The Medic System Needs Change

[Fir3w411]

Right now the medic kit and grenade are rarely used - and when they are, even more rarely are they used to heal other people. Every game there are at least three people with a medic kit, and maybe every tenth game there's someone with a medic grenade, but you might get only a third of those people to heal others if you are lucky.

 

So to start off, the medic kit deals around 21 HP per person, with a reload speed of about 10 seconds. The medic grenade deals around 24 HP per person and has a 120 second reload rate. Finding the maximum possible HP/s for both medic gadgets, it comes out to (x = maximum number of humans being healed by the gadget):

• 2.1x HP/s (x=1)
  
• 0.2x HP/s (x=90 as of right now)
  

To effectively deal more health when using a medic grenade than using a medic kit, you'd have to be healing at least 11 people at a time (2.1/0.2 = 10.5 humans). This means that there is no reason to use the medic grenade as opposed to the medic kit in in lower server populations other than to heal everyone in one go (with a longer reload speed at that).

 

Also by using the medic kit, you must spend 20 points for every 50HP (2.38 heals/20 points). Every time you heal someone you get 3 points, and deal 21HP. (20 points - (3 points/heal x 2.38 heals)) = 12.86 point loss per 50 med power bought. For the medic kit to be able to break even, either:

• each heal should give you 8.4 points (20 points/2.38 heals);
  
• you receive 140 medic power for every 20 points (21 HP x (20 points/3 points));
  
• or the cost of medic power is lowered to 7.14 points for every 50 HP of medic power (3 points/heal x 2.38 heals)
  

So the medic kit, as of right now, only makes you lose points for using it to heal others. Why would anyone use it?

 

Here are some things I think might help:

• Increase HP dealt by the medic grenade or lower its reload speed
  
• One of the three bullet points listed above are introduced
  
• Increase profit per person healed when using a medic gadget
  
• Reduce the amount people can heal themselves
  
• Make medic power cheaper
  

Edited December 15, 2016 by Fir3w411

[Watch]

Make medic power cheaper

Increase profit per person healed when using a medic gadget

 

As a constant 24/7 medic, I agree with these two ideas. Though Medic Grenade is... decent(?) as it is right now but surely its reload speed could be reduced by a tad.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Watch

[Fir3w411]

A medic kit does about 21 HP for each heal, and a 50 HP medic power purchase is 20 points.

 

That's 2.38 heals per 20 points with a profit of 3 points per heal.

 

In your math you have the medic kit being capable of exactly 5 possible heals. Either this is incorrect or I did something wrong, because the medic kit does not deal 10 HP per use.

 

Also if profit is the motive and you can get points off it, wouldn't that encourage people to heal others??

Edited December 15, 2016 by Fir3w411

[Porter2455]

Reading both arguments, it seems like a nice balance would be in the middle. Fir3w411 brings a good debate to the table. I usually get medical kits from the worth menu, as it is one of the only things you cannot buy from arsenals. However, I rarely actually play as a medic due to certainty of going negative if you buy med power and the fact that my med power will be used up really quickly if I focus on healing others with it. What can happen in the later rounds is that everyone has used up their med power at the start, and only heal people when the resupply is usable, leaving a lot of people to hang dry and get angry that they are only at 25 health, but no one's healing them. I know it sounds cheap to not be a team player, but people want to play efficient. Its the foundation that point-saving servers function on.

 

However, allowing the medic class to gain big profits every game would hurt the balance of the team. Having too many medics every game could ruin maps, as no one wants to take the risk of buying a high tier weapon when you can make a big profit by just healing people. I think the best solution is to allow a profit, but only a smaller one. As Face Guy pointed out, its more complicated then that, but it's a broad target to shoot for. In a 5 wave game, if the medic on average should be able to make +50 to +80. If 50 med power is bought in the intermission, it should to net about 45-48 points. This could allow the resupply refills to push you over the margin of gain, so you can make a very modest profit. For newer players, the medic class is a easy way to help the team without a lot of skill, and these small gains would allow them to begin to stack some points. More advanced players could also take medic for a nice small profit, but a lot of players would go for larger gains, as there are better ways to earn a lot more points.

 

Now I feel like its not that simple, but in a perfect world, I feel like this system would balance well. Just my idea on the matter.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Porter2455

[->SK<-]

Balancing is not about numbers vs numbers, it's about the bigger picture. You need to keep in mind to help the broader goal of winning, sacrifices have to be made.

 

I suggest refrain from using numbers as your main argument (while it is essentially the dictating factor in the rest) as you then just tunnel vision without looking at how your change can affect the meta.

 

I will say the meta is slightly all over the place, especially through intra-tier comparisons (tier one just being Worth Tier v2 for example) I will argue medics aren't something that needs to be balanced hugely. It's meant to be a side class to your main skew.

[Guest]

Balancing is not about numbers vs numbers, it's about the bigger picture. You need to keep in mind to help the broader goal of winning, sacrifices have to be made.

 

I suggest refrain from using numbers as your main argument (while it is essentially the dictating factor in the rest) as you then just tunnel vision without looking at how your change can affect the meta.

 

I will say the meta is slightly all over the place, especially through intra-tier comparisons (tier one just being Worth Tier v2 for example) I will argue medics aren't something that needs to be balanced hugely. It's meant to be a side class to your main skew.

 

the problem with this though is that people dont want to lose points so they dont sacrifice

[Fir3w411]

The point of this suggestion is to encourage the usage of the medic kit because right now a very small amount of people use the kit, and even less (less than a third, if lucky) use it to heal others because it's not profitable and they can just heal themselves instead.

 

To rely on the good will of others is asking for failure. It's why things like libertarianism and socialism don't work.

 

People need incentives else they are wasting their time and energy on a useless cause.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Fir3w411

[Lunar]

I always bring a medkit

[FoxHound]

I always bring a medkit

 

if lunar is in zs spam "lunar" in voice chat until your healed

 

problem solved /thread

 

Kappa

[Adam Cole]

I do say it is somewhat frustrating when you play support as your main build and you earn about 150 per round if you don't spend anything as opposed to seeing someone earn 800 profit while they rely on you to repair and heal. You could just not repair and heal but if every supporter had that mentality you would never make it past the first few rounds.