Let's Fix Assault Rifle!

[JayboH]

AR isn't THAT bad.  Tweaks?  sure.

 

This set has already gone through one overhaul.  They buffed a bunch of the powers to reign in and nerf Ignite back then.  I partially blame myself for this because I was telling people on the forums how much damage I was dealing with a fulcrum-shifted Ignite every 4 seconds which stacked. 

 

Yeah.  Ignite used to have a 4 second recharge or something like that, and it would take 4 seconds to activate.  Now fulcrum shift those stacks.  It was insane, then add Scourge.  I had Web Envelope and they would sit in it.

 

If I was to change stuff, I'd keep Beanbag, toss out Buckshot, and front-load Flamethrower.  I wish we could lower the recharge on Full Auto just a smidge without touching its damage.  Not much, just a little.  M30 Grenade is thematic but is a bit underwhelming, but it doesn't tickle enemies like Buckshot does.

Edited July 14, 2022 by JayboH

[Psyonico]

I'm against completely redesigning the set.

 

I do think, as some have said, that it needs some tweaks.  In no particular order, here's what I'd do:

 

Increase the cone of Full Auto a fair amount

Increase the damage of Full Auto a little

Decrease the cast time of flamethrower

Decrease the cast time of ignite

[arcane]

It functions a lot better since the last round of animation buffs. I’d be down for a slight radius increase on Ignite, an activation decrease on Flamethrower, and a slight cone increase on Full Auto though. I think that’s about all it still needs.

[srmalloy]

22 hours ago, arcane said:

It functions a lot better since the last round of animation buffs. I’d be down for a slight radius increase on Ignite, an activation decrease on Flamethrower, and a slight cone increase on Full Auto though. I think that’s about all it still needs.

If you're going to increase the cone size for Full Auto, then you should look at increasing the target limit as well; there is little more annoying with Full Auto than to hit Boost Range, Build Up, then Full Auto, only to see a third of the mobs in the beaten zone completely unaffected because you hit the target limit.

[arcane]

1 minute ago, srmalloy said:

If you're going to increase the cone size for Full Auto, then you should look at increasing the target limit as well; there is little more annoying with Full Auto than to hit Boost Range, Build Up, then Full Auto, only to see a third of the mobs in the beaten zone completely unaffected because you hit the target limit.

Yes I’m good with that too. 16 targets for all nukes.

[TalynDerre]

So, I don't love Flamethrower and Ignite from a character aesthetics perspective - I don't want a Flamethrower, I want an Assault Rifle.  Where I shoot people with bullets.  From a rifle.

 

If it were up to me, I'd probably drop Flamethrower, Ignite, and Buckshot, and spin off two Pool Powers called Flamethrower and Shotgun.

 

Burst is fine as-is.

Rename Slug to Targeted Shot, but otherwise keep as-is.

Replace Buckshot with Enfilade, boost the range to the same as Burst, keep it a cone, make it a 1.5 sec DoT effect (with the same overall damage Buckshot).  Replace the Knockback with a -Speed and -Def effect.

Keep M30 Grenade as-is.

Boost the damage on Beanbag to Medium damage.

Keep Sniper Rifle as-is.

Replace Flamethrower with an Aim Equivalent called 'Suppressing Fire.'  For the duration of the effect, it boosts ACC by 7.5%, damage by 25%, and adds a -Speed and -Recharge secondary effect to all of your AR skills.

Replace Ignite with Armor Piercing Shot.  High damage, single-target, good accuracy, and it ignores 66% of the target's Lethal Resistance.  This makes it good at taking out enemies who are under the effect of T9 defense powers or who otherwise have sky-high Lethal Resistance.

Improve damage on Full Auto by about 10% or so.

[Rudra]

And for every "I hate flamethrower and ignite on AR' there is a "I love flamethrower and ignite on AR". I actually take and enjoy using those powers. And has already been said, you can't take powers out of sets that are already in the game. As I have said on other threads, you can't take away powers from players that are using and enjoying them. You want to tweak AR? Then let's talk tweaks. You want to remake AR into something more like how you envision the power set is supposed to be and forget anyone that is currently enjoying it as is? Then you are imposing your way to play on others.

 

You're willing to keep beanbag but not buckshot. Rifles don't fire bean bags. They can fire rubber bullets and other non-lethal rounds, but bean bags are shotgun options. (Edit: And you won't get the knock from a rubber bullet that you would get from the larger and meant to knock people back/down bean bag.) So you're already deviating from rifle back into multi-purpose weapon.

 

Unless you attach a rifle fired grenade (kind of like a RPG) to the weapon, rifles don't fire grenades. The underslung M30 is a grenade launcher attachment. You are still technically dealing with a multi-purpose weapon.

 

So you are against AR being a multi-purpose weapon but want it to be a multi-purpose weapon. And you want to make it more generic with Aim to match the other sets while you're at it. No thanks. I rather enjoy AR with its available list of powers as is.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Rudra
Edited to correct "power" to "powers" and change inflammatory response to non-inflammatory.

[biostem]

Frankly, I'm fine w/ keeping AR as-is.  I just want a "run-and-gun" set that focuses more on mobility and less flashy, more practical attacks...

[arcane]

26 minutes ago, biostem said:

Frankly, I'm fine w/ keeping AR as-is.  I just want a "run-and-gun" set that focuses more on mobility and less flashy, more practical attacks...

You should try a Bane Spider Huntsman build. Does really well with basically nothing but bullets and grenades.

[Rudra]

45 minutes ago, arcane said:

You should try a Bane Spider Huntsman build. Does really well with basically nothing but bullets and grenades.

Yep. Got something similar. Bane Spider that uses the Wolf Spider gun attacks, the Bane Spider melee mace attacks for when things get too close and just need to sit the *&%^ down, and a webnade. No mace beams or poisonous ray. Is insanely fun!

[JayboH]

On 7/15/2022 at 1:44 PM, TalynDerre said:

So, I don't love Flamethrower and Ignite from a character aesthetics perspective - I don't want a Flamethrower, I want an Assault Rifle.  Where I shoot people with bullets.  From a rifle.

 

 

I have little doubt that this was in mind, and I love it the way it is:

 

 

[Herotu]

On 7/15/2022 at 8:11 PM, Rudra said:

And has already been said, you can't take powers out of sets that are already in the game.

It's 100% possible. Will it be unpopular... mmm ... depends what they get replaced by. Some zealots will complain vociferously no matter what you do.

 

On 7/15/2022 at 8:11 PM, Rudra said:

You're willing to keep beanbag but not buckshot. Rifles don't fire bean bags. They can fire rubber bullets and other non-lethal rounds, but bean bags are shotgun options. (Edit: And you won't get the knock from a rubber bullet that you would get from the larger and meant to knock people back/down bean bag.) So you're already deviating from rifle back into multi-purpose weapon.

It's great to see that you're already coming around and considering alternatives. I'm sure a stun from Rubber Bullets will be a fine replacement for Bean Bag.

[Rudra]

4 hours ago, Herotu said:

It's great to see that you're already coming around and considering alternatives. I'm sure a stun from Rubber Bullets will be a fine replacement for Bean Bag.

Reduce the smashing damage and the Stun, then sure. And any KB effects would need to be reduced too.

[Player2]

8 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Reduce the smashing damage and the Stun, then sure. And any KB effects would need to be reduced too.

Reducing KB is a stupid idea.

 

KB effects DO NOT need to be reduced on anything.  There are enhancements to do that, but some people not only prefer but genuinely enjoy the KB.

[Rudra]

You're talking about going from a bean bag to a rubber bullet. Yep, it does.