I may have missed it, but I didn't see a thread discussing this particularly posted in the past day or so, and thought I'd throw out some feedback and open for discussion feedback on the SWAT perk, now that I've gotten to level 19.
First of all, I think this is my favorite perk so far. I think all of the perks are pretty fun to play (with the exception of firebug, but that is just me), but I absolutely love the SWAT guns. The sound effects are badass! Good job TW.
I feel like the weapons are pretty balanced as far as increasing usefulness / effectiveness per tier, with the exception of the MP5, but I tend to feel that way about most of the tier 2 weapons for a lot of the perks. It just feels like once you level up, there isn't enough of a benefit to cost ratio to spend the money on the tier 2 because your tier 1 weapon is effective enough, and its better to just keep saving for a tier 3 or 4 weapon. That said, I still have been purchasing the MP5 after the Kriss and P90 and I have plenty of extra dosh, because... let's face it... Who can resist the awesomness of that MP5 full auto 9mm sweetness going thwrump, thwrump, thrwump sound effect! But in all seriousness, the only exception to buying a tier 2 weapon prior to a 3 or 4 for me all comes down to if I die or join a game late and don't have the dosh and just need another weapon for the ammo and don't want to risk running out. The SWAT perk certainly is no exception and is especially true with the Close Combat Training skill which I'll get to in a moment.
SKILL TREE:
LEVEL 5:
So for the level 5 perk skills. I certainly find Heavy Armor Training more useful to Tactical Movement. I tend to play with no cross hairs and only aim down sites when I can afford to not move or afford to move slowly, and just walk my rounds onto the target visually when firing from the hip. I thought I might really like the Tactical Movement for this reason, because it'd be cool to be very accurate and move fast. What I've found though is that if I'm not aiming down the sites, I'm sprinting, and then Tactical Movement becomes useless to me. So Heavy Armor is my preference. Now with Heavy Armor my only complaint is the indication that you are being hit, and your armor is taking damage. Sometimes I've had a crawler or stalker that snuck up behind me and shreds it to nothing before I notice they are there. It just seems like you need more feedback while you still have armor. I also haven't quite unlocked the level 20 Assault armor skill yet, so I'm wondering honestly if this is going to make SWAT feel a little too OP. It might make sense to simply greatly reduce the health damage you take while you have armor rather than eliminate health damage completely. Maybe reduce the health damage taken while wearing armor with Heavy Armor Training down to 10%? I don't know, this is just a thought.
LEVEL 10:
For level 10 I absolutely love the Close Combat Training skill, however I personally feel like it shouldn't spawn you with dual 9mm. I mean, I'm not complaining. It's feels equivalent to spawning with dual 1911's with bigger magazines. I just think with the increase in damage it would be more balanced if the player had to purchase a dual 9mm rather than spawning with it. That's simply my humble opinion. It nearly makes it logical no matter what perk you are planning to play in a game, to simply spawn as SWAT with Close Combat enabled for wave 1 and sell the 9mm and switch perks between wave 1 and 2 to gain the extra bit of dosh plus allow you to kill most of the wave 1 clots with your knife to save ammo.
Now I'm going to go off topic for a moment, but had to mention this... Similarly to how each perk has a unique knife, I would love it if each perk had a unique backup pistol. They don't have to be different in damage dealt, mag capacity or anything like that. It would just be super cool. I mean a 9mm is a 9mm is a 9mm, so one perk could carry a Sig P226, one a Glock 17, another the Beretta 92, a CZ 75 or P06, someone else an FN9. You get my drift. I know this is a lot of work for the dev's, and you guys at TW put a lot into each weapon... but boy... would that be cool! Just a little request, when you guys have the time.
I think Tactical Reload makes the level 10 skill tree a tough choice, and is very well balanced between the two. I have my preference and don't see the need to switch, but I can see why some may prefer Tactical Reload, or to start with Close Combat and switch at a later wave. Personally I'll add that one thing I really like about the Close Combat Training perk, is that even after I purchase an MP5, P90 and Kriss, I still have a very useful 9mm backup weapon I can rely on if the Shazizzle goes south and I need every bullet to count.
LEVEL 15:
My preference is Suppression Rounds. I know some people hate the stumble, but man if you are going solo on HoE and dealing with 3 FP's at some point, that stumble skill can make the difference to survive the wave. With Close Combat Training, I really haven't run into an issue with ammo. If you have a P90 and Kriss in late waves, the stock ammo amount seems to be sufficient, even if it does get a little sketchy towards the end of a wave... but that is one thing that makes the game a challenge. However, I can see why some may prefer the extra ammo, and how it would come in useful at times, so I think the choices are pretty well balanced.
I haven't unlocked LEVEL 20 yet, but probably will today and have some feedback at that point. I already see myself leaning towards Assault Armor rather than Cripple, but I'll need to try them both out to see. I can see either being very helpful in extending your life expectancy in game.
As for LEVEL 25, I can't wait to try the Battering Ram in zed time! It just sounds fun to body check a Scrake.
Those are my two cents for now. I'd love to hear other's feedback as well.
First of all, I think this is my favorite perk so far. I think all of the perks are pretty fun to play (with the exception of firebug, but that is just me), but I absolutely love the SWAT guns. The sound effects are badass! Good job TW.
I feel like the weapons are pretty balanced as far as increasing usefulness / effectiveness per tier, with the exception of the MP5, but I tend to feel that way about most of the tier 2 weapons for a lot of the perks. It just feels like once you level up, there isn't enough of a benefit to cost ratio to spend the money on the tier 2 because your tier 1 weapon is effective enough, and its better to just keep saving for a tier 3 or 4 weapon. That said, I still have been purchasing the MP5 after the Kriss and P90 and I have plenty of extra dosh, because... let's face it... Who can resist the awesomness of that MP5 full auto 9mm sweetness going thwrump, thwrump, thrwump sound effect! But in all seriousness, the only exception to buying a tier 2 weapon prior to a 3 or 4 for me all comes down to if I die or join a game late and don't have the dosh and just need another weapon for the ammo and don't want to risk running out. The SWAT perk certainly is no exception and is especially true with the Close Combat Training skill which I'll get to in a moment.
SKILL TREE:
LEVEL 5:
So for the level 5 perk skills. I certainly find Heavy Armor Training more useful to Tactical Movement. I tend to play with no cross hairs and only aim down sites when I can afford to not move or afford to move slowly, and just walk my rounds onto the target visually when firing from the hip. I thought I might really like the Tactical Movement for this reason, because it'd be cool to be very accurate and move fast. What I've found though is that if I'm not aiming down the sites, I'm sprinting, and then Tactical Movement becomes useless to me. So Heavy Armor is my preference. Now with Heavy Armor my only complaint is the indication that you are being hit, and your armor is taking damage. Sometimes I've had a crawler or stalker that snuck up behind me and shreds it to nothing before I notice they are there. It just seems like you need more feedback while you still have armor. I also haven't quite unlocked the level 20 Assault armor skill yet, so I'm wondering honestly if this is going to make SWAT feel a little too OP. It might make sense to simply greatly reduce the health damage you take while you have armor rather than eliminate health damage completely. Maybe reduce the health damage taken while wearing armor with Heavy Armor Training down to 10%? I don't know, this is just a thought.
LEVEL 10:
For level 10 I absolutely love the Close Combat Training skill, however I personally feel like it shouldn't spawn you with dual 9mm. I mean, I'm not complaining. It's feels equivalent to spawning with dual 1911's with bigger magazines. I just think with the increase in damage it would be more balanced if the player had to purchase a dual 9mm rather than spawning with it. That's simply my humble opinion. It nearly makes it logical no matter what perk you are planning to play in a game, to simply spawn as SWAT with Close Combat enabled for wave 1 and sell the 9mm and switch perks between wave 1 and 2 to gain the extra bit of dosh plus allow you to kill most of the wave 1 clots with your knife to save ammo.
Now I'm going to go off topic for a moment, but had to mention this... Similarly to how each perk has a unique knife, I would love it if each perk had a unique backup pistol. They don't have to be different in damage dealt, mag capacity or anything like that. It would just be super cool. I mean a 9mm is a 9mm is a 9mm, so one perk could carry a Sig P226, one a Glock 17, another the Beretta 92, a CZ 75 or P06, someone else an FN9. You get my drift. I know this is a lot of work for the dev's, and you guys at TW put a lot into each weapon... but boy... would that be cool! Just a little request, when you guys have the time.
I think Tactical Reload makes the level 10 skill tree a tough choice, and is very well balanced between the two. I have my preference and don't see the need to switch, but I can see why some may prefer Tactical Reload, or to start with Close Combat and switch at a later wave. Personally I'll add that one thing I really like about the Close Combat Training perk, is that even after I purchase an MP5, P90 and Kriss, I still have a very useful 9mm backup weapon I can rely on if the Shazizzle goes south and I need every bullet to count.
LEVEL 15:
My preference is Suppression Rounds. I know some people hate the stumble, but man if you are going solo on HoE and dealing with 3 FP's at some point, that stumble skill can make the difference to survive the wave. With Close Combat Training, I really haven't run into an issue with ammo. If you have a P90 and Kriss in late waves, the stock ammo amount seems to be sufficient, even if it does get a little sketchy towards the end of a wave... but that is one thing that makes the game a challenge. However, I can see why some may prefer the extra ammo, and how it would come in useful at times, so I think the choices are pretty well balanced.
I haven't unlocked LEVEL 20 yet, but probably will today and have some feedback at that point. I already see myself leaning towards Assault Armor rather than Cripple, but I'll need to try them both out to see. I can see either being very helpful in extending your life expectancy in game.
As for LEVEL 25, I can't wait to try the Battering Ram in zed time! It just sounds fun to body check a Scrake.
Those are my two cents for now. I'd love to hear other's feedback as well.
I'm waiting for a game to go as far as to keep track of how many magazines you have for a weapon, and how many rounds you have in each, rather than give you an easy reload with a full one each time, as if you have a magic Mary Poppins bag full of magazines, with a cute little furry troll inside that consolidates all your rounds into fully loaded mags.