The best art imitates life. The same holds true for computer games, for they too should imitate the nearest counterpart in real life: all the big sports that we love (baseball, football, hockey, etc…) What make them lovable and playable, in short, is their checks and balances. Two game elements fundamentally unbalance limited-life play in Wolf ET: 1) Instant, full-heath revives, and 2) quick charging panzerfausts with SMGs (artillery at spawns also remains a problem, though this is largely the fault of map design).
Since both sides posses these elements, they cannot be considered a “cheat.â€? However, for the allies–coupled with limited lives and burdened with the task of offense–they create a distinct advantage for the Axis. More seriously, these elements violate the spirit and balance of RTCW. It is upon comparison that we see the flaws writ large.
Originally, the panzer was created as the antithesis of the entrenched Venom soldier because it was found that a medic/Venom pack down a corridor created an almost unstoppable pair. Given the obvious advantages of a one-shot one-kill weapon like the panzer, it was saddled with certain limitations. The most significant being the recharge time, wherein, after being fired, the Panzer-soldier had only his handgun to protect him. Other handicaps were the slow panzer ignition and along with the cumbersome and slow maneuvering. Yet, despite these disadvantages, the panzer sometimes retained too much of an advantage (as in the Tram map in RTCW).
In ET, the panzer is stripped away from the philosophy that gave it birth, like a child torn from its mother. There are few, if any limitations, yet the advantages afforded the panzer soldier have been INCREASED! Recharge time has been greatly increased, as have dexterity and even the ability to carry SMGs. Yet, one may ask themselves, “Why is this class afforded these incredible advantages�? Are there any other compelling reasons (i.e. since the “venom threat� is no more? Lastly, does it make the game more fun or challenging?
This same perversion of logic and design philosophy affects the medic class as well in ET. In RTCW, it was found that the medic should be given more life than the other classes, as well as continuously healing himself, so that he could revive his teammates. The problem was that more life equaled a greater ability to survive, which in turn made the medic a powerful attacker, instead of the supporting role he should be playing. To lessen this predilection to offense and to add more balance, RTCW designers gave the medic class a paltry amount of ammunition.
To these huge advantages of the medic class, ET increased while lessening his disadvantages. Now, the medic can remedy his bullet wounds with his own med packs at an accelerated rate while being shot. Combine this ability with his massive heath bar and the adrenalin shot and you have the perfect commando class—the exact INVERSION of design philosophy and logic that guided the original. Even in a proper supporting role, the medic class still exhibits too many unchecked advantages, such as the insta-revive to full heath syringe.
Unfortunately, these problems will get worse before they get better. Growth in ET membership along with player experience will only exacerbate the problem. Given that ET was an aborted product, the solution can only come from the gaming community itself, such as adjusting server setting and using the shrub mod. Given what has been stated earlier, the following changes would greatly add to the continued gameplay value of ET:
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Limiting the offensive capability of the panzer by some, or all, of the following: Slowing down the recharge rate, limiting the ammunition carried, decreasing the weapon splash damage, slowing down the projectile, making the projectile flight more realistic (i.e. adding the effect of gravity and wind), and disallowing use of SMG with panzer.
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Reducing the medic class to more of a supporting role, instead of the unintentional role as a commando-style super-class by some or all of the following: Limiting or disallowing personal med packs to healing yourself (only another med can do that), limiting the amount of life that can “auto recharge� (such as only 50%), increasing the amount of time it would take to revive a fallen teammate (similar to the time it takes to set dynamite as an engineer), limiting the amount of ammunition that can be carried, and limiting the use of an adrenalin needle to merely increasing adrenalin (not your ability to absorb damage).
Maybe I exaggerated a little, but the point stands that panzer vs SMG is