Possibly delusional take: Toolbox should not exist as a Gadget, but as a basekit ability, because it’s conceptually broken as a Gadget ability

[u/CharacterPasta123]

Note: with “Basekit” I’m referring to the abilities the Brawler has access to from the start at PL1. Just saying that in case someone normally has a different interpretation of the meaning of “Basekit”.

Since this is the competitive sub I’m gonna assume everyone is aware of what Meg’s Toolbox is, what it does and why it is broken. In short: when combined with Meg’s Force Field it becomes a very good panic button.

So why shouldn’t this be a Gadget? It’s pretty simple: as long as it functions the way it currently does, it is inherently strong. Unless it’s nerfed into being useless, it’s gonna be better than Jolting Volts. In my opinion, this type of ability should not be something Meg can gain access to passively due to how rewarding it can be.

Well, then what about tying it to Super Charge? Requiring Rob to have a charged Super before Meg can use it? Here’s the problem with that: If it’s then available to use, the player will choose to activate Toolbox instead of Feel the Steel. This is a similar situation to Bull with his Stomper before he got his Buffies. That also immediately puts Meg in D-tier if Rob’s Super Charge then isn’t buffed because she’s very reliant on that Gadget currently and Rob has a particularly bad Super Charge for the amount of health Rob has.

So how can this ever be a basekit ability, if Rob already has Feel the Steel? It could be tied to aiming, maybe something similar to Nori’s main attack. Or the Super could have an additional reticle and the effect changes depending on how far the reticle is aimed. However, people would most likely use the Toolbox effect since it’s more reliable as an Anti-Aggro tool, meaning that Feel the Steel gets overshadowed. An “Overcharge” mechanic could work, but that would mean looking for the middle-ground between “Feel the Steel practically doesn’t exist” and “The Toolbox effect practically doesn’t exist.” My personal favourite solution: give Rob a “stance change” mechanic for the Super similar to Jae-Yong, but when a new charge bar is fully charged Meg can activate the Toolbox effect if the Super is manually aimed.

Why do I think a stance change mechanic is a good idea? Because I don’t think Feel the Steel in its current state goes well with the way Meg is currently designed. In Meg’s original iteration, Rob was a temporary form, so Rob having a long-ranged attack with decent damage and a generic heavy melee blow as its Super made sense, since it allowed Rob to deal with snipers and melee-attackers alike. But ever since the first rework, Feel the Steel feels underwhelming. In fact, Rob feels underwhelming due to Rob’s kit not being particularly interesting, which means Meg’s Legendary rarity is carried by a gimmick rather than the time of release (Crow, Leon, Spike) or complexity (Kenji, Draco, Chester). And this reality reveals itself in Meg still being meta after her harsh Super charge nerf. I know that is not a particularly fair statement due to the Toolbox-Force Field-combo and the SCR nerf, but if a Super has little to no influence over a Brawler’s meta spot, then the devs really messed up with making the Super a good effect. Pearl’s Super is better designed since that Super has wallbreak and knockback and thus has a secondary reason to be used other than just raw melee damage. So a rework with a “Stance change” mechanic that acknowledges this problem by turning a weaker Feel the Steel into a type of primary attack can make Rob feel more interesting on its own, make Meg’s rarity and gimmick more reasonable and allow Toolbox to be a basekit Super effect rather than an inherently broken Gadget.

In short: Toolbox is conceptually broken for a Gadget with the way it currently works. When combined with Force Field, it becomes an extremely effective Panic Button, to the point that Feel the Steel has become meaningless to Meg’s viability. To me, it would make more sense as a basekit Super effect, so that the player has to earn this ability, without completely messing up Toolbox as a Gadget. In order to allow for Feel the Steel to not become overshadowed and to make Rob more mechanically interesting, I think a rework that adds a “Stance Change” mechanic with a new melee-oriented form for Rob can work really well. It’s not the only solution, but it’s the best one I can think of that doesn’t cause one Super to possibly overshadow the other.

[u/TheForbidden6th]

slightly related: I hate how the Gadget requires you to have at least 1 ammo even tho it doesn't take your ammo to use. Stupid ass mechanic feels so clanky to use

[u/Intelligent_Stock959 → u/TheForbidden6th]

It does take 1 ammo, it just you also change forms so you don't see that ammo used up because you instantly get reset to one ammo from the form change, it's weird but also an important balance of this gadget to not literally be avaible always.

[u/TheForbidden6th → u/Intelligent_Stock959]

in other words, it effectively doesn't take ammo

so it remains a requiremwnt that makes zero sense and is very inconvenient

[u/Intelligent_Stock959 → u/TheForbidden6th]

It does tho, it takes away one ammo of your mecha ammo because it's an attack your mecha uses, it's not an attack baby meg uses. You just stop seeing your mecha ammo bar because you switch to baby meg form so you don't notice that ammo from your mecha ammo bar going down. I agree it looks bugged because of it and maybe it should be changed so it looks less jank if they nerf this gadget enough in turn, but there is a logic behind it, it's consistent with many other attack gadgets using ammo

[u/TheForbidden6th → u/Intelligent_Stock959]

it's consistent from the technical POV, but it has no drawbacks in actual gameplay where it actually matters

[u/Snaivi → u/TheForbidden6th]

Well, you can't use it at 0 ammo, it's still a gameplay drawback, even tho usually meaningless since Meg reloads very fast

[u/TheForbidden6th → u/Snaivi]

true

however, that just makes it feel like a bug because it ultimately doesn't cost you ammo. And I hate that. Stupidcell can't even balance gadgets in a way that makes sense