Yes this is another flamethrower thread, but unlike the others, I intend to flesh out details beyond "I want something that shoots fire", and explain why it would be a great addition to Dust 514's arsenal. This is not meant to shoot regular fire, but instead PLASMA much like many of Dust 514's existing weapons.

[Why a (plasma) flamethrower?]

Visually, there is something really beautiful and scary about a fire (or something fire-like such as plasma), could be the caveman fascination with fire.

Flamethrowers are always always fun, and that's why its the most commonly requested weapon type in Dust 514... seriously, search "flame thrower" or "flamethrower". This requested A LOT.

Increasing the game's variety of exotic weapons is good.

[How it should work]

It should be a heavy weapon.

It should fire in a cone similar to the shotgun, but with less spread. The cone fire would allow it to hit multiple targets at once.

It should have about the same range as the effective range of the HMG, but more range than the shotgun.

Damage per second should initially be less than the HMG, but the "lighting people on fire" part comes which continuous damage over time. This could be due to some perpetual ionization effect or whatever.

It should be able to not only light enemies on fire which does continuous damage, but it should also be usable for scorching the inanimate objects like the ground to seal off paths to enemies; this would make it a great area denial weapon.

[Why it won't be overpowered]

Range would be the same , and less damage per second.

[Skills]

Plasma flamethrower operation: 3% damage bonus to all fires started.

Plasma flamethrower proficiency: 5% burn duration per level

[Attributes]
Standard Plasma Flamethrower
Damage: 500 (estimate) per second (more than AR, less than HMG)
Persistent burning damage: 30 per second
Persistent burning duration on shielded/armored objects: 5 seconds
Persistent burning damage on non-shielded/armored objects: 15 seconds (burning objects inflict the persistent burning damage to anyone touching them)
Range: 50 meters
Magazine size: enough for 7 seconds of continuous fire
Capacity: 3 magazines worth

[Variants]

Burst: Fires in powerful semiautomatic bursts, and would basically be a heavy shotgun.

Tactical: Bigger magazine, more range, but less damage.

Scorcher: Lower damage, but more burn duration (things stay burning longer).

Breach: Small magazine, high damage.

[What it could look like]
It could look much like FIRE like this or this, though preferably with a distinctive color like purple (game needs more color variety).
It could look like LIGHTNING like this or this since lightning fits the definition of plasma. Perhaps something in between.


In case you didn't click... seriously, look at how amazing that looks, nature is awesome. Anyway, please CCP, let me burn people alive. Thank you for reading


Offer still stands