Paladin

[PikachuPals]

Paladin is in a weak place which we can all agree on. I'll start by going over what's good with the kit.

The nullify banner is very strong and is balanced in the way that it's immobile (has to be placed). Perhaps if there was any change to the way it works, would simply be allowing it to negate barricader damage as well, but otherwise, having another paladin place a regeneration banner works just as well.


Now what's potentially bad with paladin.

As you are required to place the banners down, some maps make it hard to do so (frostbite). Banners are immobile whilst most fights move across the map making the effect it has very weak overall.

Armour wise, I honestly believe it's mostly fine depending on what kind of support we want to make paladin. Are paladins supposed to be "holy", if so we could potentially give paladin damage reduction from wraiths and ghosts. Arrows and explosions however deal a lot of damage to paladins so perhaps some sort of blast / proj protection can be beneficial.

If paladin is reworked to a more defensive support / engage class, (sort of like juggernaut) then we'd have to be careful not to overtune the regeneration effect it receives otherwise it could become a pseudo juggernaut with it's banner.


How to make the banners give more impact?

There are several options:

• Make regeneration / speed banners a toggle system. By right clicking either banner, it would become "enchanted" and the player itself becomes the beacon. This will allow the player to move with the team to provide the effects ensuring the effects of the banner are available to the team for longer. The banner can also appear on the hat of the player as an indicator for allies and enemies alike. (nullify banner exempt as moving nullify is too strong).

• Increase radius of banners. Not a big fan of this one but could work as a temporary measure.

• Increase the timer of the regeneration / speed II.

• When the player leaves the circle, they get regeneration / speed I for 6+ s.

 

[shadowstarcat]

Liking the in-depth feedback! I appreciate that this criticism is very constructive and that you offer your own solutions to the issues you point out and I'm sure other people like to see this type of discussion as well. I'll go ahead and offer my thoughts to your points:

The Nullify/Cleansing Banner:
I definitely support Paladin's cleansing banner being able to negate Barricader damage (when placed in range). It's a good counter to a kit we've been seeing more of with more mapmakers (good job to those mapmakers!) but not necessarily an easy counter, as it relies on the Paladin being able to survive long enough to reach the enemy base where enemy Barricaders typically are, and to survive while their teammates work on pushing in.

Defense:
Thematically it would be interesting if they took less damage from Ghosts and Wraiths, but I don't think Ghost and Wraith should be punished for doing a big part of what they're meant to do, which is picking off weaker kits. It'd also be confusing for newer players if this isn't explicitly mentioned. I'd support some enchants armor-wise to help it out while keeping in-line with its theme.

Mobility:
I'm hesitant on its banner ability becoming fully mobile, as it sort of steps into Medic's territory, and if it negated Barricader damage then it'd be pretty powerful against it since it could easily push in with teammates instead of being limited to an area. Should its banner ability become mobile, I feel like it would become a kit focused on influencing the team to push forward rather than how it is now where the team falls back to it and uses its banner point as a sort of regrouping point. I agree it ultimately depends on what kind of support it's going to be.

Banner Effects:
I wouldn't mind an increase in radius or time for the banner effects, although I want to note: Paladin has been having a bug with its effects, where standing & staying in the radius constantly reapplies the effects(resets the timer), so as of now the best way to really receive its effects has been to run in and out of the radius. This bug has been reported and is being fixed, so they may look at how the fix will change things before trying to tinker with the effects any more.

Misc:
Good point on maps and how they affect kits dependent on blocks! It's something that can easily be glossed over, and at the time when Frostbite was made this aspect was overlooked. Going forward it'd be nice for Map Submission Guidelines to mention this so mapmakers can keep this in mind. I'll say I'm personally interested in revamping Frostbite for issues like this and to reduce bomb-to-bomb time (and because I feel like its aesthetics & gameplay can be improved greatly).

In general I'm happy we got to see another support kit come into play, and feedback like this probably really helps the staff balance things. I feel like it can be a little disheartening to receive a lot of negative feedback right after working to push out a larger update, but keeping discussions and criticism constructive and impersonal really helps and shows you put lots of thought into it!

We have fond memories of "the old days," but there were several kits released and scrapped back then as well for being very over-powered/under-powered or not functioning to its intended playstyle (Inertia, Topsy-Turvy, Iron Maiden, and others I can no longer even remember ) and I feel like it's a good thing that Paladin doesn't necessarily need any drastic change to how it plays in order for it to improve its function.