DUST Search - the mass driver?

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).

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Jin Robot Polar Gooks 514	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:07:00 - [1] - Quote Is this viable? I tried the no skill variant today. I didnt stomp, but it was fun. Any non troll thoughts...
Cosgar The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 1020	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:23:00 - [2] - Quote Jin Robot wrote: Is this viable? I tried the no skill variant today. I didnt stomp, but it was fun. Any non troll thoughts... It's been nerfed to the ground, I'm afraid. Before it wasn't a slayer weapon, but a support weapon with a strong area denial presence. Now, it's a slayer weapon and can barely do that since on top of the nerf, nanohives got nerfed too. On top of that, it wasn't nerfed because people QQed about it, it was apparently based on the equivalent of an office LAN party instead of almost 2 years of beta testing feedback: 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). Edit: better read this quick, because every time I post this quote, it gets deleted.
Jin Robot Polar Gooks 514	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:27:00 - [3] - Quote Ugg, it was fun but I dont want to dump specialist SP into a novelty.
Sloth9230 Reaper Galactic ROFL BROS 1397	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:33:00 - [4] - Quote But... devs suck, why would they decide balance based on their personal experience? That's like noobs running at HMGs and then calling them OP
Cosgar The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 1021	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:34:00 - [5] - Quote Jin Robot wrote: Ugg, it was fun but I dont want to dump specialist SP into a novelty. It's still usable, but you have to accept that you're going to be at a sever disadvantage to 95% of the players right now are using the AR. I have prof 5 in it and still get hate mail like back in chrome. Freedom kind of sucks though, better to stick with the EXO.
xprotoman23 Internal Error. Negative-Feedback 1503	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:35:00 - [6] - Quote Noob tubes aren't a viable weapon durring PC with FF on. You'll begin to see less and less players using them come respec tbh.
Jin Robot Polar Gooks 514	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:36:00 - [7] - Quote xprotoman23 wrote: Noob tubes aren't a viable weapon durring PC with FF on. You'll begin to see less and less players using them come respec tbh. I didnt even think of that angle.
Jin Robot Polar Gooks 515	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:38:00 - [8] - Quote Cosgar wrote: Jin Robot wrote: Ugg, it was fun but I dont want to dump specialist SP into a novelty. It's still usable, but you have to accept that you're going to be at a sever disadvantage to 95% of the players right now are using the AR. I have prof 5 in it and still get hate mail like back in chrome. Freedom kind of sucks though, better to stick with the EXO. I will probably hold my SP and let the dust settle on the release, because I liked using it as area denial, I dont need to slay to have fun.
Cosgar The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 1022	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:40:00 - [9] - Quote xprotoman23 wrote: Noob tubes aren't a viable weapon durring PC with FF on. You'll begin to see less and less players using them come respec tbh. Not necessarily true. With good squad communication and actual teamwork outside of blob warfare, you can put in some work with the MD, even in its nerfed state. Also, if people are so concerned with splash damage, that's why we have the breach. Also, don't call it a n00b tube, this isn't CoD.
Sloth9230 Reaper Galactic ROFL BROS 1398	Posted - 2013.05.19 06:44:00 - [10] - Quote Cosgar wrote: xprotoman23 wrote: Noob tubes aren't a viable weapon durring PC with FF on. You'll begin to see less and less players using them come respec tbh. Not necessarily true. With good squad communication and actual teamwork outside of blob warfare, you can put in some work with the MD, even in its nerfed state. Also, if people are so concerned with splash damage, that's why we have the breach. Also, don't call it a n00b tube, this isn't CoD. Obviosly it was a noob tube if most of the devs were using it inb4 one of them points out my horrible stats
Grezkev The Red Guards EoN. 270	Posted - 2013.05.19 07:00:00 - [11] - Quote CCP killed the greatest breaching weapon. People feared a player who knew how to use their MD.
Cosgar The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 1022	Posted - 2013.05.19 07:20:00 - [12] - Quote Grezkev wrote: CCP killed the greatest breaching weapon. People feared a player who knew how to use their MD. Welcome to AR 514... ..............
KAGEHOSHI Horned Wolf Seraphim Initiative. CRONOS. 3919	Posted - 2013.05.19 07:22:00 - [13] - Quote Don't spend any skill points into it, its just a novelty.
Rusty Shallows Black Jackals 74	Posted - 2013.05.19 07:49:00 - [14] - Quote Jin Robot wrote: Is this viable? I tried the no skill variant today. I didnt stomp, but it was fun. Any non troll thoughts... In the last build my medic alt had fun with the EXO or Assault. That was with the operations skill at 5, some proficiency, and flux grenades. With the radius and splash damage nerfs I knew that my play-style with it was going to fail. As Cosgar points out there is always the breach variant. Basically a very dangerous game of direct hit tag if you have the skills. Which I don't but I have seen it happen.
The Loathing The Southern Legion RISE of LEGION 68	Posted - 2013.05.19 07:49:00 - [15] - Quote A disappointment to its former glory, no doubt. Splash is still the issue, but damage output has acceptably improved after the 10% increase from the last update. It is definitely not an area denial weapon anymore, but still a little fun to use.
Cody Sietz The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 125	Posted - 2013.05.19 08:17:00 - [16] - Quote Major nerf to splash dmg has caused the weapon some problems. You still see people using them, but not too often.

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