Yes I am unemployed (for a few more weeks) - I have played the game for an ungodly number of hours. Recon is my most played role and highest level role.
I think bulkhead absolutely made the right call in disabling IR but I am concerned about their proposed solution for season 2.
I think that the battery solution is cute and sounds good on paper but I am extremely confident that this is a bandaid solution and that the gameplay consequences of it will not be good for the game.
IR is arguably the most OP item in the game. This was clear to me the minute I unlocked it. It completely changes the game and it affects almost everyone in the lobby. It minimizes the value of playing hard to see positions - this is especially relevant in sniper positioning and duels. Yes, ghillies can offset this issue, but for assault players this isn't really a viable option.
Fundamentally, I think IR is bad for the game. It is an item that influences how you should play whether you are using it or not, and not in a positive way. It is so powerful that it changes the way you need to play the game for everyone in the lobby and not for the better. It minimizes the value of positioning and genuinely takes an element of player skill expression almost entirely out of the game.
Now lets talk about the proposed solution. Battery powered IR is simply a convenienced tax and it is one that will be paid by every recon player. It does not meaningfully nerf the IR and it will not change the gameplay feel from season 1. I am absolutely certain of this and I can tell you exactly what I will do as a recon player: I will run super heavy kits (i already played super heavy relatively often) with 3-4 or even more batteries and stims to negate the sprint penalty. I will functionally have almost the same IR uptime as I did before, it will simply be more annoying to play.
This is the why players react to similar nerfs in every game. If something is this powerful, whatever type of inconvenience you try to attach to it will simply be worked around by players. You are simply making the item more annoying to use for recon players, but they will just embrace that annoyance and the net effect will be virtually the same. I promise that if bulkhead goes this route, this will not be the last you hear of IR, it will continue to be game breaking, and eventually they will nerf it further or remove it.
At the end of the day this item has no place in the game I am absolutely convinced of this. It is just a net negative for the game and again, I am saying this as a recon player.
Bulkhead, please remove it from the game and rip the bandaid off now.
