Who here thinks Sawbonez should be the first Medic?

(watsyurdeal) #1

Very simple question, Sawbonez is arguably the simplest Medic to pick up and understand. So why is he not the first one we get? Why do we get a squishy merc, with shotguns, who’s arguably going to be very difficult to use well in newcomers hands?

(Ptiloui) #2

I think Aura is the best medic to begin with because, as you said, she is squishy, so you won’t be encouraged to engage every enemy in gunfight. This to learn people her primary role : revive and heal teammates.

(Jostabeere) #3

I play very offensive with Blishlok Aura.

(Ptiloui) #4

I play very offensive with Blishlok Aura.[/quote]

That’s what damn good players do, but for newcomers, your first lessons in the game should be focused on knowing your role, not killing others. That’s why we have Skyhammer (fire support, focusing on providing ammo to his team) and don’t have any assault merc (which are exclusively focusing on killing enemy).

(MisterBadmin) #5

Exedore explained why he chose Skyhammer and Aura as the default mercs here.

I definitely wanted a Medic in everybody’s always available roster, and chose Aura because the shotgun is very different from Skyhammer’s M4, and also because I loved the idea of making an African-American lady one of the first things that people see in our game.

Sawbonez is similar to medics in a lot of games, but I’d argue is too similar to Skyhammer to give a good impression of what DB is about. Sawbonez has 110 HP and 410 Speed, Skyhammer is 120 HP and 400 Speed, Aura is 80 HP and 470 Speed. A new player might not see or feel the stats differences between Skyhammer and Sawbonez. Anyone with their monitor plugged in can see the differences between Skyhammer and Aura.

(watsyurdeal) #6

Thing is people still don’t do it anyhow, how many Auras have we seen who don’t revive, but DM instead.

(n-x) #7

Both have pros and cons for a beginner.

Aura has the advantage that you can place the healing station somewhere and the other mercs come to it to get healed, giving the player more time to experience the game, see whats going on in the game and so on. The disadvantage is that DB is a FPS and people want to shoot other people and charging with Aura, when you are new to the game, isnt the best idea. Furthermore, players can develop the bad habit of not caring much about their ability, since they dont have to keep it in mind all the time. This can have a negative effect on their later playstyle with mercs who demand a more active role (like skyhammer, Arty, Phoenix, Sawbonez)

With Sawbonez it is kind of the other way around. Giving out medpacks and seeking out actively mercs who are low on health could be a bit overwhelming in the beginning, as it demands good positioning, dodging enemy fire and map knowledge to some degree. On the other hand players learn from the first moment to keep their abilities in mind which is important for their later development in DB. + They can charge with Sawbonez and have a higher chance of survival.

All in all, I think in combination with Skyhammer, who has to actively give out ammo, Aura is the better option for a starter merc than Sawbonez.

(Teflon Love) #8

The main initial difficulty with Aura probably is proper health station placement without knowing the map. Not much of an issue on max level servers where the opponents rarely know the locations either and do not attempt to constantly destroy it, but once you reach the FFA servers, it’s starts to become a different story.

But I agree with @Ptiloui, Aura is the best merc to “watch and learn” while still being useful.

If Aura really should be replaced, I’d pick Phoenix. Faster self heal and a self revive to bring you back into the game while learning it. Sure, he can’t fully heal the fat guys but this might just encourage them to cut down on the mad chicken TDM tactics and KDR fetish. :stuck_out_tongue:

(BlackboltLW) #9

Generic ability, decent amount of health and speed, and reliable primaries

What’s not to love?

Although I DO main Sawbones as my primary medic but those are considerable making him as the starter medic

(BerylRdm) #10

Everyone is talking about abilities, speed, etc. That’s why I also voted for Aura. But, when I think about it, I don’t know if I want all new people to learn playing with shotgun :slight_smile:
Aura’s default weapon was the main reason I didn’t use her at the beginning, even though I very much liked the healing station.

(bontsa) #11

Well we have certainly seen with Skyhammer how absolutely fantastically the concept of “packs” as a support ability is grasped by newbies. /s

Put it this way. You have newbie with Aura as a starter medic. Same player is pretty much on the average level of nowadays MP FPS player: the concept of “teammates” is completely alien to them until its time to find who to blame on loss.

Now, they find themselves low on hp. What they do? They pop a station down. Now, you have at least the time until this said player picks it up to come and enjoy it yourself too as a side product. Best of all often these people do not even know yet they can even pick said thing back up, meaning you got all the time to soak heals until its destroyed / they place another.

Then, you have same player with Sawbonez. They’re low themselves. They drop pack to themselves (if even that, looks like it’s easier to grasp quickchat v21 than the single-button quickability for reasons unknown to mankind). End of story, you got nothing. And most probably died to that single Hollunds shot from Chapel 1st spawn to last objective EMP building rock.

Exaggerations aside both abilities have their cons and pros, but Auras is less active meaning new player can concentrate on other stuff than keeping people alive, thats merely a by-product (healing-wise). Reviving sure its a different story but that would stay the very same issue with Sawbonez.

(SaulWolfden) #12

New players are already bad with Aura as it is, they’d be even worse with Sawbonez because they’d just only throw themselves medpacks, at least Auras can more likely accidentally heal people when they place down a station.

(Eox) #13

Aura is just better for newbies in my opinion. A new player can just lay an health station and be somewhat useful that way. With Sawbonez, new players might play selfishly and keep health packs for themselves (people complain about Skyhammers not giving ammo for a reason). In a better case scenario, they’ll have trouble to share medpacks around since people are overall pretty great to dodge medpacks. With a station, it easier : everyone gravitates around it like a fly gravitates around poop, and a selfish Aura player will at least heal people around her a bit without even noticing.

(LifeupOmega) #14

Skyhammers already don’t drop ammopacks, what makes you think a Sawbonez would drop medpacks?

Aura is the starter merc because she doesn’t require much input.

(B_Montiel) #15

Sawbonez is definitely one of most necessary merc to play. Probably one I advise newcomers to buy as soon as they can, with proxy and bushwacker.

In the meantime, Sawbonez is definitely harder to play than Aura. So in a watch and learn behaviour, he is worse than Aura indeed.

Looking at low level recently and the merc they generally buy, I really start to consider that some mercs should only be accessible after level 5, with at least an engineer and another medic bought prior to their unlock.

And by the way, the issue with low level not giving heal is not going to improve with Sawbonez made free instead of Aura.

(pumpkinmeerkat) #16

SMG medic > shotgun medic

(Dr_Plantboss) #17

Shotgun BIAS… as someone who has Aura or Proxy in his squad half the time. (Talking about me)

(KUST__LunarTM) #18

If beginners had Sawbonez, we’d just see beginner Skyhammer play but with health instead. With Aura, as long as they try to provide health at least once, it can be of use to the entire team for as long as it stays up.

(Nibbles02) #19

Shotguns are actually good for starting players in my opinion.

Personally, when I used them, they forced me to learn the maps and how to long/wall jump so I could stay in effective range and dodge incoming fire. They also helped my aim monumentally because I had to time my shots instead of just spraying in a general direction while sweeping over enemy heads until I killed someone.

They also teach you that each gun has a place and a role and that they don’t all apply to the same situation.

(BananaSlug) #20

I play very offensive with Blishlok Aura.[/quote]

That’s what damn good players do[/quote]

no, thats what you do when enemy is very bad