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Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 3 post(s) |
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Cosgar
The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY
625
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Posted - 2013.05.10 10:12:00 -
[1] - Quote
+1 |
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Cosgar
The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY
651
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Posted - 2013.05.11 07:35:00 -
[2] - Quote
CCP Remnant wrote:KA24DERT wrote:SirManBoy wrote:The mass driver needs some serious TLC. Some arbitrary 10% buff isn't going to adequately address its extensive list of new shortcomings, including its damage (it needs far more than a 10% buff), its splash area, and its aiming. In its current state, the mass driver is a hot mess that no longer commands any respect on the battlefield, which means all of its tactical value is gone. This is especially true for logi bros who used it to enhance their support role. A mass driver used to scare people away long enough to make revives, throw down nanos, and make repairs. This is no longer the case. Yeah, the MD has gotten hit pretty hard: MD Specific: 1) Splash Radius 2) Misleading Smoke Trail 3) Damage nerf 4) Range Nerf General, but hits MD hard: 1) Nanohive Nerf (my smg kills have gone way up.) This has changed the weapon entirely. People can hide behind obstacles and be safe, People can run from cover to cover at a distance and be safe. People can charge at me and absorb my damage while taking me down (easier than before). I've adjusted my playstyle to this. And am now finding myself charging into groups of enemies and using the MD like a blind man's shotgun. It works, but i'm not sure that's the weapon's intended role. If the 10% damage buff is across the board, then bringing back the splash radius and increasing the range will bring this weapon back up to snuff. To be perfectly honest, I'm a little baffled at what's happened with the Mass Driver. The reason for the splash and blast range nerf was that in playtests we found the MD to be so effective that at one point almost half the people in the office were using it in battles. Clearly, that's not been the case with Uprising and after getting the engineers to go elbow deep into the code it appears there may be a few reasons beyond dry numbers that are contributing to the MDs underwhelming performance. One, there appears to be a de-sync between client and server so that (more often than it should) the server and client think the projectile exploded in different places. They're not far off, but enough so that shots you *think* are spot on are off the mark enough to do only minor splash damage. And two, I'm told splash occlusion is getting blocked by a single player character more than it should, contributing to the "randomness" of the damage dealt and the sometimes smudgy feeling of the weapon. I'm hesitant to rebalance the weapon until we get these issues looked at (which is happening right now). One of the problems with the MD is that aside from the terrain glitch in chrome, and the useless sights there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It was a great support weapon and it's area denial properties added a very fun tactical aspect to the game for it's user, the squad members with the user, and it forced people it was being used on to use their heads and change their approach in engagements. Several of us MD enthusiasts have been mulling over the logic behind such a drastic change to a weapon that was right where it needed to be in this thread. One of the things we miss is the very useful arcing trajectory to target people hiding behind cover or camping in structures all bunched up together. It was also great for logistic players, (not the slayerbros we've been seeing lately) to use the MD to push the enemy back from a downed teammate to raise them.
The current trajectory makes it easier to get kills with the MD, but it lost a lot of its tactical, and strategic uses that it had in chrome. It feels less like a grenade launcher and more like an assault rifle that just happens to shoot grenades. All we want back is the old physics, least some of the splash radius, and just enough damage to be threatening to enemy squads.
Also, the 10% damage was a well needed change, but I believe the AR didn't need it because it's the only weapon that didn't take a damage nerf. In its current state the finally balanced TAR is out of control again and has become a semi automatic sniper rifle. |
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Cosgar
The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY
660
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Posted - 2013.05.11 12:09:00 -
[3] - Quote
@CCP Remnant: I just realized I overlooked something in your post about the MD. What MD variant was the office using the most? |
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Cosgar
The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY
693
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Posted - 2013.05.11 22:36:00 -
[4] - Quote
bill the noon wrote:J Lav wrote:CCP Remnant wrote: To be perfectly honest, I'm a little baffled at what's happened with the Mass Driver. The reason for the splash and blast range nerf was that in playtests we found the MD to be so effective that at one point almost half the people in the office were using it in battles.
Wait!? Because half the office is using it, it needs a nerf? What kind of logic is that? The Mass Driver appeals more to a play style than being the "over powered" flavour of the week. It is a unique kind of weapon, that should be brutally useful to people who play that style. It takes skill to hit people with them. By the reasoning of "popular adoption" the Duvelle and Gek should be removed from the game entirely because it's so useful more than half of people are using it. good catch i missed this one. when they nerfed the hmg they said it was due to the data they had collected. was this data from our matches or crap they were doing in their offices? if they are balancing things based on data from how they play in the ccp offices, what the hell was the point of the beta we were in for the last 8 months? I think we're going to need to open up a dialogue with the developer in a separate topic about the MD. Having this discussion in the HMG can be counterproductive because many MD users that have been experiencing problems with it have important views and haven't been able to find out any information.
With that said, I'd like to ask an important question. What happened to the sandbox experience where you the developer design a gaming mechanic and leave it to we the players figure out how to use it? Like I said in my previous post, aside from the useless sight and the flawed splash damage calculations in chrome, the MD was absolutely fine. You the developers made a what was at a glance, a very awkwardly designed weapon and we the players found applicable and important uses for said weapon. The changes that you made has taken away those applicable uses that quite frankly differ from almost every other weapon in the game in terms of strategy and tactics (which have been missing from Dust 514 as of late) and promoted counter play by making the weapon fun for the player using it and creating meaningful choices for the player its being used on. In its current state, the MD has lost its niche in combat and merely imitates weapons that already have an established use and and still perform better than the MD in that usage. Being able to get more kills with the MD in its new slayer role may have been seemingly helpful, but we, the MD users are thankful but didn't need the help. For me personally, If I wanted to get more kills, I would specialize in a slayer weapon like the Plasma Rifle. I chose the MD because I wanted to use tactics and would trade the sudden boost to my KDR in a hot second for those tactical uses to return. Barring any changes for the sake of balance, the arcing trajectory, splash damage, radius, and high skill ceiling were the MD's valuable strengths. Now it fjust feels like a lower ROF/DPS Plasma Rifle that just happens to shoot grenades. But, with these changes you have accidentally found a way to make the breach variant viable. So if possible, the current trajectory can stay with the breach. |
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Cosgar
The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY
827
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Posted - 2013.05.13 15:36:00 -
[5] - Quote
bcs1a wrote:Talruum Tezztarozza wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EitZRLt2G3w Someone posted this awhile ago in HMG is OP thread. It is also as (if not more) appropriate to MD issue. Everyone should watch if you haven't already. good video.. I'm not sure if you're trying to compare the MD to the n00b tube in CoD, but I'll put it this way:
I posted a relative description of the MD, comparing it to the TAR in another MD thread recently. It requires a steep enough learning curve, but deadly in skilled hands. Anyone who thinks of the MD as an "I win button" can try to use it themselves but will find out that they can't get the same results without practice. A true sign of a balanced weapon. |
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Cosgar
The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY
828
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Posted - 2013.05.13 15:47:00 -
[6] - Quote
Himiko Kuronaga wrote:LittleCuteBunny wrote:Sponglyboy Squaredoo wrote:Heavies need to match the range of ARs period A weapon with a zillion rounds and damage to scale incrementing over time at a point in time should have the same range than something with less bullets that has a fixed default damage that will obviously not escalate should. lmao We're slower and have no equipment slots. When we got shot at, we are taking nearly 100% of the incoming damage due to our inability to strafe and massive hitbox. Our guns should not be balanced against an AR. It should be better than an AR. In its optimal range of course. The AR should have the advantage at 40m, but the HMG should dominate at 30m and under. |
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Cosgar
The Unholy Legion of Darkstar DARKSTAR ARMY
952
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Posted - 2013.05.15 20:49:00 -
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Sponglyboy Squaredoo wrote:Grenadez Rollack wrote:Is it me or is dust not even really fun anymore Not just you Agreed.
Everything I've enjoyed keeps getting nerfed or watered down. Only thing that keeps most of us playing religiously is the friends we met. It's gotten so bad that my friends and I have been trying to find another game we all like and play that instead. |
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