Why are medics so rare?

because even if you play a diffirent class you can still heal people more than enough on normal.

with so little healing to be done there might as well be an extra rifle/shotgun/machinegun in the team, raising other perks and healing others and themselves when it becomes necesary

organized teams and groups with a plan are more likely to have a designated medic.

Medics are somewhat popular in suicidal and HoE. I have a friend who plays medic a lot and almost everytime I play KF I am playing with him. I guess medic isn't too popular because healing isn't as fun as killing, for a lot of players. Also, being a medic can be a complete pain if you are having latency issues or if your team-mates are a bunch of idiots who dodge medic darts and get hurt too often.

That is weird. While normal and hard aren't the most challenging difficulties, people do manage to get injured/ killed quite often despite that. *shrug*

Sometimes it'll depend on what the team is doing for strategy. If they're camping and not really taking damage. Granted, by "not really" I mean the medic's syringe bonuses aren't needed to keep everyone healthy. If that's the case, most would opt to add a more damage-focused class into the mix.

Veniathan said:

Camping in this game is sorta the only way to actualy make it. Running around will get you sorrounded and kill you.

People do take damage. ESPECIALY from the Fleshpounds and Scrakes. So im always there to heal. And if i meet another medic he either doesnt heal properly or just goes around with Handcannons for some reason.

Click to expand...

I know that some medics will use x2 handcannons to try and draw the FP off of a teammate. That way they can use the medic's super-kevlar to absorb the hit. You'll always have players using random weapons with a class though. Like sharpshooters using pump-shotties. >_>

I have an emotional attachment to the handcannon as Medic. Don't judge.

I use DHC, M10 and MP7 as Medic. Occasionally i might get the Katana if i have the dosh.

This is strictly my camping build, as it is quite good at getting the attention of any specimens with homicidal tendencies, and the high magazine sizes allow for decent trash spec clearing.

DHCs are quite powerful and can easily out-aggro an AA12, IMO.


EDIT: IMO it's because the majority of FPS players just want to kill ****,

Medics are rare on normal because any class can kill anything unassisted, so people don't tend to needs heals.

Medics are rare on higher difficulties because most teams lack the necessary coordination to kill things, meaning if there's a medic there's even less firepower available.

sph34r said:

Medics are rare on normal because any class can kill anything unassisted, so people don't tend to needs heals...

Click to expand...

Just off the top of my head, without checking stats or anything, I'd say a 'Bug is cruising for a bruising if he/she elects to try and solo a FP on 6-person Normal. The Firebug may be the Ultimate Gas Ninja, but my feeling is that Mr. Bug shouldn't stray too far from the rest of the squad, even on Normal.

*****

This topic touches a nerve. I suppose the reason I'd offer for the perceived lack of Medics is that few people want to deal with the pressure and/or aggravation. Sad to say, it's too often a thankless job, and many players never appreciate the Medic's efforts no matter how well they're accomplished, often under very difficult circumstances. (I'd say trying to hit some Rambo with the MP7M, at 50m, who currently is doing backflips among a mob, in the dark, represents "a challenging task.")

And, there is, of course, hell to pay if the Medic misses, because now it's all his/her fault that another player is some zed's lunch. Oh, and "How come the Medic wasn't on BOTH streets and in BOTH tunnels simultaneously in KF-West London? You call yourself a Medic?" Meanwhile, generally no one is interested in watching the Medic's back while his entire view of the battlefield is reduced to almost tunnel-vision in the optical sight. Or, maybe, you know, actually consider healing the Medic as he rids himself of the resulting Clot overcoat.

I've reached Level 5 Medic without ever playing that role more than a few times, just by zappin' the team with the syringe whenever I could manage, so, this isn't a rant on my own experiences with this perk. On a public server, if we have a Medic who is remotely competent, I'm generally his shadow 'cause I just find it irritating the abuse these players are often subjected to, and I figure I can at least try to keep him specimen-free as he practices medicine. I'm of the opinion the squad should "center" itself on the Medic, and in doing so, maybe do everyone a favor.

My thanks and appreciation to those who can deal with this grief, and still deal meds as needed. I don't think I could do it.

Rhenna said:

Just off the top of my head, without checking stats or anything, I'd say a 'Bug is cruising for a bruising if he/she elects to try and solo a FP on 6-person Normal.

Click to expand...

I don't remember too well since I haven't touched normal in a while, but I'm pretty sure a level 6 medic can grab a crossbow then kill a fleshpound in 3 bolts. Mind you, that's only one shot while it's running at you, and even if you should miss, a level 6 medic's armor can tank a HoE fleshpound for at least 3 hits. Again, I don't know how many more it is on normal, but I'm going to assume that anyone with working fingers will be able to get that 3rd shot off during that time the FP is standing still hitting him (if you miss the 3rd shot to begin with).

Let's not even talk about what an off-perked M32 can do, lol.

Rhenna said:

This topic touches a nerve. I suppose the reason I'd offer for the perceived lack of Medics is that few people want to deal with the pressure and/or aggravation. Sad to say, it's too often a thankless job, and many players never appreciate the Medic's efforts no matter how well they're accomplished, often under very difficult circumstances ... And, there is, of course, hell to pay if the Medic misses, because now it's all his/her fault that another player is some zed's lunch.

Click to expand...

These are problems with players, not the classes. I recommend you play with friends.

From my experience, medics are fairly common on Suicidal and Hell on Earth. If the game is focused on kiting it boils down to Berserkers and a Field Medic or two, and with strategic positioning there's often one to help with heals and tanking.
It's rare that people require a medic on Normal unless they are new to the game. Hard doesn't deviate that far away from Normal in that respect.

from my experience it also depends on the map you're playing on.

maps like west london were you can easily funnel the specimens can be better with more firepower as not many of them live long enough to come close to you, aside from the occasional raged FP/scrake. though once you go to HC/HOE there'll almost always be a medic.

but on maps like icebreaker were things can turn bad in a split second I've seen people needing 2 medics just to stay alive.

and aside from all that, most people just prefer to pick up a shottie or launcher and blast away some specimen.

personally i love medic, was the first perk i leveled up to 5 and i long for the day i can level it to 6, sad enough I'm stuck leveling firebug/assault and zerker up to 5 now :/ but the armor and speed boost will always be in my memory.

I don't find them rare at all at least in personal experience, when I first started playing Suicidal our team always had a medic and most times I had one on the teams I played hard with. As posted above me it really depends on the play style, the map, and of course the team.

Most people would rather pick up a weapon and start blasting at the specimens then heal other players particularly on hard and below. Also sometimes having a medic can be a set back when trying to hold a camp spot more fire-power may be needed and with a medic your loosing one person capable of dishing out alot of damage.

I also noticed alot of HoE teams don't use a medic in most cases cause they tend to heal each other allowing them to have the additional fire-power while still keeping everyone suitably healed in most cases or sometimes another class may be carrying a medic gun taking on two roles.

Still wouldn't call seeing a medic rare though.

Let's face it: it is really hard to die on normal. Medics are not needed there.

On hard, on the other hand, everyone thinks they are action heroes, so medic is rarely picked - however, it's a great place to level medic.

Suicidal is the best place to be a medic. Unperked HC kills crawlers in one shot, unperked alt fire katana kills gorefasts. Add a M79 to save your surrounded players and it's possible to heal your teammates properly and be the first in kill ratio there

On HoE medic becomes one of the most important players, as saving mates by taking hits from fleshpounds and scrakes is invaluable.

Rhenna hits one of the reasons it's annoying to play as a medic in random pub games. If the (insert random class here) died, it's because you "suck" as a medic. Not because they ran off by themselves out of sight range and got gang-raped by blades, chainsaws and meat grinders. >_> Not because they wouldn't keep still so you could dart/ syringe them. They died because of the "****ty" medic that still somehow managed to keep everyone else on the team alive.

If you're ever in that situation, you know to laugh into your mic.

i think when the effectiveness of the xbow was reduced, particularly in the hands of a non sharp shooter, the number of medics dropped a bit.
Also at that time when hoe arrived, teams that used hold tactics came to the conclusion that another guy shooting - particularly support or a 2nd sharp say - was more useful than a medic. Prevention being better than cure.

Still often see 1 or 2 of them running with the berkers in hoe thou.

Rhenna makes a good point, it's a thankless task, but it's worth it when you manage to save the team with a good block or some well placed heals. I've had a whole team thank me when I stepped in front of a raged FP to block his attack, I walked away with ~20 health from full health and armour, but no one was dead.

I don't think having a medic on the team is a sacrifice of fire-power. The time a player spends self healing (which isn't very effective) or healing another, they are not firing. Where a medic can help pick of the smaller things and quickly heal without even changing weapons in most cases.

Gartley said:

I don't think having a medic on the team is a sacrifice of fire-power...

Click to expand...

I agree, using the heal argument.
nevertheless on hold position games in HoE i often hear 'don't need medic - go something else pref support' , with teams set up where the plan is to take no more than the armour's worth of damage per wave anyway - through sheer firepower.
Just a thought why phaps medics appear more rare.