OgTheEnigma
Seraphim Initiative.
CRONOS.
90
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Posted - 2012.12.03 02:36:00 -
[1] - Quote
I haven't been playing with knives lately, but I did come to the conclusion that the charging mechanics need to be switched around. What I mean is that you'll be able to strike with them at any time (like melee) but you need to wait for them to recharge before using them again.
Honestly I don't believe this makes them overpowered at all. Since switching to shotgun with the same character and using similar battle strategies I now regularly top the leaderboards, or come close, with a KD ratio of usually between 2-5. With nova knives I only managed on average to break even with my KD and I would have been lucky to get a mid table position on the scoreboards.
As far as I'm concerned knives should be similar in in both power and usability to shotguns in extreme CQC situations, but at the moment are sorely lacking. If you allow a weak scout suit to get so close then you deserve to take some serious punishment if they specialise in a melee weapon. I would also say they are not viable as a sidearm for characters who aren't specced into and use biotics and there is literally no reason to choose knives over pistols or SMGs.
Maken Tosch, you talk about not wanting to take away the challenge of the knife, but even the best knifers in this game seem to be at severe disadvantage and perform a lot worse on average compared to users of every other weapon in the game. I fully respect you and what you're doing, but I only have to point to your KD ratio to show that the ninja knife strategy is majorly limited right now. I know the ratio isn't the be all and end all but I honestly believe in most circumstances a ninja knifer is a detriment to the team and in Ambush a low KD ratio will directly affect the chances of your team winning. In Skirmish the strategy can be more useful for quickly moving around the battlefield and hacking objectives, but the ability to defend them effectively is just lacking compared to using guns. Against organised teammates who watch each other's backs while hacking it's almost impossible to get close enough without being spotted and charge up multiple nova attacks to take them out.
I've probably rambled on a bit here and I'll probably re-read my post tomorrow and disagree with myself on certain points, but the bottom line is I believe that the nova knife is competitively useless and will need a major buff in its usability and lethality before it becomes a viable weapon. |
OgTheEnigma
Seraphim Initiative.
CRONOS.
90
|
Posted - 2012.12.03 07:22:00 -
[2] - Quote
Maken Tosch wrote:@OgTheEnigma
Yeah, the knife does need more fixing.
From what I see, the biggest gripe about the knife that most people are having with it is charge-up problem. One can't charge while sprinting and that presents a major problem. Throwing the knife is something I found to be balancing because allowing a charge to be held during a sprint for one weapon would mean others would want the same thing for the forge gun and charged sniper rifle. The lunge is another option that can alternatively support if throwing knives turned out to not be achievable.
Switching the charge mechanics as you suggested would work nicely, but how much cooldown between strikes are we talking about here? Anything longer than 3 seconds can present a problem in extreme CQC if the first hit doesn't kill and you're in a crowded room full of enemy mercs. I have been in that situation not too long ago in Line Harvest with the Ishukone Nova Knife and was able to kill all four mercs in 10 seconds when they were within spitting distance of me. If the cool down is too long, I may not be able to achieve that ever again. Of course, too short of a cooldown can be bad and it becomes pointless to have.
Recharge times should be the same as charge times for each tier of knives. This way they're far more usable without sacrificing any level of DPS that they had originally. |