#3

I’m not sure how but the sentry needs to be able to at least fire back at anyone shooting at it provided they are on their own. So a backdooring character at least has to contend with return fire.

I’m not sure if that is feasible though :slight_smile:

1 Like
#4

The sentry, turrets, and enemy battleborn all shoot at backdooring players.

2 Likes
#5

My own experience with equal teams play, protracted backdooring isn’t a viable stratagy. Essentially, if a team is winning while backdooring, they were probably going to win without backdooring. This is because the rest of the backdooring team is in a 4v5 situation, and if the 5 cant get the upper hand out of that then they simply arn’t as skilled/have a good team comp. Plus backdooring doesn’t get you XP, limits your other team mates in shard collection/building/thrall capping as they need to be at the front line to stop the enemy from pushing.

2 Likes
#6

Backdooring is so easy to stop imo the only problem I have is OM and the sentry OM can just fire the incendiary grenades and air strike to destroy sentry shields in seconds.
No other BB can accomplish this…

#7

Fixed that :smile:
No, but seriously, this is my major concern with that solution.

  1. Backdooring, being somewhat of a flanking tactic is generally not a problem to me. Like @sebspace said, it’s a high-risk/high-reward tactic.

  2. Some matches (most PUGs from what I hear) seem to suffer from a lack of teamwork or individual skill. But if you consider how much of advantage a skilled, coordinated team already has over a PUG group this might prove counterproductive (more stomping).

  3. ‘More’ pushing doesn’t necessarily mean more ‘good’ pushing. Minion wave speed IMHO is fine as is and anyone trying to sentry-dive without minions will get shredded very likely, anyway.

  4. @mail4famous made an excellent point. Consider that there are way more ways to damage minions, than to heal them. In the long run, it will most likely end in endless middle fights, regardless how much ‘full wave clear’ chars you pick.

  5. Longer matches seem like a good thing at first. And overall, I think those are the best matches. But longer, closer matches are also more exhausting and might add to the hostility level of players. And probably some last minute Powerplay+Backdooring wins. :smile:

In general, maybe a sentry shield buff and better targeting might be enough to promote the intended playstyle.

/Edit: And perhaps the return of Shepherd Bots.

2 Likes
#8

[quote=“D3STR0Y3R_214, post:1, topic:1541864, full:true”] Battleborn cannot damage the shields of sentries.
[/quote]

Why does this horrible horrible idea keep being brought up?

All that needs to change is to fix the sentry notification audio.

2 Likes
#9

Sentry shoots at me whether I’m alone, in a group, there’s 500 minions attacking it, I have one pixel visible to it.

Those spiders really hate me.

#10

Why not just make the areas where teams can get into “backdoor positions” ( ::snicker:: ) one way doors like at the bases?

#11

The reason why I’m not that interested in escorting minions in Incursion is that the Sentry seems to target me even if there are minions around so them being there doesn’t have a big impact. The Super Minion + Thralls do help but otherwise I do not find the minions that helpful.
Battleborn can already dish out enough damage, the small amount the minions do rarely matters. Maybe if there aren’t many ranged characters on the team but really, Incursion needs Ranged.

#12

Others have already told you why this doesn’t work, and I’m going to join my voice to them.
As an orendi player, I can assure you one thing: The devs do that, and no enemy team will never EVER get to damage 1% of any sentry on my side.
I don’t even need my teammates for that. They can do whatever they want, go chase the enemy battleborn, or whatever. If battleborn cannot damage the sentry’s shield, then i have no reason to go after them. i’ll stay in my base, destroying minions, backing as soon as there are enemies targetting me, coming out again at the next wave, rince and repeat. I almready can go at 130+ minions killed in a single match of overgrowth, and that’s while caring about enemy battleborns. If I don’t need to care anymore to play objective… then I 'll just destroy all the minions by myself.
Any orendi player can do it, any OM player, and so on. you’d just get 30 mn incursion with ending score at 100-100 : win by player score. which can be controlled by simply not having anyone getting out of your base to avoid dying and giving them point.

Bad,; bad, bad idea.

#13

Not from all locations it seems at the shard cliff on overgrowth for example benedict can effectively 1v1 the sentry and remain at full health after taking down the turret or on monuments at the top of the stairs across the pedestals where the sentry has clear line of sight but no return fire.

Hence why it can be considered an exploit and be frowned upon at the current time. The sentry is too inconsistent in when it returns fire on top of the inconsistent announcement system which is why it can hardly be called a legitimate tactic until it gets fixed.

@Ginger_greninja I know man I know. It’s the same for me if I go in as a melee character when we push. But to be honest I just think the sentry knows your a benedict player and wants revenge haha :smile:

#14

I’ve never cheesed a sentry with Benedict in my life.

Thorn tho… I’m guilty as sin.

#15

The sentry shield being immune to battleborn is just such a bad idea imo. That means if the sentry gets even 1 percent shield you can’t do anything else to it

#16

Why should the sentry be perfect at defending itself? It has five battleborn and a thumper to stop one Benedict on the shard cliff. I’ve been killed on that perch more often than I’ve damaged the sentry.

Goalies can’t stop every shot if a team shoots from different angles.

#17

I understand that but if it is one solo player the sentry should be able to defend itself since to use your analogy it is one shot coming from one direction.

#18

Interesting. I usually get shot by the sentry unless it is being attacked from the other direction. I’ll have to look for the places where it can’t hit me. I thought the sentry AI had been improved.

#19

This here, so much. I cannot tell how many times I have been pushing their sentry with a minion wave and some thralls and suddenly the sentry hits me with the 500 damage snipe while my shields are down. At the same time, it is the minions who deal the most damage to the shield. Would make sense if the sentry would shoot at them first.

#20

I notice that sometimes when I peak out of the tunnel on Overgrowth as Orendi there is already a barrage of thumper missles and a railgun laser there to greet me as I round the corner and she’s not really a backdoor threat, but as Oscar Mike I get a few seconds to at least build a little hate.

Maybe the threat level of certain Battleborn in the AI needs adjusting.

#21

Hard to say without further insight into how sentry aggro actually works.
(Assuming there’s nothing about that topic on other platforms, such as Reddit. I’ll have to check on that.)

I think, from a theoretical standpoint, the best solution would be to let the sentry focus on the source of the highest incoming damage (classic aggro mechanic generates ‘threat’ based on incoming damage over time), with a forced re-check every 2-3 seconds. Perhaps this would require faster aiming/turn rate from the sentry, I’m not sure about that.

#22

That’s the point though, you are supposed to escort the minions so they can hit the sentry. This is the reason the best teams always have a tank and why they win. They get a big minion wave through the center, and when it’s about to round the corner the tank jumps in front, takes all the aggro, and the rest hit the sentry with the minions.