About the patch, more updates including support

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhurikeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeens!

assassins can take out firebases easily too, especially with cloak 3, but the best way is to smoke it then shuriken it

I noticed a new trend among the better support players

They will run away and hurt drain you while "bouncing" on a jump pad if you give chase

I don't mind other classes bouncing and shooting....but ya

What do you guys think?

I didn't see anyone doing it but that sounds pretty stupid, that gun has too much range anyways

Ohhhh you hush! All you have to do is take a few steps back and shuriken the general area and the support will die.

wubz you.

I'm guessing the OP hasn't played much support.. Air strike level 1 has a horribly small radius. Air strike level 2 and even level 3 has a pretty substantial cooldown period, even with Gold skill recovery. Air strike is also the only thing support has that can damage anything further than about 15 feet away.

Meanwhile, think about it... a couple shots from a sniper or one headshot and I'm dead. A gunner looks my way and I have more than 5 feet from the nearest cover to duck behind and I'm dead. A good tank is someone to ph33r as support, no matter what distance he's at. Assault? Well, if he's any good, he can be a real pain in the butt -- keeping his distance and popping me in the head while the *only* weapon I have that can reach him is an airstrike (which will mostly be a waste because he moves so fast). Assassins? Yeah, ok, I'll admit it.. I eat assassins for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with 1 or 2 shotgun shots. Is that OP? Not really, considering I'm avoiding being killed by a grapple from behind (1 hit kill), or from the front combined with a lunge (2 hit kill).

The point is.. from a distance, most of the other classes can kill a support player within a few seconds, while support only gets an air strike at the very, very best (with gold skill recovery endorsement and upgraded to level 3) every 13 seconds, and then they only have one all-or-nothing chance to kill with it.

I have and still do.

Air strike could be toned down and the support class would be just fine. I think it should only insta kill if attached.

Not this support. Gold armor makes them tough, possibly too tough, but I think it's ok. Bottom line is we don't need the easy kills/turret destruction that air strike provides, we have a lot of other useful tricks. It just seems overkill for 1 class.

How's this worse than the normal "bunny hop" shtick?

When I do that, I'll try to keep looping around them by immediately falling off and running around and to jump back up and resume the HG assuming they didn't follow. From my experience it's pretty high risk though, after doing it a few times people learn to Slam/Charge/Mine among other things, or to just not follow at all.

Uh.. you aren't the OP.. OP == Original Poster.

Like others already mentioned:

-If you get killed by hurt gun without juice, you have full health and it's 1 vs 1, then you probably are not as good as you think.

-Shotgun is only for close range. Moreover, if he misses the shot, the time he take to fire another is enough for any other class to kill him.

-AirStrike Lv1 radius is very small, I don't remember killing anyone with it. AS is the ONLY way Support can fight other classes in mid-long range and he only has a few chances before cooldown. Moreover, you can see the beacon, you can hear the sound. It may get Supports lucky kills during chaotic times, but that seem to be the only way to kill good players with it.

-Firebase. You know where it is, if you can't deal with it (many others already mentioned several ways how so I won't bother) then dont' go near the its range.

I think most of his skill only seem very OP when fighting unorganized them or people who do not know his weaknesses. There are plenty if he is alone. If he's not alone, then you probably should not try to kill him by yourself as well.

I think the main thing that needs to be looked at here is the role of the class. No, not the role I personally think he should play, but the role which is mentioned in the name itself: Support.

Why in the world does a "Support" have so many offensive abilities? An airstrike that is a OHKO in ANY situation? That's absolutely ridiculous. A shotgun? Fine. A shotgun that does that much damage? No. As it is, I see enough Supports get a ludicrous amount of kills using the no aim gun. All they do is spin and bunny hop like a freaking rabbit on a merry go round while a class who actually needs to aim helplessly tries and fails. Oh yeah, and the range is what, the ENTIRE map? Because sometimes it seems like it. Oh yeah, Firebase. That thing does way too much damage, even when it isn't hacked. And since it seems like a Support can't stay out of the 5 foot bubble surrounding the Firebase without suffering cardiac arrhythmia, the Firebase is almost ALWAYS hacked.

As to the so called "nerfs" ... I have yet to see a Support actually try to hack an enemy turret. Even when juiced all they do is kill the turrets, so I don't think that's such a big deal that the hack only works at level 3 now. And OH NOES THE RED BEAM OF DEATH BECOMES WEAKER. Oh wait, they still have Airstrikes, Firebases, and the Shotgun. Stop complaining.

I main Assassin, but my second most played class is the Support. I honestly find it unfair how many kills I can get with such overpowered skills.

TL;DR - A support should not be a weapon of mass destruction, he should SUPPORT. He has way too many offensive capabilities with the Firebase, Airstrike, Shotgun, and no aim gun. Current nerfs are not enough.

First things, Air Strike is not OHKO in any situation. It just OHKOs any normal health pro. Possibly even Overhealed. It only does a ton of damage. A fine distinction, but it is still there.

And a pro's name should in know way limit design choices. Your interpretation of a name could be completely different than what someone else's is. Artillery is referred to as air support. The ability to build a free range turret is supporting your team. The extremely limited shotgun is there to support when people charge you. You see how me simply interpreting their name differently changed the whole thing?

I've never seen anyone survive an airstrike, ever. As an Assassin with silver armor, I had just juiced, was being overhealed, and boom. Killed in one hit by an airstrike. Pretty sure it is a OHKO. It is simply ridiculous.

And I'm sorry, but "extremely limited shotgun?" Are we playing the same game here?

I'm pretty sure I've seen a juiced gunner/tank survive an airstrike, took a good chunk of health away.

Airstrikes are one of the easiest attacks to avoid. I've rarely been taken out by them, only when things are crazy and I can't get away in time or I'm stuck (which usually only happens when I play tank or gunner) and can't get under a bridge. Very powerful, but easy to detect and move away from. It also takes all 3 to take out a rockit turret or an overhealed level 3 lazerazor.

The shotgun IS limited, in range. As a support, unless I can surprise someone I'm usually the dead one shotgun or not. Gunner wastes me at midrange, tank gets me at long range and shortrange, sniper gets me at every range except just outside of grapple distance, assaults just destroy me at midrange and assassins (the good ones at least) are too fast for me to shotgun properly.

I play tank more often than I play support these days, and it's very very rare that a support will take me out with his shotun (or firebase or airstrikes)

Hack doesn't last as long, and now you need lvl3 to hack enemy turrets. Also, supports will need to sacrifice armor or skills for RoF to maintain any offensive capabilities.

A juiced tank with passive 3 and silver armor can definitely survive an air-strike. Not sure if lesser combinations of armor and lower passive ranks would also allow him to survive.

Im pretty sure from experiences I can support this claim.

Still having absolutely NO range is why the air strike is the air strike.

Wanna know what is overpowered about the support character? His deployables survive him after he dies. I'd say it is only fair the turret stays... the problem is that the airstrike is not canceled with the death of the support.

Got a bomb on you? Kill the assault and you live. Worried about ice traps? Kill the sniper and they go away. But air strikes are a different story. I don't mind the one hit kill but it only seems fair that the air strike should be aborted if the support is dead.

Once you learn how to kill the turret it's not a big deal unless you didn't know it was there.

The range of the healbeam seems a bit excessive at times. I'm not going to say where but it can easily be abused on certain maps (I'm talking about the range, not healing through glass). If you've seen it then you know what I'm talking about.

Requiring level 3 to hack enemy turrets is a needed change to prevent base rushing.

We'll have to wait for the patch to see what will happen to the rate of fire.

A minor point, but I figured worth clarifying... it only takes 2 airstrikes to take out level 1 rockits. Two airstrikes will also take out a level 3 Laser blazer, but if it's fully overhealed, I don't think that 3 will even destroy it (iirc).

I was just thinking about this last night.. so they'll require level 3 hack to hack an enemy turret which will wipe out the very fast support rush & win on the maps where it's plausible. Still, if I can make it to your ball right off the bat without having to use an air strike (I level up air strike to 2 right away), I can still take out an unhealed turret right away.

I know everyone must be sick of suggestions for the game, but I was thinking that starting with level 2 rockits in the base might actually balance things out a bit on the initial rush. They can take a lot more damage and will give a weak team a bit more of a fighting chance against a rush from a good team. Plus, from a support player's perspective, it frees you up to be able to leave the base a little more without worrying about losing your rockits so quickly.

Ah, it must have been against overhealed turrets in both cases then.

I actually wouldn't mind that at all. As it is it's really easy to take out the initial rockit turrets (support with 2 airstrikes or currently with level 2 hack, tank product grenade and jet gun, gunner's mortar). Although people might say "just play with better defense/don't leave your base undefended" I think starting with level 2's would mean more of a buildup and skirmish before breaking into a base. To counter that though we already have our fair share of games that go into overtime...