I honestly believe that dust meters correlates to feet in real time. Because honestly, 5 meter splash radius means that 2 people (roughly 6 feet each) and a midget lying down would get hit if the projectile hit the first person's feet. I honestly think that CCP has some map vs numbers vs weapons issue here, where the numbers don't quite match the scale.

Shhhh don't give the secret away!

I predict that the wave of MD is gonna die as soon as it comes up. I played with MD long enough to know it has not changed dramatically recently. Once the MD hype on the forum dies down all the try hards will learn that MD does not help their KDR and will switch back to their trusty CalLogi Duvolle combo.

The concept is a bit silly if you think about it. Truthfully the weapon would function just fine as a grenade launcher, but not a contact grenade launcher. Then, of course, it can't be a "mass driver" so you would have to do a rename. And you probably should anyway, as every time I hear "mass driver" I am thinking about asteroids being lobbed into the surface of the planet to level cities and an arcing grenade launcher does NOT fit the image at all.

The mass driver as-is would work better in a game more similar to Tribes where everyone has jetpacks and you are scoring kills based on motion prediction of touchdown. When people are landlocked, it's...... troublesome.

And here I am having to manage aim, shoot, dodge, try and not die to nades, heat dispersal, etc. using my ScR. And I gotta click click click click but not too many times otherwise I overheat and then die because I cant switch weapons or run. And the lolzy 5% reduced charge time per level bonus is SUUUUUPER helpful when I charge shot 1/1000 shots out of my rifle.

To me, the problem is not with the mass driver itself, but rather the Community.

I was in a match a little while ago. My squad were the only squad working, everyone else on the blue team were in the hills. Anyway, I command my squad to capture Bravo after taking Delta (4 point map where bravo is in the Round Structure where the "hallway" like room is). This worked well as most of the Red team were at our Redline. My squad captured Bravo, then as expected, encountered heavy resistance. We held Bravo as our only Null Cannon long enough for the red MCC to lose the second half of it's shield and about 1/4 of it's armor.

After repeatedly trying-and failing-to recapture Bravo, the red team decided to resort to scrubbery. My squad, while inside the building, came under attack from about 6 - 10 Reds who were all using some form of explosive weaponry. At this point, the kill feed looked like:

Boundless Mass Driver
Exo-5 Mass Driver
Freedom Assault Mass Driver
M1 Locus Grenade
Core Locus Grenade
Thukker Contact Locus Grenade
Ishukone Assault Forge Gun

They were literally Zerging with nothing but explosives.

Keep in mind this was an interior CQC battle. Where were the Nova Knives? Where were the Shotguns? Where were the Breach ARs? Where were the HMGs?

Nothing other than explosives.

Good tactics? No, Scrubbery!

Now 1 Mass Driver is meh, but when half of the team is using these explosive weapons it is extremely problematic. I have noticed only 1 Mass Driver causing performance issues in game in the form of lag and hit detection issues if you are inside the AoE. When you begin spamming explosives it becomes nearly unplayable.

The whole point of the story is this:

To me, the problem is not with the mass driver itself, but rather the Community.

Many of the people who play this game do not play to have fun, they play to win even at the sacrifice of personal enjoyment.

One could argue that all of those players actually enjoy using those particular weapons, but I seriously doubt that to be the case.

Well Master Jaraiya, how could these types of situations be resolved?

Turn on friendly fire for all matches! Let this become a real tactical, thinking man's shooter.

End the Zerg rushing blobs of Scrubs who have no tactics other than Spam FOTM type weaponry.

If friendly fire were on, then the above story would not have ended with us being Zerged by explosive spamming scrubs. They would have killed more of their own team using those "tactics".

So, CCP, please PLEASE

Turn on friendly fire for all matches! Let this become a real tactical, thinking man's shooter.

Yeah I kinda love the idea of the Mass Driver...as a mid-range support weapon. But it never really functions like that when I come up against folks using them. Most use it as a CQB spam machine. Kinda foolish if you ask me. Especially when you factor all the smoke and distortion that the thing causes. How players don't blow the hell outta themselves is beyond me.

I think if you are going to "fix" the Mass Driver it need not have anything to do with damage...spash or direct. Instead incorporate two things:

1. Slower rate of fire and slower projectile speed. This will ensure the skill factor is present in the weapon handling. Careful shots should be key.

2. Incorporate a minimum number of "twists" or minimum distance the projectile has to travel before it is armed and will explode. This is a simple feature of most real world grenade launchers as a safety measure and will help ensure the weapon cannot be used as some kind of super-shotgun. It keeps the weapon locked into mid-range combat. You can still give the projectile some damage capability if you get a direct hit at close range...just not explosive damage.

Work in those physics and the Mass Driver makes a lot more sense IMO.

+1 to friendly fire

No.

I honestly think this would solve more problems than even you or I could imagine!

Edited. Had second thoughts. I would totally team kill anyone who I ever see using a Duvolle AR.
And ChicagoCubs .
And I wouldn't feel bad.

Exactly why they should turn friendly fire on, BUT if you team kill, the cost of the team member's fitting is automatically transfered from your wallet to theirs to cover the cost of you screwing up.

This way if you kill ChicagoCubs while he is on your team, then you are forced to repay him for the fitting you destroyed.

Somehow, I do not think this would deter you from killing him, but would deter nearly all other would be griefers.

Now that's really clever. And sustainable. It also substantially shortens my "who deserves it" list. +1

It's such a great idea that it practically deserves it's own thread.

Matter of fact...

No real tactics? Are you just scared?

wah wah md op wah wah, u bunch of sooks...

It's such a great idea that it practically deserves it's own thread.

Matter of fact...

To me, the problem is not with the mass driver itself, but rather the Community.

I was in a match a little while ago. My squad were the only squad working, everyone else on the blue team were in the hills. Anyway, I command my squad to capture Bravo after taking Delta (4 point map where bravo is in the Round Structure where the "hallway" like room is). This worked well as most of the Red team were at our Redline. My squad captured Bravo, then as expected, encountered heavy resistance. We held Bravo as our only Null Cannon long enough for the red MCC to lose the second half of it's shield and about 1/4 of it's armor.

After repeatedly trying-and failing-to recapture Bravo, the red team decided to resort to scrubbery. My squad, while inside the building, came under attack from about 6 - 10 Reds who were all using some form of explosive weaponry. At this point, the kill feed looked like:

Boundless Mass Driver
Exo-5 Mass Driver
Freedom Assault Mass Driver
M1 Locus Grenade
Core Locus Grenade
Thukker Contact Locus Grenade
Ishukone Assault Forge Gun

They were literally Zerging with nothing but explosives.

Keep in mind this was an interior CQC battle. Where were the Nova Knives? Where were the Shotguns? Where were the Breach ARs? Where were the HMGs?

Nothing other than explosives.

Good tactics? No, Scrubbery!

Now 1 Mass Driver is meh, but when half of the team is using these explosive weapons it is extremely problematic. I have noticed only 1 Mass Driver causing performance issues in game in the form of lag and hit detection issues if you are inside the AoE. When you begin spamming explosives it becomes nearly unplayable.

The whole point of the story is this:

To me, the problem is not with the mass driver itself, but rather the Community.

Many of the people who play this game do not play to have fun, they play to win even at the sacrifice of personal enjoyment.

One could argue that all of those players actually enjoy using those particular weapons, but I seriously doubt that to be the case.

Well Master Jaraiya, how could these types of situations be resolved?

Turn on friendly fire for all matches! Let this become a real tactical, thinking man's shooter.

End the Zerg rushing blobs of Scrubs who have no tactics other than Spam FOTM type weaponry.

If friendly fire were on, then the above story would not have ended with us being Zerged by explosive spamming scrubs. They would have killed more of their own team using those "tactics".

So, CCP, please PLEASE

Turn on friendly fire for all matches! Let this become a real tactical, thinking man's shooter.

Not as OP as the full auto AR, GEK or duvloue ARs.

only problem. what if the fitting has AUR? does it taken from your PS3 wallet?

1. breach AR does not = CQC
2. HMG is horrible in CQC right now
3. where were your shield tankers (caldari assault/logi) as shields take reduced damage to explosives
4. put a GEK or Duvoule in the hand of those guys with explosives and you will know how i feel every single match.