote]

(Lumi) #37

Health nerf with movement buff, coupled with a shield removal and invisibility buff.

(magnanimousMagician) #38

I could also favor changing the invisibility. Current design is a bit inelegant (weak stealth + strong shield?). Downside is actual invisibility is both extremely powerful and extremely frustrating. Giving phantom real invisibility would absolutely require a nerf to his melee so he can’t 1 shot squishies, for instance. Doesn’t matter how weak the character is otherwise, dying to a 1 shot with no possibility of counterplay feels AWFUL.

Removing the hum is a decent idea. One of the goals I imagine of the hum is to keep phantom from being a pubstomper, but less experienced players don’t even know what the hum signifies. -level 11 who didn’t figure this out until level 10.

The hum, the slowish movement speed, and the weird shield all feel a bit ‘off’, good places to start if Phantom does actually need a change.

(Reddeadcap) #39

[quote=“magnanimousMagician;110557”]I could also favor changing the invisibility. Current design is a bit inelegant (weak stealth + strong shield?). Downside is actual invisibility is both extremely powerful and extremely frustrating. Giving phantom real invisibility would absolutely require a nerf to his melee so he can’t 1 shot squishies, for instance. Doesn’t matter how weak the character is otherwise, dying to a 1 shot with no possibility of counterplay feels AWFUL.

Removing the hum is a decent idea. One of the goals I imagine of the hum is to keep phantom from being a pubstomper, but less experienced players don’t even know what the hum signifies. -level 11 who didn’t figure this out until level 10.

The hum, the slowish movement speed, and the weird shield all feel a bit ‘off’, good places to start if Phantom does actually need a change. [/quote]
Agreed, During the Phantom nerf a lot of changes were neeed but some had been a tad over-done but he’s still not as invisible as I personally wish, if he was just a 120-130 health character with great speed for his health and a more effective cloak without a shield added to it he’d seam more fitting as a hit and run assassin type, maybe with a great detection ability to boot coughcommshackcough.

@JJMAJR
@Watsyurdeal

This footage was within the same week Phantom was announced, where both the Katana and Phantom’s cloak really needed reworking, especially the ability to turn/move while stabbing.

Of course people didn’t notice him for a while and wouldn’t recognize the sound of his cloak, this was uploaded just about the same day and of course he was broken at the time.

(darlingClaymore) #40

I’m here praying nothing happens to him, hes fine and people are just salty.