Melee and Mez in PVP

[gza79]

I wanted to first start this off by stating these are PVP suggestions only they should not affect PVE.  Now with that out of the way,  I don't think its any secret in PVP that melee and control ATs a way out performed by ranged dmg.  I wanted to throw out a few suggestions to make melee and mez worth playing again instead of PVP being all out blaster warfare.  I would suggest travel suppression again but since I know everyone hated it I will leave it off the table. 

 

For melee I would suggest increasing the speed cap for all Melee based ATs, you would have to slot for speed so it wouldn't be an all out "give me" but it would give melee ATs some kind of chance at catching someone blasting them non stop at range, this still doesn't address the fact that there is no reason to take any melee powers on ranged ATs even though they have access to them.  Another idea would be to add a 

-range effect to melee attacks for maybe 3 seconds that way when you land a melee attack someone would have to get back into melee range to blast you again.  The last idea I have is bring pack toggle drops for melee attacks, this was super frustrating on live but all blasters still took their melee attacks like bone smasher for energy. Toggle dropping could be limited to just travel powers just to bring the flight to the ground for a bit.

 

Mez is the more difficult problem to fix right now as it is directly connected to the over abundance of damage non mez based ATs have.  An 8 second hold isn't very overpowered  for a solo controller but when you add anyone else to the equation they are dead in the water.  Aside from nerfing damage which I am positive no one wants, the only suggestion I have (which I am not sure if it is even doable) would be to have  and

-damage effect on mezzed players while increasing mez duration.  This would essentially help control AT's help take someone out of the fight by holding them but not leaving them an automatic kill when held.  There are probably some better ideas out there for mez  fixes but I don't think the current system is working as patron and epic holds are worth more salt than any hold from a controllers primary.

[SeraphimKensai]

The idea behind a kickball team is to achieve a reasonable balance of teams. The control AT's have a niche role in that to freeze someone for a coordinated spike in the first place. I'll agree that solo they aren't the most viable option and never will have the highest kill count.

 

Melee as it is now seems to be mostly disruption aside of stalkers, which disrupting the other team is an important aspect of team based PvP. I'm not opposed toggle drops. Negative range is interesting, as that's one of the effects of taunt.

 

Movement has always, been one of the most important aspects of PvP and likely will, but people often forget that communication is critical in team based PvP (that's why teams on voice comms will outshine a group just thrown together not on comms about 90% of the time). I don't ever see those 2 parts of PvP changing, and nobody wants travel suppression back (aside of the old traps mm).

[gza79]

8 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

The idea behind a kickball team is to achieve a reasonable balance of teams. The control AT's have a niche role in that to freeze someone for a coordinated spike in the first place. I'll agree that solo they aren't the most viable option and never will have the highest kill count.

That may be the idea behind it but that hasn't been my experience with kickball.  For most of the KBs I've been to the ideal team is 6 blasters and 2 emps having a black team that has to get picked is really the only reason things get mixed up.  Currently control AT's have no niche until the patch on test comes out their holds have the same mez duration as any other ATs (minus the bugged ones) they just don't have any damage to back up the two second hold.  The only useful controller I've seen in KB is Grav/Emp mainly for the phase ability.  I don't think control ATs should be able to lock someone down permanently, but they should be able to do something.  As it stands there is no reason to have one in pvp because even with throwing a hold you'd be better of have extra damage for a spike.

8 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Melee as it is now seems to be mostly disruption aside of stalkers, which disrupting the other team is an important aspect of team based PvP. I'm not opposed toggle drops. Negative range is interesting, as that's one of the effects of taunt.

I agree currently melee is just a disruption (aside from stalkers).  From the several kickballs I've played in scrappers are mostly ignored and are just something most don't bother trying to spike.  Tanks are taunt bots which while it is a disruption taunt is one useful power for an entire AT.  I believe melee should have some part in pvp, I realize I maybe in the minority of that thought but for the rest of the game melee plays a decent part in it I don't see why in pvp  it shouldn't be included.  I think the toggle drop idea could be the solution because getting toggle dropped sucks and to get in melee range of someone is difficult (aside from Stalkers) so it should be rewarded.  Toggle drops could rewrite the way people build characters as almost every blaster secondary gets melee attacks but right now you would be laughed at if you took them.

8 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Movement has always, been one of the most important aspects of PvP and likely will, but people often forget that communication is critical in team based PvP (that's why teams on voice comms will outshine a group just thrown together not on comms about 90% of the time). I don't ever see those 2 parts of PvP changing, and nobody wants travel suppression back (aside of the old traps mm).

I agree and I don't think that has ever changed.  Even on live when there still was travel suppression people who were on ventrillo or teamspeak were all ways the ones running the zone.  I don't think travel suppression should be brought back, but I do think there should be motivation to play other ATs than the ranged damage ones.  The amount of times I've been in zone or KB when someone has said "I am going to go grab a blaster." is astounding.  Blasters have always out shined many other ATs in pvp back to the days of Blappers but right now there's almost no reason not to play one in pvp (unless you are emping) which to me is a shame.  Again I realize I maybe in the minority of people who feel this way and that is fine, for me the fun I have had in pvp in this game has just about run its course so I was trying to throw out some suggestions that may open it up a bit and change the ranged damage meta to something spread out over all the ATs.