Who here thinks Sawbonez should be the first Medic?

(Lord.Eblis) #21

@Nibbles
I do not think that shotguns are good for starting players, they are harder to use, slower, have a smaller distance of dmg and in my opinion, do not forgive at all as to be effective you need to be in real cqb and have a solid aim wich is harder to begin with.

I myself, even if I play a lot, a lot, a lot of BF4, didn’t even begin with aura+shotgun.
I preferred the Blishlok wich is more versatile and I quickly decided to buy Sawbonez without trying him --> it’s a kind of answer to the OP but it’s a yes and no :slight_smile:

To be honest I only begin to appreciate Aura lately by buying a Remburg7 loadout because I wanted to give a try to the shotguns.
Her speed is very nice, I’m more confident in going vs 1-3 players with that shotgun “just to try”. And I said to myself recently “she’s the first medic merc we have in the game, I should have tested her more from the beginning”.

But to be honest I prefer Sawbonez as someone said “he is more similar to medic in other games”, a mobile medic, a little tougher, better weapon.

When playing execution I chose him over Aura cause I believe I can live a little longer and take down some tougher mercs + the ability to be independent thanks to big medpacks is the thing I appreciate the most.

Maybe it’s a BF4 habit. It certainly is.

But, because there’s a but : I do not like Sawbonez speed, I find him slow.
For a medic I would prefer something a little faster to reach downed team mates in less time and that’s where comes Aura’s Force, her ability to pass through the fire lines to revive.
That could not be done with Sawbonez whose slow speed forces him to interact with enemies to pass those lines. After all 110 hp is “just” two more bullets in the body or one in the head compared to Aura, so a bit more speed would be great to force players to use him as a medic of the first line of fire, the one who rush to revive and heal, not the one who is looking for tdm confrontation.

So my answer is : - Aura as first merc, so people can try this class, even if she’s bit weak, wich will force them to stick to the healer role + so they have a good idea of what a fast medic can do in this game.

  • Sawbonez as second medic : people by playing some dozens of hours will be more confident in getting on the front lines, and would succeed more playing an aggressive medic.

–> Now : I see many very good Aura’s players out there who have a good station placement that make them almost invincible, they play really aggressive with shotguns and are hard to take down. Put a fatboy beside her like Rhino who will eliminate the threats and she becomes a Voodoo god of healing almost impossible to kill and who reaches and revives all the team mates in the area : a real danger.

“I loved the idea of making an African-American lady one of the first things that people see in our game”
I’m totally okay with that idea, and I loved that diversity in DB, but to be honest, I really disliked Aura and Fletcher’s voices, too much cliché, too much caricatural if I may say; they remind me of the bad ones in Hardline. Sawbonez voice is good, relaxed, a “normal without any exaggerated accent” African-American voice.
Didn’t like Aimée exaggerated accent, too fake, she’s not french :slight_smile: she want us to believe that! :slight_smile: she’s not funny at all. Looooved Bushwaker, Rhino and Nader are funny : DefuuZing Ze C-FO! Stoker so classy …

(Nibbles02) #22

[quote=“EBLIS;200070”]@Nibbles
I do not think that shotguns are good for starting players, they are harder to use, slower, have a smaller distance of dmg and in my opinion, do not forgive at all as to be effective you need to be in real cqb and have a solid aim wich is harder to begin with.[/quote]

All of this is exactly my point, minus the solid aim. You don’t need to have amazing aim to use shotguns, but the fact that they’re so hard to apply against burst and auto weapons is what makes them so great for new players. Instead of allowing players to crutch on an easier weapon and develop bad habits like bad fire control and camping, it forces the user to improve their skill and play in a way that is arguably better than sitting back with an assault rifle and never maneuvering around the map or engaging in CQC.

The fact that Aura has such a limited range with most of her loadouts is what makes the user more likely to revive downed teammates instead of trying to clear an area first, which is something you might do with Sawbonez or Phoenix.

(Dawnlazy) #23

I think Aura being free and Sawbonez being cheap is a good setup. Aura is very hard to screw up completely when playing, as long as you drop your station behind cover in a general area close enough to combat, you’re contributing to your team and if you’re really new to the game it frees up your time to go move/shoot stuff and grasp the basics. Then Sawbonez at a cheap 30k credits makes him a tempting purchase if the player likes being a medic, which is great because he is a really good complement to Aura in a player’s initial roster.

(enigmaplatypus) #24

i really don’t have much of an opinion but here it is XD i actually love both sawbonez and aura. however i think the tutorial needs work or needs to be mandatory. people who just start the game have no clue how to medic. :frowning: i would be fine if either one was free and you had to buy the other. i would find it interesting if new players were not given a medic but where given another merc, who that would be i have no clue.

(Sorotia) #25

Trouble is people don’t know that…and if they know that I’ve seen newbs use their shotgun from a mile away.

Sawbones is straight forward and has multiple gun options including his starter weapon which is the beginner friendly SMG 9.

Aura is either shotguns or the Blish, which are both more advanced weapons.

(averagerussian) #26

My option is make Vassili cost 50.000

(AnonOmis1000) #27

@Kelben the other thing to consider is, who would be the best medic for a noob on your team to have? Do you want a Sawbones who forgets they can give out health packs, or an Aura who puts down a healing station and forgets about it once they’re topped off?

(AnonOmis1000) #28

I think what everyone is forgetting here is that a new player should have access to a variety of weapon types. In the most basic sense, SMGs are mechanically similar to assault rifles (what Skyhammer has access to). The next most common weapon type in the game are shotguns. They lend to a very different play style that new players may enjoy more than what SMGs and assult rifles require.

(SirSwag) #29

Scrub Auras don’t put down heal stations to begin with. I can’t imagine them trying to handle health packs refreshing every few seconds.

(Nibbles02) #30

Not just that, throwing the health packs is mostly useful when you can get direct hits on people because then there’s a bonus to health given and XP received. Giving newbies Sawbonez as the default would be expecting them to be able to lead shots and hit teammates most of the time.

Given, they’re already expected to do this with Skyhammer, but his ammo packs regenerate faster so it’s more forgiving if you miss.

(frostyvampire) #31

I think Vassili and Phantom should be the first 2 mercs you get.
Aura is just for noobs and Skyhammers’ never drop ammo so they both should cost credits

But on the serious note I really don’t mind. Aura and Sawbonez are both simple
Also Sawbonez is tankier which might make some noobs push and die instead of healing.

I voted for Sawbonez but either way they are both simple and I don’t care which one is free

(hawkeyeguy99) #32

I think Aura is the best choice for starting medic. She is like proxy in that in the hands of a new player her support abilities are throw-and-forget. Once the new players put a health station down they go do other things and get automatic XP and credits from the support. For that reason I think she works as the starter medic better, even if she is harder to master/get kills with.

(Tanker_Ray) #33

Besides the fact Aura is super squishy and half-useless without her properly deployed station,

Healing station’s problem is

It requires the same game experience just like Bush’s turret does : Basic map geography

Yes, you can put your station just by pressing Q.

But this is whole different thing when newbies just deploy it at spawn point, or open field without thinking.

All fixed deployables need at least basic knowledge where to put it, or how the map looks like.

There is no such thing as ‘accidentally heals someone’ if the station is not properly deployed.

Everybody knows healing station is no.1 target to destroy among all deployables.

Though the reason shy Aura is starter’s merc is quite reasonable, I strongly insist that Sawbonez should be the base medic.

Eventhough pressing Q is still hard for some fools, med pack is much much better when it comes to ‘learning the game’.

(Dysfnal) #34

People already complain about skyhammers not giving ammo, we don’t need to extend that to medics not healing whatsoever, at least a bad aura can be utilized by players

(Apofenas) #35

Sawbones is not a good starting merc. Look at any free rotation with Sawbones: majority of new players only heal themselves. Ironicly that’s his main drawback over other medics. Sadly, but i saw people thinking that rate of his self-heal is basic rate for every merc he heals…

For the record, how many <10 lvl Skyhammers support their team with ammo? Do you expect them to use Sawbones differently?

I don’t like Aura as starting merc too. She requires knowledge where to put heal station and other team requires knowledge and sometimes specific mercs and team work to counter well placed HS guarded by some Rhino/Thunder/Fragger.

I’ve seen newb Auras making so many mistakes with HS and I would need a huge wall of text to list them all. Her weapon are not very good for starters - shotgun is a situational weapon and Blishlock is hardest SMG to use. Shotgun with no knowledge is miserable weapon, but when some of Auras realise how to use shotgun-speed-size combo, they start wrecking other starters and it is obviously not a fun starting game play experience for them.

I think the Phoenix should be the starting medic. He is faster and less armored then Sawbones, has no self-heal penalty and can heal team mates nearby whenever he means it or not. It’s a good experience for starters to not just kill enemies, but finish them too. If i’m not mistaken, SD gave him for free last year, right? Only problem i see with him is he needs his pulse charged…

(Herr_Hanz) #36

im ignoring everyone elses opinion and commnets and just gonna post what i think, without bothering if it has been said or not.

aura is better because when scrubs accidently press the quick ability button, you will have a permanent healing station (no matter how badly placed) instead of one medpack that will be gone withing 1 sec.

(SnakekillerX) #37

Probably already stated several times but… a noob player playing Aura can still contribute a heck of a lot more by placing a healing station (place it and forget it), even if placed poorly, than a sawbonez who rarely throws med packs, and in poor places.

Aura would be easier in this regard as it takes little effort to drop a healing station and be helpful, with that in mind she is very squishy yes, which should hopefully force new comers to stay glued to their healing station, and near other team mates.

(Xyfurion) #38

To be honest, any medic that would teach players their roles as a medic, I will be happy with. I just want to be revived.

(Orivar) #39

hmm…