Why are the VS sidearms so awful?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Teegeeack, Apr 4, 2013.

  1. Mezorin

    I use both the Manticore and Mag Shot religiously on my VS and NC characters, and I can tell you the guns are balanced compared to each other. The Manticore is basically a Mag Shot clone that sounds quieter, has better aligned gunsights, but has slightly crappier damage drop off and muzzle velocity. While the Mag Shot is 'better' on paper for distance shooting, all hand guns suck beyond 20 meters so this is a non issue and the guns are more or less the same stats wise.

    The Rebel is overratted IMO, as you give up 7 whole shots in a magazine and 90 RPM for 50 whole extra damage a shot, and isn't worth it but if you rebel guys out there can make it work as a head shot cannon, more power to you. Its not worth the 500 certs honestly. So the VS and the NC both have one great hand gun and one turkey, so those two empires are balanced in the hand gun war, with NC being slightly advantaged cause they get the Mag Shot for free.

    If we want to talk crap hand guns verses amazing hand guns, look at the TR weapons vs the VS. The Emperor is the Beamer but with a 21 shot magazine and slightly worse accuracy which is a straight upgrade in the world of hand guns, and the Repeater is a pocket SMG without equal for DPS in the handgun category but is not as controllable as other hand guns.

    The real problem is once again the Beamer is the joke of Planetside guns, as its arguably the crappiest starter hand gun which is out classed by the Emperor in both fire rate and magazine capacity, but when you chuck the Beamer in the garbage for a Manticore, you do just fine compared to other empires' side arms. Best thing the devs could do here is bring the Beamer up to the level of the Emperor by bringing up both the fire rate and ammo capacity to par and call it a day, as then the VS would have two decent hand guns and more importantly a competitive semi auto starting gun.

    EDIT: This thread should really be called "Once Again the Beamer Sucks" as that is the real issue here. Nobody needs another gun nerf here, just give the beamer a clip and ROF buff to make it a good starter pistol is all I'm asking.
  2. Ibuprofen

    Uhhh, I'm talking about comparing the default pistols between the two factions. I have prepared a small table of the stats where the weapons differ, it's kinda hard to read because formatting. Notice that the DPS difference is less than 1% while the differences in CoF are on the order of 25%. Personally, I'd prefer the high bullet velocity, but we can call that a wash with the lack of bullet drop.


    Bullet Max Damage :: NC4 Mag-Shot:200; Beamer VS3:167; Diff:+33;
    Bullet Min Damage :: NC4 Mag-Shot:100; Beamer VS3:72; Diff:+28;
    Mag Size :: NC4 Mag-Shot:15; Beamer VS3:17; Diff:-2;
    Ammo Pool :: NC4 Mag-Shot:60; Beamer VS3:68; Diff:-8;
    CoF Stand ADS - Still :: NC4 Mag-Shot:0.3; Beamer VS3:0.4; Diff:-0.1;
    CoF Stand ADS - Move :: NC4 Mag-Shot:0.3; Beamer VS3:0.4; Diff:-0.1;
    CoF Stand ADS - Jump :: NC4 Mag-Shot:2; Beamer VS3:3; Diff:-1;
    CoF Crouch ADS - Still :: NC4 Mag-Shot:0.3; Beamer VS3:0.4; Diff:-0.1;
    CoF Crouch ADS - Move :: NC4 Mag-Shot:0.3; Beamer VS3:0.4; Diff:-0.1;
    CoF Stand Hip - Still :: NC4 Mag-Shot:1; Beamer VS3:1.5; Diff:-0.5;
    CoF Crouch Hip - Move :: NC4 Mag-Shot:1.5; Beamer VS3:1.25; Diff:+0.25;
    CoF Bloom/Shot - ADS :: NC4 Mag-Shot:0.14; Beamer VS3:0.12; Diff:+0.02;
    CoF Bloom/Shot - Hip :: NC4 Mag-Shot:0.28; Beamer VS3:0.24; Diff:+0.04;
    ~ROF (rpm) :: NC4 Mag-Shot:351; Beamer VS3:451; Diff:-100;
    Bullet Speed (m/s) :: NC4 Mag-Shot:375; Beamer VS3:325; Diff:+50;
    Bullet Drop (m/s) :: NC4 Mag-Shot:11.25; Beamer VS3:0; Diff:+11.25;
    DPS :: NC4 Mag-Shot:1170; Beamer VS3:1255; Diff:-85;
    Damage/Clip :: NC4 Mag-Shot:3000; Beamer VS3:2839; Diff:-161;
  3. Grotpar

    For an inferior Magshot.

    The Beamer is actually usable, but it's boring.
  4. Zaik

    Uh, in what world does (167 * 451)/ 60 = 905? Use a calculator, the actual number is 1255, just like I said.

    And again, Magshot is (200 * 351) / 60 = 1170. I don't have any idea how you could possibly get those numbers but they're entirely wrong, and you didn't even get them wrong in a consistent manner.
  5. Ibuprofen

    Yeah, I reference the bullet velocity column instead of the RPM column in excel, my bad.
  6. ArcMinuteLight

    You realize that the bullets spread individually on each burst right? Its the weapon that's inaccurate, not the gun. Even ADS crouched I have not been able to hit targets, burst or single shot, outside of 15 meters. Considering it takes half the clip to kill someone if all the bullets hit for max damage too?(There have literally been multiple times where I have taken the time to crouch, ADS, and look straight at the torso of an enemy thats 20-30 meters away, switched to single shot, fire a single bullet, and missed.)
    You don't know what you're talking about. :cool:

    VS Sidearms are pretty sub-par though, that has been established over the course of the past time, no idea why people are bringing it up again now. NC honestly have the most reliable sidearms but even then, they're just sidearms.
  7. Veri

    There has been some complaints about the Beamer and how the Manticore is not that much better since the start of Planetside 2.

    I only use the side arms if I have run my clip dry and don't have the time to reload or if I completely run out of ammo.
  8. Radeonman-K

    The Beamer has a higher TTK than the Mag-shot. The Manticore is Mag-shot with a slightly larger CoF (note slightly). The Rebel is just a lower TTK gun but with a higher per shot damage(how dare there be faction differences). The Repeater is awesome... TR has a second pistol??(who knew right?).

    Look, bottom line is the Beamer is a viable pistol. It is miles ahead of the PS1 pre-buff Beamer.

    Sad part is this is not the first "my faction pistol sux VS get boned again" post... Guess my faction got tired "Mags sux VS get boned again!" posts... Don't you know its the week of "Alert system sux for VS" posts? Get with the program.
  9. Paperlamp

    The CoF is worse than the Mag-shot and it doesn't have any significant advantages in any other area. It's a down grade from a stock NC weapon for 500 certs.

    Repeater occasionally kills people so fast it surprises me - almost like an SMG up close with a smaller mag, but it burns through its ammo so fast and it's so inaccurate that you can go through a clip without killing the target and be screwed when you need to reload. I like the Mag-Shot the best personally.
  10. Duff_Chimp

    Sidearm is as sidearm does. How good are they supposed to be? Still pretty effective to switch to one rather than wait on a reloading main gun. Plus when infiltrating a base will use a silenced pistol rather than switch to SMG most of the time. Laser for hip fire, or using sights for slightly further away. Sometimes you can even beat a noob heavy in a firefight, sometimes.
  11. Lucidius134

    Beamer owns dont hate
  12. Zenith

    You know, it's really quite strange how VS seem to have such issues with their weapons, but if you look at the map they are always doing very well. Obviously some people know what they're doing, and they're just getting on with it. Just a thought. :rolleyes:
  13. Madmojo

    its tradition. =)



    skip to 3:25 for the #2 worst weapon in video game history.