Warning Part 1: I write walls of text. People tell me this all the time. I get it. Skip to the end for the overall question if your eyes glaze over with all the explanations.

So, I have been planning to run as a Medium Operative for a handful of reasons:

~I figure I will be fighting mostly against Light characters; as a Medium I will have more health and I will have heavier weapons to take them down faster in the close-quarters combat I'm expecting to be in a lot. I may not be as fast or as amazing with SMART, but I will certainly be able to get everywhere I need to be pretty quickly. I'm just not going to consider playing a Heavy so let's not even touch that.

~As an Operative, I understand it's not a badass assassin class, but more of a hacker class with certain stealth elements being higher priority than other classes. As for objectives, I figure there will always be Command Posts to hack, if nothing else, but I doubt that there will be nothing else (turrets can be hacked, disguises can be used, etc etc, everyone knows how great and cool Opertives are, moving on).



However, as I am re-reading the extremely detailed http://www.fragworld.org/frag/brink/the-fragworld-brink-compendium.html, and playing the demo to Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (another squad/class-based FPS made by Splash Damage), I have developed some serious second thoughts as to my selection of body type and class.

~Everyone knows Lights have the greatest mastery of SMART; that's why 99% of the players who plan to run Lights are doing so. I don't need to jump full stories so I'm down with losing some capabilities. But wall-hopping is a Light-exclusive move. I'm not sure I want to lose something as potentially useful (in both travel and combat) as that, but I also realize as a Light I would lose a good amount of health and access to assault rifles and shotguns, which I really want to be able to at least try out and see if they are as good as I hope they are.

~I'm not planning to run Soldier at all; I'm probably not going to live long enough to run out of ammo, and blowing stuff up isn't my style.

~Playing a Medic was wildly fun in the ET:QW demo just because I could run around and keep my teammates alive while we simply destroyed the enemies trying to reach and complete objectives. Plus, Medics will always be needed to revive and support players.

~I like the idea of Engineers buffing weapon damage; so long as I get to buff myself too (I didn't see anything for or against that in the Compendium), that is actually right in line with my combat ideals next to stealth (one of my earliest Abilities is probably going to be Running Silent, which is comparable to the Ninja Pro perk of Black Ops) and close-quarters combat (in Halo, my top weapons are consistently CQC-based; melee, AR, and shotgun are three of my top five kill weapons). But, the counter to being an Engineer is that any turret or mine I place could be compromised by the infestation of Operatives that will swarm Brink on launch, so I would be restricted to specializing in buffing weapon damage, repairing/constructing objectives, and disarming Soldiers' charges (one of the things Operatives can't completely hack), at least until the majority of players find their true niche. On the plus side, Engineers will likely always be in demand and always have great objectives; kinda like Medics in that regard. On the flip side, I felt pretty helpless trying to complete Engineering objectives with no teammates around and always got destroyed when I tried to build stuff in the ET:QW demo (see why I liked to play Medic, above).




I'm well aware that Operative is the most prevalent class here on the forum, trailed by Medic, and I've rarely seen Soldiers or Engineers floating through, so obviously people will push for changes to Soldier or Engineer, but please keep in mind my stated concerns and playstyle. I want a bodytype and class that is best fit for me, not what will let you keep your bodytype and class so you don't have to worry about not having a [insert what your team needs] on your team.

So. Convince me. Medium or Light? Medic, Engineer, or Operative?

Warning Part 2: Don't expect me to acknowledge your existence if you pull a "TL;DR" and then ask a question that was answered in the OP: you were just too lazy to read it for yourself.

I suggest you start with something familiar (like the medic in this case). Start as a medium, which is the most balanced bodytype and get a general feel for the game and a bit of map knowledge. Do this untill you're either bored or untill you get how the game works. (Similar to ET:QW, but not the same)
Then start experimenting with slight variations on your "basic" loadout like your class f.e.

Or you could just make a poll and play the Highest scoring result xD

A few hits of the "Enter" key would have made that a little easier for me, but having read it all...

I don't think you need convincing, as that was a very well thought out assessment of your own style.

That said, I think that, while you have valid concerns, you may benefit yourself and, more importantly, your team as a Medium Build Engineer.

You might also consider trying out the Light Engineer (being able to place turrets in spots other engineers can not) or going with your initial Medium Operative in the role of a defensive "Counter Operative" thus making the lack of movement more acceptable.

Thanks for the advice, sounds pretty solid.


Thought about this, but decided against it. I'd rather discuss it in depth and be more fluid about the advice and suggestions others have. (btw I do know you were joking and I do appreciate that :tongue: )

EDIT:

Done. It was a little dense, but I was hoping the ~ bullet points would help break it up.


Thank you for your advice. Certainly will be bouncing a lot early on between Engineer, Medic, and Operative to get a feel, but I have a gut feeling I won't be able to accurately assess how well each class can do until we hit higher levels and specialize our Abilities in specific classes. Sure I can get the basic idea, but I try to plan for the long term when building characters in this style of game.

After I read the first line



It made me want to point something out to others.
I see a lot of people planning on playing a specific class, and it's important to note that although you can specialize in a specific class, I really hope you guys aren't planning on staying only one class. Being able to change class in-game, is done for a purpose - because it's needed. Although I want to make a character that emphasizes on Medic, I am still going to incorporate core skills for the other classes as well, since I am know I will be changing classes when needed. Just wanted to remind you guys that characters in Brink are not like RPG characters - you aren't choosing a class you're stuck with and then leveling it to make it as strong as possible.

I get that feeling as well, but I have to find the thread with all the ability info before I can make a full evaluation for myself. I'm guesstimating simply on your confidence in weapon choices and the mentality I see in the post.



Slight disagreement, as the system is designed for some players to push a class to the limits while others walk the line.

The "need" to switch classes comes from a possible lack of teammates with the appropriate skill class, and is not an inherent need forced by the game. An 8 man team of Specialists is going to have some advantages and disadvantegs when compared to an 8 man team of Utility Players, providing they're a good compilation of specialists.

Well you are forced to start out as a medium body type and then you can move down to light if you would like a change of pace and as Capt. Awesome said you can change classes in game so you could try alittle of each to start out and then lean to what you fancy

You always need to adapt to a certain situation. One person switching to the class that needs to do the main objective, can mean the difference. Experienced that a lot in W:ET.

That's the great advantage I'm going to have in waiting 2-3 days for the game's delivery: a lot of players will have dug up a huge amount of information on character abilities, weapons, and class strengths and weaknesses as played by thousands of gamers. I'm sure I'll be reading through a lot of the Brink Wiki weapons and abilities in those couple days, and plan out how I'm going to upgrade my character.

As for my confidence in my weapon choices? Brink seems to have a lot of "on the closer side of midrange" combat going on, so (if I stayed Medium) I'm theoretically planning to carry a Hjammerdeim Shotgun and a Galactic SMG. Choices of course subject to change based on new intel (stats, upgrades, etc).

Absolutely, but if you go into it with a group of guys in varied specialties nobody "needs" to switch to get the job done. It goes back to having a role on the team.

As the game progresses players are going to be more aware of what needs to be there to get the job done and will begin to build teams and strategies around that.

You don't want an entire team of "Utility Players" because while any one player could then switch to another class, none are dominant at any single class. If you take a team of 6 Specialized players and 2 players that are focused as "Utility Players" to fill certain roles as the battle dynamic changes you're going to be far stronger than if you take 8 guys that could be anything, but aren't the "perfect" anything.

It's like football/soccer.
You need a Specialized Keeper and some field players specialized to certain techniques (strikers, wings, sweeper, stopper) but then you want those guys that can maybe play two or more positions to fill out the rest of your scheme, so when you're down a score you've got an attacker but the same guy can play D if you get back in it.

Yes, when you play with randoms you don't know what you're in for, but it doesn't mean you want everyone playing the "Utility" role.

Ofcourse, if you can play your best class, you have the advantage of routine. But, sometimes you need to adapt, not only because of the map or objective, but because of your enemy. Let's take an easy example:
4 players, of which 2 medics and 2 engi's are trying to repair a crane while under heavy fire (and you're unable to).
The other team focuses the engi's first, because they are the ones necessary to complete it. There are a lot of easy ways (of class switching) that might help.
1. An engi switches to medic to be able to heal the engi faster and revive him (or to soak up damage)
2. A medic changes to engi, so that they can complete the objective together and the medic heals/revive them all.
3. Someone or 2 people become soldier and use their shields to shield the engi, while the medic can heal him.
4. Someone goes operative and disrupt their defenses.
5. Someone goes soldier and blows up a side objective to keep them distracted.

Ofcourse, this example is limited because it only focuses on 4 players, but I think you get the point I'm trying to make.

It all depends on soo much factors, but I think (and ofcourse especially in pub play) that you will change classes more often than you think.

Hope we can be of some help then.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Hjammerdeim is a Heavy shotgun; the Mossington, being a pump-action, stays with the Mediums. Yes, the Hjammerdeim was used by Wedgwood in the Container City Preview, but I think it was to show you a glimpse of shotgun combat.

http://brink.wikia.com/wiki/Shotguns

Whether it stays that way is totally up to SD of course.

I think someone mentioned the Hjammerdeim possibly being a Heavy weapon because it was a semi/fully automatic shotgun. Sadly we do not know this source, otherwise we would cite it and update the page to be accurate.

I think I'd go with a medium body type and maybe engineer or medic. I can't remember exactly where i read it, but I remember hearing about this kind of "Ability Bar" that limits how much you can use your class' abilities. Basically if you, for example, are a medic and you heal a guy, the bar drops a certain amount. Once this bar reaches zero, you can't do any class abilities until this bar regenerates. (similar to Battlefield).
This bar is either more or less depending on your body type. So If all the other guys are Light, this could pose a problem for their hacking and mine-spotting sprees. Just a thought. Not totally sure how or if this would make a difference.

Sure, and I have no problem switching if need be, but with the abilities set up the way they are it goes beyond simple routine, since the character can develop abilities specific to a class, or ones that help all classes. I'm not going to deny the usefulness of having players willing and able to switch, but it is not a forced mechanic like it is in a game like "LEGO Star Wars" where you must switch to access an abilitiy to continue onward through the game.

Specialists and Utility Troops both have their benefits. Hopefully everyone begins to find their role so that players can play to their strengths more.

This idea was actually confirmed to be false by a developer; the exact quote is in the Compendium in my signature.

The ET:QW demo did have "action pips", so the concept isn't alien to me (a Soldier couldn't lay down two HE charges immediately, the Medic could only heal maybe six times immediately before it was exhausted, etc).

oh... well that changes my perspective... thanks.

TL;DR jk

it seems you made up your mind, i think you would have more fun with the medic but build your avatar in those other classes so if your team "needs" another class, you can benefit by changing.

Me, personally thought of going Medic first up for the XP!

But no, i thought about it, and people would be like '*Cries* Damn you DLion! Why didn't you revive me!' then i'll say 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liq_wYFkMoU&feature=related'
So for the XP, i'll be killing, blowin' up and handing out ammo.

SInce it sounds like you like the Medic, to keep the team alive, you should go medic.

I know how it feels, You revive one guy, that guy kills 3, you heal him, he kills another and another.. its such a change that YOU did!

After giving this subject some more thought with all your advice, I've decided to plan on running a Medium Engineer/Operative hybrid specialist. Of course, this is subject to change as we get more information on the abilities of each class and whatnot. But for the moment, at least, I've become too attracted to the abilities both classes have to offer, so I'm going to see how I could do by "multiclassing", or in this case taking abilities affecting two different classes. Maybe I'll throw in some Medic abilities too for kicks and giggles; again, I'd like to see the full list of abilities first and figure out which ones I want to have before adding in other stuff.

I'd like to thank everyone for their contributions and advice; I much appreciate the civil and educated discussion we had. :goodjob:

Everyone, have some :cake: , or take a :turtle: if you want. You earned it.

:bowdown:
:bowdown: bliviongate: :bolt:
:bowdown:

I'll take a turtle, and you're welcome.

Suddenly I'm curious about our knowledge on the subject of Re-spec'ing our characters.

It all depends on balance.

I would be a Light Engineer so you can ninja build sentries near enemy spawn. :toughninja:

I would be a Heavy Medic if I need to revive a teammate when an enemy is nearby; I just need to whip out a grenade launcher and bliviongate:

I would be a Medium Operative for the reasonable amount of mobility while being able to fire a shotgun into the face of an enemy who wondered why their teammate wouldn't buff their health. :hubbahubba:

But, for the most part, I would just mix it up and switch body types and classes when the situation calls for it.


In an unrealated note... I just noticed this: :tes: How long has it been there?


EDIT: I should really try to read before posting.

It's all good man. All your ideas are good and reasonable. Even though I've sort of made up my mind about what I am going to be, we can still continue chatting about ideas of good mixes and matches.