Alena Ventrallis
Commando Perkone
Caldari State
3
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Posted - 2015.12.04 11:43:00 -
[1] - Quote
The one sidearm everyone has always chuckled at is the ion pistol. I never really see this weapon, save on APEX suits where it's the default weapon. It's clunky, the overheat every charge shot cripples it, it has next to no range, everything about it is off and unwieldy. Especially now that the Magsec has gotten its much needed buff (though it still needs some loving too) I think it's time to tackle the ion pistol in the next hotfix/balance pass/whatever were getting next where we can tweak weapons.
First, we need to establish what niche the ion pistol is meant to fill, and for that we need to look at Gallente weapon philosphy. Gallente are the close-range brawlers of New Eden. Whereas the Minmatar use speed to conduct hit-and-run raid type attacks and use constant speed to outmaneuver the enemy, the Gallente use a blend of armor and speed to quickly close the distance where their short-range blasters can wreak havoc. They have the lowest range, highest DPS weaponry, and use light armr to simply endure while they spray plasma into the enemy, then repair quickly to trot off and do it again. With this in mind, we can say that the ion pistol needs to fufill this criteria: it needs the highest base dps of the pistol sidearms, the lowest range of the pistols, effective in CQC and more about rapid fire shots than slow, precise aiming. To that end, I propose the following changes. All numbers are based off proto weaponry.
1. It needs to be able to have followup shots after the charge shot. If you intend to keep the charge mechanic, we need to allow it to make followup shots after the initial charge shot in order to down an opponent. If we look at the ScR , the reasoning behind your nerfs in Foxfour where to stop people from holding a charge shot and then spamming followup shots which made it too effective in CQC. This reasoning is exactly why we should have the ion pistol function like the pre-nerf ScR; the same strategy that made the ScR considered OP will be what brings the IP into the competitive scene. It will devastate most any suit that gets into it's range by being able to hold a charge and then follow up with multiple shots after, but it's low range ensures that other sidearms can defeat it by staying out of its optimal and using their superior range.
It should go without saying that you need to be able to move at 100% movement speed while holding a charge. We want this weapon to be good in CQC, remember that.
2. The weapon needs a higher ROF. While the damage is quite decent, the ROF is hindering it's ability to be useful in CQC. Not only does the ROF make shooting it semi-auto cumbersome at best, it also means the magsec actually can shoot faster than the ion pistol can. Now we don't want to modify the ROF and leave the damage the same, because that would quickly cause the ion pistol to become overpowered. Therefore, we should up the ROF to 600, for the same reason we set the Tac AR and ScR to 600: this is at the upper limit of what a human being could feasibly do by tapping R1 as fast as they could. Therefore, this logic should also apply to the ion pistol, for the same reasoning: it means you aren't punished for having a quick trigger finger, and rewards spamming the trigger more, which as a CQC sidearm is what it is supposed to do. We should also lower the damage per shot to 48, giving the ion pistol a theoretical DPS of 480. While this is much higher than the DPS of the SMG, it's closest competitor, remember that this is theoretical DPS; it all depends on how good your trigger finger is.
Before anyone complains remember, the reason the ScR and to some extent the Tac AR received so much flak for having that high of an ROF is because it made them very good at CQC as well as long range. With the optimal on the ion pistol as low as it is, we can freely do this since the entire purpose is to make this weapon good at CQC, and while modded controllers can certainly take advantage of the higher ROF, they won't be able to make the ion pistol perform in a niche it isn't intended for. It will only make it perform slightly better at it's CQC role than someone not using a modded controller. In addition, it will hardly be stepping on the SMG's toes, since the SMG does 442 DPS on armor because of its profile, whereas the IP will do a theoretical maximum of 432 DPS on armor after my changes. Add proficiency to this, and the SMG will still be better against armor than the IP, but the IP will be a competitive choice nonetheless.
3. Raise the magazine size to 24. This gives it a DPM of 1152, up from 970.24 now. This ensures that it has sufficient damage per magazine to kill one or two suits, especially if the charge shot is used extensively. It also puts it as the highest DPM pistol, compared to the BP's 1007 DPM, the ScP's 818.4 DPM, and the Flaylock's 770 DPM. Seeing as all these pistols far out-range the IP, it is fair that the IP has the superior DPS and DPM to make up for that fact. It also is far less DPM than the SMG which has a whopping 1848 DPM.
4. Tighten up the hipfire dispersion some. Even with sharpshooter to 5, the IP has more hipfire dispersion than the BP (ie: the BP is more accurate in hipfire than the IP). It is especially noticable if you start moving and begin switching between the BP and IP: the IP clearly has less hipfire accuracy. This is not a problem of the BP, but more a problem of the IP. The IP needs to be the Pistol King of CQC, and as such a reduction in base dispersion (making it more accurate hipfire) would help it become much better in CQC over its counterparts.
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
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