Hi, I'm Captain Obvious, here to tell you why Gungans would NEVER work in Open. Let's ignore for now the animosity the fanbase has for Jar Jar Binks.
A lot of people might assume GUNgans would be gunners, but blasters are not a weapon Gungans deploy into war. Hence why the blaster Jar Jar uses in Legends is labeled as "Borrowed". So what weapons are Gungans known for?
The Booma (Gungans can't pronounce "Boomer"), a plasma ball that is thrown either by hand or catapult. It's essentially just a pulse-grenade but requires no priming. In practice, this would just be spammy. This is why Legends Jar Jar has Pulse nades. Pulse nades are mostly support to set up pushes, and don't work well as main weapons.
The Personal Energy Shield, IMO the coolest gadget of the Gungans. Gives non force-users a mobile way to block and even deflect blaster-shots... but weesa already have Jedi.
They could try to enlarge the shields to make Gungans more Reinhardt-like, but I don't think that kind of playstyle would work because a snowball comp does not mesh with tk. Gungans would just be prime targets for being shot in the back of their heads by teammates (both intentionally and not). Plus it would also be straying too far from the lore and might ruin the honestly pretty awesome narrow shield design.
The Electropole. A spear weapon would be p'etty hot, but we all know every melee weapon in this game is just going to be a reskinned saber style, so you aren't going to have anything unique like an extra long melee range, super powerful throw, or anything. It's just going to be purple saber style because of that one funny lunge move. Stab attacks in general don't mesh with the direction-based blocking mechanic of saber dueling.
Agility? It's been kinda assumed that Gungans have unnatural agility, but that's all based on that one scene where Jar Jar for no reason does a perfect ten photo shutter dive into a lake, it's not at all obvious that Gungans in general are super nimble. Gungans are warrior people with good dexterity, but I can't see a Gungan class having the same dexterity as a max level ARC.
Mount? Gungans are known for riding the swift Kaadu into war. So what if Gungans were more like a hyper-fast vehicle class, basically a counterpart to Droidekas? Well, there's still a couple problems. For one, height, you'd have to shrink the Kaadu for Gungans to get through a lot of doors, plus the hurtbox would be brutal. Secondly, Gungans still aren't gunners, they would be a hyper-fast melee vehicle? Mounted combat is notoriously difficult for even the best game devs.
Shield Generator? Since Gungans don't have blasters, in the movies they try to force the enemy to approach them closer with a shield-generator that blocks ranged attacks but can be walked through. This would be unique, but even close-quarters Gungans don't have the tools to truly give them a big advantage in a 1v1. The support team-based strategy of the shield could be interesting, but since there's no class limits, by default, shield spam would be so unbelievably cheesy and would just be a nerf to all imp gunners.
If you try tweak Gungans away from the lore towards something more viable and skill-based, you just end up creating a horrible abomination of an ARC or Jedi. If you try to play into Gungan's unique strength, you just end up with a lot of gadgets that would be challenging to implement and annoying/low-skill once implemented...
Now to contradict my entire post and show you how I'd implement Gungans in Open:
I think everyone (including me) initially assumes Boomas would just be reskinned Pulse nades... But what if they weren't?? What if Boomas instantly detonated when directly hitting an enemy before touching the ground, did only damage (does not drain ammo), but if they hit the ground or wall they roll around for a much weaker roller explosion. For reference, I'm thinking of something like the TF2 Demoman's grenade launcher mechanic. The direct hit from the Booma would knock down someone who is running or jumping, but someone who is walking or crouching will just be pushed back, much like force Push. Splash damage would not knockdown or stun enemies ever. This would be a lot less annoying than a pulse-nade spam class. The direct hit focus means Gungans actually need to aim to be effective, and if a Gungan lands their shot there's still counterplay because neither you or your weapon are always disabled after being hit by one. How much damage should it do? I'd say a direct hit should do about 47 damage, enough to get a Sith really low in two direct hits and direct hits should ignore armor, and they deal extra damage to Droideka shield and SBDs. Boomas should be able to be force-pushed, but they cannot be blocked by sabers (though blocking with saber would not lessen damage it would prevent the Sith from being knocked down).
So I think Gungan's should be designed around their Booma as their primary weapon rather than a spear or a "borrowed" blaster. But... I still like the shield. Since Gungan's don't have much armor, I think Gungans should have something very unique, they should have their shield and Booma thrower as one item. This means you won't have an alt-fire for your Booma, instead you can block without switching to melee, and block would behave a lot like a lightsaber block with deflect, but instead of Force Points that replenish, the Personal Shield would not replenish between uses and would instead have it's own shield health. Even though you have the booma and the shield equipped at the same time, you can't block for a short period after throwing your Booma. This gives some more counterplay. The shield can block lightsaber attacks, but lightsaber attacks totally shred through the energy of the shield, just about 2-3 non-pb'd swings would be enough to take your shield from full to broken. So you can't hold off a sith for very long if you let them get close.
While I don't think Gungans would have wall-running, I do think it makes some sense to give them an automatic roll out of knockdowns like ARCs and also a high jump.
Now I think Gungans are finally shaping up to be a unique and versatile class instead of a totally annoying or worthless class.
But that's just the base-build, what options should Gungans have for loadouts? Ammo is the obvious one, this would determine how many Booma Gungans would have, since it's their primary weapon in this concept, they should start with quite a few. Levels could be something like 25/35/50. They wouldn't have armor, but they would have a decent base health, somewhere around 120. But you should be able to purchase more shield health. Shields should be decent, but weaker than Droidekas, so something around 150, 275, and 400 for shield health options. Deflect should also be purchasable, would behave a lot like Jedi Deflect. Dex would be purchasable as well, but would only go up to level 2 and would be different from ARC dex in the ways mentioned previously. I think there should be two levels of Booma. Second level of Booma would increase the splash damage ONLY on direct hits (meaning it hurts enemies crowded together better) and would have a faster firing rate. Spears could be an option, but not having spears I think makes the class easier to balance. Another thing to consider would be to let Gungans do a melee kick while holding the Booma & Shield in the same way Bounty Hunters can.
Obviously any class needs to be tested to see exactly how much each loadout option would cost, so I don't even want to speculate on that.
Anyways, I wanted to give my idea for a Gungan class, but wanted to use the first-half of the post to explain the reasoning for my very specific concept. Sorry for using my Jedi mind-tricks.
A lot of people might assume GUNgans would be gunners, but blasters are not a weapon Gungans deploy into war. Hence why the blaster Jar Jar uses in Legends is labeled as "Borrowed". So what weapons are Gungans known for?
The Booma (Gungans can't pronounce "Boomer"), a plasma ball that is thrown either by hand or catapult. It's essentially just a pulse-grenade but requires no priming. In practice, this would just be spammy. This is why Legends Jar Jar has Pulse nades. Pulse nades are mostly support to set up pushes, and don't work well as main weapons.
The Personal Energy Shield, IMO the coolest gadget of the Gungans. Gives non force-users a mobile way to block and even deflect blaster-shots... but weesa already have Jedi.
They could try to enlarge the shields to make Gungans more Reinhardt-like, but I don't think that kind of playstyle would work because a snowball comp does not mesh with tk. Gungans would just be prime targets for being shot in the back of their heads by teammates (both intentionally and not). Plus it would also be straying too far from the lore and might ruin the honestly pretty awesome narrow shield design.The Electropole. A spear weapon would be p'etty hot, but we all know every melee weapon in this game is just going to be a reskinned saber style, so you aren't going to have anything unique like an extra long melee range, super powerful throw, or anything. It's just going to be purple saber style because of that one funny lunge move. Stab attacks in general don't mesh with the direction-based blocking mechanic of saber dueling.
Agility? It's been kinda assumed that Gungans have unnatural agility, but that's all based on that one scene where Jar Jar for no reason does a perfect ten photo shutter dive into a lake, it's not at all obvious that Gungans in general are super nimble. Gungans are warrior people with good dexterity, but I can't see a Gungan class having the same dexterity as a max level ARC.
Mount? Gungans are known for riding the swift Kaadu into war. So what if Gungans were more like a hyper-fast vehicle class, basically a counterpart to Droidekas? Well, there's still a couple problems. For one, height, you'd have to shrink the Kaadu for Gungans to get through a lot of doors, plus the hurtbox would be brutal. Secondly, Gungans still aren't gunners, they would be a hyper-fast melee vehicle? Mounted combat is notoriously difficult for even the best game devs.
Shield Generator? Since Gungans don't have blasters, in the movies they try to force the enemy to approach them closer with a shield-generator that blocks ranged attacks but can be walked through. This would be unique, but even close-quarters Gungans don't have the tools to truly give them a big advantage in a 1v1. The support team-based strategy of the shield could be interesting, but since there's no class limits, by default, shield spam would be so unbelievably cheesy and would just be a nerf to all imp gunners.
If you try tweak Gungans away from the lore towards something more viable and skill-based, you just end up creating a horrible abomination of an ARC or Jedi. If you try to play into Gungan's unique strength, you just end up with a lot of gadgets that would be challenging to implement and annoying/low-skill once implemented...
Now to contradict my entire post and show you how I'd implement Gungans in Open:
I think everyone (including me) initially assumes Boomas would just be reskinned Pulse nades... But what if they weren't?? What if Boomas instantly detonated when directly hitting an enemy before touching the ground, did only damage (does not drain ammo), but if they hit the ground or wall they roll around for a much weaker roller explosion. For reference, I'm thinking of something like the TF2 Demoman's grenade launcher mechanic. The direct hit from the Booma would knock down someone who is running or jumping, but someone who is walking or crouching will just be pushed back, much like force Push. Splash damage would not knockdown or stun enemies ever. This would be a lot less annoying than a pulse-nade spam class. The direct hit focus means Gungans actually need to aim to be effective, and if a Gungan lands their shot there's still counterplay because neither you or your weapon are always disabled after being hit by one. How much damage should it do? I'd say a direct hit should do about 47 damage, enough to get a Sith really low in two direct hits and direct hits should ignore armor, and they deal extra damage to Droideka shield and SBDs. Boomas should be able to be force-pushed, but they cannot be blocked by sabers (though blocking with saber would not lessen damage it would prevent the Sith from being knocked down).
So I think Gungan's should be designed around their Booma as their primary weapon rather than a spear or a "borrowed" blaster. But... I still like the shield. Since Gungan's don't have much armor, I think Gungans should have something very unique, they should have their shield and Booma thrower as one item. This means you won't have an alt-fire for your Booma, instead you can block without switching to melee, and block would behave a lot like a lightsaber block with deflect, but instead of Force Points that replenish, the Personal Shield would not replenish between uses and would instead have it's own shield health. Even though you have the booma and the shield equipped at the same time, you can't block for a short period after throwing your Booma. This gives some more counterplay. The shield can block lightsaber attacks, but lightsaber attacks totally shred through the energy of the shield, just about 2-3 non-pb'd swings would be enough to take your shield from full to broken. So you can't hold off a sith for very long if you let them get close.
While I don't think Gungans would have wall-running, I do think it makes some sense to give them an automatic roll out of knockdowns like ARCs and also a high jump.
Now I think Gungans are finally shaping up to be a unique and versatile class instead of a totally annoying or worthless class.
But that's just the base-build, what options should Gungans have for loadouts? Ammo is the obvious one, this would determine how many Booma Gungans would have, since it's their primary weapon in this concept, they should start with quite a few. Levels could be something like 25/35/50. They wouldn't have armor, but they would have a decent base health, somewhere around 120. But you should be able to purchase more shield health. Shields should be decent, but weaker than Droidekas, so something around 150, 275, and 400 for shield health options. Deflect should also be purchasable, would behave a lot like Jedi Deflect. Dex would be purchasable as well, but would only go up to level 2 and would be different from ARC dex in the ways mentioned previously. I think there should be two levels of Booma. Second level of Booma would increase the splash damage ONLY on direct hits (meaning it hurts enemies crowded together better) and would have a faster firing rate. Spears could be an option, but not having spears I think makes the class easier to balance. Another thing to consider would be to let Gungans do a melee kick while holding the Booma & Shield in the same way Bounty Hunters can.
Obviously any class needs to be tested to see exactly how much each loadout option would cost, so I don't even want to speculate on that.
Anyways, I wanted to give my idea for a Gungan class, but wanted to use the first-half of the post to explain the reasoning for my very specific concept. Sorry for using my Jedi mind-tricks.
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