Looking at long term game development I'd really like us to consider giving each class a cooldown ability(similar to Banshee wail). These specials would be FREE and would come default with each class(like the wail and scorpion stealth). These are concepts and building blocks only. Banshee: Wail -Conical, Frontal facing, medium ranged debuff(Tap buff button)30 yards range frontal cone(60 degrees) -Shorter range AOE debuff(Hold buff button) 15 yards AOE(360 degrees) -Stuns/disrupts all targets in effected area 1 second(stun breaks on damage) -Suppresses all targets in effected area for 10 seconds -Disables enemy minimap and their ability to see or make spotting reports. Enemies cannot see tags over friendly and enemy heads for 10 seconds -90 second cooldown -Applies a temporary immunity buff to all effected enemies(can only be psionically stunned once every 60 seconds). This would make stunlock impossible. So if 5 banshee popped 5 wails consecutively over 10 seconds you'd only be stunned once vs 5 times. The suppression effect would still be applied. LSM Tacs: "Know no fear" -20 second self buff -Ignore suppression for the duration -Increase accuracy by X% -Immune to all incoming debuffs(banshee wail). Not retroactive, cannot remove or cleanse debuffs AFTER the incoming enemy debuff has been applied to your character. -10% damage reduction -120 second cooldown Ork Shoota: "Dakka Dakka" This buff would be implemented after "default" accuracy for Orks was every so slightly reduced. TBH Ork accuracy is a wee tad too good at the moment for Big shoota and shoota. -20 second AOE buff(effects all allies within the buff radius, encouraging green tide) -Increases magazine size 25% -Automatically refills magazine when initiated -Increases Rate of fire by X% -Increases accuracy by X% -120 second cooldown LSM/CSM Ground Assault: "Furious Charge" -Increases sprint speed by 50% -33% damage reduction while sprinting -Can aim, fire and reload pistol while sprinting -cannot be staggered or stunned by anything -Increases distance of lunge attack by 6 feet -12 second duration -90 second cooldown All cooldowns are global, as in they follow the user through death.
These are some good ideas, however I would suggest the GA one is a bit too powerful. If you're going to give someone a 12 second stun immunity, it needs to be tempered in some way. If the immunity only worked when sprinting, that would do the job nicely I think, otherwise it would be far too abusable in melee.
Stuff like this can sometimes be used to pseudo-balance other aspects of the game. I like the concept. I would, however, need to stop delaying the remap of my taunt key. It needs to be on the near side of my grenade key and not the other way around...sorry to those TK'ed...
I like the ideas, but honestly I want something small at first to test the waters. Maybe some more 'T'-like abilities. Like give Shield an ability to shield bash, Banshee a small leap, Ork Cluster nades. Banshee scream ability was fantastic and I would like to see more development in this area for multiple classes.
All of those are horrible from a design perspective. They create a "power moment" the way "Ultimate" abilities in MOBA games do, which is the exact opposite of what you want in a large scale tactical shooter(your power moment comes in the form of an Elite/Hero spawn). Any and all abilities should be restricted wherever possible to effects that can be either permanently active or on a "per encounter" basis(i.e. things like the jump packs, chaos marks, grenades), certainly nothing with a 2 minute cooldown that invalidates enemy countermeasures. Tactical classes don't need an extra button, they get a knife and a gun which give them the ability compete with specialists in their fields and exploit their weaknesses. Assault and Heavy weapons classes don't need more buttons, they are already defined by being specialists in their fields. Barring the under-performing scream on the Banshee, Eldar melee specialists are also sufficiently distinct without additional buttons. Jump and Support classes are self explanatory in that regard, Fire Dragons are a beast of their own as well.
Overwatch also has Power Ability's as do many other games i cant name. Its not beyond the realm of possibility to add something like these.
Overwatch is a 5v5 shooter that's also clearly attempting to emulate a MOBA. EC has potentially "massive" 30v30 battles. The games both have completely different dynamics, and individual "power buttons" simply do not work in large scale battles.
