Vespasian Andendare
Subsonic Synthesis
RISE of LEGION
595
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Posted - 2014.03.05 16:05:00 -
[1] - Quote
Thanks for the blog! It's nice to get info about 1.8.
Seriously, though, CCP, why the nerfs on the AR? Shouldn't a Gallente weapon be deadly if you can get in range to use one? Literally, the only thing the AR had going for it was tremendous damage potential. We can see from the state of the current meta that it is far out-classed by anything that puts out comparable damage with longer range. Why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't we use weapons that have the same-or-slightly-less dps but FAR longer range?
I agree with the TTK changes--and they'll be healthy for the game--but I have to strongly disagree with the AR nerfs. There's nothing going for it as it is, in its current, pre-nerf version. By nerfing it at all, you're only going to further marginalize its use more. The "idea" of the AR (and the Gallente philosophy) is to have extreme damage up close. The caveat there is you have to get up close to use it. That's the "hidden balance" there. If you can't get in range, the weapon's performance is useless. But sticking it with a damage nerf--on top of the nerf to damage mods--is going to kill it. A larger clip doesn't matter when your weapon is out-classed and out-ranged.
The other issue is the break down of the proficiency skills as they relate to bonus damage. Again, the Gallente AR gets a bonus to shield damage, but this damage is LARGELY wasted, since shield users' fighting styles are balanced around long range weapons (Minmatar CR and Caldari RR). AR weaker overall + a damage proficiency bonus on a short range weapon that applies to long-range-styled players. Doesn't make any sense.
Then, the CR and RR get bonuses to armor damage. This doesn't make any sense, either. CR and RR are longer range weapons. While this makes sense from a lore perspective, it hardly makes sense with respect to gameplay. Armor users are inherently slower (due to the fitting penalties of armor), and yet the weapons that get bonus damage to this tanking style are longer range. How is an armor user supposed to get close in a reasonable amount of time in order to use his short range weapon when he's just going to be killed from a distance by a long range weapon with bonus damage to armor?
The dev blog is welcome, and it's nice to see some changes coming with 1.8. Nerfing the AR (really, at all) and damage proficiency bonuses that don't make sense aren't. I hope this blog wasn't released when numbers are already locked in, because there's some serious issues with them.
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Vespasian Andendare
Subsonic Synthesis
RISE of LEGION
598
|
Posted - 2014.03.05 21:44:00 -
[2] - Quote
Stefan Stahl wrote:1. Locus grenades are spammed because a core locus grenade does 600 hp damage. Nerfed the wrong stat. 2. Long range Magsec SMG has a higher DPS than the short range SMG? Are you serious? 3. Nerfing the breach AR?  4. Nerfing ARs more than SCRs? 5. Nerfing all rifles while simultaneously buffing the MD doesn't sound like a good idea at all. 6. Proficiency change is a nerf to anti-shields weapons. On the plus side I agree with increasing TTK, so you've got that going for you, which is nice. QFT. It's a scary thought that CCP STILL hasn't realized that long range weapons need to have less dps in exchange for the range that they gain.
Long range = low risk = low damage. Close range = high risk = high damage. This really isn't rocket science.
Magsec SMG doing more damage at longer ranges than an Assault Rifle, not even forgetting about the SMG, it's same-class counterpart, is insane.
CCP, that marginal "spool-up" time is NOT enough to offset the fact that the damage numbers are all out of whack for long range/close range weapons. Consider the "natural balance" that comes with these weapons:
Assault Rifle has a really short range. Outside of this range, the weapon is effectively useless. Thus, it should have stopping power--indeed the most stopping power--inside this range, because, well, if the enemy out-ranges the weapon it is rendered useless.
Scrambler Rifle fires single shots AND it overheats. So, in this case, although it has strong range and stopping power at range, if the user fires too many shots too quickly, the weapon seizes and is not functional. Further, the weapon has only manual-fire mode at great distances (which also makes CQC combat difficult as well).
Combat Rifle fires in 3-shot bursts. Very accurate at mid-to-medium-long ranges. It suffers from the same problems of manual fire that the ScR has, but no overheating. In exchange for not overheating, it can't fire as far.
Rail Rifle has long range, high accuracy, and--what?--high damage. In exchange for, um, these, err, "tradeoffs" you get a spool up time. However, in practice, the spool-up time is hardly relevant when the weapon is fully automatic anyway.
In the field, RR users line up the target in the sights and pull the trigger. Spool up goes and bullets start firing until the end of the clip. Spool-up doesn't really factor in past the first shot--the first and only the first shot. Additionally, it is argued that the spool-up time creates a difficult situation in CQC, but this hardly matters, because, again, it only affects the first shot. Further, the accuracy of a rail rifle--its most deadly part of its long range--isn't significantly hindered at close range either. Even the hip fire dispersion is relatively compact, at least on part with other assault rifles. Where, then, are the drawbacks of the RR's potential of long range, high accuracy and high damage? If the RR is to continue being a fully automatic long range weapon with high accuracy, then it needs to have low damage to go with it. Let assault mercs swap to a real sidearm for CQC, since that's what they are there for in the first place.
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