Every other combat T2 has at least two T3 evolution options. The Preatorian really comes across as the more generalist T3 pick, especially considering how little it has in common with the Warrior.
The biggest hamstring to being a Lurker is you are locked to Ravager, whereas Warriors and Spitters have a choice between the versatile Preatorian or their more specialized T3 evolution. Preatorian and some of its strains have a helluva lot more in common with a Lurker than a Warrior.
I don’t see any reason to not make the change, but I’ll make this thread to see other’s opinions.
This isn’t diluting or changing anything significant considering this already is a concept for the Defender and Sentinel strains, since they both can evolve into a Preatorian further down their evo line.
would be interesting to add onto this, if each prae strain had a corresponding t2, and if they evolved from that T2 they get a unique passive bonus like the dancer becoming slightly harder to see, or the vanguard getting a weaker punch
I would fucking kill to be able to evo from Lurker to Praetorian. I’m not a great Warrior and Spitter is, while fun sometimes, often something I don’t want to commit to playing for an hour+ at a time if the T3’s survive a long time. Spitter is situationally incredible and as a generalist combat caste lackluster to play for more than a few minutes unless you’re at the absolute top, and I am not.
Praetorian is already the jack-of-all-trades caste, having strains to cover nearly every role a Hive needs, and as already stated— is the only Tier 3 Xeno to have multiple evolutionary paths converge. Why not another?
When I play, I often have limited time; whether a few hours before bed, or just two before work. I’m incredibly privileged to even have this much, so I can imagine those who feel the same way have the same annoyance when they guess poorly that a match will be quick, and choose Lurker, only for it to spend all the time they have and have missed out on a much rarer Praetorian match.
This might come across to some as a stupid exaggeration, but to me, I’d like to be able to spend my time in a more certain way to make me happy. Even if I get SADAR’d immediately, at least I know I’ll do better next time, and got to at least be in the pilot seat of a Prae.
In terms of balance, I’m not super concerned— Praetorian is about the same power as a Ravager, and the only real consideration I’d make is if the support castes could evolve to it, since Burrowers and Carriers and Hiveys being able to almost instantly militia up into combat caste T3’s sounds much more like a switchup than allowing one combat caste to evo up to the T3 of another.
As a player, personally, I would like this change. I enjoy being able to choose between warrior and spitter before going prae. However, prae is also already available to 2 castes- something no other t3 has. I worry about praes becoming oversaturated, or the main t3. I already feel like it’s a lot more of a rarity to say, have 5 crushers or 5 boilers and 1 prae than the reverse.
To sum it up: I’d like it but I’m worried about praes becoming more of a default T3 than they already are
‘spiritually’, the praetorian feels like the common t3 ancestor of all castes, at every endpoint it makes sense for xenos to be faced with two choices.
Become the hives generalist T3, the praetorians, versatile and different in strain and purpose, yet nonetheless all useful in their own ways.
Become a specialized T3, the epitomy of your caste. Boilers are ranged menaces, ravagers are rounies that hurt and crushers are fortified defenders that decided to start moving.
Only makes sense that lurkers can also be given this choice, to further specialize or to make the most of their strengths and buffen up their weaknesses by evolving to what is effective the all-rounder T3.
