Shade (VS ESSR) - How it should work

Discussion in 'Infiltrator' started by Master, Feb 11, 2014.

  1. Master

    **This is not my idea, I read this idea from "cutebeaver", but I'm making a thread about it.**

    - In its current state, the shade feels like I'm juggling a couple of mechanics at once to set off a Charged shot. The combined mechanics makes for a weapon that is NOT fun to use. You will have to coordinate breath hold + Charge shot + aim, at the same time.
    • Breath hold
    • Pop out of cloak
    • Charge shot
    • Hit target
    So I hold my breath, pop out of cloak, charge my shot, and aim for my target. Other BAR users will eat you up while you charge your shot.

    It may not seem like much on paper but that is a lot to coordinate since they are all time based mechanics and your opponent won't always stay still and wait for your bullet. The worse part for me is that I will still give up my position if I change my mind about the shot. I would than have to juggle either my cloak or switching to another weapon so I do not pop off a round.

    How it should work

    The shade should have the selector switch to choose between a bolt action or semi auto shot. The mechanics will work just like how other sniper rifles for the VS works but there is the heat factor and no bullet drop. When you shoot a bolt action shot, The heat generated will not allow you to shoot for X amount of time (lets say 6 seconds). This factor will make the other bolt action rifles, better. If you miss with the other BA rifles, you can do a follow up shot. If you miss with the shade, you have to wait. You also can't do successive kills bc of this cooldown.

    So for the reason stated above. The shade is not as good as the other bolt action rifles. To compensate for the timer between shots, the shade has no bullet drop. However there is a OHK distance to consider and in most cases for the BAR, you either put the reticule on their head or one mil-dot down.

    Switching between the BAR and semi auto fire will be like switching from auto to semi-auto on other weapons. One button press to change the firing mode.

    If the shade had bullet drop
    • It would be an atrocious weapon to use, since the huge penalty of missing a shot would be ludicrous. Current BARs would have you miss a shot or two to find the mildot necessary to headshot. If you have to wait for 4-6s The enemy will probably not be there anymore when you figure out the mildot necessary to kill him. It would be a frustrating weapon.
    The differences between the Shade Vs. Parallax (and other BARs)
    • BARs can deliver successive shots
    • BARs will have higher projectile velocity, which means there is less time for the enemy to move and is easier to hit moving targets
    • BARs are less punishing for missed headshots
    • Shade has no bullet drop
    • Shade has no ammo
    • Shade has semi-auto fire but the semi-auto fire is weaker than current semi-autos.
    The niche for the shade is for it to be the child of a BAR and Semi-auto w/o being better than either of them.
    • Up x 1
  2. MajiinBuu

    I tried the shade on the test server, I hate it. I'm sticking with the parallax.
  3. Master



    Sorry but I'm really tempted to say "cool story bro". How about reading the proposition in the OP and comment on that. Hopefully you'll like that idea better than the current shade.
  4. Wobberjockey

    considering how flaky the breath hold mechanic is already ( i have a solid 2 weeks in game and i am still unsure if breath hold cools down like a heat gauge, is a single tap to hold breath for X time, or is like a regenerating pool. provided it works in the first place), i have no desire to coordinate anything else with it, and take the vast majority of my shots unassisted by holding my breath.

    i'm on the fence about switching the rifle from short range combat mode to long range sniping mode.
    on the one hand, i like it, and it means the shade could have a kick *** transformer like animation where the stock extends, the barrel lengthens, charge accumulators vent and all that jazz. and in reverse the weapon can contract and look more like a carbine. it would all look very vanu.

    on the other hand it's not horribly elegant. a charge while scoped mechanic akin to TF2 or Tribes ascend is something that is easy to manage, very intuitave, and self regulating. plus there is an additional situational awareness penalty to even charge the shot. something that the BASR's lack when used properly (with the exception of extreme distances, i.e. Crown to TI alloys)

    either way, the weapon as it stands is non functional and a non starter in my eyes
  5. Master

    I thought of the charge bc of scoping idea....

    That will lose its merits in a couple of ways.

    You are FORCED to do a semi-auto fire if your target suddenly stops and you scope on them.
    You can't pop in/out of cloak as freely. This would be alleviated if your scope-in time still functions while cloaked.
    Since there is a timer for shots when scoped, will there be a heat mechanic for the rifle or do we get ammo?

    There's other things I can list but I'm currently pressed for time. I'll say this, those games are quite different from PS2. We are either dealing with longer ranges (TF2) or weapons that are NOT hitscan (Tribes). It works for those games but it wont necessarily work for this one.

    You won't be able to do snapshot with BAR with this idea, however the idea in the OP, you can. I think thats one of the things to consider here. Also when I'm scoped in, I dont necessarily want to wait for the weapon to charge. If a guy is running and suddenly stops, I could've dropped him with a charged shot, but I have to do semi-auto fire at a range that is better to use the BAR shot.

    All in all, it needs to be tested. But the idea that was presented in the OP, is the safer route since it will behave like having a BAR and a Semi-auto in one gun with drawbacks that won't make it as good as having the dedicated BAR or Semi-auto.

    I also feel like players will expose themselves a lot more with the scope = charged shot, mechanic.
  6. Master

    Here's another breakdown:

    Current shade:
    • BAD: Penalty (charge time) - Shoot - Penalty (cooldown)

    Cutebeaver's idea:

    • Good: Shoot - Penalty (Cooldown)

    Wobberjockey's idea:
    • BAD: Penalty (scope in charge time) - Shoot - Penalty (cooldown)


    If your idea was ammo based, it would be good, but not as good as the proposed idea, since the cooldown penalty wouldn't be there. However, I'm going with the assumption that SoE will stick with the heat mechanic.

    I'd rather shoot and deal with the penalty afterwards since I WON'T be exposing myself.