The objective aren't even designed to be Tactical Friendly. We aren't going to see them Heavy Bolter Friendly Soon.
This is exactly where I sit on this point (and all others of similar design) because all brace options for this point will get you killed. I pan left to right and pray that anyone coming up either side of the stairs on my left or right don't notice me straight away. I try to avoid defending this point because of the reasons you described. When assaulting this point I like to sit here as you usually can mow down several defenders before they even notice you. I think we've come to the same conclusion that these types of points are an absolute nightmare (more so than others) to defend as an HB. In general points have far too many entrances and almost zero firing lanes and I really think this is by design. You cannot defend one entrance or group of entrances without being severely exposed. It seems melee are never more than a dodge roll and lunge attack away from you once they enter a point building. I would really like to see some points where ranged become a bigger part of the defense effort.
I hope that caps points never get to the point where brace points can cover any/all entrances. The fact that the design currently doesn't favour that is a GOOD THING(TM)
I don't think anyone asked for that and currently we are at the other extreme where the number of brace points is limited and can't really be used to cover much at all as an entrance is never more than a few feet away from your flank. We either need true firing lanes for defending points (non-existant currently) or we need fewer entrances to points. Both play styles should have something to contribute when defending and currently ranged has extremely limited options when it comes to defending.
I have to disagree with this. Personally I want it to be hard for any of the heavy classes to be able to "lock down" a direction. I want cap point defense/offense to be a team effort that benefits from various classes to have a successful outcome. I absolutely abhor when games of this type create bottlenecks on objectives like you describe. I like that cap points have all sorts of entrances to them (even though you'll see 3/4 of your team mindlessly plow into that well defended entrance). If you made more entrances where you can "setup and lockdown" that would lead to some really unfun gameplay.
Most points already have 10+ ways to enter them and LOS is obscured by all sorts of things in the way the point areas are setup. You claim you want all classes to be part of a successful outcome and yet ranged are left hiding in a corner never more than a few feet from an entrance hoping melee doesn't see them and come 2 shot them. Again, I am not suggesting you have to run the gauntlet from 100m out to get to the point. There certainly should be more options for ranged when defending as the point room setup are horribly skewed to favor melee. I think ranged just want to slide that bar a bit more towards the middle.
Pretty much every cap point has at least 1 or 2 good points for a ranged class to hang out on. The majority of people are going to funnel in through the major entrance(s). If you've ever been on the receiving end of a well defended point you know what's up. Most of the problems stem from people not playing as a team vs. map design. That's not to say that certain maps aren't terribly designed
Hey! Good that nobody attack B point from the Left Flank on Harkus Fortress (From attackers point of view) Especially with some JPA/Raptors rampaging in melee. That would totally force the defenders to split too much the Devastator/Havocs and let the Center access open for a charge and completly rekt any form of defense faster than the actual way players are pushing this map... Waiiiit a second... Did I just ...
I wish they'd just take a way the lessend sensetivity while firing a heavy weapon. Traking an Eldar is just painfull. Bracing is ... well it makes you immobile and makes you into a sniperrifle... The problem with all ranged classes is how voulnerable they are in close quarters, where they still have to go because that's where the objectives are...
Keep in mind with my post I'm using SM class names for simplicity, I know they can't fight themselves and there are slight differences with other races, specifically Eldar. I personally think it should be totally valid for a HB to go able to cover a main entrance. That's their role after all, to set up and be able to mow down anyone in their field of fire. Balance wise, noone should be able to go toe to toe with a braced devastator at range or approach without cover. It speaks to good map design that there are decent places to set up, but also ways to flank said places by either going the super long way around, or a JPA approach from windows etc. JPAs are supposed to be the natural counter to entrenched foes, diving the back line and causing general mayhem while main tac/GA forces move in from primary ingress points. If there were places to setup a HB with no means of JPA jump flanking it would be nigh impossible to take said position without literally clogging the place with corpses until the HBs ran out of ammo. Obviously the flankability of a place should depend on the map and game mode type. Fortress maps should be more advantageous for Devastators/Tacticals since that map type is meant to be more about flank control and firing lines as opposed to the more brawl focused triple cap maps where enemies come from many directions. From what I understand with the design of this game, the 5 classes should primarily serve these roles: Tactical: Holding ground already gained, wearing down foes in LOS. Primary targets: GA, JPA, Tactical Devastator: Area Denial, killing anything foolish enough to enter LOS of a pre-placed HB. Suppression of foes in LOS keeping them pinned in cover/have bad accuracy. Primary Targets: GAs, Tacticals, Devastators Ground Assault: Pushing lines forward, Claiming new territory for ranged units to setup in. Primary Targets: Tacticals, Devastators, Apothecaries Jump Pack Assault: Breaking enemy lines, general mayhem, distraction. Primary Targets: Devastators, Apothecaries, Tacticals Apothecary: Support firing lines, protect firing lines from approaching melee units. Primary Targets: JPAs, GAs In a perfect world, GA and JPA claim new ground, Tacticals and Devastators move in on the new ground and setup firing lines. HBs pin defenders, allowing GAs and JPAs to approach with relative safety. Apothecaries and Tacticals handle any enemy JPAs/GAs that approach devastators. Devastators cut down any GAs that dare approach and suppress enemy ranged units to keep friendly melee from being shot too much. Pinned ranged units get flanked by GAs or jumped by JPAs, flush out defenders so they either stay and get cut down, or shot running from cover. New ground has been claimed, ranged step up, repeat. I'm not saying the game currently achieves this 100%, but I believe that to be the intent. I think in the current game state with most randoms and such, the piece missing the most is Apothecaries not supporting or covering their Devastatos and Tacticals.
