Sparks is S**T!


(sharpRefridgerator) #1

ok, bare with me this is going to be a long one. im going to make this as clear as possible with a set up like pros-cons-concerns-suggestions

pros: this character is fast, like crazy fast but shes more then balanced with her lack of any armor at all but this also comes at a staggering 2 hit kill from fraggers MG. this in some aspects makes her not even worth playing as nearly any gun in the game will easily lay her out in less time it takes to dump a mag into someone (ie kill them) this is a substantial problem as she has two pistols instead of a primary, the sloping disadvantage is supposed to be made up for with her medic gun.
The medic gun is a great addition to the game as it provides an offensive and defensive weapon with the ability to head shot to an instant finish but this gun comes with a HUGE problem, read on.

Cons:Despite being fast and it takes so little amount of damage to knock her down its almost like you have to hide and camp but that’s not the idea behind her at all, shes fast and nimble but i find myself in the back of the map hoping someone dies in my line of sight. another thing is that the maps in this game are so close together its almost unnecessary to revive at a distance as most of the time you even go to use the medic gun you are 2 feet away and the amount of time it takes to charge i could have done it 6 times with defibs. aside from that shes given the TMP and a pistol and both of which struggle to take out one person without a reload and her mag count is so small youll be lucky to get 3 kills without finding yourself in the back of the map pounding V22 V22 V22 I NEED AMMO!
her medic gun is a huge plus but it comes at a strange and unwieldy cost, often switching to it takes so damn long players respawn because they see no medic around them at range (which is where this thing is meant to be used mind you), this cupped with the fact that there is a hiccup if you click to charge before its fully equip it will simply not charge. this greatly reduces effectiveness overall for this class as this “weapon” is her reason for being so s**t.

Concerns:I’m worried this character is trying to be to many things at once and it cant do any /one/ thing right, her speed wants her to push up quickly but her lack of armor pushes her to the back of the line and her inability for a speedy revive makes her the dodo of the mercs. oddly enough i didn’t even talk about the fact she has a tiny med bag that heals about 25HP per bag and she can throw 4 of them, i get that but its not even enough to heal her skinny a** to full less you drop all 4 and by then you take 2 bullets and you die. its to my understanding shes supposed to play a back up support but when it comes down to it she possesses no support about her, healing 25HP and taking 3 times longer to revive players (i cant tell you how many times i watched my teammate get shot to death on the ground waiting for my laser to recharge). I’m not saying she doesn’t have a fit in this game I’m saying shes spread too thin to be a viable alt to aura or even sawbones.

now the good part
Suggestions:If I haven’t made it obvious yet this merc needs a lot of love both from the devs and the community but we need to find out what shes meant for and refine that skill that only she can bring to the table; so lets start with whats shes good at. shes a medic at heart, with the skills to revive at a distance she can keep a team running without ever needing to butt touch; but whats wrong with her that she cant do that? well for starters shes too weak, maybe making her slower and have more armor could make her harder to knock down and more of a “is anyone a sparks?” kinda merc. making her slower wouldn’t matter too much as she doesn’t need to run to players to revive them (MAKES SENSE!) so slow the fk down spark and take it slow for the team, you meant to keep people up not keep yourself down! her medic gun makes a great offensive gun with a recharge action but here the thing… its ST! so is her damned TMP! how can we bump the effectiveness of her medic gun and give her a weapon that’s worth a damn on the field AND reduce the time it takes to revive? this is a no brainier! joking aside making her medic gun her primary gun would not only buff her “ammo” as it recharges but it would reduce the time to whip out a separate gun to revive and if it did enough damage it could be a nice way to get some kills here and there (shes not supposed to be out on the front lines remember). you could argue that “you can just equip it as soon as you spawn” but that’s not the point, this character is supposed to be a support and having the medic gun out and waiting for a charge just to revive doesn’t feel viable because its crap at damage unless its full charged and its still not a good weapon and on top of that the character still falls short of her other aspects. removing the need to charge up could give a nice buff to her medic gun upping people faster and providing additional damage but still keeping the main idea to charge when necessary. and pls, no 25HP bags, shes a medic not a drug dealer. maybe a small area of effect around her that makes her a mobile healing station for 5-10 seconds or give her 100HP medbags or even med “grenades” at 25HP healing more then one person (sticking to the ranged theme).

Pros in short: fast. medic gun.

Cons in short: shes to fast to stay in the back of the map fearful of an instant death. her medic guns takes to long to charge. her med bags are to small to make a difference to team mates or yourself.

Suggestions In short: medic gun needs buffing ie charge time and damage, her speed should be reduced, her armor should go up, should get 100HP medpack or 25HP med grenades or she should get a healing radius for a limited time.

hope you enjoyed and agreed with my statements, i hope to give much more of my feed back in the future.


(Ardez1) #2

Please don’t intentionally try to avoid the chat filter. I have modified your thread title.

Thanks!


(sharpRefridgerator) #3

i self censor when i find it necessary but i guess i cant use that word, also you missed on in there, must have been TLDR


(Ardez1) #4

Probably because I haven’t read the entire thing and I try to avoid modifying threads if possible. The auto-filter catches most stuff without me having to do anything.


(Szakalot) #5

I actually think Sparks is great, BUT she needs:

  • a buff to the healthpacks (my fav is +RoF)
  • nerf to the revive gun - the minimum amount of charge for reviving someone should be increased

cant say i agree with most of what OP said.


(sharpRefridgerator) #6

[quote=“Szakalot;34159”]I actually think Sparks is great, BUT she needs:

  • a buff to the healthpacks (my fav is +RoF)
  • nerf to the revive gun - the minimum amount of charge for reviving someone should be increased

cant say i agree with most of what OP said.[/quote]
why nurf the revive gun? the defibs make the medic gun nearly useless


(watsyurdeal) #7

I would say her biggest issue is her health packs, if she had the ones Sawbones has, I seriously doubt people would still use her over him. She’s very squishy, and lacks the same primaries.

Sparks is definitely the thinking man’s Medic, while Sawbones is more of a tried and true Combat Medic.


(sharpRefridgerator) #8

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;34169”]I would say her biggest issue is her health packs, if she had the ones Sawbones has, I seriously doubt people would still use her over him. She’s very squishy, and lacks the same primaries.

Sparks is definitely the thinking man’s Medic, while Sawbones is more of a tried and true Combat Medic.[/quote]
regardless of tactics i feel like her “skill set” is geared toward support and shes not supporting anyone with that tiny pack and time to revive doubled with her crap HP


(watsyurdeal) #9

You could say the same thing about any of the mercs.

There’s nothing stopping Skyhammer from giving ammo to himself, or Sawbonez healing himself with his Health Packs, or Vasailli just flat out not throwing his sensors at all.

You can’t fix people being dicks…


(sharpRefridgerator) #10

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;34176”][quote=“sharpRefridgerator;34174”]
regardless of tactics i feel like her “skill set” is geared toward support and shes not supporting anyone with that tiny pack and time to revive doubled with her crap HP
[/quote]

You could say the same thing about any of the mercs.

There’s nothing stopping Skyhammer from giving ammo to himself, or Sawbonez healing himself with his Health Packs, or Vasailli just flat out not throwing his sensors at all.

You can’t fix people being dicks…[/quote]

you totally missed my point, its not about being good with the character (skill set) its a matter of her stats dont make a supportive merc. was my post too long or something? did you not read it?


(watsyurdeal) #11

[quote=“sharpRefridgerator;34192”]

you totally missed my point, its not about being good with the character (skill set) its a matter of her stats dont make a supportive merc. was my post too long or something? did you not read it?[/quote]

What stats?

You mean the fact that her gun can be used to kill people? Or something else?


(sharpRefridgerator) #12

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;34196”][quote=“sharpRefridgerator;34192”]

you totally missed my point, its not about being good with the character (skill set) its a matter of her stats dont make a supportive merc. was my post too long or something? did you not read it?[/quote]

What stats?

You mean the fact that her gun can be used to kill people? Or something else?
[/quote]

read OP pls


(watsyurdeal) #13

The gun doesn’t need to do more damage, but I wouldn’t mind her having less speed and more health, kinda like her to be more like Proxy actually. As for her packs, as I said make em the same as Sawbonez, if anything just give her one less pack at a time. Sawbonez has up to 3 I think, so make it two for her.


(Gi.Am) #14

A few points.

First of her speed or fast Mercs in general 'cause I see that sentiment more often with all fast Mercs. A fast merc isn’t automatic a closecombat Merc speed allowes you to dodge bullets easier and to get from point A to point B fast. But it doesn’t neccesarly means that B is in the face of the enemy. Your combat range is determined by your weapons. Sparks has zero close combat weapons (and is squishy) so she shouldn’t be there.

The speed is there to get out of close combat and to get quickly into a position she can revive or heal from.

The healthpacks are actually pretty great aside from the fact that they are hard to direct hit with and that people constantly ignore them when they lay on the ground. but 45 HP instant while under fire is nothing to sneaze at and can turn a lost fight around.

The revive gun I can’t really judge to be honest. Since my aim is not that great. But a full charge can one hit everything below Fragger. While that propably wont replace a Vassili any time soon having someone else that can put a diffusing engineer instantly into revive limbo or quickly clear out a MG isn’t that bad (not to forget the additional damage to EV and secondaries). I’m still not fully onboard with the minimum charging and overcharing mechanics but thats propably just me.

Personaly I think now that I played her a bit that after fixing the hitbox bugs and giving her 1-2 small buffs she will be in a good spot. She is most definitive not going to be the prime medic Merc but as a situational Merc or maybe even as a replacement for the second Sawbonez in a team with two good sniper players she might find a home.

As for the buffs, giving her Proxy stats sounds pretty good to me. And I would like to see an increase in visibility / Hitbox for her medpacks. But thats actually it.


(cornJester) #15

[quote=“Gi.Am;34237”]Sparks has zero close combat weapons (and is squishy) so she shouldn’t be there.
[/quote]
Is the empire-9 not a close combat weapon?


(Gi.Am) #16

Not in this case no. Per Weaponstats Spreadsheet.

The empire 9 has a lowest TTK of 0,35 (based on perfect accuracy and 100% headshots) that is against the other light classes of 80 and 90 HP. However every other gun in this game has a lower ttk against Sparks and that means she will lose every even fight. Aura and Proxy on the other hand have shotguns and can instantly end a fight before they take any damage at all. Which is why they are close combat Mercs and Sparks isn’t.

Don’t get me wrong. Sure if your aim and movement is better you can absolutely win a closecombat engagement with Sparks. But that is your skill and not due to the Empire 9 (tho looking at the TTK it is still your best option in most cases).


(watsyurdeal) #17

I think most people use it because of the augments one of the cards comes with. Literally ALL Sparks buffs.


(Reddeadcap) #18

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;34169”]I would say her biggest issue is her health packs, if she had the ones Sawbones has, I seriously doubt people would still use her over him. She’s very squishy, and lacks the same primaries.

Sparks is definitely the thinking man’s Medic, while Sawbones is more of a tried and true Combat Medic.[/quote]Maybe if they increase their healing, change the way Potent packs works on it, and give a bigger bonus for direct hits with it it’d be a tad more useful, but I don’t mind them as they are, they’re more of a quick patch up as oppose to Sawbonez’ regeneration being constant but slower, which is fixed up by a direct hit and potent packs.


(ron1n) #19

My biggest problem is the overcharge mechanic.

Its way too easy to set off and the inability to revive for so long simply isnt fair. It limits my option to use it as a railgun because Im often not willing to risk the overcharge.

I think a far fairer drawback would be for the gun to just lose its charge if held at full for too long requiring you to recharge it. This would stop you from running around indefinitely with full charge without punishing you too severely.

For the medpacks, They need to have a bigger hit box compareable to sawbonez and Id also suggest changing their graphic so they stand out properly from other ammo/med packs. And possibly could speed up the pack ability regen very slightly.

Otherwise I think her health and weapon choice are fine as they encourage playing her as a full support res bot which is what she’s there for.


(avidCow) #20

Packs need tweaks for sure. They’re too small and could use a small buff. I’m ambivalent the Revivr.