The support class is insanely overpowered

my biggest complaint about the hurtgun is that you dont have to aim

1. Yeah, he's called Support for a reason.
2. He's doing his job, he deserves it.
3. Airstrikes can be avoided pretty easily if you see them.
4. You can still grapple (or backstab) Supports even with turrets, you might get killed by the turret, but if you use dash or cloak right away they won't be a problem.
5. Every gun has infinite ammo, and if the shotgun is good up close, then just don't get too close to him.

After reading every reply in this thread, I feel that I have to weigh in from a new and fresh perspective.

I am a Support player. I'm a god damned good Support player at that. I regularly have a 3:1 K/D ratio. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn. I'm saying this so that you understand that I know the class very well. In my opinion, the Support class is by far my favorite class in the game. It's a combination of Engineer and Medic from TF2, which is right up my ally. To put it simply, I'm an artist with a turret and a shotty.

Now my opinion of the class is too bias for anyone to give two hoots about. I could go on some long-winded rant about how Support is perfectly fine and yadda yadda. But I'm not going to do that. What I'm going to do is tell you guys simply how to counter even the best Support player.

Assassin: This one is relatively straight forward. Assassins are a pain in the *** because they are insanely fast and, of course, invisible. When you're an Assassin and you're facing Support, use hit-and-run tactics. The easiest ninja to kill is the one who uses a front-grapple against Support. I'll just chase you down and blast you to death with my shotgun after you make initial contact. You gotta think like a predator. Don't go toe to toe with anyone if you're an Assassin; use hit and run tactics. Once you make initial contact, don't try and finish me off. Activate cloak and run away. A few seconds later, come at me from another angle. Wound me, scare me, make me paranoid, then finish the job at another angle. I've deployed this tactic as an Assassin against every class and it's been met with glowing success. The best Assassin is always on the move. The worst Assassin is the one who tries to go toe-to-toe with another class.

Tank/Gunner: I approach these two classes as if they were one. One has more offense, one has more defense. Straight up, Tanks and Gunners will destroy any Support class. Rule of thumb: if you turn your back on me and my shotty, I'm going to decimate you. If you swing around and fire off a few rounds, you're going to shred me into many pieces. Pancake works complete wonders, since it'll knock me back, slow me down, and allow you to kite me. The easiest Tank/Gunner to kill is one who's deployed. A well placed strike is all it takes. Word of advice? Don't deploy completely out in the open. The best place to deploy is underneath some sort of cover or bridge. If you have something overhead, I can't strike you. That simple. If you're deployed out in the open, shooting people like it's cool, then you're going to get dealt your hand with a swift strike.

Assault: This is a no-brainer. Don't go close range with Support. You've got a perfectly fine medium range gun, for chrissakes, use it. What's that? I've got a turret deployed? Destroy it with your grenade launcher. The splash damage is going to prevent me from getting close enough to heal it, and after less than a clip, my firebase will be a heap of junk.

Sniper: For the most part, Snipers, along with brilliant Assassins, are the bane of my existence. A fully-leveled Sniper is the best counter to Support. First of all, Support has a big-*** head, and moves relatively slowly compared to other Snipers and Assassins. I can throw some sweet Halo-jukes in as a defense, but eventually, a good Sniper will pick me off. Snipers, aside from Gunners and Tanks, are a great counter to firebases. A fully developed Sniper can easily trump a fully developed Support's firebase. The splash damage alone will keep me from healing it, and the powerful shots will take down the firebase itself after a handful of hits. I think the Sniper-community needs to adjust their priorities, and maybe shoot down some turrets in the name of teamwork. If I face a Sniper who goes out of his way to take out my firebases, I'll have a rough game.

The last bit of advice that I can give you guys about how to combat the Support class, isn't something that I should have to even talk about. I believe Penny Arcade said it the best: Shoot the Doctor.

Shhhh! Stop spoiling!

Meh, it's not really a secret. I like to file this type of information under "Learn to Play".

Am i doing something wrong? It usually feels like i need at least a couple clips from the grenade launcher or the sniper to destroy a firebase.

When are you ever "1vs1" on a support?
They are giant gunner magnets, with there heal gun and healing firebases, and yeah, the firebase shooting at you. Pfft, of course you can kill a support when there is nothing else, no bots, no pros, no distractions or stray bombs. But something always goes wrong, a trap, a body-slam, or maybe he just grappled you then shotgunned you right into front of the crossfire of a gunner and a firebase. r_r

Considering that your average XBox Live user is a soulless heathen that thinks only about themselves (hence why I love XBL), but I almost never see a Support glued to the *** of a Gunner.

As for the other stuff you brought up... would you prefer it that they hand you a kill wrapped up with a tiny little bow? I mean, c'mon guy, show some smarts. You strike me as the kind of guy that just rushes in, and then has no idea why he's getting slaughtered. Show some situational awareness. If there's a firebase, stay the hell away from the firebase. Is there a trap? Texas-Two-Step your *** around it. This is a game. You're going to get grappled. You're going to get trapped. You're going to get body slammed. I mean, I'm the last person you'll find saying "Learn to play", but damn, learn to play.

The Announcer is insanely overpowered.

Shhhhh... Don't share that with people

Also, PitGirl is insanely over powered :evil:

:idea:
I'm pretty sure you and "Gentleman" have both said that at least 10 times each.

Actually the more I play the more I notice the god damn air strikes ARE NOT making any noise, and often times I don't even see an icon on the ground. Once I even had the airstrike lock onto me, and I tried to charge away but the icon was literally locked onto me and I got killed. It's not lag either, my connection is fine, I'm assuming it's a bug.

I'm not calling for true "nerf", but when I'm not recieving any warning about air strikes and there's nothing I can do about getting hit by one in many situations, I call the BS card.

I only think Support has a bit to much health.

I dont think any class is overpowered.

In the words of Artie Lang... WAAAAAH!

Want to make supports feel silly? Run under a bridge when they airstrike you.. problem solved... SKILL is the issue, not balance.

Once I got a beacon attached to me as a tank so I tried to charge. I was under the damn bridge and boom I die. I chalk that up to lag, but the strike time on airstrikes is still bogus and way too short.

I wasn't aware that an instant kill that automatically locked onto a target was skill...

It is a skill to use it in the proper place, and a skill to know how to dodge it.. Players who cant do these things are not.. SKILLED.

Good luck out there..

It's getting worse, by the way.

I played 4 straight games tonight where the Support class just totally dominated anyone else out there in the field. One game, we were just rushed with Supports, and they won within minutes. They were taking down Gunners and Tanks on their own.

Anyone who's saying the Support is balanced either plays Support and doesn't want their god-powers taken away, or have never been up against someone who knows how to exploit the Support. Or they're just idiotic trolls.

This is out of control. It's beginning to ruin the game.

So you're saying Support shouldn't be able to take out a Gunner?

Hell, I do it all the time. The secret is, 80% of the Gunners don't know how to play their class. If you get a good Gunner, they'll dominate EVERYONE.