Idea Suggestions for the Scout class

I like the slight nerfs and how it's done for all the points to aspects of the class where I don't think should be too OP tbh, but I don't think the last point is too necessary. Assassin and Scout have a lot of similarity (while also giving ninja competition), but I don't think we need to keep this ability unique to just assassin for the sake of uniqueness and/or as a way to nerf Scout. I find the ability quite balanced and rewarding; like if a Scout is about to die yet it finesses a kill off a ninja, then that'd be a cool reward by instantly giving Scout its Death Tag right before it may die. Just an opinion, great ideas!

 

death tag should also only apply if scout is alive, not halfway across the damn map

 

Some interesting points, but I have to disagree with some of them (I've played a fair amount of scout, but not much against it).

Without the death tag, Scout's PvP is reallllyyy weak. I think it dies in 3 hits to all offensive classes (maybe 4 for medic), so lets say 5-6 hits if it steaks. Without the death tag, its sword is similar to Heavy's, so taking a lot more than 5-6 hits to effectively damage any soldier, heavy, or medic on offence. Because of this, the class is very difficult to play properly without the death tag active - even with it active I think the damage is in the ballpark of a ninja.

So let's say scout has ninja's damage with slightly more armour and 2 steak (which would be OP), but as a tradeoff you lose the element of surprise from invis, the knockback/debuff of eggs, and the mobility with pearls. On top of this, in order to apply the death tag I've usually found that I never get the first hit on the enemy (might be different for others, but ninja always gets the first hit).

Because of this, the class feels so bad to play if it had a sharp 1 sword and had to respawn for death tag. The class is almost useless without the death tag, so giving it more time where it is useless makes it worse to play without necessarily helping much.

In saying that, I definitely agree that if death tag feels too strong the other suggestions could be good. I like having the damage buff apply mostly to scout and decreasing the duration/adding a cooldown/removing it if the scout dies. My only worry is this may make stalemates worse. It is important to be careful to nerf parts of the class that are OP when an entire team is attacking you without nerfing the parts of the class that make it viable to play.

 

You make a good point, the suggestion might be more biased since I prefer for each of the 3 no-armored damage dishing classes (Assassin, Ninja, and Scout) to be as different as possible. But considering the smaller chances of this class picking up kills often with the lowest speed ranking of the 3, this change is probably a bit unnecessary compared to the others.

I personally disagree, if this were to happen then Scout would become too difficult to play as and almost redundant considering how fast it gets taken out (you could argue this with the recent ninja egg changes upon the ninja's death, but Scout is a recovery based class and focuses more on team damage rather than a 1v1 scenario seen with egg effects (ninja also survives MUCH better)). With a shortened duration of death tag, this problem is pretty much fixed.

I agree with you here as with Scape

You make a good point about being underpowered compared to ninja, but the sword becoming weaker could be considered separate from other changes (one of the many routes to take with this class). I have personally played as Scout quite a bit recently and I have found it difficult to leave significant damage on a class like medic at times without the tag (or saving the tag for later). Scout should be kept decently powerful in its own right while also being more support-orientated than classes such as Ninja and Assassin, which means you are not playing too similarly to the aforementioned; alas, if the sword does prevent it from doing good on its own in a similar fashion to Medic w/o Sharp I, then this change should be avoided to keep the class relevant.