Cenex Langly
D.A.R.K L.E.G.I.O.N
D.E.F.I.A.N.C.E
128
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Posted - 2013.08.01 17:39:00 -
[1] - Quote
I love seeing these threads. The fact of the matter is that the Mass Driver is not unbalanced at all. I'd go as far to say that it is extremely balanced "As a whole".
I challenge any of you who think this weapon is unbalanced to take a mass driver and get 6 direct hits on any proto heavy or any proto assault. Make sure you test this when they have 100% armor and 100% shields. Now tell me if you can kill them with 6 direct shots.
The answer to this question is that you will most likely NOT kill that proto-heavy or proto-assault. I'll one up this made up statistic and say that in 90% of those cases you will NOT kill them with just 6 shots.
If you're wondering why, then listen up. Mass Drivers do an exceptional amount of reduced damage to shields (No, I do not remember the exact numbers but I'm sure someone will provide them for you all). The fact of the matter is that they do reduced damage to shields. Once the shields are down, then they do full damage to armor, thus a direct shot on most players with even an enhanced armor plate is considered lethal (Though as a lot of you regular mass driver users will notice is it takes more than 2-3 shots to even take out the armor on any suit other than a scout suit; flimsy creatures).
So now your argument is that "All mass driver users have to expel their entire clip of 6 (high damage) rounds, or 8 (low damage rounds) to kill me" ... That is a fair argument, but let's consider other weapons that require far less of their total clip to kill someone (let alone the refire rate, the reload speed etc). The AR, the SAR, the HMG. These weapons can kill multiple people with a single clip, and with a hundred times more precision.
What I think has you all completely torn is the fact that a good mass driver will use other means to hurt you before they even begin to shoot at you.
Pay attention so I don't have to continually make these posts. Being grouped up is a mass driver's wet dream. The more people in a cluster, the more effective the mass driver is. It is a crowd control weapon. Second, the use of FLUX grenades to remove the initial penalty from shields also plays a huge role in killing you quickly (Set aside your hate for flux grenades, they no longer can kill you like a locusts grenade which can kill you at full shields and armor). Third, splash damage is a far cry from real damage so don't stand just at the corner of a wall, actually go into cover because a grenade could kill you more effectively than the splash of a mass driver. Last, most mass drivers will wait until someone has already removed your shields before they start using their "very limited" clip on you so chances are someone else already did the hard work of taking out your shields and the mass driver took the kill for finishing you off.
My conclusion stands on its own with these facts. The mass driver is not over powered, nor is it unbalanced. There are good players that use the weapon wisely, which provides a great dynamic to the game in the previously mentioned "crowd control" comment. Going 1v1 with someone who is good at the game will more than likely kill the mass driver because of the extremely low refire rate and reload speed, which gives credence to my claim that it is a crowd control weapon. |