Let's discuss: Protection Kit

THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION

Protection Kit is currently where most of the voiced frustrations seems to be forwarded to. Before that it was some other feature. I would like to make it clear I am not against any nerf, I am making my case for Protection. Now make yours against it.

Flash challenges you, Mercy challenges you, PROTECTION challenges you. All kits and features are meant to offer different types of challenges that you, as a player, should plan to overcome. That is the ultimate form that skill is presented through.

With that said, some players are able to overcome various challenges, but not necessarily all. This is where teamwork plays a major factor in gameplay.

Let's consider what Protection offers:

• A protection vest, highlighted on the protected player when active. When the player is hit once, their vest is destroyed and is regenerated after 30 seconds.
• No usable kit items, e.g. Shotgun or Sniper Rifle.
• Killstreaks:
  
  • 3 Killstreak: The player gains 3 seconds of speed boost when the vest breaks.
  • 5 Killstreak: The protective vest is rigged with flashbangs that blind enemies within 5 blocks of its wearer when hit.
  • 7 Killstreak: The protective vest is strong enough to resist sniper bullets.

I believe it is agreeable that the most the protection kit does is save you from a single paintball every 30 seconds. During those 30 seconds, you're vulnerable to all mechanics - beyond Protection Kit - available to your opponents. If you happen to be reloading during those 30 seconds, at best you'll be running around until you get your ammo back with no other available action to take.

During the cooldown phase you, as a protection kit player, are stripped of the kit mechanics, giving you classic ol' paintball gameplay (with the exception of team-rewarding killstreaks). This is where the balance is, once you're hit, you're partially disabled for that cooldown duration.

Take any kit in the game, and you'll find that they all have their Achilles' heel. The probable difference that will be distinguished is the scale of this weakness. It annoys me personally when people don't realise Protection's weakness. Your voices are stronger than you may think.

Most complaints I've heard about Protection are "it requires me to hit them twice", but that is precisely the game change the kit provides. It is challenging how you navigate the map. Don't run straight forward until you've cleared that Protection player, or walk down that aisle before killing the Sniper player.

When you voice your concerns, you shouldn't target game change, instead, target the game balance. In fact, I challenge you to encourage game change openly. Good changes are what keep us looking forward to the future. The aforementioned change Protection provides is not necessarily the problem, the balance of the change might be the problem.

Someone stated earlier on the MCBall Discord, "The only thing that should be hard to defeat is the player behind the kit." I completely agree that your skill shouldn't entirely rely on the kit you use. A greatly skilled player can be demonstrated by their ability to use any kit to overcome the gameplay obstacles - and still perform well. The kit itself should not be your entire skill set. Players can be skilled with different kits, individually, via practice.

Before sharing your thoughts, think about what Protection actually offers in its entirety, then compare it to your favourite kit. If it helps make your case, revolve your discussion about Protection around a comparison to your favourite kit. Please also keep in mind what I said about challenges; you are to be challenged with different gameplay mechanics.

Practice overcoming your challenges in MCBall, and life.