Make Imp Great Again - a list of Imp & Z Mech changes

[benn1nat0r]

Thank you for always offering to help others out !

[Gormey]

@GutmanSca Didn't read this but I agree...buff imp he sucks.

[Mysterymaster_OP]

I've been thinking about this, and i've had a bit of change of opinions.
It's going to be quite controversial, but i figured i'd weigh in once more with what i think can be done to fix imp and his Z-Mech.

I disagree with pretty much all buffs to Imp.

the only ones i agree with now are the ones for impkata (WITH my previous suggestions: NOT nerfing the damage.) and the one for his accuracy not being affected by jumping.
Why do i say this?
because that way we can buff the mech a lot more.

Imp was never meant to be a powerhouse. he was always meant to a weaker character, from PVZ1 to GW2, he was always the underdog. low hp, kinda pathetic damage potential, but quite speedy. His saving grace WAS the mech.
Think about it. Why did the devs put in a special "Z-MECH IS READY FOR DEPLOYMENT" popup if not to highlight "hey your powerhouse is ready to be used."'

The entire plot of GW2 revolves around the Z-Mech being the superweapon of the zombies.
Imp is MEANT to be somewhat weak (though not HORRIBLE), and the mech is meant to be the high-priority threat that it was in GW2.

Focus on buffing mech back into its proper spot, and leave imp what it is.
Make the mech the powerful device its meant to be.

The REASON imp exists is for that mighty mech, and while i fully understand the importance of making IMP fun (i main the guy, after all), i've realized that we CANT have both the Imp AND mech be buffed, it will fully break the class.

Imp isnt meant to be powerful, he's meant to be the underdog that annoys the enemy team, but nobody thinks much of him until he drops a massive mech and starts terrorizing the plants.

"Launching missiles as i stomp around, hey which one of us is the SMALLEST NOW?"

#GiveTheMechItsArmorBack

[benn1nat0r]

@Mysterymaster_OP I somewhat agree that buffing imp can lead to problems, as he is intended to be weaker with the small hits and can compensate with his bunny hopping play style. But buffing the Mech by much I wouldn't like it all. The mech made me quit gw2 when it was released . It just isn't fun to have such a powerful character in a game that mostly consist of capturing and defending point.

[benn1nat0r]

@GutmanSca I upvoted the post because it is very detailed, which I love and has some great ideas (although I disagree with some). Overall, a very nice well thought out list from you and your cousin. Now to my opinions on the points:

• Optimizing imp for jumping is great, as he is made for jumping. I think the same should apply to Acorn.
• I disagreed with the Mech giving Imp a second life before. Now that he is no longer invulnerable when calling it, I agree, as he most likely won't be low health when calling it anymore.

I don't really like the changes to his weapon. Damage drop off most likely won't come, even if we keep reiterating we want it. Therefore we should not consider it when discussing balancing, in my opinion. As mentioned before, his primary wasn't significantly nerfed. I think 6,5 damage is just too much. His rate of fire was already increased and he is designed for bunny hopping, making him hard to it with the small hitbox. Even now in his nerfed state many players get top vanquishes with him because of bunny hopping and the mech actually still being useful, despite the general opinion on it . I continue to get to the top of the leaderboards with him. Therefore, I suggest a compromise. 5 - 5,3 damage would be good.

I know you other changes like the gravity change and ammo capacity reduction try to balance this, but it wouldn't help much, because even with 40 ammo he would be able to quickly vanquish any plant with the much increased damage.

The gravity grenade canceling more abilities seems good, although I somewhat disagree with Acorn Dash. It is meant tor dodging and escaping. Again, you could say the grenade is meant to catch targets. So I don't know what to do, since bot abilities core concept cancels with the other.

Mech:

Giving mech armor would be good in my opinion, but disable healers for him at the same time. In nearly all lobbies I play there is at least one healer glued to Mech as soon as he is summoned, if not multiple. This completely destroys balancing. In addition to him being heal, he can be overhealed! This simply shouldn't be possible.

I also don't like the damage increase per bullet. 3 increase is too much. I would like his primary to deal 6 damage.

Don't increase Bionic Bash's damage. It already is powerful and useful for insta-vanquishing low health classes, like Nightcap trying to fungh-fu Mech.

In my opinion Wizard shouldn't be able to attach himself to z-Mech. The mech is supposed to be a powerhouse, and adding a damage focused "support" on top is terrible.

Missile Madness:

I would like them to make the damage dealing area a bit wider, but the missiles in turn deal less damage. They could add the zoom feature to the ability. This way, you could coose between dealing less damage to more plants, or more damage to less plants.

I really like the changes to the upgrades.

[Mysterymaster_OP]

@benn1nat0r Doesn't have to be that much of a buff, just enough to make people realize the power in imp is the mech, so people dont quit playing imp just because the imp itself isnt powerful enough.

[benn1nat0r]

@Mysterymaster_OP Ok I understand now. If the buffs weren't big but noticeable they would improve the situation. You have my support on this matter .

[Mysterymaster_OP]

If im being honest, the only changes that the Mech needs are the armor and a small buff to missile madness.
The armor will allow the mech to truly become Imp's source of power, since it will be able to... y'know, actually SURVIVE long enough to cause chaos.

[Mysterymaster_OP]

So here's what im suggesting:

IMP: 

--Impkata has 50% increased movement speed to allow Imp to actually survive the duration of the Imp spin.

--No longer loses accuracy when jumping, so imp can actually HIT TARGETS while remaining mobile. (neccessary change: Imp MUST remain mobile or he WILL die, and the "arm day" upgrade barely affects anything, and SHOULD NOT be a "necessary to equip" upgrade. it should be an UPGRADE, not a necessity.)

Z-MECH:

--Mech regains its armor: 50% Damage reduction on Any armored part, NORMAL damage on unarmored parts (The middle section connecting the bottom to the top.) And CRIT damage on highly fragile parts (the glass cockpit). (Neccesary change, the mech ABSOLUTELY NEEDS THIS. Without it. the Mech quite simply has ZERO survivability. If plants aim well, the mech can still go down fast, but it now actually takes effort to aim for weaker points.)

--Missile Madness no longer has splash falloff. hitting an enemy DIRECTLY with the rocket does crit damage, but ANYONE within its radius takes the full 25 damage damage. 20 seconds recharge to 30 seconds recharge. Mech can use up to 3 missile barrages per mech if its 30 seconds. (The missiles are innacurate, dont move that fast, have an "alert" sound before firing, and have a delay before firing, so i think this is a pretty fair change.)

--Bionic Bash now has built-in knockback. (you're punching the ground with presumably hydraulic force, things are GOING to get knocked around in there. the upgrade can serve as an even BIGGER knockback.)

--Robo-Laser: Bit of a tricky one, but maybe a slight damage increase so that it can actually vanquish citrons and snapdragons instead of just doing half of their HP and then going down. (do NOT touch the projectile drop. The mech is MEANT to be dangerous at ALL ranges.)

[benn1nat0r]

@Mysterymaster_OP I like most of your changes, I just don't agree with bionic Bash and no damage drop off on mech if it were to be introduced. It would simply make imp op.