Spark to Comp Level (What would you change?)

(spookify) #1

Question to the Community:

What would you tweak to make Sparks more viable in Comp?

Summary:
With the addition of Phoenix coming in the next update and his relative comparison to Sawbones what will make people choice Sparks over either Sawbones or Phoenix?

Sparks = 80 HP
Phoenix = 100Hp
Saw = 110HP

I will start by listing their HP. This list also goes but their speed as Sparks and Phoenix are faster then Saw.

spookify Play Time:
The first thing I have noticed is how long it takes for me to get packs out… I almost forget I have them when I am playing her. I am back at work but are her ability numbers switched around? It seems like my fingers are stumbling over her abilities and guns. I mostly player her with her Reviver out as her main so my fingers get crossed.

Speed of the Game:
I am not a huge fan of the sparks, kira’s and Aura’s running around at blazing speeds near impossible to track in close quarters and their height being a lot shorter. Its like picking Odd Job on GoldenEye… Combine their speed with the freaking wall jump spam and its simply frustrating to play against.

So if they are frustrating to play again why arent they valuable in comp?
I think its mostly because their HP and main guns. Sparks is a medic so her blazing speed isnt really utilized if she is pocketing a Fragger. Also turning the tables to defense where small maps make for very fast pushes she can not with stand a charge by basically any merc. I will use this example she is almost like a sniper with 20 less HP and packs that can revive.

If you think about it she really doesnt have that strong of poke. She basically has her reviver and it needed to both be fully changed and also land a head shot. Ask yourself have you ever noticed getting hit by a half charged or even fully charge reviver in the “body”? I really havent.

I think this game will evolve (if its not already) to medic mercs that can:
#1) Stay Alive!!!
#2) Put out Huge amounts of DPS
#3) Heal themselves and Teammates
#4) Stay alive to reach a Teammate
#5) Stay alive after reviving a Teammate

From what I am seeing is a lot of the better mercs and gun combination are the Higher ROF and Mid to Mid High Damage. (Imagine that right) These guns in very good hands are poking heads at a very high rate. The M4, BR-16, KEK-10 are throwing down so much damage so fast and at a long range how can you not have them on your team. Mean while a sparks is basically trying to poke a head of an enemy and then recharge again and try and get the gib!

The Reviver for Healing!
This gun is very fast at reviving and the zero distance to travel is very nice. The thing is not all maps are flat wide open spaces! She does need to get fairly close to revive mean while having a pop gun out that shots 1 full charge ever 1 or 2 seconds. She is not throwing down DPS not creating Aim Punch on any other person.

Heal Packs:
I really like them but like I said they are slow for me to get out and I stumble around trying to find them. Once they are out they are small and basically on cooldown instantly… These packs are the closest thing to ET pack we have. I would like to know how the 4 pack cooldown compared to the cooldown of ET Medic Packs?

I would also want to know if Sparks is Shorter and Smaller then Saw and Phoenix? (Aka smaller hit boxes)

Now to the question of the day. How do you make Sparks as good as Sawbones and I assume soon Phoenix?

#1) Slow her down to 4.5 Speed instead of 5. We already have a 5 medic in Aura!!
#2) Give her more HP --> 90 or 100… If she is indeed smaller then Saw or Phoenix then 90 HP
#3) Give her a GUN! Hockfir to start and see how that works.
#4) Slightly larger Packs or Quicker pack release.
#5) What was ET’s pack Cooldown and match that OR after receiving 2 pack within 5 seconds the second pack will boost the Self Regen!

That is actually a pretty sweet Idea… If you arent going to give her full ET/RTCW Style packs then combine her pack currently with Sawbonez and after taking two packs they start the regen.

  • Just an Idea.

I do like the insta HP packs but they are lacking when you are trying to keep a 80 HP medic alive and half or all your team. There is never a more helpless feeling that just sitting there looking at a medic waiting for them to give you one little pack.

The reason this issue isnt really revolving around Aura is she can set her station down in a none spam area and just insta heal if a teammate runs and falls back. IMO aura is pertty weak on attacking as her DPS is pretty low but with the Blishlok she has a slightly longer poke. If a one merc rule like LOL goes into effect I think we will be seeing less Aura’s as well. If you cant throw down DPS on both sides (Attacking and Defending) that what good are you. But then again some Aura’s are super good as setting a station down quickly healing and moving forward on attacking in baby steps however I think against good teams these baby steps open you up to be called out and back raged so I will stick with my original thought that Aura is also slight week on attacking…

And Finally I will point to this post I made about possible adding another rank to every merc. Merc Offence and Defensive Rank.

What does the community think?

(Faraleth) #2

Personally I think Sparks is fine… A lot of people like to call her a “bad healer”, and they aren’t wrong, but that’s because she is NOT a healer :L She’s a necromancer, essentially.

A skilled player that can reliably headshot enemies with the REVIVR is a deadly foe and her long-range revives are perfect for back-up. Just wait for your team-mates to drop and charge, then when they do, up-and-at-'em again!

I love her speed and her HP is fine. The only time I die as Sparks is when some shotgun-bunny catches me off-guard or a wild Vassili goes un-noticed. Rarely do I die to automatic fire or explosives, because I can escape them.

She’s viable for insta-kills and ranged support. She’s just different and shouldn’t really be compared to Sawbonez, honestly.

Just my 2-cents, but I like her very much ^.^ …dunno if you could tell c:

(SteelMailbox) #3

I would give her a defib.
Cmon a medic without defibs and just the REVIVR is not enough, besides sometimes the hitboxes are all funky and they don’t revive (happened to an experienced sparks player I know, no not you @Faraleth :wink: )

(spookify) #4

@Faraleth not comparing her to Saw but want to make her as valuable as Saw in Comp play or High Skill Play. :smile:

She is a Glass Cannon with out a Cannon IMO

(Amerika) #5

My quick list of things I’d change for her:

  1. Give her 10 more HP but don’t decrease her speed. I know SD likes to balance Speed vs. HP but that only goes so far. Once you factor in a few other things then Sparks gets pretty weak in the HP area. Her REVIVR isn’t that strong against players who know how to move (or know anything about Q3 rail fights) and her low HP means she gets shredded against anybody with aim if she hangs in the pocket for more than a quick shot.
  2. Change the hitbox on the health packs to be the same size as Sawbonez packs. Not visually increase the size but make the invisible hit box the same. It helps her, it helps the player that is trying to pick them up (it’s hilarious dancing around them at times) and it makes the game feel more consistent.
  3. Make the revive hitboxes more consistent. I know a lot of work has been done in this area and it’s definitely gotten better since release but this could definitely be tightened up more.
  4. I like @spookify’s idea to use the REVIVR for healing. But that would require some serious rebalancing.
  5. I wouldn’t even mind seeing her getting access to double machine pistols. EMP9 + mp400. I’m not 100% behind that but it wouldn’t bother me and it would make her a little less 1 dimensional in a few situations.
(Eox) #6

She’s an hard to tweak one, because you get a nice crossover between a Sniper and a Medic. Exploiting her at full potential is hard. Her skill ceiling is pretty high, which is a good thing. I’d say the current version we have is really good enough. Changing some point could easly raise her to the overpowered state.

Her health pack are trash when it comes about keeping your team alive, but they are pretty efficient at keeping yourself (or one ally) alive. Most of the time I mainly use them for myself and another medic, and I concentrate on Reviving. Indeed : the REVIVR is just an extremely versatile and powerful tool ! It does plainly the work at sniping as well as allowing you to revive teammates safely : this is by far her main perk. While Sawbonez won’t be able to revive that one player behind enemy lines without taking some huge risks, Sparks will do the job without any problem.

So at the end, because her medpacks are not enough to keep a full team alive, but she does the revive work much better than any other medic, she’s best used as a second and complementary medic. Alone, she won’t be efficient enough in her medic role. But pair her with Sawbonez and you have a crazy wombo combo. Sawbonez focuses on healing the fighters, and Sparks focuses on Reviving while keeping herself and Sawbonez alive.

I positive she can be extremely good in competitive, especially if you are that one sniper that can hit headshots reliably. That’s why I wouldn’t see her getting any buff of any kind. I can however agree with the small quality of life changes suggested around : making the small health pack’s hitbox bigger and working more the downed targets hitboxes is welcomed.

(Gi.Am) #7

disclaimer just outside observations watching the tournaments.

Honestly I think you are going at it the wrong way.
Sparks, Aura, Sawbonez (Phoenix). Are fine as mercs and pretty balanced. The problem is highlevel comp play or rather how it shifts the demands in a merc.
By far end large teams choose the merc who does the job and provides the most consistent durability/damage output. Thats why we end up with Bushwhacker, Sawbonez, Vassili, Skyhammer, Fragger.
They are all doing their class job and are the most durable and consistent.

What I’m getting at is this.
If you want to see more merc diversity in comp you have two options.
Give every merc who is not picked more versatility/durability/damage output to put them on par with the current lineup. But in the end it will only mean whoever is doing it the best will replace the current meta lineup.

Second option, take away versatility from the current lineup. In the case of Sawbonez its pretty clear that he is the best in combat, so reduce his medic skills a bit that you have to decide wether you want more damage and mediocre healing or better healing/revive while others provide the damage. While this could also result in a simple meta shift to one goldstandard medic, I think with more situational mercs your lineup becomes alot more team composition/strategy and map dependend which alone would make things imo more interesting than it current is.

I mean some of those situational uses can be seen here and there, like choosing redeye on attack over vassili or adding a Rhino in some edge cases. Or atleast with a 1 merc rule in place switching between Aura and Sparks, agreed if phoenix is as versatile as Sawbonez (and the rolecall indeed looks like it) he will become second medic by default.

(Duke) #8

I roll sparks as a medic in competitive, though I am by no means top tier. I find her adequate as is. Being a snipe medic, she deserves to have her low HP. As for nerfing her speed, I would say aura needs the speed nerf/HP buff seeing she often runs a shotgun. Giving Sparks a better primary would be nice, but keep it along the lines of the Hochfir (may have the wrong one) with the very low damage per bullet. Being able to hit for 135 with your revivr is amazing and extremely satisfying. Plus, tossing those tiny medpacks across the street to your ally in cover is very powerful. With the best (imo) loadout, I can have an ally up to full health with a <1 sec charge and a health pack for fragger.

I ramble…

If your team can maintain a position so you can stay under cover, I don’t see why she shouldn’t be viable in competitive. I understand that the hearier medics (sawbonez) are more desirable against a well-organized team. However, anyone who mains Sparks knows how to take advantage of her maneuverability and can maintain a positive KD due to being able to heal herself on the fly.

My limited knowledge of this game would have her nerfed rather than buffed. Perhaps a more active experimentation with her competitive viablility from high-end players could change opinions on whether or not to roll her. At the very least, she is a prime secondary medic for defense.

(Duke) #9

Oh no, it got cut off! Did I do something wrong?

(watsyurdeal) #10

90 health seems fine to round it all out

Though I think Sparks REVIVR is basically her primary, the Machine Pistols are just sorta there for close range only. I don’t think she needs an actual SMG personally.

(JesseKomm) #11

I agree with @Faraleth that Sparks shouldn’t be seen primarily as a healer but more as a reviving asset on the team. The reason people prefer Sawbonez is because he is a middle ground between Sparks and Aura, he can revive people in the fight or stay back and heal players. Sparks is an offensive medic, Aura is a defensive medic. Sawbonez is adept at both situations but I feel overall does not perform better than the two in their respective fields. The real gamechanger here is Squad Slots, you want one medic and so you’ll choose the one that can be beneficial on both attack and defense.

I’ll be eager to see how Phoenix changes all this as he can be offensive(Primary) and defensive(Secondary) as well while also being able to forcibly heal teammates rather than rely on perfect health tossing or aware friendlies to receive their needed HP. Self-revive is also a major asset as I have seen countless times people die trying to revive medics the slow way(I have too).

(Faraleth) #12

@Watsyurdeal I agree - my main loadouts have the terrible MP400, so I rarely use it. I’ll normally do most of the damage with my REVIVR and then finish them off with my pistol if they get too close (because it’s accuracy and damage are better, honestly). Just my 2-cents ^.^

(LifeupOmega) #13

Play some pugs, a good Sparks is a nightmare to deal with and just try and keep the whole enemy team downed without instagibs. Not to mention their aim if they know how to play, getting sniped cross map constantly with little to no downtime is something I never want to see again, I fear it.

And the bonus of playing pugs is friendly fire, Sparks can kill a low hp teammate and bring them back with full in a second. That’s lethal. There’s zero downtime for a merc if Sparks is up.

I can’t see Sparks being outright replaced, she has her role and her niche, and it’s a very useful one. I wouldn’t even know how to buff her if she needed it, giving her SMGs is overkill, more health? Who knows.

(refit) #14

There is a new speed cheat making the rounds. I have seen in used with Sparks and Kira. With this cheat, they seem to move so fast that they don’t animate. They just sort of zip around standing straight up.

(KangaJoo) #15

She’s used a lot in scrims and matches, though. Like she’s pretty good as is. Not sure where everyone’s getting this idea that she’s terrible from.

Only things I’d change are make her health packs easier to pick up and fix the bugged revivr hitboxes.

@spookify Everyone who played with phoenix during the closed beta/alpha says he’s really bad against people that aren’t complete noobs. Also, just looking at his stats and abilities on paper he seems terrible. He’s probably going to be much worse as a pocket medic and combat compared to sawbonez and aura and he’s for sure going to be a much worse team medic than sparks.

(Someordinaryguy) #16

I have a Companion Agent card and I must admit that’s she’s more like a necromancer than a healer. I can rez the whole team in a matter of seconds, provived there’s nothing obstructing my view (walls, props etc.) thanks to Quicker Charge and Get Up perks. Potent packs are not so useful, use them mainly to heal myself or 1-2 teammates but compared to Sawbonez’s medbags and Aura’s Jesus Station, they’re pretty garbage (maybe increase their HP given and hitbox slightly ?) In this loadout she gets the Empire-9, which is pretty darn good.

IMHO Sparks is the hardest merc to master: she’s fast but fragile, able to bring back everyone to life in a matter of seconds but almost defenseless in 1vs1 (unless you jump around like a freakin’ kangaroo or the player you fight is garbage)

I’d love to see some unique weapon made for her (and other mercs too) since right now this is the only loadout for her that’s viable. My dream gun would be a MP7A1, I think this 950RPM PDW with easy to control recoil and good hipfire would fit her (technically it would be a better Empire-9 but it would be exclusive for her)

(XavienX) #17

Where’s @Vampwood

(AirborneAsian) #18

Sparks my favorite merc but her Revive Gun is a buggy as eff.

(Cesmode) #19

I dunno. I honestly dont see competitive matches as being much different. I tried one last night, and we simply rolled the other team. They had no idea what they were doing, they looked like they were brand new to the game.

(spookify) #20

[quote=“Cesmode;75352”]I dunno. I honestly dont see competitive matches as being much different. I tried one last night, and we simply rolled the other team. They had no idea what they were doing, they looked like they were brand new to the game.
[/quote]

They might have been haha!!

This post is for mostly a well balanced fight. Both teams have equal skill. (For Both Ranked MM and Third Party Cups)