Adipem Nothi wrote:@ Fox Gaden
Looking forward to your review of the post-Delta burst HMG :-)
I am a little nervous about it actually.
If the heat buildup nerf is enough to make it overhead 1 burst sooner, I am not sure I will be skilled enough to use it effectively.
When the Burst HMG was first reworked in Charlie it scared the crap out of people and I got a lot of kills because people froze up like a deer in the headlights. Now that people have gotten used to the Burst HMG they are doing a lot more strafing and jumping. It has now become quite common for me to die to a frontal assault, particularly to Shotgun and Nova Knife Scouts, where they manage to dodge my bursts as they charge in, swerving after each burst, to shoot or stab me in the face. With the current heat buildup I can afford to miss a burst or two, but with one less burst available the weapons would be very unforgiving.
Right now I find the Burst is a little OP when I am playing at my absolute best, but I have to be on my A game all the time. If I get tired or lose focus I get wrecked.
If they make the heat buildup too quick, they could give the Burst HMG a 100% damage buff and I still would not be able to do anything with it.
However, someone crunched the numbers and claimed that with the Delta heat nerf the Advanced Burst HMG would still not overheat until the first round of the 6th Burst, which does not reduce the Burst count on the initial engagement. If this is the case, then the nerf is bearable.
It will have an effect on sustained fights though. If you fire 2 bursts, then fire 3 bursts, then fire another 2 during a sustained fight, the heat that builds when you fire does not completely dissipate before you fire again. So while you could fire 5 bursts with an Advanced Burst HMG on the initial encounter without overheating, you may only be able to fire 4 or 3 bursts before overheat in the next engagement if it follows quickly after. Any heat nerf will be noticeable in in sustained fights.
I argued for only having the 10% damage nerf. I am afraid of a heat nerf tipping an interesting and challenging weapon over the edge into being an unusable weapon. But I am going to withhold judgement until I have tested if. If the initial burst count before overheat has not been decreased the nerf may not be crippling.
In summary:
- The 10% nerf to damage I am not worried about. It was needed.
- The change to Dispersion behaviour makes sense for the Burst and will make it even more unique.
- The heat nerf may be a minor issue, or it may proove to be a Flaylock level nerf making it unusable for all but the most skilled PC players. Only time and testing will tell.