Assault Rifle revamp (Theory Crafting)

[EmperorSteele]

I know AR is getting a makeover in beta right now, so, this isn't an actual, “serious” suggestion, just theory-crafting a revamp of the set as a creative exercise. The main idea is that the weapon would no longer be some janky M4/shotgun/grenade-and-beanbag launcher/flame thrower/machine gun hybrid; rather each of the attacks/abilities represent different ways to use the weapon. Gameplay wise, it would make AR feel a little more like you're playing a first-person shooter, though I recognize that won't be everyone's cup of tea.

I'm also aware that some folks aren't going to be fans of the wholesale removal/replacement of over half the set... at that point, may as well make an entire new set. And, that's a valid criticism. But again, this is just for fun and I wouldn't expect the Devs to actually do this, but, figured I'd share and see what others thought.

Auto: Ammo Usage
Every time you use an Assault Rifle power, you get 1 or more counters of Ammo Usage. These counters persist throughout the mission or until you leave the zone. Once this counter reaches 30, your character will be forced into a reload animation before any further attacks can be used. The counter will then reset to 0. If you have too many Ammo Usage counters, you will not be able to use certain attacks (Basically, if the Ammo Usage on the power is greater than 30-[current Ammo Usage counters], you won't have enough ammo to use it). You can try to use such an “unavailable” power three times in a row, which will also force a reloading animation and removal of Ammo Usage counters. At Level 6 (for Blasters/Corruptors/Sentinels; level 10 for Defenders), you will have access to the “Reload” power, which, if chosen, will let you reset your Ammo Usage counters manually and gain a damage buff in the process.

T1: Hip Shot
Damage: Very Low
Endurance: 1
Recharge: 1 second
Accuracy: 80%
With nearly no activation/animation time, the idea here is to emulate FPS shooting a little bit by literally letting you tap-shoot the enemy. With enough recharge, you can pretty much just spam this power for rapid fire, edging out other T1 powers over a given amount of time; though having to reload every 30 shots will mitigate this advantage somewhat. Ammo Usage: 1.

T2: Burst

Damage: Moderate to high.
Endurance: 5
Recharge: 6 seconds
Accuracy: 80/75/70%
Three separate attacks in one on a single target, with reduced accuracy on each attack. Given the probability that at least one of these hits may miss, the damage would be balanced around two shots hitting, with the third being bonus damage. Ammo Usage: 3.

T3: Short Spray
Damage: Moderate
Endurance: 8
Recharge: 10
Accuracy: 75%
A 67.5 degree cone of bullets that hits up to 10 foes within 6.0 feet. Ammo usage: 10.

T4: Reload
Recharge: 10 seconds.
Resets your Ammo usage counter. For every Ammo Usage counter you had, you gain a 1% damage buff for 10 seconds. This bonus damage does not stack with consecutive Reloads, and will only consider the most recent reload (So if you had 30 Ammo Usage counters, and reloaded for 30% extra damage, fired one shot, and reloaded again, you would then only have a 1% damage bonus).

T5: Aim
Standard Aim power.

T5: Snipe
Same stats as Sniper Rifle, just renamed. Ammo usage: 1.

T6: Covering Fire
Damage: High
Endurance: 8
Recharge: 30
Accuracy: 78.5
You fire several shots in a 45 degree arc, taunting any foes who are hit (max 5 targets). This taunt won't overpower Tanker Taunt or Scrapper Confront, but will be enough to pull attention off other squishy teammates who may find themselves in over their heads. Ammo Usage: 5.

T7: Ammo-Piercing Rounds
Endurance: 10
Recharge: 120 seconds
Activating this power resets your Ammo Usage, and uses the same animation as Reload. Until the next time you reload (either manual or forced), all of your attacks will deal 10% less damage, but will inflict a stacking -Def and -Res debuff that persists on affected foes for 30 seconds. Debuff values scaled so that on Defenders, it's -1.5% Def and -3% Res per hit.

T8: Run 'n' Gun
Endurance: 1.5 End per second
Recharge: 8 seconds
While this power is active, you are no longer locked in place while the other powers in this set (Except Aim, Non-fast Snipe, and Full Auto) are animating. However, you receive a ToHit debuff (-15%) while this toggle is active. Realistically, this would be the hardest power to implement, as the development team would have to create animations for firing while moving. Would have the possible side-effect of all PvPers switching to AR builds, but, I dunno.

T9: Full Auto
Mostly the same as existing power, except a much wider cone (90 degrees), just because. Ammo usage: 30.

So, yeah. Might be a bit broken, but hopefully in a fun way, and will probably never happen. Still wanna hear everyone else's thoughts, though!

[FupDup]

I made a Submachine Gun set suggestion about a week ago that was meant to be the spiritual successor to AR and go for a more pure gun direction. After seeing how hard it was to even get rid of freaking Beanbag of all things, a completely separate and new set is the way to go. 

[srmalloy]

Now go back to every other powerset to introduce a mechanic — separate from endurance usage — that also functions for those powersets to disable the ability to use certain powers in that powerset until they do something time-consuming. The 'reload' mechanic you propose functions like a second endurance cost for each power. Assault Rifle is already gamed to make it comparable to the other powersets. If you're going to start tracking ammunition usage, make it work like a firearm — you have a full magazine of 30 rounds, and you fire a six-round burst, you just pull the trigger again to fire another burst; there's no 'recharge' before the weapon is capable of firing again. The game mechanic of 'recharge time' folds reloading the weapon into something that doesn't require the player to micromanage their ammo load. Basically, there should be either End costs and recharge times OR tracking ammunition usage, but not both. If you're going to impose a second accounting system only for Assault Rifle, then its power needs to be significantly cranked up to balance the additional disadvantage you slapped onto it.

[Rudra]

Players are pressing to remove the draw animation from weapons, which depending on what they do may only occur once or several times during a fight or mission, and which is already factored into the animation to maintain DPS/DPA. So I fully expect the requirement to track ammo usage with its mandatory reloading animation to go over like a lead balloon. Also, what about Dual Pistols? It is another power set where the weapons would actually have ammunition expenditures as well. From a 6-shot or 8-shot cylinder if the player goes with the revolvers up to a 15-shot magazine (or even a 30-shot magazine if they opt for extended magazines) for the automatics. Or what about Beam Rifle? "Beam rifles don't use ammunition though!" is the argument I expect. However, if we're going for full reality, then beam rifles very much do use "ammunition". They would have power packs of predefined shots before the power pack would be drained and require replacing. (Edit: Or what about Archery? Archery uses arrows instead of bullets, but that is still ammo to be tracked. And you would need a reload animation after every shot. And a body can only carry so many quivers at a time and a quiver can only hold so many arrows. However, if we're going for the realism of reloading on AR, then Archery should get it too.)

 

Also of note is this is a comic book video game. And the only time you see comic characters reloading their bullet-based weapons is when the artist is placing a pause in the action to highlight the drama or for other effect. Otherwise? The characters fire their weapons over and over and over without ever reloading just like old Hollywood movies. (There was some old movie that actually mentioned this 'Hollywood effect'.)

 

I get that players are unhappy with powers like Beanbag and Ignite. (I personally very much like Ignite. It could stand to have a wider radius, but I still like it.) However, contrary to some threads I've seen, powers can be improved without the need to replace them. So lets get those powers improved, not replaced.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Rudra

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Otherwise? The characters fire their weapons over and over and over without ever reloading just like old Hollywood movies. (There was some old movie that actually mentioned this 'Hollywood effect'.)

The 1973 SPI boardgame "Sniper!" had rules for a 'Super soldier', representing the heroic character from books and movies; they were equipped with a submachine gun that never became unloaded, combat effects against them were reduced one step, they never panicked, they didn't have to ready their weapon after using a grenade, and they started the game with a satchel charge. I remember that it made for a fair representation of the 'plot armor' that the hero got.

[0th Power]

I like it.  I had a similar idea a while back.

 

 

EDIT - For anyone too lazy to click the link, here's the short version:

Battle Rifle 

-Would come with inherent power "Magazine" with 20 rounds

-Powers that use the same ammunition would draw from this magazine and would not need to recharge(reload) until the magazine was empty. (like burst of speed but a much longer timer than 10 seconds)

-rifle would be defaulted as modern military rifle with a quad rail on the fore end (for the shotgun, grenade launcher, and flamethrower)

-Cottage Rule be damned

Burst	Ranged, Moderate x3(Lethal), Foe -DEF -3 rounds (there would be an accuracy penalty)
Shot	Ranged, moderate DMG(Lethal), Foe -def -1 round
Undermount Shotgun	Ranged (Narrow Cone), Moderate DMG(Lethal), Foe Knockback (a rounds system would be cool for this too)
M30 Grenade	Ranged (Targeted AoE), Moderate DMG(Lethal/Smash), Foe Knockback (unchanged)
Extended magazine	Increases Magazine capacity to 30
Aimed shot	Sniper, Extreme DMG(Lethal), Foe Knockdown (name change and kd instead of kb) -1 round (maybe no fast snipe?)
Flamethrower	Ranged (Cone), Extreme DoT(Fire) (unchanged)
Additional Magazines	Reduces reload (recharge) time of all powers using "rounds"
Full Auto	Ranged (Cone), Superior DoT(Lethal), +Special (same, but with a faster animation)

-More stuff too

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by 0th Power

[TheZag]

I think a reload mechanic could have a place in the game but its too far of a departure from the original set to be a revamp.  It would need to be an entirely new set.