Profile of wooof

my problem with the ability is it works 100% of the time. literally every other AT ability like that has been nerfed. AT nades/faust used to pen 100%. ram used to pen 100%. target weak point used to pen 100%. all of them have since been nerfed because they were overperforming, particularly against heavy tanks. mediums still get penned almost 100% of the time by those abilities, but heavies atleast stand a small chance of not being crippled by a single button press.

many of you brought up the cost of DPs in this thread. DPs may be 15 munitions more expensive now than at release, but they have also been given massive dps buffs. that means guards are essentially now lmg grens. considering both grens and guards pretty much require an lmg upgrade to function in the late game, i would say the DP cost is pretty much irrelevant at this point. the DP justifies its cost in damage alone, the fact it also unlocks a powerful AT ability is just a bonus.

the other response people have been bringing up is smoke. the dynamic between smoke and button has also changed since launch though. smoke used to cost a small fraction of button. at launch, buttoning repeatedly would rain the soviets of munitions. now, smoke costs 10 munitions less than button. the drain on soviet munitions is barely greater than on the germans. i wont even get into how it makes no sense to require one of a few doctrines with smoke just in case soviets pick guards.

so judging the ability alone, for 40 muntitions, button disables all weapons, reduces speed by 90% and vision by 99% for 10 seconds. Faust/AT nade on the other hand only has a chance to disable engine for 25 munitions. the chances of destroying the engine (to get the same 90% speed reduction) is extremely slim (5% IF it pens). on top of that, button has 30 range, while faust/at nade has 18 and 15 range respectively.

TL;DR in my opinion, this is too much of an improvement over the other AT abilities for only 15 munitions more. it has the downsides of having a 10 second duration and restricting the guard squad, but these drawbacks can be mitigated. so when used properly, its just a 100% chance to give heavy engine damage and disable all weapons. there should be something the german player can do without smoke. even decreasing movement by only 80% would be a huge improvement. that would let slightly more tanks be able to escape the edge of the radius. 30m range means you practically have to be out of the sight radius to escape this ability currently.

stg44 doesnt crit like that

Because he seems to be hinting that overdrive and blitz are comparable.

Overdrive gives acceleration unless it was ninja changed.
Blitz gives both, speed and acceleration.

well i wasnt, but if you want to get into it they are comparable. they may be slightly more different than they used to be, but they are still similar.

both reduce recieved accuracy. both increase acceleration. both require vet 1.

blitz has the advantage of increasing speed by 35% as well.

overdrive has the advantage of costing 1/3 as many munitions, lasting 33% longer, working with engine damage, further reducing damage to squads inside the vehicles,

I agree with OP. While we are at it Smoke and Blitz could be removed as well.

throw in an overdrive and youve got yourself a god damn deal

Tank shells? This was about button or are they using those new DP's that shoot tank shells?

Humoring you changing the circumstances for just a bit though, if I can't see out the tank how will I know where to go? When a shell hits the hull I'm sure it's not easy to tell which direction it came from. So any direction I move in could potentially be moving closer to the enemy I can't see or still yet, some obstacle the tank can get stuck in or otherwise disabled.

I think it's frustrating because as players we can see and we want the units to respond to whatever we tell them. If your screen went completely black upon getting buttoned, would you know where to move?

i would go the direction i came from since, you know, i just drove that way.

also, i wouldnt consider that "changing the circumstances". do you frequently button tanks with guards then just sit there for the duration of the ability? people typically button tanks so they can flank them or keep them in front of AT guns.

if you want to talk real life, im pretty sure a tank crew wouldnt say "lets sit here for a while, im sure their ability will be on cooldown soon"