DUST Search - [Polls] Which under-performing weapons need a buff?

All Channels

General Discussions

[Polls] Which under-performing weapons need a buff?

» Click here to find additional results for this topic using Google

Monitor this thread via RSS [?]


Author	Thread Statistics \| Show CCP posts - 0 post(s)
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.06 09:14:00 - [1] - Quote CCP Rattati wrote: Solid ideas, but I really wanted to do a pass on underperforming weapons that are not ARs next :) Vote on which weapon needs a buff the most! (choose one per poll) Light Weapons Sidearms Grenades Then vote here for whatever weapons you think could use a buff (choose multiple) http://strawpoll.me/4831107 Here's a list of all the weapons I feel are underperforming, or simply are not being used as much as others (aside from the variations of plasma rifle and any 'specialist' variants. Heavy weapons are used pretty often, and the HMG has been rebalanced so many times already): Light Weapons Base variant Sniper Rifle Assault Swarm Launcher Laser Rifle Breach and Assault Mass Drivers Breach Shotgun Sidearms Assault SMG Scrambler Pistol and all variants (burst only has adv variant; tactical is not in marketplace, yet is salvage) Breach Flaylock (only has std variant) Magsec SMG Ion Pistol Grenades Sleek Locus (only has std variant) Fused/Contact Locus (had std aur variant and isk pro variant) Packed Locus (only has adv variant) Sleek AV Feel free to shout out if I missed anything, but I did go through the weapons list plenty of times. These are also biased on playing in the American server in public matches. I do not know the meta for PC or other servers. In the next two posts I will be describing in much more detail some ideas for making each of these weapons viable again. 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.06 09:14:00 - [2] - Quote Okay now time for my opinions of each weapon, and what could be changed to help it perform better. Just remember these are simply what kinds of changes might make sense, and are in no way mandatory or absolute. LIGHT WEAPONS Base variant Sniper Rifle Quick explanation: Compared to the tactical, it has less DPS and ammo unless you get headshots I generally don't like snipers, but the jump from prototype sniper to officer grade is insane compared to most other weapons. Doesn't need a huge increase in damage, but there should be more than 30 damage difference from the tactical that can shoot twice as fast. The base sniper should be the obvious choice for hitting hard with 1 shot. Possible buff: Increase mag to 6, or decrease mag to 4 and increase damage. Assault Swarm Launcher Quick explanation: It allows you to lock onto multiple targets, but that ability is useless with current mechanics. Assault variants are known for having faster fire rates with lower damage. This could be done by decreasing the lock-on time, but giving it a much shorter range. It would then have to be used mainly against ground vehicles, and preferably on a suit that could get in close enough for a lock. Something like a shotgun AV weapon with high burst damage. Possible buff: Cut range to <100m, much faster locks, increase carried salvos to 4, reduce damage Laser Rifle Quick explanation: Depending on who you talk to, the laser is either godly or complete trash. Capacity is the underlying problem. So why is it trash? Well unlike every other weapon, the laser requires two things to be powerful. A, time, and B, distance. For some weird reason, you actually deal less damage the closer you are to your target, which a lot of players using the weapon don't understand. You also need to keep firing the weapon for it to even deal lethal damage...and that's the real problem. See, if you only have 25 laser capacity remaining in the clip, there is simply no reason to waste it to 0 since you can't build up heat again. having capacity below 50 means you are wasting damage potential and you must reload. Even with Amarr Assault 5 and a Victor's this same rule applies as the only way you are getting officer level damage is by holding it from 100 to 0. The solution? Double capacity size but keep the overheat mechanic the same. The balance then relies on heat management, just like the HMG. Do you go all out to the point of overheat or do you fire in bursts to apply better DPS over time? Possible buff: Double capacity to 200, keep overheat mechanics the same, slight increase to reserve ammo Breach Mass Driver Quick explanation: For a weapon designed exactly to be light AV, it is less efficient than Nova Knives against vehicles It has less splash damage, a smaller blast radius, and even has a slower firing rate than the normal mass driver...obviously this weapon was not designed to be used against infantry. 40% damage against vehicles is literally a joke, and it takes 9 seconds to deal a similar amount of damage that a PLC could in one shot. We already know that it is possible to change the damage efficacy against vehicles for a specific variant (Assault HMG), so doing the same for the mass driver shouldn't be any different. Possible buff: Increase efficacy against vehicles to at least 75%, keeping -20% to shields and +20% to armor Assault Mass Driver Quick explanation: "Anything you can do, I can do better" -Normal Mass Driver The idea for this weapon was spot on. Faster RoF, less damage, more rounds per reload, and top it all off with an insane splash radius. And yet spamming this thing into a group of red dots yields two +5 equipment destructions. The problem was in how much less damage. The adv MD is at a nice 152 dps, while the assault is about 114 (91 splash at 75 rpm). That's a larger gap than that difference between Proto and Officer. Granted we still have to take into account the usefulness of a larger splash radius, but 130 or 135 dps is much more fair of a value. Possible buff: increase splash to >100, or increase fire rate to 90 rpm Breach Shotgun Quick explanation: This is a double barrel shotgun without the impact, fire rate, or range of a double barrel shotgun. I'll say right now I don't understand the way shotgun damage works in this game, but I will say that making a shotgun have a tight spread while also forcing you to get close enough to see the texture details on their suit is just evil. It's like trying to use a Laser Rifle in CQC, except you are extremely punished if you miss even the first shot. The double barrel in most games has a bit longer range, and the ability to fire both shots at the pull of the trigger. The main sacrifice being the slow reload speed that makes it imperative that you land both shots. Now, I'm not a fan of having another way to instantly kill someone in Dust 514, but the main weakness of a breach shotgun should be the inability to take on a full squad. Just like a charge sniper or a plasma cannon to the face, I see the breach shotgun as a lone wolf, risk vs reward weapon to pick off the stragglers. Possible buff: Dramatically increase fire rate, give it a bit longer reload, slightly increase range and damage. 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.06 09:15:00 - [3] - Quote SIDEARMS Assault SMG Quick explanation: Once the bane of all existence, giving it proper "assault" stats completely broke it. Okay let me start out by saying that I don't understand why this gun has a faster firing rate, yet LESS AMMO. It even has less ammo than the insanely effective Breach SMG (wtf CCP). The ACR has more ammo than the CR. The HMG has more ammo than an AR. The ARs got a buff in RoF and with that, a buff to mag size! That's the first thing, and well maybe the only thing. SMGs are good, so just let this one be a mini-HMG Possible buff: Increase mag size to 96 from 68, and while you're at it, reduce the breach to 64 from 72 to give each one an identity. Scrambler Pistol Quick explanation: The only ones I still see on the battlefield are fitted to starter suits, and the occasional dual burst scp gunslinger troll. My guess is that +20% to shields and -20% to armor isn't exactly the thing you want to pull out when the enemy is down to half armor. After numerous attempts at making this weapon viable, it just isn't. Before the bolt pistol, the crazy headshot multiplier was the single reason to use this as a finisher. I have never used the weapon to any extent, but I will say it's disappointing that it doesn't function like the rifle it wishes it was. That said, I actually feel like the damage values are balanced properly. Each variant is very independent from the rest, and there is a SCP for everyone. But when the meta says "run an armor killing sidearm", using the only sidearm that deals -20% to armor seems like only something a fool would do. Possible buff: Probably just needs love Breach Flaylock Quick explanation: it's actually a breach weapon now, but there should be more parallels to the breach mass driver This will be pretty much the same as my reasoning for the MD. It's designed to destroy vehicles, so give it the power to do so. Although if you aren't going to do that, at least give it the same size clip as the standard flaylock, and introduce an adv and prototype version. Possible buff: again let it do a bit more damage to vehicles (maybe not as much as the mass driver), or just increase the clip size to 4 and give it higher tier versions. Magsec SMG Quick explanation: For an underused weapon, it's actually really good and idk why people aren't using it. Oh wait, duh, it's because the breach SMG is practically the same thing with better spread, no spool-up, a better damage profile, and way more ammo. The magsec also has longer range, and therefore shouldn't have as much dps. To me, the weapon needs to separate from the Breach and be a scary alpha damage source. Keep the same dps, but lower the RoF while increasing damage. This would fit in more with the lower ammo capacity, and give it the edge it needs to feel different and enjoyable. Possible buff: Reduce RoF to 600 (breach SMG is 700), and give it a few more damage points (from 31 to 33.5) Ion Pistol Quick explanation: I'm not saying we should copy the plasma pistol from Halo, but we should copy the plasma pistol from Halo Charge-up? check. Overheat after fire? check. Tons of damage to shields? check. Lots of ammo and fast RoF? check. Is a pistol? check. Fires plasma? check. Insane range and homing bullets? Looks like someone at CCP goofed and accidentally put that feature on the bolt pistol. Seriously though. What is the accuracy rating actually set to? For me and many others, it's like you can't hit a damn thing even if the person is well within the reticle. Almost as if rounds fly sideways out of the gun. The range, power, and ability of the gun are all great, I just need to be able to hit someone with it. Possible buff: Increase accuracy, especially while ADS. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing your round fly sideways out of the gun while the ADS iron sights show a pinpoint location. If the gun has spread while ADS, then fix the sights. GRENADES Sleek Locus/AV Quick explanation: Cause throwing grenades farther is cool? These kind of grenades should be for the grenadier, the guy who just loves explosions. The damage and blast radius are fine, but the biggest advantage should come in the ability to carry a lot of them with low nanite cost to replenish. A mass driver would easily do more work in a single mag, but this gives you a low-dps version that fits in the grenade slot. Possible Buff: increase carried from 2 to 3 for locus, from 3 to 4 for AV. Does it encourage spam? maybe, but that's kind of the point, kinda like an assault mass driver. Optionally, decrease nanite cost of locus version, and slightly decrease damage of AV version. Fused/Contact Locus Quick explanation: They got nerfed into the ground, but can we make them viable again without being OP? Right now you only carry one, it drains nanohives like crazy, and only does 300 damage. I still think carrying only one is a good idea, but 300 damage isn't making me interested in using them anytime soon. This is especially true of the prototype-only isk variant, there's just no benefit in using it. Possible buff: let's try 400 damage. It then becomes a great way to counter scouts that sneak up behind you while still keeping it under control. Packed Locus Quick explanation: Why use a packed locus when core 'nades are easier to use? Again this is another one of those "probably doesn't need a buff, just needs a reason to be used" sort of thing. It already has a huge advantage by costing the same as a advanced, while doing the damage of proto. The splash radius is a bit too small, but I do like the idea of it being more of a skill-based grenade that has a level of risk vs reward. Possible buff: Increase splash radius from 3.5 to 4, add in a prototype variant with 720 damage and 4.4m blast radiu 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.06 10:07:00 - [4] - Quote Sicerly Yaw wrote: I see what you did there, and why did you leave out so many other weapons? I think you covered most of them just leaving out one or two while generalizing others I'd like to ask what exactly is the point of this thread? To narrow down which weapons are in most desperate need of change, and to look at possible ways of doing so. Every other weapon in the game I see regularly out in the field. Are they all super amazing? No, but they are actually used. For example the Plasma Cannon isn't all that great, but people still use it and I was killed twice by them the other night. There are so many threads out there wanting to buff ARs, but really we need to address the weapons that no one talks about. Instead of saying "oh that weapon is useless just don't bother with it", we should be figuring out how to make these other playstyles viable. The Assault swarm launcher change I described is a great example of changing a useless weapon into a different style of AV we haven't seen in the game yet. 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.06 18:22:00 - [5] - Quote -snip- Edit: whoops 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.06 23:00:00 - [6] - Quote Varoth Drac wrote: This is an opportunity to have a shotgun perform significantly differently. With a significantly increased range the breach could become viable on slower suits, leaving the normal one for scouts and speedy Min assaults. Perfect as an option for commandos :D 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.07 03:49:00 - [7] - Quote Russel Mendoza wrote: Magsec smg. Buff damage output. Buff rof. Nerf spread. Nerf accuracy. If you do those things it just becomes exactly the same as the breach SMG. That wouldn't help us at all 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.09 11:36:00 - [8] - Quote bump time 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.15 15:00:00 - [9] - Quote VikingKong iBUN wrote: Assault SMG You're totally right, it just needs a buff to clip size. It should be the same as, if not more than a standard SMG. Increase in RoF leading to reduced damage is understandable and fair, there is no reason it's clip size should be effected. It makes no sense, and reduces the weapons effectiveness far too much. Logic ftw 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 5	Posted - 2015.07.15 22:55:00 - [10] - Quote Bradric Banewolf wrote: Thinks the mass driver and laser rifle needs a buff..... clearly doesn't play Dom and ambush..... Why is the laser have to be only good in domination? And please, tell me the last time you were killed by a breach MD. 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!

I-Shayz-I I----------I 6	Posted - 2015.08.03 23:54:00 - [11] - Quote Bump 7162 wp with a Repair Tool! -- Vote for Cross!
I-Shayz-I I----------I 6	Posted - 2015.08.28 19:13:00 - [12] - Quote Bump before it gets buried 7162 wp with a Repair Tool!

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
EVE Online/DUST514, the EVE/DUST514 logo, EVE/DUST514 and all associated logos and designs are the intellectual property of CCP hf. All artwork, screenshots, characters, vehicles, storylines, world facts or other recognizable features of the intellectual property relating to these trademarks are likewise the intellectual property of CCP hf. EVE Online and the EVE logo are the registered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights are reserved worldwide. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CCP hf. has granted permission to OMG Labs to use EVE Online/DUST514 and all associated logos and designs for promotional and information purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not in any way affiliated with, OMG Labs. CCP is in no way responsible for the content on or functioning of this website, nor can it be liable for any damage arising from the use of this website.