Assassination targeting
A laser dart gun that marks targets (Single or AOE pool style). Marked targets are spotted and will take an increased damage hit on the first bullet/knife attack. This will last 10 seconds/until they’re hit and the marked merc will be notified via UI and a distinct Sound notification. Cooldown = 30s.
Not only does this fit phantoms intended role but also gives him the much needed utility hes lacking in competitive.
SD confirmed that Phantom will not be getting a secondary ability.
How come? @MissMurder [/quote]
Quite incorrect. SD confirmed that Phantom will not be getting a spotting ability. The possibility of a secondary is still there as long as it’s not spotting.
I don’t think a secondary ability is necessary. Phantom already does his job as a recon just fine. Invisibility is already pretty big anyway.
Yeah, no. If Phantom wants to get a nice, cozy spot in comp he needs to be useful to the team in a way other than killing or needs to be just as good at killing as any other assault merc.
The reason he isn’t picked in premades for comp is the fact that all he can do is kill and other mercs can do that job much better.
But he doesn’t HAVE TO find a nice cozy spot in comp. A lot of mercs don’t. I believe splash damage said they will continue producing mercs that don’t have that same niche’ for comp like phantom.
I guess if you just put it in a nutshell he’s just a slayer. But he could provide the panic and fear only other recons can. This has helped my team complete some objectives. But in 5v5 I don’t see this being useful.
[quote=“bizarreRectangle;112020”]But he doesn’t HAVE TO find a nice cozy spot in comp. A lot of mercs don’t. I believe splash damage said they will continue producing mercs that don’t have that same niche’ for comp like phantom.
I guess if you just put it in a nutshell he’s just a slayer. But he could provide the panic and fear only other recons can. This has helped my team complete some objectives. But in 5v5 I don’t see this being useful.[/quote]
This is the exact counterargument I hate. There is no such thing as “no niché for comp”, changes can overcome these nichés until there are no more of them left - that’s how mercs should be developed.
Every merc deserves their spot in comp just as much as every player deserves to be able to play their favourite mercs in comp without being a detriment to the team.
Well you’re going to need to change a lot of things. Sometimes it’s simply the merc design that doesn’t fit a 5v5 play or isn’t as good as it’s counterpart. Arty is a very fun merc, but in a 5v5 it’s going to be hard to even land an artillery strike on people because there’s only 5 of them and it’s very easy to see that laser and the audio que. Skyhammer just has more combat potential and frontline firepower.
The way I see the merc structure, there are obviously 5 classes. For me, there are a few viable ones in the class and unviable ones. For example, sawbonez is undoubtedly the best, I see the other guys in his class as just side grades. These side grades just offer a different playstyle that could be more fun for you. It doesn’t necessarily have to be perfectly balanced for comp and everything. It’s not necessarily supposed to, it’s just another option if you get bored of playing sawbonez all day. The point of the game is to have fun, these side grades do just that.
Give him a working cloak where experienced players don’t see him running about, then perhaps phantom could at least get behind enemies. As for phantom being a recon class, perhaps allowing him to see enemy health would be a decent second ability and allow him to communicate important information to his team. - Answer thoughts below, please.
He IS recon merc already. He attacks from places people don’t see him and causes fear and paranoia. Just makes sure enemies are always looking behind their back (fear and paranoia). And he can just take away one enemy from the fight very easily (induces fear and paranoia). He’s also a great disrupter.
Yeah, I still get spotted pretty easy in pubs since he is not 100% invisible. I also like the idea about seeing the enemies health and reporting it.
The Medic in TF2 has an item he can equip which does this. It allows him to focus on weakened enemies. I can’t remember if it reports the health to teammates or not. I haven’t played in quite awhile.
So far I’m finding Phantom to just be more hassle than he’s worth. The heartbeat and IR sensors should not detect him in the same way as others. Between those two things and the lack of full invisibility, I’ve found that it’s really not all that fun, but I’m still learning the role.
Really? And what exactly do you think Recon do? Vassili has a spotting power, RedEye has a spotting power, Aimee will have a spotting power, Phantom has a cloak-shield that just gives him extra HP (it’s not a shield since somehow he still takes headshot damage).
“In military operations, reconnaissance is the exploration outside an area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about natural features and enemy presence.”
I know what reconnaissance thank you very much. And I thought aimee had some kind of motion sensor? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just a spotting tool.
But first of all, You think sd is that dumb to label phantom as a recon and not give him any recon capabilities? He doesn’t spot people which already makes him a bit different, but he still has one thing in common with other recon mercs.
All recons can attack from places where people can’t see them. Phantom with his cloak, vassili can attack from infinite range, and red eye can attack from his smoke and long range.
They attack from places enemies can’t see them and cause fear and paranoia, spotting simply helps them with this. Red eye uses smoke to confuse the heck out of them and put a stop to their plans. These are all things a recon just does, make people paranoid, confused and scared of getting picked off any second.
[quote=“bizarreRectangle;113714”]I know what reconnaissance thank you very much. And I thought aimee had some kind of motion sensor? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just a spotting tool.
But first of all, You think sd is that dumb to label phantom as a recon and not give him any recon capabilities? He doesn’t spot people which already makes him a bit different, but he still has one thing in common with other recon mercs.
All recons can attack from places where people can’t see them. Phantom with his cloak, vassili can attack from infinite range, and red eye can attack from his smoke and long range.
They attack from places enemies can’t see them and cause fear and paranoia, spotting simply helps them with this. Red eye uses smoke to confuse the heck out of them and put a stop to their plans. These are all things a recon just does, make people paranoid, confused and scared of getting picked off any second.[/quote]
…um, dude. I usually can spot the Vassi, even when they successfully snipe me. And 500m is not infinite. I’m more paranoid of Fraggers and Fletchers than I aim of, well, Phantom.
And the motion sensor is a spotter power (though apparently it’s going to be a third eye camera, or at least that’s what the assets file calls it). It’s a spotting tool, it use to have an explosive ability but that made her too much like Fletcher. The asset version is able to cling to walls and ceilings, and if the final version is like the assets version than it can hang out in places people wouldn’t expect without it being easily identified (it doesn’t glow).
Also, if you’re attacking from RedEye’s smoke you’re painting yourself an easy target for explosive mercs.
You’re missing some of my points and nit-picking on the wrong things. I know 500m isn’t infinite. Not attacking through smoke still makes you an easy target for explosives, it doesn’t matter, we’re not talking about red eye or infinite range vassili.
And yes, the problem with phantom is he doesn’t do his job very well. So if you look in the “devs guide to change phantom” thread and look at my first post. You can see some ideas of change I have to make him stronger. Of course that depends on the skill of the phantom in question, and there aren’t that many skilled phantoms. There can be many things to manipulate your paranoia of the phantom in your game.
I am quite interested in aimee, but not hyped at all, just waiting for turtle. But what do you mean spotting power? It’s interesting to know that it used to explode. Hope it has something that makes it more different than the hearbeat sensor. She’s not released and there isn’t any closed beta footage of her so I don’t think we can talk much about her. And I feel this conversation is steering to personal preference so maybe we can’t talk much further about phantom.
@bizarreRectangle by your logic then Fragger and Nader are also Recon classes since they can attack around corners, where the enemy can’t shoot them.
Phantom needs some kind of useful recon ability. Right now he plays as a weaker assault merc.
And @bizarreRectangle needs to get a better understanding of what reconnaissance entails.
Correction, Phantom needs something that would make him better as an assault or recon merc. If Phantom becomes an assault merc, he needs area denial. If he becomes a recon merc, he needs a spotter ability.
I do know what reconnaissance entails so I don’t know what your point is besides picking on me.
The thing about assaults and their abilities is that they’re either area denial or a crowd controller.
And they don’t always attack from where they don’t see them. They’re just big shiny bouncing red grenades on the ground, if that’s unnoticeable to you then I don’t know what wouldn’t be. The trouble is that the refractive armor is about as noticeable as the big grenades that you see on the ground.
So we should change the cloak to help with what it’s supposed to do. Not sprinting already helps a lot but it’s not enough. You help my point by stating that phantom might need “area denial” if he were to be an assault.
Hopefully you can clearly see why nader and fragger are not recon mercs.