Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
About skills balance
rosco
Member Posts: 51
I was happy to see so many skills int the tree, but now that I've built 8 characters I noticed that the 1st skills I choose are the same for all the characters.
jetpack boost (whatever it's called)
energy boost
damage reduction (to get 3 skill in comon tree)
energy restoration
Why would you ignore a skill that makes you fly twice as longer ? Or shoot 40% more and fly 40% farther ? Compare it to the +3% damage in melée and the melee block. Is there really a choice here ?
I bet that 90% of the players have chosen the same path in skill tree. This can be a problem, as we might see the same templates for every class. The common skills are OP, the secondary skills needs a buff.
Comments
When I go deep into one of the specific class trees i do notice a difference. Balance is just a general tree everyone has access to. I wouldn't call it OP since any class can take them.
I think the point he is making is that it is OP since it is basically required among everyone. Thus limiting the options you really have.
If Counter-Strike had an item that silenced your boots, you would see every single competition player buy it and it wouldn't really be extra options.
When something is so good or basic that everyone will get, then you dont have variety. You are just letting the player choose to hinder themselves by NOT getting it.
It's also best to go with what is better in the long run, sometimes, instead of just what can benefit you immediately.
It honestly depends on what kind of player you want to be. Looking at GA as the team based game that it is, I observe that your definite first choices tend to be only that which is buffing to yourself. Since mainly points are not achieved here by getting a good KDR, it is usually advised to support your team a bit, instead of picking off n00bs as they come out of the spawn point.
Now, as a mainly Robotics, I would tend to get +25% drone time, or +20% shield health, because, as Robotics, I won't be using my gun much, and my jetpack either. What you chose there is generally only benefitial to Recons, and somewhat Assault.
I have computers; they are fast.
I personally don't see the need to take these skills, especially first, but that might vary from class to class. For instance as an assualt you get access to a whole spread of hit points/dmg reduction talents in the tank tree so I would rather invest there. There is a power boost skill that boost multiple other aspects as well near the end of explosives tree too. The jetpack I have yet to reach a point where i go "wow if I could have only flown a little further" so i never put points here...even in beta.
With Robotics in beta I never had power issues and only went into the balance tree with my last couple skill points at the high twenties. I can see the up front appeal of additional HP or power but the end skills at the other tree's are a much larger boost imo and with only 13 skill points you are limited on what you can grab ... what you pick from balance I think really depends on your playstyle.
Balance has some decent skills but it's not as awesome compared the class specializations. The only two essentials are jetpack and the 40% extra energy and even that is optional. The extra protection is against melee only (physical) and the other talents doesn't compete with your class specializations. Recons for example is primarily a counter to robotics taking out the turrets. For them to be really effective at it they would be gimping themselves going balance only. Same for medics and robotics. Haven't tried the Assault class to offer any real insight but the 'toughness' line of skills in their primary is better than anything balance offers, in terms of defense I would think. Their job is to tank the hell out of payload and king of the hill maps. We all have out preferences and far from me to tell people how they should spec themselves. These are just my opinions.
As for making 8 characters. Why?. You have unlimited free re-specs. If you want to try a new build then just head to the re-spec center and re-allocate your points. You can do this between maps if you like to change a lot. You really only need 4 characters. I'm not telling you how you should play the game or anything, just a heads up and some advice.
I am surprised anyone is even trying to argue this, except in particular cases about 80% of the builds will take at least JP power and power pool.
Other than Robo or a Recon with heavy duration/-recharge on bionics (which is roughly 50/50 with bionics on) you are incredibly disadvantaged in general and devastatingly so on a map like Scramble.
The sniper accuracy/ROF skill is pretty big for a serious sniper. But that is one of the only skills i can think of that has as large of an effect as the JetPack power. And a serious sniper is helped immensely by JP power. Finally not all recons go sniper but almost all recons and assaults take JP power and most medics too so that they can keep up with the assaults.
It does not matter how tough you are if you can't get to the fight well or in some cases get far enough away from the fight.
I delayed taking Jetpack power and the power boost. I was mostly sniping which is MUCH more forgiving on power than the recon rifle; the JP power skill is huge. Too huge, its stupid huge. I could see for a class like Robo how its a valid choice since they are about emplacements. But for other classes its just a game changer.
I play an assault and my build focuses on burst aoe damage. I never take Jetpack power and even at 30 i have to decide whether i want increased power regen and +6% aoe damage from balance tree or -20% cooldown reduction for my grenade off-hands as i don't have the skill points for both.
The sniper accuracy/ROF skill is pretty big for a serious sniper. But that is one of the only skills i can think of that has as large of an effect as the JetPack power. And a serious sniper is helped immensely by JP power. Finally not all recons go sniper but almost all recons and assaults take JP power and most medics too so that they can keep up with the assaults.
It does not matter how tough you are if you can't get to the fight well or in some cases get far enough away from the fight.
I delayed taking Jetpack power and the power boost. I was mostly sniping which is MUCH more forgiving on power than the recon rifle; the JP power skill is huge. Too huge, its stupid huge. I could see for a class like Robo how its a valid choice since they are about emplacements. But for other classes its just a game changer.
I honestly don't even touch the balance tree with my recon. I have tried a pure sniper build and it can pretty much kill any player in two hits with range stim and visual scanner unless it's an assault who went defensive. An optimal sniper build in my opinion would be
Max Recon Rifle skills = 6 points
Stim Duration + Stim boost = 2 points
Super SharpShooter = 1
That leaves you with 4 extra points you can put in balance for extra energy and energy regen if you want. I prefer to spend them on run speed and a quick re-stealth
The two most powerful build would be melee (My favorite) coupled with stun and fire detonation devices. You can take out a player before he is out of stun, or the straight up two shotting sniper build. With the melee build you can drop EMP and Fire Bomb right in the middle of a Robo and his med station. Bombs will take out the med station while you kill the Robo easy style
Jetpack power is a crutch imo, both my assault and recond don't have it and i do fine. It just takes some extra thought on the logistics of a map. Granted yes you are less mobile against melee but i tend to stay away from places they can corner me.
On a map like Scramble no amount of "being smart" makes up for the time you lose not having jetpack+40% power pool and in addition you can't help scout out the next spawn of the point. The only thing comaprable is maxed out bionics with duration boost which is super ninja and lets you stealth.
And considering many skills are lackluster you can fit in JP super frigging easy.
Ive notice this with my robo toon, It seems the best I can do is run out of range of the stun bomb (if I see it), if I dont see its a 95% guarantee kill of me by the recon. And that 5% is only if Im lucky enough to get my "Eye" out.
Seems a little unfair to me that the best I can hope for is to drive the recon away. While 9 times out of 10 he'll kill me and destroy everything Ive built.
The sensor is almost worthless when it comes to stealth detection. Yeah I can see him on the mini map, best I can do is spray and pray and hope I uncloak him, or throw out my "Eye" and hope I kill him. If I dont, he'll be back and destroy everything Ive built before my "Eye" is off of cooldown. And yes I took the 2 skills to reduce offhand cooldowns and went all the way (or almost) down the drone tree.
Not a whine, but as a robo I have zero defense against that build you listed, unless I get lucky.
*shrug*
"I understand that if I hear any more words come pouring out of your **** mouth, Ill have to eat every fucking chicken in this room."
good robos are a recon's worst enemy. just cuz youre managing your turret farm, that doesnt mean you dont have to be aggressive defending it. drone robos are powerhouses in assaulting a point.
I agree with drone robo being nasty. I went pure drone spec and people flee when I put one down. It's not they do so much damage but because they are hit repeatedly without being able to bunny jump or circle jerk out of it
No, a bad recon is a recons worse enemy.
And I agree when Im assaulting and not defending a point is when Im strongest. But on defense putting up a turret nest is an exercise in futility...if the other side has recons worth a sh*t.
You know the ones who check the corners of a room before they uncloak or arnt sniper spec.
And like I said in the above post, those recon spec's are guaranteed to kill me, and I have no defense against it. Unless the recon is stupid. And so far recons in the 25-30 lvl range are anything but stupid.
(Not saying that spec is OP either, just saying I have zero defense against it, unless I get lucky)
Yeah at lower lvls, I could tend my nest easy, see a recon decloak and start hitting my turret or med-station. I'd just throw out the "eye", repair the turret or station for a few then switch to mace when the recon is around 30% health and boom hes dead.
At those low lvls a good recon would throw down a mine or fire grenade before he started attacking, if he was smart. But like I said most recons are a recons worse enemy, especially at lower lvls.
"I understand that if I hear any more words come pouring out of your **** mouth, Ill have to eat every fucking chicken in this room."
I totally agree that a bad recon is his own worst enemy.
I've had a lot of fun with robos. A well nested robo is a tough nut to crack, but doable even at low levels.
Though, I do have to shake my head in shame when I see a recon run up and start meleeing the robo without throwing a bomb down or making sure he's out of arc of the turret. Thats as bad as when recons go meleeing assaults with a pocket healer and never target the healer.
The most effective counter to a recon is another recon because of visual scanner. VS + a recon rifle can really mess up a melee recon. However that means that recon is probably not countering a robo which is generally more useful.
Any build of recon can kill a robo if he gets stunned by EMP bomb. A melee build or a sniper build, but that is if they get stunned and when they throw down the EMP bomb they are vulnerable to be targeted by a turrent for a bit and if they get hit stealth will need to go from purple to blue before they are safe. And in general due to the "!" warnign signal stunning good players is not a reliable thing unless they are seriously hunkering down in a corner repairing something. Personally I almost never get hit by satchel chrages.
As for the so called "two shot kill" build well that is only for some people, you will not two shot kill every class and certainly not every player even for a class with a build that has not +HP and no +Ranged protectioin. The sniper rifle simply does not have a fast enough ROF to kill some fast players quick enough and that buff will only last 5 seconds stacked