new anti aggro move for mercs

[frvge]

I first thought: what if he can only drop it at his feet? So no throwing.

[kronf]

My bad, got it all wrong. Don't see any problems with it then. Not sure if its gonna be useful in countering aggro though, but being able to place mines on the floor is cool.

[goodkebab]

the value is doing it quickly so that you cant get tazed or cammed while dropping a mine in the middle of a firefight.  You could of course get tazed as soon as you drop the mine, and then your fuct.


spy enters room...you drop mine at door, charge into room outside of range of mine.....now spy cannot simply taze and run out of room.

[neth]

What if the dropped mine would dig into the ground and spies could detect it using emf ?

[kronf]

You can just as well place regular proxy at the entrance, won't make a difference. Anyway like I said adding it won't harm anything, but its not as effective as you think it is.

[goodkebab]

^^so it shouldnt be at much of a cost in balance but still allow for inovation...

the only real advantage is not being vulnerable while dropping a mine

[Overstatement]

If this is an anti-aggro move, wouldn't that make the merc uncharacteristically suicidal?

[Spekkio]

My reason for not liking this "innovation" is that the mercs do not need another anti-aggro technique. They win plenty of games already (around 80% was the average when the stat tracker was still available). You say that the naysayers haven't provided a reason why you shouldn't include such a feature, yet kebab et al hasn't even provided a reason why we should.

Aside from that, I think it'd be incredibly noobish and silly to just start farting proxies whenever a spy attacks you. Mines and traps are meant to be placed strategically, and not thrown about because you don't know how to aim.

Buff the merc's tazer range (slightly -- no PT uber tazer thankyouverymuch), possibly expand the available gadget slots from 4 to 5, and you will have all the anti-aggro abilities you need.

If you want to make the merc able to place mines on the floor/ceiling of vents, I'm okay with that. But this animation should take the same amount of time a normal mine placement takes, thus making the merc equally vulnerable.

FYI: You are already unconditionally immune after a berserk. I was speaking about the bullcharge.

spy enters room...you drop mine at door, charge into room outside of range of mine.....now spy cannot simply taze and run out of room.

They can if chaff will still go through walls. This is why I want that ability disabled.

[neth]

possibly expand the available gadget slots from 4 to 5

no, thank you :-\

[Spekkio]

Why not?

[frvge]

Harder to balance, harder for noobs. Too many options = harder to know what the oppenents are carrying.

[HeyBlinkin.]

If this is an anti-aggro move, wouldn't that make the merc uncharacteristically suicidal?

Exactly what I was going to say.  This just seems silly because if you drop a mine at your feet when you see two spies running around you, it would seem very easy for them to detonate it right there and then while your walking around it.

[kronf]

possibly expand the available gadget slots from 4 to 5

no, thank you :-\

It would be logical to expand depending on the number of gadgets available - 4 out of 8, 5 out of 10 etc.

[Westfall]

@Spekkio: It isn't so much about chraging into a wall. You're an idiot to charge into a wall b/c thats a simple grab. That can stay, but if a merc is getting fucked up by 2 spies, why should he get grabbed after slapping the hell out of 1 of them??? Because the animation is too slow??? How does that make any sense. If anything thats a glitch that needs to be adjusted. Maybe an elbow can be thrown but insta-grab?? That is one of the main reasons aggro-ing was involved, because a team could set-up getting slapped and getting the neck because the animation took forever. This needs to be edited.

I'm still iffy about the proxy at the feet. I think this one needs to be tested and seen if its really worth it to add and if indeed it adjusts the balance to more of a merc favoring.

[Vega]

Kebab, like you said, you guys can definitely test it but I don't think it will be an option that will be for the better.  Here are the reasons why:

1.  Aggro isn't that hard to begin with where throwing a mine is needed.  In a 2v1, dropping a mine on the ground most likely won't do you any good.  It may help but I can see a 'drop mine + 1 spy taze + 1 spy run by mine' type of death for the merc. 
2.  The whole idea of proxy's is that they are hidden and have the element of surprise.  With your idea, a spy will use that proxy to his advantage and taze the merc + mine.  The element of surprise is gone when the mine is right in front of you.
3.  The idea of having different mind spots is interesting I won't deny it, but it definitely needs some testing.  Having a mine in a vent shaft seems less of a threat than a mine outside of a vent shaft.  The spy can sneak up to it and disable it.  When a mine is outside of a vent shaft, he has to chaff it or die.

All in all, the idea that this is an addition and not a replacement ability is nice.  All three of things I said up there can be countered with "well, then DON'T throw a proxy mine, just place it like you do normally."  But if that's true, why add it?  We'll see with testing I guess.