I've been having some success with the MD recently, but realize, I consider success being the huge amounts of kill assists I end up with.

I've been using the ADV Assault MD, with a Single damage mod. I use it on my Minnie Assault suit for a decent sidearm. I run with my squad, and every time I see a cluster even start to appear, I throw down a hive and start spamming Fluxes and MD. It works great at forcing people out of areas, and is still an excellent area denial weapon. I take an area on a map and basically say "No hives, uplinks, or shield regen for you here" and even though it doesn't kill, it stops people from passing through.

I was helping my team pin down troops inside of A on Gallente research facility. I thew down my K-2's and spammed MD and Fluxes at everyone who spawned into the center area. They moved into the objective area and the other room. I focused on the other room, and spammed Assault MD into that area. I used it to force them into terrible tactical positions. Not much happened. And then someone flanked them.

+30
+30
+30
+30

I was playing with a squad, and they got a few chuckles from me saying "Sooooo many assists. I think I just got around 3 kills worth of WP from that.

It's a niche, but it still does it's job well.

EDIT: Yes I realize that 30*4 isn't 200 WP. I did get a few kills in between, but only reallly 1 or 2. Mainly people who couldn't get out of the way in time, or idiots that ran into my barrage.

Any time people bring up MD buffs, I think back to my last match against Regular Trooper and think what it would have been like if he'd had MORE DPS while spamming MD rounds in his assault CK.0. Then I think "No".

MD is not a slayer weapon. Which is why it's not got a DPS as high as say the AR's or the HMG's. It's meant for mopping up or softening targets and supression, not for wiping out hoards of people.


An ammo capacity increase would be fine, and honestly I'd like to see the reload be like the shotty where you reload one round at a time so you can interrupt your reload cycle to attack. Possibly increase the proectile travel time a tad or tweak the reload speed, maybe even increase the range a bit, but adding damage is trying to make it a slayer weapon, which is not it's role. That's like adding range to a shotty or adding accuracy and range to an HMG or removing recoil and sway from sniper rifles, it increases the size of it's niche and causes everything else to need to be rebalanced in order to bring everything back into alignment with it. Damage, ammo capacity and RoF are the balancing stats for the MD that keep it from being OP, much like accuracy and range are for the shotty & HMG and sway and recoil are for the sniper rifle. That is what defines their niche.

ANY ROF LESS THEN 400 IS WORTHLESS BUFF THE MD TO 400!!!

heh no the MD is fine, plus their are enough MD hate threads out there as is, buffing it will only get it broken.

I just disagree with this whole line of thinking.. ya lets pick a weapon that softens people as our main build.. if it was a sidearm id say fine.. I have to be able to compete, but more importantly stay alive.. which is next to impossible unless you get lucky up somewhere with no snipers on the whole map ..fat chance on that one..

And why do you get to choose its role anyways? Its a grenade launcher im pretty sure we all know what a grenade going of in our face would be like irl.. You think you should be able to take 4 or 5 well aimed shots from my fully maxed out skill tree and proto everything in your effen militia suit?

THey took the stuff that made the gun fun.. the arc.. the smoke.. the area denial.. and then they nerfed it HARd..

Then they came back next update and nerfed it again? lol.. I havent played this game for 5 months because of the first nerf, now they really have KILLED IT.. RIP

With heavies getting organic resistances to explsovies and assault suits getting a ROF bonus, slow firing weapons are out of favor and automatic weapons are becoming FAR superior.

The MD also only works with logi suits, unless you're running an ishukone gauged nanohives on an assault, because the weapon eats an entire clip for 1 kill, sometimes.

The weapon isn't terrible, though. Splash is fine, but with logi losing their assault role, it needs to be viable for ADB and STD suits (assault) as well. Adding 2 more extra clips would help and a very small splash damage buff would make it more relecant- I'd say 10%, because no DMG mods and the proto MDs are useless, 2 and they become terrifying. So 10% seems about right.

I don't know about you guys but I am very happy we dont see the god damn NOOB TUBES so much anymore. Flaylocks and Mass drivers are NOOB tubes and should be removed from the game.

You sir are either the weakest troll I have ever seen, or the most empty-headed lout ever to post in these forums. While I attempt to decide which, feel free to delete Dust and never post here again.

3 shots? 2 being direct hits? Maybe it is a bit under what it should be then.

It is sort of hard sometimes to determine if high Alpha weapons are exactly where they should be, with Automatic Weapons being sooo OP right now.

Whilst I have no issues with the general thrust of the OP's idea, I do have a problem with the constant cycle of buffing and nerfing that seems to be going on lately; the overall effect is one of unwanted power creep. It's not that MD are bad, the issue lies in a bunch of other stuff that's getting indirect (via suit bonus) buffs. This is what happens when you release content piecemeal that should have been dropped in one big, tested, balanced lump.

Tone rifles back. Drop the 10% damage buff that we got as a hot fix for the broken hit detection and someone, somewhere look at our light weapons all at once with an eye to making them all viable for the majority of suits.

Don't forget that the MD will get a 10% ROF bonus as long as you use an Assault suit...

A 700 + HP Cal Assault suit With Gauged hives and 2 damage mods + Freedom massdriver might be a very solid setup....

With heavies getting organic resistances to explsovies and assault suits getting a ROF bonus, slow firing weapons are out of favor and automatic weapons are becoming FAR superior.

The MD also only works with logi suits, unless you're running an ishukone gauged nanohives on an assault, because the weapon eats an entire clip for 1 kill, sometimes.

The weapon isn't terrible, though. Splash is fine, but with logi losing their assault role, it needs to be viable for ADB and STD suits (assault) as well. Adding 2 more extra clips would help and a very small splash damage buff would make it more relecant- I'd say 10%, because no DMG mods and the proto MDs are useless, 2 and they become terrifying. So 10% seems about right.

Get with skills and forget the noob tube =P

Get with skills and forget the noob tube =P

Maybe if you guys actually used the Mass Driver in it's niche location you'd find that your cries are less correct. Not saying it's not lagging, but I'm also saying it's not so bad. I've had more Breach MD kills this build than any past build.

The problem is, the Mass Driver's niche is easily outperformed by almost every weapon in existence.

Along with that, the original Mass Driver was balanced around the lower HP values for armor. Now that Armor's been buffed, we have a weapon better used as a Potato Cannon.

I would agree if the MD 1-2 hit people but most suits take 4 or 5 rounds to kill. In that time you'd die three times over to nearly every other weapon.

Heavy bros deserve their MD resistance but everyone else right now just shrugs off the MD thanks to the new rifles. I have a feeling that long gone are the days where I could drop a nanohive in a corridor and do my best Gandalf "You shall not pass!" impression.

not to mention how heavies are getting an ehp resistance...

The problem is, the Mass Driver's niche is easily outperformed by almost every weapon in existence.

Along with that, the original Mass Driver was balanced around the lower HP values for armor. Now that Armor's been buffed, we have a weapon better used as a Potato Cannon.

With heavies getting organic resistances to explsovies and assault suits getting a ROF bonus, slow firing weapons are out of favor and automatic weapons are becoming FAR superior.

The MD also only works with logi suits, unless you're running an ishukone gauged nanohives on an assault, because the weapon eats an entire clip for 1 kill, sometimes.

The weapon isn't terrible, though. Splash is fine, but with logi losing their assault role, it needs to be viable for ADB and STD suits (assault) as well. Adding 2 more extra clips would help and a very small splash damage buff would make it more relecant- I'd say 10%, because no DMG mods and the proto MDs are useless, 2 and they become terrifying. So 10% seems about right.