[Suggestion] 3 Reasonable Lasher Buffs

I think the Lasher could use some love, especially to not suck too much in 1on1 situations.
Auraxing it is a pain. So I am doing a little Brainstorming on how to buff it.


- Increased muzzle velocity

- an Aphelion-like feature
(e.g. an extra Plasma orb dealing more direct damage and slightly more Splash damage with noticably higher radius for releasing the trigger after at least 5 shots)

- a "BRRT" equivalent - in the Lasher's case it should be for the "ammo" slot and increases the accuracy, muzzle Velocity and splash damage/range of the orbs, however increases the direct damage dropoff a lot
Maybe call it "Superheated Plasma" or something...

Since I have more than 3 ideas:

- Compensator and Suppressor are equipable
- the Aphelion-like extra Orb could also have a weak EMP effect (for some other strengths of it being reduced
e.g. 0 direct hit damage)
- an alternative firemode with lower RoF, but much higher Splash damage and range (like the Striker's Lasher-like firemode, just for the Lasher... a more Lasher-like Lasher...)

and the best Idea I had while writing this:


HEAT MECHANIC



.

i like your ideas. they sound like fun, but truth be told, the lasher can easily become overpowered or useless.


any buffs to the lasher would need to be very small, and well thought over.

Maybe some kind of burst mode, where it can shot 5-10 rounds with twice the RMP but hast to cool down for 1-2 seconds afterwards? But that would be more of a TR trait wouldn't it?
Or a 2nd mode that allows you to charge the lasher like a lancer and then fire one massive blob of Plasma.

The lasher is a weapon we only use for the luz in my outfit. Sometimes, when we run alliance ops, we have a whole platoon equiped with lashers, only to make the TR/NC guys realy mad. And even than, the only thing we kill is the FPS for everone around.

Increased projectile velocity is a must in my opinion, and a heat mechanic would be good for it too.

But in my opinion that's really as far as it needs to go. It's not meant for 1v1s.

Changes for lasher:

- Make it 4x burst or 5x burst option with 1 sec cooldown.

- Make HV ammo: Increase velocity to 400m/s but reduce splash dmg to 1 and ammo capacity to 50. (this is must have)

- heat mechanic (maybe too OP).

Pretty much this.

Lasher is a unique weapon in that it seems lackluster by itself, but effectrvely ramps up the more people are using it, due to the splash damage.

1v1 the Lasher is pretty lacking. It can make a kill, but its tough.
2v2-3v3 is pretty even.
4+v4+ is when the Lasher gets heinous and begins to over take other weapons. Seriously try a group of 4-6 VS HA's with this thing firing in the same direction.

No other infantry primary does something like this. Doesn't make it OP, just unique and a factor to consider when making any changes.

Personally I'd leave it alone. Maybe give it a heat mechanic, maybe. But do so with the idea and mind that the HA's using it will be more autonomous and not needing support. That can be a game changer.

+1 wegen der Titelwahl

I think a heat mechanic isn't needed for the Lasher, but at least it should have an 1v1 option

The lasher is awesome in only a couple situations. One being above the enemy, and the other shooting at a doorway for suppression. It fails in every other situation. The things that makes it bad in the suboptimal situation are slow muzzle velocity and bad recoil. If you increase the muzzle velocity, the enemy can't dodge the orb and will be about aiming instead of aim at the feet like most do. If you reduce the auto recoil, more shots will land, however the RoF combined with muzzle velocity mean the opponent still has enough time to dodge/return fire for the same or better TTK. Any other buffs are unnecessary.

Well:
One Heavy Assault with Jackhammers/Chaingun even.
2-3 Heavies with Jackhammer/Chaingun can block a simple Point.
4-5 Heavies could win small bases.
6-10 Heavies wins Biolabs.


Every Gun can suppress when used in Teams......it is not the special trade for the Lasher so don't argue with it.

I'd like to recover the original lashing functionality, if possible. Not the Lasher v.1 functionality of the early PlanetSide 2, but the lashing of the original from PlanetSide Classic.

Why not Lasher v1 as well?

Make it the CQC variation that the NC and TR both get. VS are supposed to be about versatility, are they not?

That's the same argument I hear for NC Max's. Not saying the NC MAX is bad, just that it's a shotgun. Everybody gets shotguns and not everybody wants to use them all the time because of their inherent drawbacks. No matter how many jackhammers you put in a room, they're still really only good to 15-20m at most. Give the lashers enough space and there's no way in hell the jackhammers will win, even with more numbers. Give some of the VS their own shotguns too and now you've got a mechanical imbalance that gives the VS the initiative.

Again, not a UP or OP statement, just trying to state the facts. The lasher has some pretty obvious drawbacks as well, especially when in the hand of a solo player. Those drawbacks largely disappear when you bring more lashers into the mix. The Jackhammer will ALWAYS have the range limitation.

I'd like that the most, since it would make the Lasher viable for more situations as it currently is.

Usually, as CoopTang pointed out, the Lasher only becomes viable in very specific situations and is a bad loadout for everything before or afterwards, it just doesn't adapt to a wider range of usage.


Heat mechanic would be awesome but probabably op since with the ext. mag it already is quite extreme when it comes to suppression in given cicumstances. An aphelion like boost... I just don't like it. VS charge and even aphellion breaks are the mechanics that are used most with every shooting (single, burst, auto) in PS2 and needs way too much control for the comparable low TTK and the amount of netcode ****ups PS2 has.

Why? Why would you ever want to do that? While we're at it, let's make the Jackhammer fire faster, with more accuracy, and full auto but only fire one pellet at a time. I think that's a must have for the Jackhammer.

Okay. You've got 3 doors. Each door has eight heavy assaults guarding it. At door one, you've got eight Jackhammers. At door two, you've got eight MCGs. At door three, you've got eight Lasher X2s.
Now... outside each of those doors, is 200 enemy infantry. Sometime in the next ten seconds, they are all going to go running through that door. Could a handful of MCGs or Jackhammers stop that? The Lashers certainly can. Is this scenario likely? No, but it makes things clear.
So, yeah, every gun can suppress, but they certainly can't do what the Lasher X2 can do.

I don't understand... the lasher is in a great place as it it.
It's not a particularly OP weapon, and it's not horribly UP - it's in-between.

Why fix what ain't broke?

My only guess is when people pick up a different weapon, they don't want to actually pick up a different weapon, they just want a slightly tweaked Orion, and therefore, anything that doesn't operate well when used like an Orion is a "Bad Weapon".
Fortunately, these people aren't on the design team.

Ok, well I'm glad you're not either. Do you seriously think people think like that? Seriously, congrats on getting the "Most Asinine Thing I've Heard This Month" award.

The reason people may want some tweaks to the Lasher is to increase its viability in a broader spectrum of combat. Now you may think "Oh hey, they are just being greedy", to that argument I submit...

1.) NC want's longer range options on their AI max so that it is useful in a broader spectrum of combat
2.) TR wanted the BRRT so that the weapon was more useful in a broader spectrum of combat
3.) People often dislike AA because it isn't useful in a broader spectrum of combat
4.) People dislike the Heavy Assault because it is the most useful class in too broad a spectrum of combat (too good at too many things)
5.) etc

No one, no matter what faction or player you are, likes being pigeon-hold into such a narrow niche that the weapon is only useful for 30 seconds to 2 minutes at max. Especially when you get get the same results with a traditional weapon that holds MUCH more adaptability to situations. Now, weapons do need restrictions for balance, I don't argue that fact.

What I do argue though, is that for some reason you are going to sit there and belittle those you disagree with, like they are some minority when EVERY faction, player, and group argues to make weapons not so narrow in their use. Don't act like they are doing something unreasonable, all the ideas in this thread have some merit to them (at least so far). They didn't just whine for a buff, they don't want some super weapon, it's an idea thread. In addition to that, everyone has been respectful in this thread UNTIL YOU, seriously lose the attitude and try to be a beneficial force for the game than some negative complaining cynical baby. Grow up.

Jackhammer and Shotguns in general are NOT that effective. I see people use shotguns all the time in Biolabs and I laugh because I don't engage them on the control points. I force them to fight me in the Larger SCU gen room where weapons like the AMC and Mercenary trump them badly.

Chaingun.. does anyone use this? Haven't heard it in a minute.

To be fair, the BRRT doesn't make the MCG 'more useful in a broader spectrum of combat' - it makes it BETTER at it's intended role but not better at A WIDER VARIETY OF ROLES.

This is the primary difference which Thardus is referring to. And besides, the last thing that a game like Planetside 2 needs is for all of its various roles to be homogenized.

The lasher is a suppression weapon, and a damn good one at that. It's primary purpose is crowd control, not 1v1s which the OP wants to make the lasher into.
It's not broke. Therefore, it would be logical to conclude that it doesn't need fixing.

Yes?