Cross Atu wrote:
Seriously though the idea that the triple stacked damage mods trump any other option is a bit silly.
Is It? The role of the Assault is like the DPS role in any other MMO. It's to apply Damage and apply it fast. If you wanted to tank damage then you would stack all shields and all armor or roll a Heavy.
If you are defending a location and the enemy is coming, you want to apply damage and apply it fast. So why would damage mods not trump everything. i seem to remember people losing their minds about the old LR and damage mods and how it melted people's faces.
Cross Atu wrote:
Should shields gain their eHP through on board regen while armor is focused on buffer? Sure. That however does not equate to a legitimate reason for dismissing the reps disparity and directly comparing only raw HP totals. The support of a teammate is not a given nor is it a viable way to compare the balance of mods within each tanking line.
While those two armor tankers are repping each other after battle the shield tankers, with their higher base move rate, are already en route to the next tactical objective.
Yes, but you can't just balance on solo play. Watch any pub match, the side that doesn't play as a team gets ROFLstomp Redlined almost immedaitely. its how the game works. The point is that 1v1 with alittle distance and no cover, the armor tank will wreck the shield tank and there should be some downside to that. And that the shield tank is more mobile is the downside, just like the scout can't stand up to the Assault, but the scout is faster. and can do the same things you have said. Should we ban the scout class?
Cross Atu wrote:
So the whole point of a shield tank is to tank, while the whole point of an armor tank is to fit damage mods?
In essence the drawback to shields is that you can't fit damage mods and the drawback to damage mods is you can't fit shields so armor is useful because it's on a low slot... that doesn't sound like it's balanced that sounds like it's describing the utility of armor mods to a shield tanker. It ignores movement, it ignores profile, it ignores fittings upgrade mods.
It's also assuming that stacked damage mods are the best value for all fittings and roles, but lets get back to fittings.
Looking back to MMOs, you have Melee DPS and Kiting DPS (Kiting means to skirmish). Given again the job of Assault is to apply DPS, Shields with their regenitive nature are all about Skirmishing, you attack, you fall back, Attack, you are highly mobile. They are best used against people with NO REGEN because that is the nature of Skirmishing. if you attack and fall back and they just regen, you gain nothing.
Armor PLATES. HEAVY PLATES you wrap around your body, they make you slow. but in return you carry more firepower. So yes, you should have a higher EHP, no regen (Because really. Repairing an armor plate in 3 seconds? It can take hours and days at a repair shop). But you deal more damage and are more stationary. Just like a Heavy.