Class Specialization

[Spud Nick]

I had a idea for class specialization were you could click a button in the charter menu and have 5 class tools but no tools for the other classes. Pilots could take 5 pilot tools but no engineering tools or ammo, Engineers could take 5 engineering tools but no ammo or pilot tools and gunners could take 5 ammo types but no other tools.

Do you guys think that this would unbalance the game? or do you think it would create new options for pilots and crew.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

I am 100% in favor of this. I know it might gimp Engineers a little when it comes to them being able to shoot but I wantz me 5 pilot toolz!!

[Moo]

I think it would most benefit pilots, many never get off the helm anyway, so would have no problem losing their other things.
As for engineers, yes they wouldn't be able to shoot so well (or spot), but being able to take mallet, spanner, chemspray, extinguisher, and buffkit would probably make up for it.
Gunners... Well, having 3 ammo types is of questionable benefit a lot of the time... Would having 5 ever be worth it?

[Echoez]

This would benefit pilots a lot. Maybe the deck engineer as well on some ships and it would be completely useless on gunners.

[naufrago]

On a Galleon, I could see a gunner taking 4 or 5 ammo types if they could.... except they wouldnt be able to rebuild those guns. which would definitely get sniped. hm.

[Pickle]

I'll be the voice of dissent, then.. I think this will unbalance the PUG, or rather rend it dead in the water and destroy the gameplay experience for 99.9% of the playerbase (i.e. everything but organised competitive play or private matches).  You've now got two midgame joiner Gunners, and none of them has a repair tool.  Welcome to the hell of death-by-troll or the new and improved death-by-newbie-mkII.

Muse has no interest in fixing problems with PUGs caused by mid-game joining, let's not make the situation unbelievably worse.

[Sammy B. T.]

Engineer nerf? Your telling me that having a mallet, spanner, fire ext, chem spray, and a buff hammer is a nerf? Three super engineers shooting normal ammo would still be my game play style.

[Swizy]

I have mixed feelings about that. The pilot would certainly benefit from that. I always felt that only three tools is quite the challange. Considering that you never need to take a gun on the ship the ammo slot becomes kinda useless. Having that spare fourth one could change the game quite a bit. The hullgineer has a buff hammer as a fourth tool or either a chem-exinguisher combo (one to remove and the other to prevent stacks). The Gungineer keeps his current loadout with spyglass and buff. Perhaps drop the spyglass for a fire extinguishing tool. The gunner would.. gun the ship? I don't think taking away a repair tool from him to be a good idea. You're happy for a little indipendence there.

But maybe new roles on the ship would emerge from that. Main engineer suddenly becomes a more important role or you could combo the gungineer and hullgineer.

[bullethose]

would make the gunners useless I (when I play gunner) barely feel a need for more than 3 tbh I only know half the ammos

[Spud Nick]

Seems like we all agree that pilots and engineers would benefit more from this than gunners.

[N-Sunderland]

Yeah, I can only think of one situation where this would help the gunner, and that's on the Galleon, where a gunner manning both a lumber and a hwacha, for example, would get to use lesmok, greased, loch, heavy, and burst. Even then, they'd be losing their repair tool, which isn't really a good thing...

[Plasmarobo]

I'm pretty sure everything works pretty good at the moment.
The ecosystem is balanced. I still want a gunner on my ship at all times ('cept maybe squid).
I don't need more than one gunner, cause honestly there are more things to fix than to shoot.

Specialization is silly, having three slots is the proper amount. It means you have to choose and think to be effective. It allows specialization in load outs, instead of just a "which class am I, oh I don't want that one thing lolz". My pilot can be different from your pilot right now. I like that. Additionally, I like that my gunner can rebuild his own gun, and I can rebuild my own balloon. I shouldn't be, but sometimes things get clutch.

This is something that works very well in the game and I don't think needs to be played with at all. I think it would actually reduce the options available to players by eliminating "subclassing".

Sincerely
-Plasma

[naufrago]

Yeah, I can only think of one situation where this would help the gunner, and that's on the Galleon, where a gunner manning both a lumber and a hwacha, for example, would get to use lesmok, greased, loch, heavy, and burst. Even then, they'd be losing their repair tool, which isn't really a good thing...

Yeah, my opinion is pretty much that. I could see the benefits of bring 4 or 5 ammo types on a Galleon, but it still wouldnt be worth the cost of forgoing a spanner or wrench. And a Galleon is pretty much the only case where the 'specialization' would be even remotely useful for a gunner.