KAGEHOSHI Horned Wolf
Dominion of the Supreme Emperor God-King KAGEHOSHI
10798
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Posted - 2014.05.16 22:14:00 -
[1] - Quote
The 4 racial assault rifles are meant to be the races' main general purpose rifles. This mean restricting one to too narrow a niche does not make sense. Before the 1.8 damage and proficiency, the scrambler rifle felt right; it was versatile enough to be used in close range with the right amount of practice, and investments into Amarr assault dropsuit. I still have proficiency level 5 on my scrambler rifle, and Amarr assault level 5, and I still feel I am much better off with a combat rifle with level 1 operation skill.
The scrambler rifle's current pros are far outweighed by their cons.
The standard SCR does 65 per shot
The standard CR does 81 per burst
To make up for the damage difference, the SCR has a charge shot that takes 2 seconds to fully charge, and a bit longer range (the combat rifle is right behind the SCR in range among the 4 racial assault rifles). I could be argued that these factors make them balanced against each other, but there is also the harsh overheat penalty; the overheat means you cannot run, you cannot switch weapons, and you damage yourself, it is far worse than any reload. A CR can fire 18 bursts before quickly reloading without a problem, while a SCR can only fire about 15 quick shots before being paralyzed by overheat.
On top of the overheat being a major problem for SCR users, there is the damage profiles. The combat rifle and all projectile weapons has a -5% damage against shields, and a +10% damage to armor; usually damage profiles' deficiencies and bonuses to shields/armor add up to 0, but the projectiles have a net 5% gain. The scrambler rifle has a net 0 gain from its damage profile (+20% shields, -20% armor), but the problem is in the prevalence of armor tanking. From the SCR's 65 damage per shot, only 52 actually is actually dealt on armor, while the CR's 81 damage per burst becomes 89.1 against armor.
Shield tanking needs to be more attractive; basic and enhanced shield extenders are useless. Even to shield tankers, armor modules are much more useful than shield regulators.
Currently shield extenders are 22 at basic (1 shot and its gone), 33 enhanced (one shot and its likely gone), and 66 at complex (good). The complex is 100% better than the advanced, the scaling is clearly wrong.
Shield extenders should instead be 44 standard, 55 enhanced, and 66 complex.
Shield regulators need a serious buff on all tiers, they need to be preferable to stacking plates if you are shield tanking.
Currently they are 10% at basic, 20% at enhanced (huge jump), and 25% at complex (tiny jump). The scaling is clearly wrong.
Shield regulators should instead be 20% basic, 30% enhanced, and 40% at complex.
The scrambler rifle needs to be a useful versatile weapon, not restricted to just a low range sniper. If a comprehensive solution won't be done, then I suppose a simple damage buff might do it.
Gû¦Supreme emperor god-kingpÇÉKAGEH¦PSHIpÇæ// Lord of threads // Forum altGû+
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KAGEHOSHI Horned Wolf
Dominion of the Supreme Emperor God-King KAGEHOSHI
10798
|
Posted - 2014.05.16 22:22:00 -
[2] - Quote
I wrote this thread on rife balance a long while ago, I feel it somewhat relevant now. Categorical balance by firing type. Will copy paste:
For background, I think it is necessary that everyone understands what is meant by type, & CCP's plan for the racial "assault rifles" before moving forward. This is a quote from CCP Remnant on what rifle types and variants.
"The idea being that each race will have it's base variant be Assault (Gallente), Burst (Minmatar), Breach (Caldari) or Tactical (Amarr) and then the variants are a specific race's take on the others using their own tech. So, you'd get an Assault Rail Rifle that attempts to somewhat mimic the behavior of the Gallente Assault Rifle and a Tactical Assault Rifle that attempts to mimic the Amarr Scrambler Rifle and so on."
It is also important to know the ranges of weapons of different damage profiles. Can be found here, from 1.7 weapon dev blog.
Assault type
AR (hybrid-plasma damage profile: short range)
Assault SCR (laser damage profile: medium to long range)
Assault RR (hybrid-railgun damage profile: long range)
Assault CR (projectile damage profile: short-medium range)
Tactical type
SCR (laser: medium to long range)
Tactical AR (hybrid-plasma: short range)
*Future tactical variants for RR (hybrid-railgun: long range)
*Future tactical variants for CR (projectile: short-medium range)
Burst type
CR (projectile: short-medium range)
Burst AR (hybrid-plasma: short range)
*Future burst variants for RR (hybrid-railgun: long range)
*Future burst variants for SCR (laser: medium to long range)
Breach type
RR (hybrid-railgun: long range)
Breach AR (hybrid-plasma: short range)
*Future breach variants for SCR (laser: medium to long range)
*Future breach variants for CR (projectile: short-medium range)
[Comparison]
So we have identified the types, & their comparative ranges (short to long, everything in between) within the type. Now lets compare the rifles by type using 1.8 stats. All stats prototype.
Assault
AR: 412.5 DPS, shortest range (45 optimal/78 effective)
aCR: 420, short-medium range (56/84)
aSCR: 420.59, medium-long range (56/90)
aRR: 400, longest range (75/102)
Tactical
tAR: 462 DPS (acheivable without modded controller), 69.3 damage per shot, restrictive ROF (you can tap R1 faster than it can shoot). Shortest range range (57/84)
SCR: 841.17 DPS (not acheivable without modded controller), 71.5 damage per shot, non-restricive ROF. Medium-long range (75/96)
Burst
buAR: 474.38 DPS, shortest range (50/78)
CR: 594 DPS, short-medium range (67/84)
Breach
brAR: 330, shortest range (46/78)
RR: 397.69, longest range (75/102)
[Conclusion]
The assault-SCR (aSCR) is OP compared to the AR; has both more DPS, on top of more range. Perhaps if the aSCR had overheat play a bigger factor, it would be balanced.
The assault-CR (aCR) is OP compared to the AR; has both more DPS, on top of more range.
The assault-RR (aRR) does have less damage per second in exchange for range, but it gets 30 meters more optimal to deal full damage in exchange for only 12.5 less damage per second. The aRR gets the much better end of the deal. The spool-up time may be enough to balance things.
The tactical-AR (tAR) sucks compared to the SCR. SCR has more damage per shot, more rate of fire, way more range, the charge shot ability, better hipfire accuracy; unless you're really really bad at managing overheat, there is no reason to use the tac AR over the SCR.
The burst-AR (buAR) sucks compare to the CR. CR has more massively more DPS, & more range.
The breach-AR (brAR) sucks compared to the RR. Less range, less DPS, less magazine size, there's just no reason to ever use the breach AR.
While not of the same type, the AR & RR are comparable because they are both automatic. The AR has about 14 points more damage per second, but the RR gets 30 meters more optimal range to do full damage in. While it is a tradeoff, it seems far from equitable; the RR gets the better end of that deal.
All weapons of the AR family pretty much suck.
[Solutions]
Rifles need to be balanced against others of the same type: the tac AR balanced against the SCR, or assault CR against the AR, etc.
The main thing is the DPS vs range is not something CCP seems to actively think of as a tradeoff for weapons. Generally ( meaning not always, yes there are other factors) If a weapon has more DPS than another of the same type, it should have less range; likewise, if a weapon has less range, it should have more DPS.
The AR weapon family has the least ranges within whatever type they are in, they should have the highest DPS within their types.
The CR family has the 2nd least ranges within whatever type they are in, they should have the 2nd highest DPS within their types.
The SCR family has the 2nd most ranges within whatever type they are in, they should have the 2nd lowest DPS within their types. Overheat should be factored in as well.
The RR family has the most ranges within whatever type they are in, they should have the lowest DPS within their types. Spool up time should also be factored.
The assault family as a whole needs a serious buff.
Gû¦Supreme emperor god-kingpÇÉKAGEH¦PSHIpÇæ// Lord of threads // Forum altGû+
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