Just watched some PlanetSide 2 gameplay (other large scale team-based MMO FPS), and I'm jealous that they get jetpacks.

Jealous they have 1000 people on the battlefield....but they don't offer what dust offers.

I can see jetpacks being a nuisance and exploited to no ends. You know what I would use them for? Dropping down and kiling all snipers on hills as soon as they set up. Or, dropping in enemy spawns and blowing up LAVs as soon as they spawn. Or, better yet, kill a few people in the spawn and fly out there before timer runs out. Or, just flying away whenever I see a tank.

Can you see the effect now? And I'm not big on using exploits so imagine those that are

Read Before expressing your hatred of this idea.

Jetpacks can be balanced, can be useful, and are inherently fun.

[HOW THEY SHOULD WORK]

Jetpacks should take 5 or 6 seconds to activate: this will prevent people from using them to cower out of gun battles.

Guns cannot be used while jetpack is active: This will keep them from being overpowered.

Jetpacks should have very limited climb: This will prevent people from being able to fly up high on top of towers to camp. EDIT: The climb is limited, but still high enough to get on a small building.

Jetpacks flight should be limited by regenerating power system similar to infantry stamina (maybe 15-20 seconds of continuous flight): This will prevent people from being in the air for too long.

Players with active jetpacks should be susceptible to swarm launcher lock-on and fire.

EDIT: It is to be a vehicle, not a module, or equipment.

[USEFULNESS]

Jetpacks would be very useful, especially for the logistics dropsuits. It could be used for flying past enemies to plant drop uplinks for his team to spawn, or flying to downed players to revive.

Jetpacks would be considerably useful for scouts to get on top of buildings to spot and call out enemy locations for their team, and provide covering fire.

Jetpacks would be useful for general travel on large battlefields if a player needs to travel alone in which extra seats aren't needed. Some might think lone travelers imply lack of teamwork, or lone-wolves, but travelling alone can be useful for the team if the player is acting as a distraction, or sneaking behind enemies to hunt them down (which prevents them from getting to objectives), or to call out their positions.

Jetpacks would NOT REPLACE DROPSHIPS, nor render them obsolete. Jetpacks would occupy a very different niche. Dropships would remain vital because of all the things they can do or have that jetpacks don't; dropships would have much higher climb, much more armor and shields, turrets, and slots to customize (like adding a CRU).

* Jetpacks don't have to look or even fly like anything like conventional jetpacks. It could even look like a more horizontal version of the inertia dampener animation with a different color effect or something.


EDIT:
They don't have to be as "nerfed" as I present them in the OP, but It would be good for them to start that way, then gradually balanced into just the right amount of power. Otherwise, they might start out too strong, and cause a massive uproar, then get overnerfed to uselessness.
Despite all the proposed limitations (which are totally subject to change), I still think they will be quite useful because of the boost of personal speed.
The low-flying nature of jetpacks would make them harder for swarm launcher users to spot them, so they're not all that vulnerable.

EDIT 2: Being unable to use guns, and having to wait 5+ seconds just to activate jetpacks may make it not fun, so those proposed limitations can be dropped.

EDIT 3: Though I use logistics as an example, it should not be limited for only one suit.

Ok... you may unleash your hate now.

http://www.hisstank.com/gi-joe-news/attach/4/2/0/1/1/Kemp-Remillard-GI-Joe-Cobra-Jetpack_1338584250.jpg

Something similar to this would be cool.

Hey guys,

My idea for a future equipment type, the "Inertial Capacitor", would be a tacticians best friend. Essentially the exact opposite of the Inertia Dampener, the Inertial Capacitor would use similar technology to create an momentary inter-spacial disturbance that would fling its user at high speed in whatever direction it is pointed.

Essentially you would take out the device, hold down R1 until it is charged, and then when you release the button there would be a small burst of blue energy that fires to towards your reticle. This would allow snipers to find creative perches, blitzers to close the distance between them and their target, and infiltrators to leap fortress walls. This could of course be balanced by adjusting stats such as cost, range, charge time, cool-down time, resource requirements, etc. as to avoid making it overpowered.

...So? What do you think?? Feel free to add your own suggestions to this as well