Personally I find the lerk to be perfect the way it is, as long as hitboxes are fixed. With screwey hitboxes they are a little unbalanced, but not by a huge amount.

Again I will say that vanilla lerks base speed should be increased. They are just too damn slow. That way dcs, scs can be used more than just mcs now. Yes I know some clans use dc, sc now, but increase in base speed would also make it more viable for other clans.

Perhaps a change to make celerity less necessary? Right now, going for bite kills with adren/silence is absolutely mind-boggling if the Marines have any aiming skill.
Right now, celerity is the resupply of combat, or armour1 of previous NS. It's absolutely necessary.

While I will always pine for having spikes back, I'm not seeing the type of support for it that makes it likely to return. So, given that Lerks are probably going to stay as biters for the forseeable future...

The difference between Celerity and Non-Celerity Lerks is too high right now. Celerity has become too much of a "must have" upgrade for Lerks, as non-Celerity Lerks are just too slow. Lerk base flight speed needs to be increased slightly, but preferably without also increasing Celerity flight speed, which is plenty high enough as it is.

Concerning Lerks and Celerity, I would like to add that a level 1 Celerity Lerk's speed is how I feel a vanilla Lerk should be.

raise your hand if you're in a clan that you lerk for

*raises hand*

*raises hand*

*raises hand*

I think we all are so far.

*raises hand*
Isn't that the point of this thread, to see the opinion of clanning lerkers on the lerk?

Lerks are a pain, and though I'm personally begrudged against them (Some people know why) I respect them. They're POWERFUL support units, but flimsy and vulnerable on their own (unless it's 2_of_8) I think they're well balanced, from the perspective of one who never lerks, and deems the death of a lerk a thing to celebrate.

Lerk is fine for clan play

1. In terms of game balance, the lerk vertical speed cap is:
C it's useful for dodging but its not going to instantly get you out
2. Should lerks be able to perch?
Don't care I can't see it being used that much
3. For your playstyle, which do you prefer?
A
4. Do you think that lerks should be given the choice of bite or spikes as the slot1 weapon? Why or why not?
Having 2 weapons in a slot is annoying
5. In terms of game balance, should spikes be able to damage mines?
Yes, while I don't really want spikes anyway; it wouldn't be unbalanced because the lerk has to show itself to hit the mines
6. Spores should damage:
B If they didn't damage armor focus would become much less powerful, and the lerk wouldn't be able to soften up the target very well.
7. Umbra should damage:
A Its a support weapon...
8. Are spores currently too powerful as a hive 1 weapon?
B Fine as they are
9. Keeping in mind both game balance and personal preference, if you were to choose the lerk's weapon loadout, what four weapons would you choose (in slot order)?
Bite
Spores
Umbra
Metabolize or 1.04 spores.
10. Please comment on any suggestions you have on how to make the lerk more fun, balanced, or intuitive.
I think the base speed is fine as it is, it makes celerity required(mostly) to be an attack(biting) lerk. Being able to strafe midair would be nice to try.

*raises hand*

As I said before, I lerked for my clan when I was in a clan...but I quit a little while ago for lack of time to join the weekly practices.

digz, grepdashv specifically wrote "if you lerk for your clan"

now if we have random people posting here, grep's going to get bad data. excuse me for trying to assist grep.

#1 If you are having problems, there are PM and Report functions that you can utilize.

#2 FYI

I'll rephrase my post.

Mature presentation in a discussion does not make up for lack of content on the presenters end.

Can I participate in this thread ? I play almost exclusively lerk on combat servers.

Your opinion will most likely be regarded as that of someone who lerks exclusively on co maps.

The people who were asked for balance opinions are players who lerk in 6v6 competitive matches. Its quite different. No doubt you will have different views on the lerk because of your different experiance.

I agree with most of what's been said thus far. The lerk is powerful beast if used correctly. Personally, it would be nice to have a spikes/bite combo on slot1, but then I don't use lastinv. Of course, a focus lerk with all the trimmings on a combat server is entirely different to what's being discussed here. I find that on a close co game (ie the marines are somehow doing well), then the choice between adrenaline and celerity is hard to make. There is nothing more annoying than lazily spamming gas and finding you've got nothing left in the tank to move/bite. But then celerity helps a lot to take down jetpackers. I fear I may actually have to play ns vanilla more.

I think you guys are detracting a little from the original purpose of this thread. One of the main concerns that some guys might have had with the new lerk is the vertical speed of the lerk. I'm not sure if most of you lerk like this but next time you lerk try and leave your 3jump script on while lerking. One space tap and you're on the roof, one more lookign down and you're on the floor again.


I believe greps question is really just asking, do you guys mind that lerks can go 3 times the speed of a blinking fade vertically? (Numbers provided by someone other than me)

Personally I feel that the current lerk makes lerking much more interesting. It adds a kind of skill to the lerk just like they do for the fade and it also requires the marines to think a little bit when they engage a lerk since they can easily jump out of the vent and bite a lone marine down now.

Spikes should never be brought back in. They are completely worthless and most of the fun of lerking goes away without bites.

Spores are fine too. I wouldnt' touch them. Any more powerful and you might have to rebalance teh marines because the lerks will just soften the marines too much.

The way I see it. Even if you leave the lerk alone for the next few patches, people will eventually find a way to get around the imbalances of the lerk. If not then that is when there should be a fix to it. Right now is probably too early to tell.

You do not go 3 times the speed of the fade, do the math.

Yeah, its like 1200 max up, a good bit more down. But currently you can't easily reach that on that many place on real ns_ maps (I tested it on ns_siege007 ). Also, Fades can pretty much change direction just as fast - and approach faster than a Lerk, as well as leave faster.

The only things the Lerk really has going for it is size, spores and the low cost. Bite is nice and all, but a Fade simply does that better (unless you're dirm and struggle with JPers).

If you play as a lerk for your clan, please respond below to the following questions:

d. a little too low, but not annoyingly low.

2. Should lerks be able to perch?
a. Find a use for it, and I'll say Yes.

3. For your playstyle, which do you prefer?
b. spikes

4. Do you think that lerks should be given the choice of bite or spikes as the slot1 weapon? Why or why not?

Choice upon gestation would work for me.

5. In terms of game balance, should spikes be able to damage mines?
Hive 0 or Hive 1, No.
Hive 2 or Hive 3, Yes.

6. Spores should damage:
a. health and armor

7. Umbra should damage:
a. nothing

8. Are spores currently too powerful as a hive 1 weapon?
b. spores are fine


9. Keeping in mind both game balance and personal preference, if you were to choose the lerk's weapon loadout, what four weapons would you choose (in slot order)?
Bite OR Spikes
spores
umbra
primal scream

10. Please comment on any suggestions you have on how to make the lerk more fun, balanced, or intuitive.
If nothing of the Lerk is changed, it would still be OK. My only peeve is that the Lerk dies to One shotgun blast too often.