I've been spending some time on the forums, anticipating BRINK's release, but I did stumble upon something I wanted to learn more of...

I've read multiple topics and H0RSE's Compendium V2 (chewing through V1 right now) and this caught my attention:

- One of the Soldier’s abilities is to shield another player. This basically attaches you to that player so that you're a turret moving with him. But when he takes damage, the damage applies to you.
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1102014-brink-info-compendium-v2/page__hl__Compendium

I've been spending sometime around these forums, anticipating Brink's release and finding out new things each day. I plan on playing a Soldier when I first play, and was intrigued by the Shield ability.

In http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1102014-brink-info-compendium-v2/page__hl__Compendium

It was stated:
"- One of the Soldier’s abilities is to shield another player. This basically attaches you to that player so that you're a turret moving with him. But when he takes damage, the damage applies to you."

Would this mean that, you use the ability, and therefore your direction of movement is guided by who you're protecting? As if you were watching his back, zoomed out in 3rd Person, sweeping your view constantly. I pictured it almost like http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/142465-mw1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.destructoid.com/hackers-have-taken-over-call-of-duty-4-on-ps3-142465.phtml&usg=__2CgHDqr4KbdXUlLtScJBMx6-AgA=&h=351&w=620&sz=78&hl=en&start=13&zoom=1&tbnid=3JzxMPg2JKHwOM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=217&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcall%2Bof%2Bduty%2B4%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D592%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C465&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=684&vpy=134&dur=4073&hovh=169&hovw=299&tx=187&ty=85&ei=VYPtTKXeFJPtngfU6e38AQ&oei=ToPtTPSeOcH_lgej7Z2MAQ&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:13&biw=1024&bih=592 (an in-game pic from CoD4's Campaign, look at the unhooded SAS operative behind the picture of the closed-up figure)? Or is it meant to be used when say, a vulnerable Light operative is hacking a Command Post, and you're "glued" back-to-back, and HIS movement would cancel the ability.I'm very curious about this, and would like to know just how exactly does it work (stationary, 3rd person view, or movement allowed), would this grant XP, and would it be considered a big enough task to be placed on the Objective Wheel? ( So-and-so is arming bomb, cover them. 150XP?)

I read somewhere that it potentially could be used as a heavy on another character to reach places heavies usually couldn't. So from that info, I gathered that you would in first person mode, sort of on a rail behind the other player. If you're guarding a medium and he climbed up onto a ledge a heavy couldn't normally reach, the heavy shielding the medium would follow him up.

This could be considered significant enough for the objective wheel too, but it wouldn't be an enormous experience award, maybe 100 judging from the container city video where the operative got 100 exp for interrogation.

Then if that was the case, wouldn't that be an exploitation of the Character Body limitations? I wouldn't be to fond of that. Maybe if it showed an animation of you helping the heavy up (weapons sheathed momentarily), then it may be more acceptable as it would be a down-side (open targets) to a plus (Heavies not positioned where he could not be before).

And would using SMART to slide break this ability?

BTW, thanks for the quick response. Hopefully as the game reaches farther out, this community will be more helpful.

If this is the case is the guarding allowed at anytime? If so a LightOp could take a Heavy with them and deposit them behind enemy lines, which sounds appealing yet somehow insane.

i think it's merely a "buff" that works only when your close to the person your shielding, not that you actually "attach" yourself to the person. you shouldn't take this stuff so literally.
and i doubt you would be able to follow a medium onto a ledge you couldn't reach simply because your shielding him... that would be like a glitch and i doubt SD would put up with something like that

SD has said that there is no canned movement anywhere in the game. That being the case, I would assume that the shielding is done more like a tether. As long as the person you are shielding stays within a certain distance from you, he wont get hurt, but the moment he leaves that radius, he would be on his own.

I'm fairly certain that this guy has got it right.

That makes a bit more sense, then leaving the idea for shielding really for the purpose of guarding someone preoccupied with a task.

That would be the main purpose, could also be used to give a light or medium better survivability in a large firefight. Or maybe to keep someone alive while waiting for a medic. Wouldn't make much sense to use it while moving around though, the faster characters would quickly be out of range.

That was exactly what I was thinking, but that idea for using it to Shield a downed ally is smart.

i dont know if youre able to use it on downed teammates, i was just thinking of teammates with low HP. I wonder if you can use it on civilians during the escort missions though.

Would Civilian NPCs have a life meter anyways? Or just a set amoutn of bullets to take before you fail your mission?

I would assume life, cuz that would allow you to heal the civ after a battle.

That would certainly add a bit of depth to the gameplay. You know "Cover me while I heal the Civ!".
Seems something major enough to even be in the wheel. And while we're on the topic of tethering, how will the civilians move in comparison to you? Is it you following them, or them following you?

I should hope they stay behind you, keeping a person alive who wanders ahead of you is quite difficult. With the AI that Brink has, I'm sure the civs will take cover when necessary, its just that I prefer to find about oncoming enemies myself, rather than finding out by the guy getting shot.

I should have been specific; I think the whole shield-link -parkour thing would only work for a short time. By this I mean the soldier will continuously shield his ally, but the whole-unlimited parkour thing would last about 8 seconds. Purely speculation though.

Do you have any support? It seems like getting a heavy into weird places would be far more helpful than the original purpose of just protecting people.

The way I see it working is say a light whatever and a heavy solider do this. I would think the light would move at the speed of the heavy, and either one could break from the shield at any time. I.E light wants to do some SMART stuff. That way it would prevent griefing.

I would prefer to just have to keep close to the soldier than to become as slow as he is.

Well the way I see it if I'm a light in the middle of a heavy firefight I'd be glad to go the soldiers speed if it means that I don't get instantly destroyed if there is no clear escape route.

But theres no reason to make people slow, if its up to the player to stay close, then you can still stay close and survive the firefight, with the option of making a break for it without having to take the time to debuff the shield, however thats done. Decreased speed also would make it harder to duck and weave, which I would still be trying to do even if I'm not the one taking damage.

i doubt shielding in any way reduces the speed of either, as i said it's a "buff"(i don't know a better way of expressing) that only works as long as the shielder and shieldee are close to each other, but they are in no way linked to each other, because that would give the problem of, who is following who? the light might be a not-too-smart guy who now thinks he's invulnerable and runs to the center of the gunfight, upon wich the heavy would have no choice in the matter and be killed right before the light dies. or the light would be stuck to the heavy after wich he can't get to the high places when he wants.

and i see NO reason at all why a heavy would be able to follow a light up high, simply because he's shielding him. it's not as if shielding someone gives you superpower.

There's just about zero information on this topic guys...I guess we'll just have to wait for Brink to come out .

I'm quite sure SD/Bethesda will relase much more info before the game comes out. Just not right now.

Indeed, but a small flow of information would be greatly appreciated. (F.e. releasing 1 detailed ability once in a week)