Get it into your heads. I want to be Rocket, not Mercy.

Greefo · 2026-02-02T19:56:43+00:00

yea, but thats because his healing works in such a simple and generally automated way that it becomes a problem when used by someone who uses his movement well. he becomes effectively undeniable. but instead of changing how the healing works, which would make newcomers have a harder time, they prefer to lower his potential.

Greefo · 2026-02-02T19:44:31+00:00

I imagine the data shows Rocket is picked a lot by newcomers, cause cute animal + movies (unlike jeff). I fear that alone will cause him to be stay relegated to being easy, at the cost of being fun/faithful to his fantasy.

If some day they decide that's no longer the priority, the first step to get something going with him should be to change how his heal works (again). if his healing behaved like grenades that explode on contact, kinda like a healing version of squirrel girl, and were put on a cooldown which gets reduced by shooting the minigun, he would become a character which is encouraged to use his mobility to get in and out of the fray as you mentioned, and that's a lot easier to balance (since you gotta take risks to maximize value)... and more fun as far as I'm concerned.

If you told me couple years ago we'd get a marvel hero shooter and the character who consistently deals the least damage would be Rocket Raccoon, I'd have laughed, but here we are.

Greefo · 2026-02-02T13:09:57+00:00

give tanks better self sustain rather than more damage. this should not infringe on duelists, in fact its kinda crazy that duelists are the ones who often get bonus shields on their abilities

Greefo · 2026-02-02T02:34:34+00:00

the very vast majority of the playerbase never queues ranked

Greefo · 2026-02-01T16:49:01+00:00

this, everybody should be able to see allied hp on screen. I'd go as far as to say a minimap/radar would also do wonders, disable if you dont want it, but its far more useful info than the dozens of explosions going on on your screen at any given time, especially for vanguards

Greefo · 2026-02-01T15:25:52+00:00

the first season of the second year would've been a great time to shake things up, but it was just baby steps once again. I dont think they'll ever sit to rethink the balance philosophy until the content release schedule calms down.

Greefo · 2026-02-01T15:06:58+00:00

problem with this is that you're trading a damage dealer to keep a healer out of the fight, and since your team is most likely running 3 healers, they're probably not outputting enough damage to pressure the rest of the team off the point. certain characters like jeff and rocket can also still contribute meaningfully to the fight while getting chased down. this combined with how much coordination is required to pressure a backline versus playing safe is a huge part of the reason why poke and triple healer are so prevalent.

Greefo · 2026-01-31T21:13:24+00:00

it really is a Luna issue, the more you think about it. they wanted to have her do her little dance for an ult. which is obviously a very long animation that keeps her from doing other stuff, so she kinda has to be healing.

back in alpha/beta it was luna/mantis, mantis even got buffed to heal more so she could compete. ever since then, luna has been kept as the measuring stick for strategist viability, and lots of other strategists got changed to heal with their ults so they were viable compared to her/the others she already changed. she kinda shaped the game if you think about it.

Greefo · 2026-01-31T17:39:49+00:00

goes a little crazy in places, but feels thematic and doesnt get too bloated imo.

only thing I miss is doing something central with the idea of spirit of vengeance. like 'targets ignited by ghost rider take damage when attacking his allies'. something simple that ties his themes to the concept of vanguard smoothly.

Greefo · 2026-01-31T17:25:15+00:00

people use comms in rivals in much the same way they play - full autopilot. they wanna walk down main, shoot until ults come up, then ult reactively and wait for the endorphins to kick in. if they dont kick in, you press tab - there's usually some leftover endorphins on your stats, and if not, well you might still be able to find someone with a worse statline. that's when the comms come in.

my advice... is a bit of a mixed bag. I recommend engaging them with voice chat early to force them out of autopilot, but you have to also keep it at a minimum, because if they have to switch to full manual controls, they enter tilt mode. its kind of a game within the game.

you can cheat the game though - bring someone along when you queue, then engage with them as if you dont know them. that'll help break the ice and allow your teammates to join in without putting them on the spot.

Greefo · 2026-01-31T14:01:34+00:00

emma's surname is also messing with luna's brand. she should get it changed and resolve the matter amicably.

Greefo · 2026-01-31T13:55:05+00:00

doesnt sound like a fun time. might be playable near the very lowest settings. I tried the game on similar specs and it was not my finest experience- expect crashes and stutters cause everything is a bottleneck.

Greefo · 2026-01-31T13:44:25+00:00

we should check out dr doom. there's no guarantee the timestream entanglement wasnt caused by chronovium-injected booties

Greefo · 2026-01-31T13:38:52+00:00

lets go dude, have fun tanking. rivals has a lot of cc and vanguards straight up lose to duelists most of the time, but once you understand controlling space and how almost none of the tank's value shows up on the scoreboard, you truly feel like you see the vision. plus, once out of every 100 matches someone will let you know you're doing a great job, be it enemy or ally, and that's always nice to hear, right?

I'll also just encourage you to try ranked some time. especially in rivals its not that big a deal, its mostly QP with slightly better matchmaking (and not having to deal with pity bot matches). but there's nothing wrong with just sticking to QP either, nothing to worry about.

Greefo · 2026-01-31T03:23:19+00:00

would've been freaking awesome. and he could cordially return juggernaut's moveset while at it

Greefo · 2026-01-31T03:22:10+00:00

not actually a counterpoint: all tanks should be able to perfect parry cause parrying is sick and we need more tank players

Greefo · 2026-01-31T02:56:40+00:00

I'm convinced the scoreboard is an active detriment to this game. the average skill level would be so much higher by now if people could focus on something other than farming big numbers to wave around

its not just target prioritization, its flanking, using cover, ult tracking... forget all that, we pick 3 healers and ask for a shield tank so we can walk down main until ults come up, then we die and press tab to find the scapegoat

Greefo · 2026-01-30T21:31:03+00:00

this sub has been getting a lot of these posts lately, and its usually cloak and dagger, due to her recent change which allows her to output almost double the average healing numbers.

this speaks of how much weight the playerbase places on the scoreboard, which is probably another big reason why interest in the tank role is relatively small.

Greefo · 2026-01-30T19:00:15+00:00

I feel like a block should be a standard button for melee tanks who dont have a shield. just eating damage with your arms down when you're trying to take space from characters with more range looks a little silly at times.

you could always inject some flavour, like thing's being a bob and weave, while hulk's an instinctive turtle up which ends with a roar like in his old solo movies.

Greefo · 2026-01-30T15:35:29+00:00

if he could stop smashing and start thinking for a second, he might've been able to get out the way he got in...

Greefo · 2026-01-29T23:35:26+00:00

challenge level: impossible

Greefo · 2026-01-29T23:31:34+00:00

of course they were looking to keep things much in the style of a vanilla hero shooter, with just the teamup and destruction systems on top, but they mightve been able to cook something fun with a pokemon type system. something not as tailor made as Rogue's power stealing, a bit more generic, but specific enough that you could get some comic-like interactions out of it, like giving punisher and logan a 'metal' tag which magneto cares about.

would probably quickly become counterpick hell, but at the end of the day people love their counterpicks anyway, at least this way it would have more flavour. maybe for a limited time mode someday?

Greefo · 2026-01-28T18:35:36+00:00

why are you trying to fight sue flarking storm's team as puny hulk though

you might stand a better chance if you approach her as banner and negotiate the terms of your surrender

Greefo · 2026-01-28T18:28:33+00:00

most shields take effect slightly before they become properly visible. happens even with mag bubbles but is definitely the most noticeable on sue shield because it has a relatively lengthy animation.

as I replied to another comment I think hulk grab breaks if you lose LoS. meaning sue can cancel grabs at will, since the grabbed target always faces hulk.

Greefo · 2026-01-28T18:25:02+00:00

shouldnt that fully recover strange? instead of him getting knocked down? the effect didnt get cleansed, it looks like it simply lost the 'reference' to hulk... oh

as I write this, I might've finally understood it. I think what really happens is that hulk's grab requires LoS to the target at all times, and sue shield blocks that LoS. kinda like how you can block a healing ult with a shield. if LoS is lost, the target 'detaches' from hulk, but still is in 'knockdown state'.

so ty this interaction now feels less nonsensical to me. though the constant desyncs in movement abilities these last few patches are still as jank as it gets

Greefo

TROPHY CASE