Broxx Nexular
Occupational Hazard
Vital Core Exhumers Industrial Coalition
8
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Posted - 2013.01.20 19:20:00 -
[1] - Quote
I have noticed a large increase in the use of Mass Drivers lately. My issue with this is not based on the idea of "omg its a noob tube", but rather the implementation of "grenade launcher" style weapons currently.
In its current form, the Mass Driver replaces the players primary weapon, I believe this to be a mistake. This creates a system where the player is capable of employing it as a viable primary weapon and can use nanohives to allow themselves plentiful ammunition before needing to resupply from a station. The basic form of this weapon is able to house six rounds in a magazine with 4 total magazines available. Although the weapon does do lower damage than its manually-thrown counterparts, in its basic form, this damage can be increased through skills. In its current form, the MD is capable of viable "spam" fire that is inconsistent with the design of other weapons.
I propose, rather than making the MD a primary weapon. Make it use the equipment slot of a suit, and cut the available ammunition in half. This will put the MD back in line with grenade launcher design. GL's are not meant to be primary weapons, they are weapons of opportunity and area denial. Putting it in the equipment slot will also remove the ability to be almost entirely self-sufficient with it. Requiring that someone using it have available support from other players to keep stocks of ammo. This also helps players be more mindful of when its appropriate to use it since they will still have a primary weapon available such as an AR or LR. |
Broxx Nexular
Occupational Hazard
Vital Core Exhumers Industrial Coalition
8
|
Posted - 2013.01.21 15:35:00 -
[2] - Quote
Balancing, may have been a bad way to word the subject lol
I dont know what fits people are using when employing MD's, but I haven't run into a single one that hasn't killed me in a single direct hit. If they get me with splash damage, sure it doesn't do as much, maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of the damage, but considering direct hits have been killing me in a single shot that's still a hefty amount of damage.
Quote:Spam fire? Have you used anyother gun? Ar lr smg all of them are spam fired.
Can you spam fire an AR? sure, does that mean its always effective? hell no. Go ahead and spend a whole match "spam" firing that AR from the hip and then spend a match actually aiming down the sights and taking careful bursts of fire. You'll get very different results, I know this from plenty of experience. My issue is that I haven't seen a single scenario where simply dumping a mag from a MD hasn't resulted in a victory for its user, even when outnumbered.
"Working as intended" doesn't mean much in a beta. Look at rocket launchers. In early beta it was completely viable to spam them against infantry, and it wasn't an exploit, it was "working as intended". However, the devs decided that didn't fit with the flow of gameplay they were looking for, so they changed them. I believe this to be a similar scenario.
Again, I'm not saying remove them, i'm honestly not against their damage model (except possibly lowering direct damage in favor of better AOE since it is supposed to be an area denial weapon after all). I'm only suggesting that they consider the idea that a MD should be a piece of equipment to be used in optimal scenarios rather than a players primary weapon. |