"UBGL? What's that?" you may find yourself asking. It stands for Under Barrel Grenade Launcher. "This game has grenade launchers?" Why yes, my friend, it does indeed! If you're a newer player, you might be surprised to discover that certain guns are capable of supporting a grenade launcher attachment on the rail slot, namely the S variants of carbines and assault rifles. You see, once upon a time, grenade launchers roamed the land, feasting upon the abundant tears of its prey. These were dark times, where mothers told their children horrible stories of Engineers with infinite ammo camping atop Biolab domes with impunity, spamming 'nade after 'nade down upon those helpless on the landing pads. Massacres were common, the blood spilled by the launcher cascading down the flows of Snake Ravine like cherry Kool-aid. "What happened?" Finally tiring of the player's pathetically mewling, the developers descended from on high and smote the grenade launcher with their mighty nerf hammer. And then they did it again. And again. Damage was decreased, range was decreased, splash damage became non-existent, and soon enough it turned into the mere shell of its former self that you see today. It's no longer used, remaining nothing more than a bleak reminder of times long past. Oh, but nature finds a way to continue the circle of life. When one predator is removed, another rises in its place. A disturbing foe has crept forward, wielded by the Heavy Assault and every bit as deadly as the UBGL used to be. It kills in one-hit, can be fired from close-range, and has become the bane of many a player that innocently rounds a corner only to meet with instant death to the face. That, however, is a thread for another time. Here, isn't it about time that the UBGL receives another look? I am by no means suggesting that it be buffed back to where it originally was, no, but it definitely needs some care and attention given. As it stands, it remains utterly useless and reviled, useful for little more than taking up shelf space in your inventory. It needs to be made actually viable again. TL'DR: In short, it needs the ability to OHK removed. Increase the splash damage radius so that it's actually possible to hit multiple clustered infantry with the thing. If you launch two grenades into a grouping of people it should do a little more than mildly irritate them which is all it does at the moment. It should be an AoE device used to punish people for huddling together in tight groups, meaning two directs hits should kill as well as two near hits. Decrease the arc angle to give it a bit more range, since it feels as if it's lobbing spitballs rather than launching anything. Increase the reload time so that you can't simply fire off two rounds in quick succession, and then make resupplying from ammo packs incredibly slow or remove the ability altogether. This would actually make the thing useful instead of it simply collecting dust.
I would be amazed if SOE actually improves things. Their tracks record on understanding the game is deeply flawed. Weapons are always nerfed directly as this is a cheapest method with minimum coding. The weapons power itself did not need nerfing. What it needed was a restriction on its ammo supply. For instance two shots and no resupply without a terminal. The SOE Nerf hammer is like a sledgehammer, it's buff hammer is like a tea spoon.
I'd be happy if they removed it's ability to be restocked by ammo boxes in return for it's original damage. Maybe increase it's damage against maxes. That would put it where it was originally supposed to be.
They were spammed, I did use them on at least 2 characters and I did not consider the complaints tears. They were justified complaints as I was generally out of line of sight and using way points to ensure my aim. There were many ways to cheese that thing, even cheesier than your thread OP. Your tears are more entertaining than the OHKsplash on infantry.
The only difference between RL's and the UBGL is that HA's get one and LA's and ENG's get the other. They should be treated the same if you want to nerf one the other should have the same restrictions and that's why the UBGL should have un-nerfed which is preferable to nerfing RL's but that works for me too.
The only justified complaint was the ability for Engineers to spam it. If they removed resupply from ammo boxes, it would have been fine. Instead, they nerfed it in every other conceivable manner until it's horribly useless. And I prefer cheesy. Dangerously cheesy.
Precise shots still grant a OHK, just not from splashing only. You still can effectively control access to doorways with the splash damage after all, who is going to walk into grenade fire or continue advancing with a good chunk of HP missing besides that lone, suicidal infiltrator who doesn't realize his collapsing shield glimmer is going to get him spotted and killed. Complaining about complaints that stem from widely abused weapons is pretty silly. How many times have you seen people just spamming tech plant control points from the balcony or those landing pads at biolabs, though those guys are morons for fighting on the landing pads to begin with, UBGL spam was too effective for such little effort. Just don't have a thread suggesting a change then insult people who complained since you're just complaining about their complaints.
I'm not insulting anyone? And I'm not sure what you're saying here. I mentioned that I thought some of the nerfs were justified in the first post. My own personal opinion is that the only nerf that was required was to strip the ability to resupply from ammo boxes. That would have completely solved any spamming of grenades. But I can deal with an increase in arc and a reduction in direct hit damage as well, except that the developers took it way too far. They nerfed the damage, the splash, the arc, the range, and now it's entirely useless. Splash damage should be its primary method of damage, not direct hits. Launching two grenades at someone's feet should be enough to kill as well as severely injure anyone clustered around him. Otherwise it just becomes a slower loading slug shotgun with less ammo.
I think it is fine the way it is tbh. Perhaps I took those parts in bold differently than the way you intended them, if so I apologize, but they seem to indicate that you weren't in agreement with the changes nor appreciated the concerns of the other players. I only insult those who are insulting, but never dismiss someone's complaints just because I don't agree. I try to understand and explain if possible, if not, then I move on and say nothing.
^pretty much this. why havent they already removed this worthless junk from the game? people may hate what i say now but UBGLs are underpowered. they only kill non-flakarmor targets on direct impact and have minimal splash damage. and if that wasn't enough, the S variant weapons they require are plain crap. not to mention, any Heavy Assault rocket launcher is better at taking out infantry than an UBGL
The UBGL was unbalanced at launch and quickly turned into the BFR of Planetside 2 to the point now that it's almost useless, I get more kills by accidentally killing an enemy when I'm spamming smoke. Rocket launchers and the UBGL do the same thing vs Infantry except the UBGL has an arming distance which is complete BS. Also don't for get the an HA always has a RL and his prime where as an LA or ENG has to use a mediocre carbine to even get the UBGL and HA's get there RL for free. RL's are a far superior weapon vs Infantry than a weapon that has was made to engage infantry. Limiting ammo I'm fine with as long as RL's get the same treatment. In the end there is a clear bias against the UBGL that has no basis vs how RL's perform people just hate them.
These definitely need revisiting. With the current level of low damage and huge cone of fire, these should be given 10+ rounds and reload in half the time. Either that or increase accuracy and splash damage.
True Story: I dusted this off, and killed a LA in a biodome in one hit and he was thoroughly confused with ensuing tells asking how I OHK him. But yeah new players probably have no idea this exists
At least the nerf made me discover the little know majesty of the Underbarrel shotgun. But really, the UBGL is completely useless not, there's really just no reason to ever use it. The only time I ever EVER use it now is about once a month to fire while airborne at a crowded sundy, since accuracy with everything else is so **** when jump jetting. I like the idea of greatly increasing splash and reducing direct hit damage, make it a weapon for flushing enemies from cover, not for direct killing. A sort of pocket, 3 times use uber-lasher.
I would like it to be a method to soften up the room before assaulting. In other words no OHK but instead a very large splash so you can hit multiple enemies, and quick switching to your primary fire.
