DUST Search - Feedback: mass driver

Nova Knife wrote:

I was messing around with this gun this morning, and after my first round, my thoughts were exactly the same as the OP. I spent some more time with it and upgraded it to prototype, and there is a stunning difference. I love the gun. The splash range is perfect as-is. The damage when leveled up is pretty solid. Most dudes died in 2-3 shots unless you miss, weaker suits can die at full health to a direct shot. Also, did you try using it against installations or vehicles? It -eats- them. The damage at lower levels might put some people off, so maybe giving it a 10% base damage bonus and reducing the damage bonus per level of mass driver operation from 5% to 3%. That way the numbers will still all be the same, but the gun is not quite so underwhelming at early levels without being totally overpowered.

My main suggestion on how to change it would be to increase the maximum reserve ammunition amount by 6-8 rounds, and/or change the Mass driver proficiency skill. Currently it gives 3% to splash range. I'd rather see it increase splash damage by 2-3%. The last thing this gun needs is a splash range buff. It's definitely fine with the rage as-is, any more and it risks becoming an easily spammed 'win button' similar to the swarm launcher in the last build.

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Baron Rittmeister Circle of Huskarl Minmatar Republic 81	Posted - 2012.06.29 14:07:00 - [1] - Quote I want to make this as simple and short as possible, but I need to lay out the problems and some possible improvements to the mass driver. Because the way it is now, it's not a very effective weapon for multiple reasons. One, it needs a flatter projectile trajectory. I like having to lob the grenade and practice at it to get the feel, but I have to aim way above a target even if they're at close range. Two, the damage is pretty neglible. I don't want it to be a ohk for everybody, and I've ohk'd some people mainly scouts, but the point is that with four rounds it won't kill most people with splash dmg, maybe direct damage could kill them but that's extemely hard to obtain. Three, it has horrible hit detection. When the blast actually works, it works fairly well, but most of the rounds just stick in the ground and do nothing. I would have posted this in the technical section, but I wanted the thread to stay intact. While I know the description says it's more of an area denial, crowd control type weapon, I think every weapon should have the ability to kill within its intended target category. Right now, it's not very good at either. Why pick a weapon that can't kill. The smg's description says it's meant to impede and cripple, not kill, but I use the smg as my main weapon and can kill just fine. It doesn't kill as well as an ar, but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make. The same should be said about the mass driver. It's not as effective as say a forge gun or whatever, but it can get the job done. There are many routes to balance this weapon: increase the clip, splash damage, or blast radius. Whatever the decision, I think it's obvious the playerbase as a whole find the weapon underpowered and are asking for an improvement. Remember, the player had to give up the slot that could have been an ar or sl, but they gave that up for the mass driver and so I think it should be useable as a main weapon since it takes a main weapon slot.
Bravo SnakeBlood 8	Posted - 2012.06.29 14:15:00 - [2] - Quote Havent used it much but initial thoughts are quite simular can get decent kills with it but no where near the amount i can with a AR i think it takes 3 hits of splash to kill a assult troop but the projectile trjectory needs to be tightened up something shocking a gernade launcher is used to put a gernade into range a normal person cant now this thing i honestly think is shorter range, Also i did notice mabye one shot in the clip does not seem to detonate mabye its a graphics glitch or can it miss fire not sure yet but going to use it abit more see if its anquired taste or if it is underpowered
Iron Wolf Saber BetaMax. 2867	Posted - 2012.06.29 17:29:00 - [3] - Quote CCP balance of new item philosphy introduced it pre-nerfed then turn on the buffs slowly until it feels right.
Nova Knife Seituoda Taskforce Command Caldari State 789	Posted - 2012.06.29 17:44:00 - [4] - Quote I was messing around with this gun this morning, and after my first round, my thoughts were exactly the same as the OP. I spent some more time with it and upgraded it to prototype, and there is a stunning difference. I love the gun. The splash range is perfect as-is. The damage when leveled up is pretty solid. Most dudes died in 2-3 shots unless you miss, weaker suits can die at full health to a direct shot. Also, did you try using it against installations or vehicles? It -eats- them. The damage at lower levels might put some people off, so maybe giving it a 10% base damage bonus and reducing the damage bonus per level of mass driver operation from 5% to 3%. That way the numbers will still all be the same, but the gun is not quite so underwhelming at early levels without being totally overpowered. My main suggestion on how to change it would be to increase the maximum reserve ammunition amount by 6-8 rounds, and/or change the Mass driver proficiency skill. Currently it gives 3% to splash range. I'd rather see it increase splash damage by 2-3%. The last thing this gun needs is a splash range buff. It's definitely fine with the rage as-is, any more and it risks becoming an easily spammed 'win button' similar to the swarm launcher in the last build.
Alexei Darkbloom Royal Uhlans Amarr Empire 17	Posted - 2012.06.29 18:11:00 - [5] - Quote Nova Knife wrote: I was messing around with this gun this morning, and after my first round, my thoughts were exactly the same as the OP. I spent some more time with it and upgraded it to prototype, and there is a stunning difference. I love the gun. The splash range is perfect as-is. The damage when leveled up is pretty solid. Most dudes died in 2-3 shots unless you miss, weaker suits can die at full health to a direct shot. Also, did you try using it against installations or vehicles? It -eats- them. The damage at lower levels might put some people off, so maybe giving it a 10% base damage bonus and reducing the damage bonus per level of mass driver operation from 5% to 3%. That way the numbers will still all be the same, but the gun is not quite so underwhelming at early levels without being totally overpowered. My main suggestion on how to change it would be to increase the maximum reserve ammunition amount by 6-8 rounds, and/or change the Mass driver proficiency skill. Currently it gives 3% to splash range. I'd rather see it increase splash damage by 2-3%. The last thing this gun needs is a splash range buff. It's definitely fine with the rage as-is, any more and it risks becoming an easily spammed 'win button' similar to the swarm launcher in the last build. Tried it out in its most basic form and was not impressed. Maybe I'll have level it up and try again.
Zero Harpuia Maverick Conflict Solutions 422	Posted - 2012.06.29 19:18:00 - [6] - Quote I was being fired on today by a Mass Driver, and I could've sworn it was a friendly who couldn't see my ID marker. Maybe it was the Militia Shock setup I had, but I didn't really feel anything.
Baron Rittmeister Circle of Huskarl Minmatar Republic 81	Posted - 2012.06.29 21:00:00 - [7] - Quote I've been planning on doing just that nova, but it's gonna be a long road to that. I've gotta get the advanced suit first and that's another 1.2 mil sp, so i've got some grinding to do. The only problem I have with that response is you shouldn't have to get the maxed out weapon and skills in order to get kills in a decent fashion. The standard should be killing in two or three with the proto killing in 1 with a direct hit and 2 to 3 with splash. I don't think that will make it spammable cuz it still takes some skill to get the aiming down and it only has four in the clip with a long reload, so it won't be op. I also think it doesn't do that well against vehicles. I've tried it many times and with its pitiful dmg you'd be better off using a sl. With how close you have to get in order to hit the damn thing you're leaving yourself vulnerable to the tank and without a decent way of destroying it. Think about it, the kills I have got on tanks were militia grade. What's gonna happen when people start rollin upgraded tanks. The mass driver won't stand a chance.
Pent'noir Algintal Core Gallente Federation 62	Posted - 2012.06.29 22:19:00 - [8] - Quote I do admit that for a gun that has the description of a grenade laucher, it doesn't act like one. The projectile path is broken if aiming to the sky and the hit detection seems weird. It can do a sizable amount of dmg if you actually hit the person, but I've only been able to do that out of some fluke of a miricle, something like a forge gun, although I'm thinking if I stick at it, then I'll eventually get the targeting down better to where I'll hit the person the majority of the time.... I'm sure that they will improve the mass driver as time goes along. If you've suffered through the time to ugrade it to 5 and proficiency to 5, then its not that bad, but I'm probably biased as I happen to like the gun.
Baron Rittmeister Circle of Huskarl Minmatar Republic 81	Posted - 2012.06.30 14:47:00 - [9] - Quote The problem there is having to spend upwards a mil and more sp plus the almost 20k isk to get those kills. The standard is supposed to be manageable while the prototype is supposed to be "oh yeah! awesome!" This makes it too much investment just to get efficient with it.
Bzeer MG GROUP 41	Posted - 2012.06.30 18:19:00 - [10] - Quote The smg to maime and cripple... If only it could... Would love to see a drop suit slow to a crawl after continuous fire. But as is I'm glad it can kill.



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