Is anyone else tired of Oxygenator downplaying?
I don't like the way mech stratagems are handled in the new warbond either, I think it's unnecessarily cluttering the stratagem select screen because a minimal mech customization system would allow you to swap limbs out for a single mecha stratagem at the loadout menu; you could sell new mecha arms in the warbond and only allow dual autocannon as a dual configuration and it would all stay the same balance wise.
Sure, I think it does feel a bit incompetent, but I think people trying to drag the rest of the Warbond out to cope is just ridiculous.
Oxygenator is a completely game changing passive that is getting thrown under the bus as another 'useless' or 'decorative' armor passive from a warbond by people that probably haven't tried playing with it at all.
The main upset is over lower armor light padded variants having more stamina than an oxygenated higher defense armor, all other things being equal. To me, the movement speed bonus is excellent and really completes the passive, but the sliding part has changed the way I approach stationary reload weapons and movement completely:
For one, Sliding and diving both have movement cooldowns to prevent excessive spamming, but they are not shared.
Slide, dive, slide, diving is probably the fastest non mobility pack way to move in the game with the new armor. It's omnidirectional and feels really smooth and fun to pull off in the heat of battle. There's even more situational fun tech to be had with sliding extension, like being able to consistently slide under overseer staff sweeps (I haven't tried as non host though lol) and I'm having a ton of fun with it.
Add the warp pack and this rhythmic kind of movement of warp, slide, dive, warp is some of the most fun ive had in a while.
Two, 'Stationary' reloads.
I've always disliked stationary reload weapons. I don't like having to stop moving and watch my character go through an (often lengthy) animation, regardless of how strong the weapon is. It's why I've generally avoided the recoiless; it's extremely strong but I just can't stand hiding behind a rock loading the noob tube, even if it one shots most of the game's heavy roster.
With this new passive, you can segment many of the game's 'checkpointed' reloads in multiple slides, creating an effectively psuedomobile reload. For example, you can slide and remove the expended tube from the recoiless, then cancel and slide again to start loading a new one, then cancel again once it's loaded. Autocannon reloads complete through 99% of a slide (although that one is already fast so it was fine before too).
You can accidentally cancel a part of the animation too early and have to do it again which adds a mini skill ceiling to a lot of weapons that have genuinely made me pick them up. I can somewhat stomach the recoiless even, and that weapon is the epitome of boring. I enjoy the HMG way more like this than with peak physique to offset its poor ergonomics or with siege ready for extra ammo.
I think this is an extremely solid, strong and interesting passive overall and deserves a spot in the all time goats category with medkit, engineering kit, siege ready etc.
It's not fair to drag down genuinely good parts of the warbond like the missile pistol, bullet storm and armor passive because you're unhappy with the state of vehicle stratagems. That can be criticized entirely seperately.