Agent Balancing

[AzureCat]

I only suggested it because I don't want to be a CH attached to a rifle. It gets old fast. I'd much rather do something agent-esque, and others will probably agree.

I'm just getting kinda sick of being a one trick pony. That's certainly not why I rolled an agent. I'd far rather do what I imagined when I rolled one, being able to change functionality on the fly and kill stuff like an assassin. It turns out agent is absolutely nothing like that and I should have rolled a Trox Shade.

The problem is more that there are so few viable combat false/mimic professions and because of that the useful ones are being overused. The solution is to figure out which false professions are badly underused and figure out how to make them better, so that Agents actually have options they could choose when false professioning.

[sultryvoltron]

The problem is more that there are so few viable combat false/mimic professions and because of that the useful ones are being overused. The solution is to figure out which false professions are badly underused and figure out how to make them better, so that Agents actually have options they could choose when false professioning.

This.

Although, with True Prof, we can't receive new buffs. We have to receive new combat related nanos that require us to actually be the profession to use them, otherwise we're in the same boat but with new True Prof buffs.

[Lupusceleri]

How about YOU MIMIC ENFORCER...CHALLANGER = MORE AR ... RAGE and run out after you've alpha'd...

Not to mention mimic enf get's a lot of nice stuffs ... ess/screen/layers/rage/minor init buff/mongo/challanger....

lol

[zeet]

The one thing I don't like about this thread is for the balancing thing we're just requesting more stuff that'll make our agents better, and of course every other prof will be requesting more stuff so in the end wouldn't it just make it worse?

For any class to really become balanced, strip 'em. The heal debuff idea is nice but smart agents will get around that crap but simply going Soldier, no need to heal there and it's not Doc, Soldi, and even Trader are the only choices we can use, it's just our best survivability. Survival is all about being able to live, we can numb the damage, heal the damage, or nerf the damage to survive, any FP that can't do that won't really interest me as an agent unless I just want to be a douchebag rooting people and blinding or something of that matter.

My 2 creds.

[torakx]

The one thing I don't like about this thread is for the balancing thing we're just requesting more stuff that'll make our agents better, and of course every other prof will be requesting more stuff so in the end wouldn't it just make it worse?

For any class to really become balanced, strip 'em. The heal debuff idea is nice but smart agents will get around that crap but simply going Soldier, no need to heal there and it's not Doc, Soldi, and even Trader are the only choices we can use, it's just our best survivability. Survival is all about being able to live, we can numb the damage, heal the damage, or nerf the damage to survive, any FP that can't do that won't really interest me as an agent unless I just want to be a douchebag rooting people and blinding or something of that matter.

My 2 creds.

nice post.

ye i thought about that myself when i heard about prof balancing.but i guess in the end it will be up to the game director mainly which profs get the love and which get nerfed.
so IF they do agree agents need some fixing then im confident what i posted would really change agents to what they were meant to be.

the idea behind the heal debuff was to make more agents choose sol/trader etc.mix it up a little and give us some options. and most importantly fix our rubbish perks so we can actually use these other fps alot more effectively.as is i think we really need more defence but thats only because our perks are lacking. imo fix the perks properly like in the original post and we wont need that defence as much.

also if anyone can think of good ways to make the other mimics viable in pvp please share as i couldnt so far think of much else to do with the other ones.

[K1nkstaah]

The only way to make them viable is open up the real nanos of that profession, like BOL, etc, and have the mimic profession buff itself, give modifiers specific to that class.

For example mimic soldier could add +dam, AR, some HP, etc. Let agents cast the SL reflect auras, etc.

Mimic adventurer (the buff) could give some evades, same with mimic MA, Mimic fixer, mimic crat, etc.

But youd have to allow everything those classes uses to be castable, knowing agent nanoskills in mimic it wouldnt be easy, and it wouldnt really be possible to be proficient in every mimic due to IP cost.

[Ebondevil]

But youd have to allow everything those classes uses to be castable, knowing agent nanoskills in mimic it wouldnt be easy, and it wouldnt really be possible to be proficient in every mimic due to IP cost.

And still we wouldn't be as good as those professions since we'd lack their perks, and their gear (Heal Efficiency, Nano Damage etc.) but it would make a lot more professions a lot more viable, and open up some interesting combinations of buffs.

Doubt it would ever happen though.

[AzureCat]

Personally, I think most nanolines should be opened up. Fixergrid/Beacon Warp for example would go a long way into making false profs into those classes more useful. Some nanolines, however, like the top-tier Engineer/Crat/MP pets and Grid Armor should still remain restricted (or at least, the effect on balance thoroughly studied before even being considered to be added to the Agent toolset).

[zeet]

I actually think agents are well geared to deal with almost any situation, we have "options" and at least get options to deal with different situations. Are you defensively setup and lack AR? Enfo or Trader. Like to heal through the damage? Doc for CH. Like to take the damage and live? Soldier

Then with TP you can extra run of buffs, Fixer NCU and run speed, MA evades and crit, NT's cost and nano regen, MP for newer decent heal pet, Engi for reflects and NSD, etc etc

Sure some of these options suck, but we got them, and can get creative to try different things out, and while Doc is the cookie cutter, we do have options and other agents have proven it could work.

My other 2 creds.

[Ebondevil]

Some nanolines, however, like the top-tier Engineer/Crat/MP pets and Grid Armor should still remain restricted (or at least, the effect on balance thoroughly studied before even being considered to be added to the Agent toolset).

Best way in my opinion to balance them out, while still having them useful and allowing Agents to use them, would be to force them OE and useless if your profession changed out of the one required to cast it, so Agents could cast Shadowweb Spinner or Grid Armour, but to get any benefit from it they would need to stay as a fixer, they couldn't TP out of fixer and still benefit, same could apply to the higher level pets, if you don't meet the profession requirements for them then they go OE and refuse to obey orders.

[Esproc]

Best way in my opinion to balance them out, while still having them useful and allowing Agents to use them, would be to force them OE and useless if your profession changed out of the one required to cast it, so Agents could cast Shadowweb Spinner or Grid Armour, but to get any benefit from it they would need to stay as a fixer, they couldn't TP out of fixer and still benefit, same could apply to the higher level pets, if you don't meet the profession requirements for them then they go OE and refuse to obey orders.

Bump for that!

[AzureCat]

Best way in my opinion to balance them out, while still having them useful and allowing Agents to use them, would be to force them OE and useless if your profession changed out of the one required to cast it, so Agents could cast Shadowweb Spinner or Grid Armour, but to get any benefit from it they would need to stay as a fixer, they couldn't TP out of fixer and still benefit, same could apply to the higher level pets, if you don't meet the profession requirements for them then they go OE and refuse to obey orders.

This is indeed the best way to go about things. It could also lead to some interesting, agent-like shannanigans. Imagine FPing Fixer early in the day, casting Grid Armor, equipping Grid Armor in social wear, than fixer wears off and you FP something else. When your opponents see you in PvP, they will assume you are FPing Fixer when in reality you are doing something completely different.

[navycut]

They can select you and press 't' lol

[Con]

Honestly, I dont think FC is going to mess with mimic's at all. When they start considering changes to "balance" professions we should concentrate on our perks. If we can get called shot, the shot, assassinate, or death strike down from 5 sec cast time and get rid of the 15% hp requirement to at least 25%, would be a welcome change. We just need to make sure we pay attention to what their plans for other professions are and make sure they give agents the same treatment. I have a feeling they wont be doing much for agents though and that the balancing is more intended for professions that have undergone quite a few changes such as MP's, and NT's. We will have to wait and see though.

[Szyylin]

They can select you and press 't' lol

you think that people press 't' when they see a midget? i lost count of the number of soldiers who casted RI on me when i was stuck in engie, even the so-called best ones.

and then they cry when we call them the easy mode/nobrainer prof.

[zeet]

you think that people press 't' when they see a midget? i lost count of the number of soldiers who casted RI on me when i was stuck in engie, even the so-called best ones.

and then they cry when we call them the easy mode/nobrainer prof.

I lol at the 3-4 or more RI spams when I run FP Soldi =P Then I just stand next to them, wait for NSD to kick in and /wave

[torakx]

how do u nsd when ur nsd'd? hehe

[kaluchkin]

lol
i wanna mimic engi and cast chiken

come on baby:P

it will be great if agents can use SL nanos other profs with some restrictions

[somenamehere]

The restrictions are there already. Agents cannot use sl or ai perks of other professions. There is no need for more.

[zorxer]

the ability to use all nanos (hell even the quest ones) would be nice, having TP along side that would be a bit too much though

maybe tp could be changed to... ummm.... spawn an item that you can r-click through to get specific profession, then use the item on a terminal (or another item, to make it usable anywhere) and this would let you assume the said profession. Think of it as an assignment to infiltrate the ranks of that profession, temporarily gaining some bonuses and also a lockout of that profession (only the tp nano not regular mimic/assume/fp) upon mission(nano) termination

off to bed i go, think up some more junk