Forgive me if I am barking up the wrong tree, I don't main Orks. However when I do I notice something... No one plays Painboys. I think this might be one of the reasons Orks are losing on the world map, compared to Apothecaries, they are a rarity. I think this is for one reason... Painboys suck compared to Apothecaries. Lets leave the poison grenade out of this, and talk purely about their support capabilities. Apothecaries recently got the Medicae grenade. It basically heals really fast. And coupled with the beacon, they have some good ways of ranged healing. Apothecaries also have Chainswords and Bolters, which allows them to be the equivalent of a Tavtical or Ground Assault. Painboys on the other hand, have a syringe. Which, correct me if I am wrong, has the durability of a Narthecium (not much). Their heal grenade also heals slow, like a beacon BUT it is far larger. It is able to be killed in melee. Apothecary grenades are very hard to kill at range, and require you to spend a few seconds looking for them. I feel Painboys need a lil' something. Right now they aren't very good compared to Apothecaries. We need some ideas... A random one I came up with was a pistol that shoots heal syringes (like Anna from Overwatch). I am just spit-balling though. Thoughts?
Sikkt bombs grant no xp. It's too difficult to heal with the syringe. Sometimes you cannot even save dyibg orks crawling right under your eyes. We have poison which is awesome but the dok syringe is weak whrn it's about weapon clang. Definitely not the most appealing experience.
That is part of the problem. Painboy got nothing on apo, inferior weapons, no utility through different vials, healing "station" is a huge "shoot me" block compared to apos pimple on the floor/wall. Painboy is worst support in game, he can't heal, can't buff, can't fight effectively. He is fun to look at, but not fun to play as as he can do nothing which another lifesteal slugga or big shoota shoota wouldn't do better.
This is honestly why I think so as well. The painboyz weapons are a little lackluster, even the sicky gun [which other pistols for the same price can do a greater service to you]. The pain boy syringe is cheesy, especially with the poison upgrade, but it can't clang. What does this mean? People in power weapon tier wreck you especially JPA classes. You can't fight any other way except in melee. That is one woe. The other woes are his grenades. They can be melee'd unlike the LSM variants. Both the sicky and dok bomb can be melee'd. You may not think that is a huge deal but it is, especially in the heat of combat. No one has to take their time to aim and pop it. Just RMB spam and move on. Same with Sicky nades. You can literally run into the cloud and melee the grenade, taking minimum damage. Oh, in case you miss the dok bomb, its huge and it glows. Also, since the last time I played, you can melee your own grenade and Im sure your allies can too. Reviving people? Forget about it. People can 'escape' your heal or you just can't seem to apply the heal, can't apply it because someone is bringing them up, or can't apply it because an ally is too close to the body, etc. That is even if there is a body left which you have to weave your way through the combat to bring them up at point blank. Apothecaries suffers similar woes but are just overall more flexible and have a ever so slightly more reliable kit and kit choices. Pain boy choices are very meh. Also, the WAAAGH makes painboyz almost useless.
You mean that special power that makes us lose any fortress defence because we run out of tickets just because we cannot be revived?
This is the only reason I haven't focused on an Ork yet. I really want to play as a painboy, but the melee-able grenades topped with the fact that the Ork WAAAGH! makes allies die immediately defeats the purpose. Plus, as OldMaster said, the WAAAGH! is an instant loss in fortress when defending. Side note: Why they thought orks should be defending at any point is beyond me.
Do painboyz need something? Yes they do. But what ? More ammo of course, a bigger ammo pool, i shoot out all the ammo before i say GROT
The Apo and the Painboy are basically identical except for the Painboy has more poison abilities while also healing, the Apo just tends to heal while having a better kit. Which matches kind of what was said in the last twitch, that they should be more about debuffing with poison while healing, while the Apo is more about combat and healing. What the Painboy needs is some kind of equivalent to the Apo being able to carry a Chainsword/Bolter. While this doesn't necessarily mean he needs a primary melee/ranged weapon, he just needs SOMETHING that fills that gap. Stuff like, his needle needs to be brought up in durability to a Chainsword (as it is his PRIMARY melee weapon), or he needs more abilities to proc poison at a distance other than a wimpy pistol, or consumables (like grenades/beacons). Stuff like that. Also, his grenades/beacons need to be brought to the level/size of the Apo's.
