Giving up your webbing slot for an MD and +1 suit storage is not worth the tradeoff - I’d rather just have normal M4 armor.
Please add an option for me to screwdriver the MD out so I can have my webbing slot back.
If I want to use an MD I’ll throw it in a pack or sling pouch and from there it will do 99% of what I need an MD to do (make noises when a xeno comes by, and alt+click switch from long to short range when I need it which btw the XM4 armor can’t do and is actually important) and all without eating up 5 of my precious storage slots that IO’s already don’t have enough of.
I wrote up a novel to explain in detail my issues but I’m trying to keep this short and simple.
New armor is bad, please revert or listen to my feedback so we can make it better.
2 Likes
just let IOs pick M4 armor, I think it’s technically the same as XM4?
As far as I know the stats are the same with the following differences:
XM4 has +1 storage over M4
XM4 has built in MD (cannot switch long/short range)
XM4 cannot be used with webbing/shoulder holster/drop pouch/etc
I mean, as old XM4, before the change. Both old XM4 and M4 have 4 slots and have the same stats.
It would be alright for bravo engineers, but as IO you usually prefer speed over being able to pinpoint the benos and that combined with the removed webbing slot makes it rather mediocre. If you really want the visual MD pings, just put whatever you carried in your belt into a webbing and put the MD on the belt slot.
A huge problem is the MD pings themselves. Visually you can’t even find them on your screen half the time. The intel detectors have this problem too, and I very often have to stop and wait for a ping or two to see what actual direction the ping is in.
So in the end you genuinely cannot rely on the visual information because it’s inconsistent and difficult to actually use that information, making just the ping sound most of what you want to rely on - especially as IO because you don’t need it to tell you a lurker is next to you - it needs to tell you the lurker is 30 tiles away and closing in.
So you give up all these storage slots for an MD that is functionally equivalent to just throwing an MD in your pack or sling pouch and listening. That is a LOT of storage space for the benefit of sometimes getting a more accurate idea of where a xeno is. It’s simply not worth the bother.
If I wanted to make a genuine simple improvement to the XM4, I would get rid of the visual pings entirely, possibly extend the range, and increase the frequency of pings. You won’t get directional information but you will get distance and velocity information this way, and it will be in a separate information channel (audio) which leaves your visual channel less cluttered and easier to multitask with.
4 Likes
I feel like the armor itself is fine as an alternative option for those who wish to sacrifice speed for extra health.
However, I do think adding short range mode to the MD would make it better.
I agree, I like having an option for being a frontline IO rather than just backliner dodging lurkers.
but the inherent design of the XM4 isn’t congruent with anything an IO actually does and certainly not backlining NOR frontlining. It quite simply is a net negative by taking away storage and giving a nearly useless token in exchange. If I want to frontline I’m STILL better off with regular M3 armor - same speed, same armor, more storage.
It’s a “sounds good in theory” design for the armor, rather than what actually works in practice.
I feel okay with this change, i mean yes it took webbings, but granted and MD on the suit, which personally making easier to me, tracking xeno, and avoid possible fight and death.
I think it something between neutral to positive, to me.