The Phantom Nerf - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (and the Questionable)

(umberInlet) #1

Alright, so we got the latest patch of the game, which made great changes to Phantom and, seemingly, made him useless (this is based off of all the complaints in the Steam community forums). So, I would like to provide my own feedback to his changes.

THE GOOD

  • Phantom’s health has been lowered to 110hp (from 120hp)
  • Refractive Armor maximum recharge time increased to 10s (from 6s)
  • Taking damage that exceeds remaining Refractive Armor energy will now also eat into health
  • Heartbeat Sensor detection no longer disables Refractive Armor, but will still spot Phantom
  • Katana - Secondary attacks now deal damage for a shorter period of time

All of my yes. The first three bullet points were very much needed, and it was what it was most often asked for (the third one may be a little unknown to some, but it has been noticed). Phantom was really tanky, and as a stealth-oriented merc he shouldn’t be able to just directly charge at you and your buddies while also getting a kill out of it. It happened, and it can get annoying at times. The second change was the one I wanted the most. The cloak was super spammable, even when used up completely. The longer cooldown would help prioritize it’s use more as a stealth mechanic, and less as additional health.

The third change makes some sense, although I’m not sure how much it’ll actually change him. With it, I think he can still survive a Nader’s nade in the face (need clarification)? Well, to balance it out the nerfs a bit, the fourth change was implemented. Though, because Phantom’s ability does not override Vasilli’s ability completely, it’s all good imo. The Katana’s time period where it deals damage also felt a little broken, so this change was nice.

THE BAD

  • Refractive Armor is now slightly more visible when Phantom is moving
  • Cloaking/de-cloaking audio is now more audible to other players

Phantom is suppose to be like, you know, a phantom. So, what point is it to make him more easily noticeable? None. Well, yeah, he is only more visible while moving, but he is not a sniping class. In a fast-paced game like this, you should be constantly on the move to engage the enemy. Phantom could already be detected by other players, and I felt that these changes was uncalled for.

THE UGLY

  • Added a turn-speed-limit for melee attacks to prevent exploits and to reward initial aim
  • Chopper Augment melee damage bonus reduced to +15% (down from +20%)

I am fine with nerfs in a beta game. It happens. It’s better to release something over-powered and then nerf it down later, because no one will use something that’s under-powered right at the start. That won’t provide enough data for developers to work with. But, when you’re nerfing a certain equipment or cclass of a game, it should only affect that specific object, not anything else. These nerfs make melee-ing with other weapons in combat very poor and, imo, completely useless. The turn-speed change seems to be an lazy band-aid to the Katana exploit, where it should’ve been fixed already by it’s shorter damage duration nerf. I can not see any other reason why this was done.

The Chopper augment nerf was probably aimed at the Katana loadout with the Chopper Augment and Kek. Well, the nerf had also made one melee weapon obsolete, damage-wise at least, and that’s the Stiletto. You see, the Beckhill knife deals 40 damage on light attacks, and 80 on heavy. The Stiletto deals 35 damage on quick attacks, and 85 on heavy. Now, with the Chopper perk pre-nerf, you were able to one-hit kill mercs with a maximum hp of 90 for the Beckhill, while 100 with the Stiletto. Now, there is no real purpose to using the Stiletto if you are focusing on getting one-hit melee kills on mercs such as Vasilli. You would be better off using the Beckhill now imo.

THE QUESTIONABLE

  • KEK-10 SMG - Bullet spread now increases ~7% faster than before while firing
  • Crotzni SMG - Bullet spread now increases ~10% faster than before while firing

I do not know whether these nerfs have to do with Phantom, but it is possible since he has access to both of these weapons. If he was the reason for this, then these nerfs are just plain ugly. Frankly, I had no issues fighting against players with these weapons, so I have my suspicions.

Well, thanks for reading. What are your thoughts about Phantom?

(Eox) #2

I agree on more or less everything. I’d just add that the KEK-10 nerf was deserved in my opinion.

The turn speed limit should just go ! It’s like punishing everone just because one child makes some ruckus. And about chopper, well. It was 15% before, and it was judged as pretty useless. Then it has been buffed to 20% and was considered as okay. Now it’s back to 15% due to the Phantom crisis, passing the Katana’s damage from 108 to… 103. That’s just stupid. Better put it back to 20%.

I was sure since the beginning ! Phantom is a balance nightmare in his current state ! He’s supposed to be a sort of stealth based character, but the current build just encourages people to abuse the invisibility armor and bum rush people more than just being stealthy, and this was the most complained thing. Why is it not gone ? Why is it still a thing ?

At this point, a Rework should be considered.

(jetJester) #3

i would question also the katana speed nerf, or just all the melee nerf, it’s like they are trying to make the game less fast paced or just to make people stop using melee (like if melee was a big deal if you are a bit of decent player)

(Lispy) #4

I have to agree that some of the Phantom nerfs were a little rough. I felt he was pretty easy to see to begin with as well as hear, I agree with the armor changes though as that was his biggest problem. The thing we need to realize is that SD seems to have decided Phantom should be a Tanky Samurai not a Stealthy ninja, but I think that melee nerf was a little rough not just for Phantom but for every character. Kek-10 nerf was so needed though the Crotz probably should have been fine but I haven’t noticed too much difference anyways.

(watsyurdeal) #5

I’d say revert the turn speed, chopper, and the visual and audio changes to cloak and see what happens.

And ty for this thread, it’s the thread we needed but the not the one we deserve right now.

(loonyTop) #6

Fixed some of your errors, mate.

(wordyScene) #7

Okay, first off, this was an overly harsh nerf. Reducing the effectiveness of cloaking to make him easier to spot defeats the entire purpose of the class. Nerfing two of his primary weapons was also incredibly lame when you consider that the nerf also hurts Nader, Bushwhacker and Sawbonez. Nerfing melee in general was just a questionable decision. Melee weapons needed a nerf but it was a damage nerf to downed enemies, not a nerf to turn speed.

Phantom’s main issue was how tanky he was. He should lose all the extra health he gains when activating his armor. No other nerfs were needed. These balance changes still haven’t managed to address why Phantom was so annoying to begin with while hurting classes who didn’t need the nerf.

IMO, I’d divide Phantom’s role in two. I’d have Phantom be a squishy flanker who can do a lot of damage in a short time but can’t take it and then create a whole other merc who can activate a personal shield and charge right at enemies. Let’s name this hypothetical merc Berserker.

(unearthlyBoss) #8

I honestly have no idea what they are trying to do with him. With his current design it seems that he only really has one job. Make newplayers and lowskill players gaming experience hell. It all seems so flawed.