Vasselis Heartbeat Sensor

(PixelTwitch) #1

So much rage about this both in and out of the game…

The way I would like to balance this would keep the functionality of the Sensor for Vasseli while keeping it worthwhile for the whole team at the same time as no making it as strong in certain circumstances…

For Vasseli it would basically work just how it does now.
For team mates it would work like a semi sonar with it tracking the enemy for 1 second each ping and having pings 3 - 4 seconds apart. For the team it should fade out over that second to not have flashing red dots that can confuse your team. The ping should also be communicated to the people that are being tracked so they can best know when to move out and only have the sniper to worry about rather then everyone. This is where my concept gets a little more complex… I would also have Vasseli himself give off a healing station style aura that when a team mate is inside of, grants them the full Vasseli tracking.

I understand this is quite a large rework of an already performance heavy and complex system. I also understand that a very large percentage of potential players will like to snipe and don’t want to be forced out by super high skill requirements. Removing the 3d ping would effect the Vasselis XP gain, make him a very selfish Merc in public play and make him much harder to use if you change the way the motion mines work for him.

(potty200) #2

My personal view.

Worst thing in the game alongside the over powered shotguns. I’d piss me off more if I was still playing the game.

Way to fix:

  • Remove and let people not have a wallhack.

Conclusion:

  • One thing more that would make me and a few others want to play a bit more.

Worry:

  • With only a handful of mercs with abilities and already a lot of things wrong. Surely with more mercs comes more awful ideas like the heart beat sensor?
(Loffy) #3

I wish it was easier to find the sensor itself (to destroy it). I often see that I have been “spotted”, and look/run around for a few seconds to try and find that sensor but in vain. Skilled snipers would ofc be able to toss it so that they are barely vivible anyhow, but less skilled players would put it in places where I could find/destroy it.

(Humate) #4

Probably the strongest psych tool in the game…
Either the player disregards he’s lit up, plays aggressive and gets demolished… or he plays smart, and becomes a non-factor for 5 seconds. The latter on the surface seems like a non-issue, but in stopwatch it has the potential to be pretty significant… :frowning:

I proposed an idea a while back about it working as a remote controlled spider mine, that grows in radius the longer it stays in place. And ofcourse with it being large enough, and loud enough that players could spot it and kill it off. If the covert redeploys the spider, the radius of the radar resets. Basically it forces the covert to be a bit more sneaky in how he uses it, and it only really punishes teams that arent switched on.

(Glottis-3D) #5

i would like all the abilities (sensor, airstrikes, artilery, nades, turrets) to have more cooldown like 25% more.

some times i catch myself thinking that a lot of time i use my abilities, and between them i just…wait for cooldown(not literally but close)…thats not good at all.
game shouldnt be all spam of abilities. especially since we do not have team-cooldown.
players need to pull something apart from their ability. and when they use it - it should be wisely and carefully timed.

(prophett) #6

Change it to a 2d minimap red dot for everyone

(titan) #7

the sensor does indeed suck
minimap spotting rather than 3d seems like a good compromise

(ailmanki) #8

[QUOTE=titan;508305]the sensor does indeed suck
minimap spotting rather than 3d seems like a good compromise[/QUOTE]
It still is to much information, although it would be one step ahead.

(PixelTwitch) #9

makes it worthless to people like me who never look at the minimap.

(montheponies) #10

It’s a legal wallhack - should be removed altogether.

Also, it’s not just 5s or whatever - you can literally have these being spammed by 2 or 3 snipers almost constantly.

(Sun_Sheng) #11

Agreed. Remove the wallhack, or find some counter to it. Personally i’d go with limiting it to the sniper in question and dropping the sniper rifle from a one shot kill to a 2 shot. I’d also add some sway to the aiming

The sniper rifle is already a ridiculously over-powered weapon and the only real way to take the guy out who’s using it is to shoot him. Not so easy when he he knows everything about your movement and can one shot kill you as soon as you move. Give me a mortar or a more powerful airstrike that actually works without sending a diary note and a reminder to the opposing team, and i’d be happier to keep things as they are.

(potty200) #12

That is because there is ZERO reason to check it right now. Give it a purpose by changing this.

(INF3RN0) #13

Another solution;

Use counter abilities to balance it out. Maybe some mercs could activate a temporary AOE cloak or use an activate-able signal jammer or hack into the sensor converting it to a friendly for a short time- all of which would only last for a very short duration so as to not completely negate the sensor, but rather require intelligent usage and follow up to be effective.

This kind of stuff makes the whole issue of ‘annoying abilities’ much less problematic because of the simple fact that you actually have some limited potential of countering them- even if it’s only for an instant.

(Mustang) #14

God no, I hate mini-maps they should just not exist at all, I’d rather have no motion detector than have it on minimap only. The sensor right now is a bit overpowered, but it can be tweaked without deleting it completely.

(Violator) #15

Don’t think I’ve used the minimap once, I think owner-only for the sensor may be worth a try as it does seem a bit OP sometimes, however personally if I’m detected I try and get out of dodge / shoot the sensor, seems fairly balanced from that POV (was bad when it cloaked…).