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).

Yeah I love watching the smoke tracer thing I fire hit someone square in the chest they take no damage and then a second later theres an explosion about 5 meters behind them. Although is it just me or is it odd that I can now take out a shield LAV with one flux and one MD round and armour ones with 1 flux and 2-3 rounds used to take allot more I think.

You're right, things are strange, I took out an unshielded tank with a full clip..thats not right.

Yes I have managed that feat as well just didn't want to rub the poor HAV drivers faces in it lol they have enough problems at the moment.

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).

Easy mode was throwing MD rounds at their feet WHILE KNOCKING THEIR AIM OFF WITH THE ROUND (something you MD users like to not mention).

You're right, things are strange, I took out an unshielded tank with a full clip..thats not right.

I tried to get a hot thread on MDs going but it fell on it's face. I only used MD's in chromosone. Now, you can still get kills with them if you are talented, but they are definitely frustrating. The damage does seem random, I've had players just jump harmlessly over my blast, and more often than not I just put a few rounds into their chest to take them down. Atleast direct hit detection works better now than it did in Chromosone. (Mainly using an EXO MD currently)

With the introduction to the Caldari Mega-Shield Tankers (Logi's in particular), MD's are a lot less effective against them. It's strange hearing the testimony of players about the MD's performance against vehicles. In chromosone, I didn't even bother shooting at vehicles with MDs, unless they had low HP to help finish them off. Personally I don't think the MD's role should be AV.

As it stands, SP sink-hole of waste in my opinion. Switching to another weapon, if anything, get some variety in my weapon selection lol.

I really miss my MD. I spent months learning to place rounds where ever I wanted them. It wasn't "Easy mode" like the AR was, but it was fun.

(With a scout and an AR, I would consistently get a higher KD/R than with my MD, so STFU people who call it a noob tube and have no idea)

I'm only kinda masochistic, not enough to subject myself to the MD any more. I'm having to relearn the game.

Lasers are lame, MD's suck.

Balance is a fine thing, a rare thing.

NO
The MD did less damage per second than the AR even if all the grenades were direct hits (I did the math). The mass driver also contained less damage per magazine, meaning you could kill less people than the AR before needing to reload. There is also the fact that its almost useless at longer ranges because of the grenade arc which makes aiming require more skill, and the slowly traveling rounds which makes predicting where your targets will be.
The only thing it had going for it was the splash damage and splash radius which made it very balanced; now splash radius sucks.

If anything is easy mode (not necessarily overpowered though) it is the AR.

... mass driver direct hit is a 1 shot k/o it most cases, especially armor.

that was removed over two months ago stop grasping for straws

Lol no, it wasn't. Maybe it was changed for Uprising, I haven't had the pleasure of facing something other than lolTacs enough to know yet.

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.

There is a lot of stuff bugged right now though dude, the best thing we can do to help fix that is to make sure we submit bug reports for everything we find. I know I am guilty of not doing this enough.

Back to the MD, I don't remember having camera shake for a while, but I do remember it moving my reticle. Does it not do this anymore?

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

I seem to remember the reticle movement mechanic fairly recently (before Uprising), but maybe it was reflexes; who knows. Im glad that mechanic is gone though. I feel flux/MD is already broken enough, having the explosion knock their aim off just makes it superdouche.

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

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.