Gunners and veterancy

[svett89]

Heyo!

Something that's been bothering me a bit recently is how dependent Gunner is on veterancy, mainly due to how much it speeds up his projectiles. When at rank 1 at the start of the game, Gunner rockets travel at a snail's pace compared to when you've ranked up (especially noticeable once you're Elite). This makes it extremely difficult to use Gunner at longer ranges before you've ranked up, which in turn gives Nod a huge advantage when it comes to countering vehicles early-game, compared to GDI, since no equivalent problem exists for the LCG:

Veterancy gives LCG more damage.

Veterancy gives Gunner more damage and projectile speed.

Since both units are balanced around their respective possible engagement distances, this means that Gunner is in much greater need of veterancy to perform well compared to the LCG. Essentially:

Gunner at rank 1 is meh

LCG at rank 1 is great

Gunner at rank 3 is great

LCG at rank 3 is great

I don't think giving Gunner greater projectile speed with veterancy is a bad idea, but perhaps the gaps could be made smaller? I.e. keep the speeds at elite/heroic the same, but buff the private/veteran speeds slightly? This would mean that early-game gunners could be slightly more comparable to LCGs in their ability to counter vehicles, as the current gap feels massive in the early-game.

Thoughts?

 

[yosh56]

Actually was looking at this before, though it's slippery-slope balance. Remember, GDI was technically the OP faction before around 5.1/2 ish. 

[svett89]

5 hours ago, yosh56 said:

Actually was looking at this before, though it's slippery-slope balance. Remember, GDI was technically the OP faction before around 5.1/2 ish. 

Good point. I do agree that it could impact overall faction balance negatively, especially since early Arties and Light Tanks would be weakened.

Perhaps one could try either:

A) A slight vehicle damage nerf at rank 1 & 2 with a slight projectile speed increase?

B) Nerf the projectile speed scaling, but increase the damage scaling? This could make Gunner have a slightly more "aligned" playstyle, where his projectiles are always hard-hitting, but hard to hit. Something like nerfing speed scaling by 33 % but buff damage scaling by 20 %?

This is by no means a big issue, but it could make for Gunner feeling like a more rewarding class to play throughout the whole match. Option B could also raise the skill cap of Gunner quite a bit. I'm fine with how he currently plays, but it could make for a more interesting design, IMO.