This is coming from a max level player who has played many games as both predator and fireteam and trust me when I say, the predator does not need a buff. Maybe some tweaks here and there but I’ll get to that later.
My reasoning behind this is that after playing the predator enough, I almost never lose. This is not meant to be a brag but more of evidence against the argument that the predator is too weak. It is VERY easy to pick off FT members if you know what you’re doing as predator and when I play as the FT i almost NEVER see anyone playing predator who seems to know what the’re doing. The depth of most people’s predator strategy is very shallow. I almost never see predators doing anything but shooting a couple plasmacaster shots here and there and then just jumping in and starting to swing wildly with a spear or wristblades. That’s why berserker is getting played often and why if anything the berserker specifically needs some nerfing.
A good predator should be using all tools at their disposal. For instance, I mainly play scout. I use the predator bow and pick off people from afar while crouched so that im completely invisible, a tactic that many seem to be unaware of. Once you down someone with the bow (it only takes 2 or 3 decently charged shots) that is when you now have a perfect situation to do damage as the predator. Again, I almost never see predators use a FT member down situation to their advantage. When someone is down, that’s the time to strike and do damage to the other members while they try and get their downed team mate up. Most preds get someone down and then run away after getting shot once or twice. Additionally preds need to start using tools that fit their playstyle instead of whats “meta”. Every predator runs around with the combistick but I have literally never seen any predator actually throw it (and that shit HURTS when you hit). They just jump in and start swinging because they think thats the hot strategy. Use a netgun if you’re having a hard time surviving in close combat, that will nullify one member allowing you to take out the others with greater ease. Use the motion detectors if you’re having a hard time finding people and dont forget about ISOLATION SCAN. I play a lot of games where it takes the predator WAY too long to find us, that should be the easy part. And even though the plasmacaster cant one shot anymore it is still EXTREMELY powerful if you can hit charged shots.
Regardless of players skill level with the predator, I do think that some changes should be made here and there to polish up some gameplay aspects. Keep in mind, some of these might be “buffs” for the predator but they are not substantial enough to make him stronger necessarily, just easier to play
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Berserker should probably be slower than he is right now and should not be able to jump as much. Right now people are raging because if one fireteam member is off derping around somewhere and the berserker comes into a 3v1, he’ll win almost every time. Something needs to be done to him so he’s not so versatile.
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Cloaking should be adjusted so that it is much harder to see the predator in any situation. When I play FT, I can ALWAYS see the predator jumping from branch to branch in the distance which leads me to spotting him and him getting shot much too early in the engagement. The predator loses his element of surprise which is how you win as predator, catching the fireteam off guard or in a bad situation. Having the predator be harder to see will allow newer predator players to get a feel for stalking and will allow more experienced players to setup ambushes and actually stalk the FT and take out isolated targets that might stray too far behind. It’s hard to do anything as predator when the FT knows where you are which brings me to my next change.
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Spotting needs to be tweaked a little so that either only the recon class can spot or the spot can only be used once a minute or so. As of right now, spotting can really throw a wrench the predator gears and really becomes a nuisance. I also don’t think you should be able to be spotted while cloaked at all.
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Netgun is honestly too strong right now. I’ve won a lot of games just by picking off the one random member of the FT who’s off fucking around by himself (there’s always that one guy) and then running into the rest firing my netgun and killing the people who arnt netted first. It fires too fast right now and allows the Predator to practically auto win, especially if there’s only 2 people left. A good tweak would just be slower rate of fire so it really depends on how skilled the predator is at aiming.
Other than those few but important changes, I feel as thought the game is pretty balanced as of right now. The FT wins when they work together, stay close, move fast and focus fire on the predator when he comes in to make a move. The Predator wins when he’s smart and strikes when the time is right while using his kit to the best of his ability. It’s also important for the predator to punish the FT when they mess up. For instance, when one person is split from the group or is mudding up/using an objective out in the open. You have to strike when they’re vulnerable. Anyway I hope this post was a help to someone, especially the devs. I love this game and I want it to succeed and grow with the community because it really is a lot of fun and it is very well made other than some glitches here and there.