User blog comment:MasterKnight/Pat Fusty gameplay/balance improvement suggestions/@comment-25404524-20200812230520/@comment-43000-20200824182112

Thank you. And I wouldn't say Pat's attacks are weak so much as they are gimped in general by his characteristic but still wanting range, although that's practically a technicality when all is said and done. The end result is the same: Pat Fusty has issues with fun factor, and I can be sure that the biggest issue is visibility with Rallying Roar effectiveness, since the usefulness of added Damage actually diminishes in general, particularly with Pat already dealing so much in the first place, while not getting added Camo detection (Brickell), range (Adora), provision of target damaging (Gwendolin and Adora), etc., and even Churchill has his AP Shells activation not only have an above average cooldown rate, but also provides quite a bit of Bonus Damage against Ceramics AND MOABs on his shells' explosions that the layer damage becomes FAR more clear.

A speed boost from Rallying Roar wouldn't seem to make sense, but in terms of aesthetic, Pat's raw power would let him avoid losing speed when carrying around heavy stuff and a speed boost would be attributed to a burst of willpower and morale. Keeping the values tame enough for an activation ability would also avoid being intrusive, considering plenty of towers would achieve only 2 or 3 extra attacks for the duration, so mostly, the sound tempo changes would have players feel like RR is doing something. Pat getting the most of it would be a case of the king moving to have the subjects follow.

We can agree that Pat should be able to frontline. Pure support just doesn't suit him and wastes his power so quickly it hurts, particularly when the Hero is going to have the most cost-effectiveness of the player's towers and can expect to dictate the player's behavior. Even if he should be support to a point, at the very least, a sense of back-to-back would make Pat more satisfying to use.

As for the argument of the notion of strategy, I did the math: RR would STILL be favoring toward things like Tack Zone, but not to as big a degree as before. It's also worth noting that Camo detection, which Pat himself lacks, is still more common, if not quite consistently, on faster towers that would milk a Damage boost more than a speed boost. All Pat would get would be added options, but nothing too horribly broken at all when the likes of Sniper would still achieve maybe 3 extra attacks per RR without the B5 or M3 upgrade, and remember that L14 Rallying Roar has 10 seconds duration compared to the 45 second cooldown. Pat wouldn't suddenly prefer a T/B Sniper over a T/M Sniper over the shift, but he could have the option on the table.

Oh, and Rohan mentioned that Big Squeeze should be looked at first. My personal opinion about Big Squeeze? (And I almost abbreviated that out of habit, but obviously I don't want to insult Pat.) It works as a concept with how Pat can't attack other bloons during it to counterbalance the obvious 1HKO to the MOAB layer, thereby adding difficulty to its usage that is not only in Pat's character but also justifying the 20 second cooldown. That said, I would not object to repurposing the committal time. I would say to have the committal time being based on the strongest grabbed blimp with a MOAB taking 1 second, a BFB taking 2 seconds, and a ZOMG/seen DDT taking the old 4 seconds. This would make Big Squeeze more usable in MOAB or BFB floods and thereby not have Pat need to gimp his extraordinary DPS against floods as badly to fight to his fullest. Big Squeeze would still have to be handled with thought, but when it would be a more clearly added option, it would still speed up filler MOAB rounds and make the 90s MOAB floods more interesting to play through.

At the end of the day, Pat being more interactive would be a stronger show of TLC with the game's balance, which of course everybody would want. How we get there is the big question and I'm just providing my suggestions. I'm glad you agree about the idea of Pat getting a personal speed boost from Rallying Roar, that's for sure.

(And excuse me for taking my time with handling this. I've been preoccupied with datamining Secret of Evermore.)