The only problem with the MD at the moment is that I can't support with it. I'm getting kills up to something like 14 a game and when I land a flux on a target they're almost guaranteed a death. Thing is, I don't want this. I want to support with the MD. Damage should be severely brought down in exchange for larger splash radius'. There should be weapons that are geared towards team support in this game. The change to MDs have turned them from that tool of support into a weapon that can be used by someone playing solo. This shouldn't be the case! MDs should rely on there being some HMGs or ARs to sweep up the chaos you create with your rounds.

You obviously don't really know what you're talking about, but I'm not surprised. Easy mode? AR. Proof? The vast number of people playing it. Please take note of this :

https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=75585&find=unread

lol. You're the one crying about how hard the poor ittle AR users have it. Lol. Enough said.

that was removed over two months ago stop grasping for straws

I've been Cue-Synching within my corp lately and have wound up squaring off with fellow MD enthusiasts on multiple occasions. There's no camera shake or anything anymore since a few builds ago. Hell, the smoke doesn't even land where you round hit half the damn time now. On top of that, there were times our rounds have gone through each other. Not only was it nerfed, but it's bugged than it was before. CCP, please stop fixing stuff that wasn't broken in the first place.

Been using it for two builds and been on the receiving end too. There's no camera shake whatsoever, just the pillar of smoke that obstructs the view for both the user and the person its being used on. If anything it forces you turn around by reflex because getting hit by stuff that explodes would scare the **** out of anyone. lol

You are half right. Flux (and Locus) ARE broken. It isn't the MD that is cutting through your massive shields like butter.

You want to see broken? Wait until you see everyone and their mother running around with Scrambler Rifles and Flaylock Pistols. That damn Flaylock does more damage on splash than the MD. Despite it having SMG range, people are going to flood the forums in droves QQing for a nerf whether it needs it or not. Calling it now.

So you are saying that flux gernades are very effective when the metagame favors shields and since the metagame still favors shields they are still pretty effective (And locus are pretty sweet too if they have armor). It doesnt matter what gun you have if you hit someone with a flux or locus. They just lost the majority of their HP. Scrambler pistol probably wouldn't have trouble finishing them off.

I've been following your posts, and I'm trying really hard to read them objectively and not write you off.

One of the major concerns over Flux is it's ability to strip 1200Hp of shielding away, from both vehicles and suits alike. I guess I have to admit that does seem a little OP. But I think that stems from a different problem, one not associated with the Flux, but from the ineffectiveness of armor tanking dropsuits. IMO, if CCP decides to make changes to this combo, it needs to be done gingerly, and as a temporary fix while they adjust the viability of armor tanking. I personally feel that the damage the Flux nades do should be percentage based in the blast radius. This rewards those with excellent throwing skills, and gives those with great battlefield awareness the chance to minimize damage.

But, this has little to do with the MD changes, and stealth nerfing based on your cubicle neighbor's ability to own your ass is not the way to balance a game.

I don't give a flying flux about no grenades, I'd like a functioning weapon.

A weapon that does damage when it hits a target
a weapon that does damage where the visual indicators would lead you to believe it does.
A weapon that damages 2 targets if they are both in the splash radius
A weapon that doesn't require a second weapon to be slightly effective

This recon fella doesn't believe anything about the MD needs to be effective, he doesn't even like the fact that we can use a crutch weapon to make the primary weapon slightly effective. It doesn't matter that a Dev thinks the MD is broken (for whatever reason it may be) Recon by Fire will still find some way to disagree with anything an MD player suggests.

Individually all of these issues are that we have posted about are survivable for the MD, Some of them are really minor but when you add all of these together the MD has lost its place as a viable support weapon. This is the issue.

This is what we need to focus on.

I don't think you can have a complete discussion on the mass driver without talking about gernades too. Last patch it was viable to run gernades other than flux. Flux was the prefered choice for a MD user odviously, but AV was playable. This patch is different in that there is NO WAY I can play the gun without flux. Unless I want to go around last hitting people (which I have no problem with, but others might).

These things are my crutch. The same thing will happen with scrambler rifle and core locus and it will be even MORE effective. Break through half their shields + lob a few core locus. Flux themselves alone are a problem, but not THE problem. The problem is the blast radius on all of the anti personale gernades. It is more than twice the blast radius of the MD, with more than double the damage. Proto nanohives are still strong enough to support massive nade spam.

What I am saying is that the MD by itself could use a buff to levels slightly worse than chromosome. It is pretty much a crazy man shotgun at this point. It isn't strong in itself, but you destroy people with flux. It is effective against armor tanks, but a core locus will ONE SHOT them. Its hard to balance ANY gun without first balancing gernades. Mass driver users are just adapting... and spamming fluxes. Which turns out to be a better strategy than actually using their gun most of the time.

This is the worse of the two main MD threads that popped up. I've said in the other that a MD nerf was neccessary because of the removal of sharpshooter. And it was. The old freedom would eat the blobs up. My main issue with how they went about it is this:

1. The radius nerf was too extreme
2. The prototype weapons are too CPU/PG heavy for the marginal benefits they offer over the advanced varients.
I am going to copy paste my post from that thread to here.

I love how every ****** who bitches about the MD calls it easy mode and yet they don't use it, and I simply don't die to MD. Why? because I actually played with them, I got really good with them too and you know what Ive met exactly one MD user who could kill me with out stealing some one else kill to get the one hit. oh and can you guess what weapon I use most?? the ******* AR because nothing else gives me that much power and that much flexibility, same with every other pro play on the field. The only people who use anything else consistently are the die hards who love those things or retards thinking they are op(that doesn't last long, yet they always seem to continue bitching about them anyways). I can only imagine how broke **** they are now. To OP good post and my condolences hope the bring it back to where it was.