Oh definitely - the way I view it - a Terminator showing up on the field is like a Titan showing up in Titanfall: there are things you can do to combat it, but the best strategy is simply to run out of line of sight of it and skirt around behind it - and then do your best - you don't stand off versus a Terminator

Even level 4 takes damage from smaller rounds - it dents and warps - a few of those won't matter - but dents on dents on dents will bore through just about any armor. Will a tank care about 9mm? Not really, but if you put 10,000 rounds into the same panel - that could be a problem. I don't like the idea of Rhinos driving around impervious to damage except via Lascannons: they definitely need to receive minor damage from standard arms - bolters and so forth.

I think the termies should be almost impervious to small arms fire and regular grenades, but weapons such as power klaws/fists and power weapons should present a significant threat. Also, it might be a good idea to extend the time it takes for them to spawn so defeating a terminator gives the opposing team a significant window of advantage.

So for sure they will be elites. The rule of thumb from Noah was if it's an Elite in the codex it will most likely be am elite in EC (I assume HQs will be Heroes). So you'll will need badges (earned in-game)to spawn as a terminator and it will last only until you die. So you will not be able to create a terminator loadout and play all day as a terminator...which in turn means the re-spawn time is more or less irrelevant

Still, depending on how many badges a player can have + how often they are acquired it might be worth it to apply a cooldown to spawning as an Elite. Either a global cooldown to all available Elites or to the specific types (ie spawn a Wraithguard, fight, die, cooldown is in effect for Wraithguard but can still spawn an Outcast Ranger Elite). Warlords able to grant Elite spawns can circumvent that.

Are the badges confirmed already, I guess I missed that. It is obvious elites like terminators will be limited in some way, we'll only probably be able to play them until we die or until the match is over which may be problematic. For example, imagine a situation where you finally get to play a terminator after unlocking various stuff, grinding for a week or two, you spawn in a match...and it turns out there's 1 minute until the end of match . That would be so unfair, that's why I think that either there should be some kind of visible timer showing how long the match will last (assuming we'll be able to choose matches in future) or a minimal time required to play an elite character, like - not less than 5 minutes, unless you die faster of course.

I was thinking about it a lot too. If the elite characters will be so hard to get as it was mentioned, they should be really badass. In the light of this, a termie should be able to withstand at least five full mags of bolter fire imo. Special\heavy weapons is a different story so I wouldn't like to speculate about it yet, they will definitely require a lot of attention from the developers to balance the termies properly. One thing is certain though, termies should be badass and you should feel badass playing them...until you die

Both of the quotes below can be found in this post here in the forum Q&A Answers Compilation Thread.

7. A lot of chapters have special units within them like the Ravenwing, Deathwing, and Death Company. Will we be able to access the color schemes for these units? Will we have to purchase them in RTS, ,unlock them in game or both.​

NOAH: The units you mention I would consider all to be Elite units. To use an Elite or Hero in a round you need a consumable to spend that we are currently calling Badges. One badge for an Elite and two badges for a Hero. So if you were playing as Blood Angels you could choose, instead of spawning as a regular Assault Marine, to spawn as Death Company if you had a Badge to spend but you can’t just look like Death Company all the time. Not even if you pay me. Maybe if you pay Nathan but probably not. No, probably not.​

9. Is it still true that if I purchase a unique Elite or Hero from the Rogue Trader Store, that I will need to unlock their "free" equivalents in the game first before I can actually use them?​

NOAH: No you don’t have to earn or unlock specific other things besides being able afford the Badge to spawn as that unit. Badges are earned by playing matches. The exact drop rate for Badges isn’t determined but it’s enough that those units still feel special. There will be other “free” Elite and Hero units to unlock through gameplay such as the Death Company mentioned in the question above.​

Ok, however it is still unclear to me precisely how we can obtain these badges and how long actually we will play elite\special characters.

we know that we can get them with faction resource.
personal veteran and elute are limited: faction can allow to """spam""" them but at a great cost.

Honestly I don't care about the faction resources, I'd like to learn what I precisely will have to do to play these classes and how often\long. I hope there will be no hard caps, that would piss me off a lot.

I think @Grigdusher is referring to the vendor system when he says faction resource?

13. What are the current thoughts on resources/items we will collect during game play? Weapons? credits?

BRENT ELLISON: Reward Boxes offer Weapon Bases, Weapon Mods, Consumables (grenades & packs), and Visual Customization components like different Armour Marks. We’re considering putting Vehicle Loadouts in there as well.

In addition, we’re considering a “token” system for buying from vendors. As opposed to RP, which is earned passively for the use of spawning things in the field, tokens would be earned through PvP, PvE and/or reward boxes and then traded in for either specific bases/mods or categorized reward boxes. If you “sell” any of your earned items, they’ll convert to tokens.
This is still under development, but we want to offer you some way to get the standard weapon base or consumable you want without having to rely on RNG, and we don’t want you to hoard the resources intended for helping your faction so a system similar to this is necessary in some fashion.

- here in forum Q&A Answers Compilation Thread.​

So teeth would be the token for orks. Astartes trading cards for LSM. Wraithcoins for Eldar (with a wraithlord giving the thumbs up on heads side and a view of it's rear on the tails side). For CSM, um, warp dust or slaves.

That second quote I gave before says Badges are earned by playing matches, reward boxes can be too, so either they're in those with the other reward items & consumables or they're separate. They could also even be generated based on EXP/score or something, not reliant on completion of a match. Something like how implants are earned in Planetside 2 (excluding the selling in store part they do because EC's Elites & Heroes are very different than those implants). I think teams taking out enemy heroes grants rewards is still part of the plan. My guesses for that would be some sort of boost to the reward boxes or additional team resources for the current fight.

How often depends on drop rate of badges, won't know that until we get Elites in to figure it out. Warlords can also grant spawns. But there's that bit about the vendor where Devs don't want players to rely on RNG or hoard the resources. So a guaranteed badge in the vendor? Wouldn't feel special then.

How long is so far presumed until you die but as the 1st quote before says "you can't just look like _ all the time". So from that it's we can't because the strategic asset has fulfilled it's purpose, moving on. Or keep it and continue on their merry way. Or an in-between where the player returns to their character but the badge is refunded/chance to get another is increased. Either way, don't want to get players mindset to be hoarding them or not PTFOing, frustation would ensue or could threaten snowballing (I do know that there are many players who don't think that way but still).

Hard caps would only work for matches and even then it would piss a lot of people off, myself included, then when things open up how could a cap be enforced? "You can't spawn _ because the limit has been reached. Try again later." which would include "You can't go here because the limit for _ has been reached. De-spawn or try again later." That would just increase players that don't do anything for fear of losing their spawn, counter productive to the whole system. A timer would be bad too, would make the player feel rushed and not act strategically (SW Battlefront EA Beta comes to mind but that timer also drained health which was double stupid).

Time will tell. I'll make note to ask about this stuff for the next livestream Q&A and the forum Q&A sometime on January 30th, you can too. Submitted my questions.