MarasdF Loron
Fatal Absolution
General Tso's Alliance
964
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Posted - 2014.08.31 05:36:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Rattati wrote:All right
A few points
The blaster is clearly not intended to compete with a landed DS on top of a building with rails. It was meant to be anti infantry - close range. What you are kind of saying, "the HMG is worse then a Forge because I can't kill vehicles and infantry with it." Not, splitting hairs, it's just a different role.
Second, it was also meant to be a drive by weapon, I don't see anyone using rails whilst moving. We were hoping that the firepower of the Blaster would be enought to hurt/kill infantry in those situations.
Third, and that's not for PC/competitiveness, it was also meant to be fun, yes, an alien concept. I like the idea of mowing down infantry with a vehicle mounted turret, or adding some serious firepower to a HAV that goes deep into enemy territory or is on point defense.
All that said and done, if the Small Blaster fits none of these criteria, we need to keep looking at it.
Alright, you asked for feedback, you'll get some:
From the point of view of a guy with poor hit detection: impossible to get anything other than shield flare unless both the target and the vehicle it is mounted to is not moving.
From the point of view of a guy with good hit detection: when you get your shots on target it mows down even the toughest heavies in no time at all, wheter it is mounted to a tank or the side of a dropship, it kills stuff real fast when you get your shots on target. The thing is, you gotta burst it so you don't miss but a few good bursts is enough to kill anything that moves.
So the problem is not that it doesn't have enough firepower, so what is the problem? The problem is that it doesn't have enough total ammo and also not enough ammo in clip, on top of that it overheats too fast, if it's meant to mow down infantry then it needs to be able to kill more than 1 guy per clip / overheat. It also needs more than 4 clips without ammo capacity skill. If it doesn't have this, it's still always going to be overshadowed by it's big brother even though it's big brother has lower accuracy and is effective against vehicles too. On top of all that the small rail is really effective at killing infantry too and it's ammo lasts 10 times longer than the small blaster's does. And the small blaster isn't effective at killing other vehicles.
What do I think would make it viable to be used: +100% more ammo capacity, +50% increased clip size and -25% reduced heat build-up. Doesn't need more range or damage, those things are fine, arguably it could be slightly more accurate but I think it's fine when you have proper hit detection. Usually I don't but I tend to have a gunner with really good hit detection so I know what it's capable of and I know it's shortcomings as well.
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