Intel Brief: LA

Palerion · 2013-03-05, 09:20 PM

Upon starting up my client, I was pleased to see that they had finally made an intel brief for this class. I thought it may clarify what the developers intended for the class in terms of its direction and what they intended it to be played as. Although I have gone over this many a time, I feel that this intel brief has confirmed that they are moving in a direction that, at least I, did not expect.

So, the playstyles listed were essentially a close quarters shock trooper (which makes sense, really) and a ranged perch-shooter. But, the emphasis was, as usual, placed on the jetpack, which is nice I'll admit.

But,this part made me feel relatively uneasy. It was essentially acknowledged that the light assault is meant to be out-gunned and is supposed to be inferior in terms of fire power. Originally, people tried to sell carbines to me with the hip-fire accuracy stats. I tried to accept and take advantage of this, but really, it irritates me that it has been acknowledged to such an extent that light assaults are supposed to be outgunned. Yes the jetpack is amazing; so is self healing and a personal shield.

My point is, although the jetpack is useful, I can't stand how they make the weaponry feel so entirely inferior. It makes the class marginally unenjoyable. Needless to say this isn't affecting me anymore; I'm through wasting my time with the class and have switched to combat medic, where I actually feel like I'm firing a reliable weapon. The name light ASSAULT deceived me into thinking I would have a nice primary weapon to ASSAULT with. Instead they are given something that seems to have now been officially labeled sub-par.

If this is how the class is going to play out, for the love of God, I think at least a name change would be in order. As a seasoned FPS player, assault translates to a powerful warrior that is very capable and versatile at killing infantry. From what I hear, the devs intended for the class to be more of an infiltrator.

I find their choice of words to name the class, combined with the cool stuff we saw a light assault do in the trailer, which features him as a powerful frontline warrior, deceitful.

I would expect something more than sub-par firepower for this class.

OCNSethy · 2013-03-05, 10:01 PM

I play LA quiet often and have it certed up reasonable well. Im at work atm and I cant recall which weapon I use but its not stock.

I hear what your saying but really, when did we ever listen to the devs

I play LA as a suprise, rather than a shock trooper. I place myself where people dont expect me to be and reap the rewards. I note that more people are looking up these day, so Im going to have to rethink my 'perch' approach. Throw C4 into the mix and its great fun.

Lets be blunt though, life is short for the LA, at least infils can cloak

They are an excellent choice for defence or attack in towers and domes but I find they can loose that edge in the wide open spaces.

Regardless of what the devs have in mind, Im sure we continue to find new ways to frustrate the enemy with our LAs.

zulu · 2013-03-05, 10:40 PM

I don't know if I'd say the Light Assault is quite as marginalized as you say it is, but I do think it doesn't really have a strong role right now. Part of the problem is that the Heavy Assault class is so strong in so many areas. It is, at least before other classes start certing into other abilities, easily the best class at killing other infantry, AND it is the best at killing vehicles. It is the generalist (do-everything) class and the DPS class and the "tank" class.

What one would expect, I think, is that the Light Assault class would be the generalist class, able to kill soldiers in most situations better than the support classes, more accurate and maneuverable than the Heavy Assault class but less heavily-armored. I like the idea of the Light Assault class -- I like jumping over a Tech Plant's walls and C4ing turrets so armor and air support can get close. I like flanking around cover in order to eliminate enemies in cover. But these are niche roles, oddly enough.

Instead, the Heavy Assault class seems to predominate, which is a little troublesome from both a gamist and aesthetic point of view. On a gameplay level, it means that there are lots of rockets flying around all the time. From an aesthetic standpoint, it seems a little odd that the main weapons you'll come across on the battlefield aren't automatic rifles but rather light machine guns and rockets.

I think there are a few ways to increase the LA's prominence. Some of these come at the expense of the HA, I should note.
1) Give the LA access to Assault Rifles. Engineers can use carbines, Medics can use assault rifles, and Light Assault Troopers can use either. LAs who want to fight at range can take the ARs, while LAs who want to jump into the midst of the enemy can take the carbines.
2) Make the rocket launcher a primary weapon. This would force HA troopers to choose between anti-armor and anti-infantry, and thus make the Light Assault a little more attractive (though not greatly, because the HA could, of course, just switch at a terminal or Sunderer).
3) Give LAs access to rocket launchers, subject to the terms above. If anyone here has ever played Battletech, a lot of infantry in that wargame tend to be equipped with jump packs, which gives them a pretty big advantage when finding cover and attacking armor. As a tank player, this would be more than a little frightening (LAs jumping up and hitting me in my top armor even if they can't reach my rear; attacking me from places I can't raise my gun to reach), but if LAs with rockets don't have access to any firearms other than pistols, I know they'll at least be few in number.

I really wish the LA were more attractive, because I think the idea of a soldier with a rocket pack is pretty neat, and if more people played the class I think we might see much more dynamic infantry combat.

EVILPIG · 2013-03-05, 11:26 PM

SOE's vision of LA is the Assassain.

PredatorFour · 2013-03-06, 02:49 AM

Originally Posted by Palerion

If this is how the class is going to play out, for the love of God, I think at least a name change would be in order. As a seasoned FPS player, assault translates to a powerful warrior that is very capable and versatile at killing infantry.

Yes you are right about the definition of assault but i'm sorry, you neglected to mention the LIGHT which is infront of it. Light assault .... not Heavy not close to being 'normal' assault. Sorry if i sound like a dick but i play light assault too and like it. My solstice is capable of dropping most enemies even at a distance too i quite like it.

Ghoest9 · 2013-03-06, 06:45 AM

The fire power really isnt the classes problem.
but it is a problem that we are more or less forced to spec extra ammo suits just for normal class play.

Dodgy Commando · 2013-03-06, 07:55 AM

I don't see how a higher rate of fire makes you sub par at the distances you are supposed to engage in.

I play Combat Medic. I pack a bigger per hit, especially at range compared to LA. But upclose, LA doesn't feel undergunned at all personally. I think their weapons suit them well.

Palerion · 2013-03-06, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by EVILPIG

SOE's vision of LA is the Assassain.

That's why I believe they should rethink their strategy here. Infiltrator is essentially the same thing. It seems taboo to have 2 assassin classes.

Originally Posted by PredatorFour

Yes you are right about the definition of assault but i'm sorry, you neglected to mention the LIGHT which is infront of it. Light assault .... not Heavy not close to being 'normal' assault. Sorry if i sound like a dick but i play light assault too and like it. My solstice is capable of dropping most enemies even at a distance too i quite like it.

I was going to mention the light part, but couldn't think of how to voice my opinion on it. Essentially I am saying the class needs a re-naming or re-purposing. When we see two assault classes, one named heavy and one light, we don't expect them to be polar opposites (door-basher vs assassin) but we expect one to be a stationary gunner suppression kind of point man (which HA is) and the other to be a more basic grunt.

Instead, it does seem as though Light Assault has been placed in an overlapping "Assassin" category with the infiltrator. If Light Assault doesn't either change purposes or change names, I think it should be clarified that combat medic is the more "medium assault" grunt class (although when I hear medic, that is not what I think of).

You really don't sound like a dick, and I get what you mean, but I don't think you're quite understanding my point: Light Assault kind of sounds, simply by the fact that it has assault in its name, like it could be played well as a grunt, not an assassin, as the developers are currently leaning towards.

Originally Posted by Dodgy Commando

I don't see how a higher rate of fire makes you sub par at the distances you are supposed to engage in.

I play Combat Medic. I pack a bigger per hit, especially at range compared to LA. But upclose, LA doesn't feel undergunned at all personally. I think their weapons suit them well.

LA does not have a higher rate of fire than combat medic. If it really had a close range advantage I would have no complaints whatsoever, but it doesn't. Carbines are, and this has been essentially clarified by the devs, outgunned by ARs and LMGs. I believe they said all the other classes have "superior firepower".

zulu · 2013-03-06, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by PredatorFour

Yes you are right about the definition of assault but i'm sorry, you neglected to mention the LIGHT which is infront of it. Light assault .... not Heavy not close to being 'normal' assault. Sorry if i sound like a dick but i play light assault too and like it. My solstice is capable of dropping most enemies even at a distance too i quite like it.

I think of it as "light" as in "light infantry," which is, in fact, the "normal" type of infantry seen today.

The name, to me, connotes more of a skirmisher, and that's certainly how the class is sold (flank enemies with your jet pack), but a more complete version of such a class would include more long-range firepower.

The more I think about it, I really like the idea of LA having access to assault rifles. I wish SOE did that.

Corvo · 2013-03-07, 03:21 AM

Does anyone remember these class descriptions SOE had on the website in early beta? I don't have screenshots to prove it, but I'm pretty sure Light Assault was initially meant to be an explosives specialist, with exclusive access to C4 and a larger variety of tactical grenades than it has today.

That is still the way I want them to develop the class - not a blunt "assault" type but rather a "commando" (not a subpar perching sniper, if that makes sense).

Qwan · 2013-03-07, 06:47 AM

Hey guys another LA guy here, I play my light assault quite often, I mean depending on the situation, and if play correctly can be formitable, even when taking down max's, Just last night I used the new shot gun and took out a max with all 7 rounds of course but it did the job, I also use the solstice and the solstice burst because when purched in high places accuracy makes the difference. I mean light assault is exactly what the phase is light assault, able to use what he has to get the job done. My standard load out for my light assault load out is two blocks of C4 or extra ammo. A good example of when I use my light assault is when I have enemy in a building and I want to assault from the top down, or when were assaulting a tower, I can go up tower walls, pop of some shots and jump away, or find a nice perch and fire down on the enemy. I see lots of video's that show the effectiveness of the LA. I think the LA is defining its self as a stand alone class quite well.

ThatGoatGuy · 2013-03-07, 07:44 AM

Light Assault: Trac 5 S with N008 tube and rape face (bring an engy).

ThatGoatGuy · 2013-03-07, 07:45 AM

Wait, do you guys prefer drifter or jump jets?

Palerion · 2013-03-07, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by Corvo

Does anyone remember these class descriptions SOE had on the website in early beta? I don't have screenshots to prove it, but I'm pretty sure Light Assault was initially meant to be an explosives specialist, with exclusive access to C4 and a larger variety of tactical grenades than it has today.

That is still the way I want them to develop the class - not a blunt "assault" type but rather a "commando" (not a subpar perching sniper, if that makes sense).

And commando is what it seems like it should be geared towards, not assassin.

I don't think having 1/3 of the classes being sneaky classes makes much sense.

But, again, commando is what I envisioned when I heard "light assault". And skirmisher. It seems like the light assault should be played as it is in the video: running out in the thick of it, guns blazing. His rifle should be more important than it currently is. And he probably should have a larger variety of lethal grenades and equipment.