How Firestorm breaks the game

So after this nerf, is there still sense in aiming for the Firestorm implant with Summer Directive? Or I can stop farming and have fun as before?
Really I am not kidding..... For which use could be the firestorm? Chaingun?

This is a video game, it is absolutely possible to just fix something without wobbling back and forth between OP and UP like you're dampening a curve. Advocating for things to be made "irrelevant" or "nerfed into obscurity" because they were once too strong comes off as petty and vindictive. This is not the kind of behavior we should be encouraging, least of all on the part of the Dev Team.

100% with you on a rework. Like I said in a previous post:

Some kind of fire DoT mechanic like you mentioned earlier would fit the implant nicely, being both mechanically interesting and flavorful.

Theoretically it's still okay on the high capacity ES SMGs. Recoil, both horizontal and vertical, is irrelevant on these SMGs and the increased hipfire bloom can be managed by bursting occasionally.

It boosts the Failstorm's fire rate to a respectable 864 rpm. That's faster than a Watchman. Of course it does come with a pre-requisite of having to kill someone with a Failstrom first.

There's a difference between nerfing things because they are too strong and nerfing them because they are mechanically bad for the game.

ZOE, Gatekeeper and the NC MAX were over-nerfed because they were too strong. This is bad.

Unstable ammo and Firestorm were nerfed because firing bullets the size of ping pong balls with a normal HS multiplier or an 8% dps boost that is tied to the RNG fiesta that is the implant system are objectively bad for the game. This is good.

Let me give you an example that is near and dear to my heart. Way back when, Claymores used to detonate instantly when somebody walked into their blast cone (they also used to detonate through walls but that's another story). They were easily the best AI mine in the game. They were then nerfed by adding in detonation delay like the other AI mines had. This made it so a target can sprint past a Claymore and it'd harmlessly detonate behind them as they ran past its blast cone. Was I upset that a part of my kit got hit by the nerf bat? You bet. But I also understood that it was a good change for the health of the game because instantly dying to mines one couldn't counter (other than by wearing flak) was a bad mechanic.

I dont think this nerfed version of Firestorm is useless, it just went from "very powerful for any 50+magazine weapon" to "very powerful for CQC combat". I can see a lot of use in the semi-auto shotguns if you enter a room and get a kill. The most valuable trait of semi-auto shotguns was always their total damage per magazine, getting to unload that on a room full of enemies faster is often vital.
Using big magazine CQC weapons would also still work. Imagine the typical A point at a Biolab. Both defensively and offensively it can be extremely useful to have a higher fire rate at the cost of having to treat your gun like a longer range shotgun. Considering everyone and their dog says that CQC is the name of the game this shouldnt be a big problem right? (Ignoring that shotguns are one of the least used weapon type in the game).


I would have imagined something else with the firestorm implant. For example as you fire you charge a wave-attack that passes through all infantry in range. Lets base the charge on damage dealt or having to fire say 400 damage worth of bullets downrange. Worth it if you know when to actively use it and also worth it when you are inactively using it.

I feel like firestorm should have been something to do with the incendiary effect,
Like after firing your automatic weapon for a constant 4 seconds, all following shots will cause the target to burn for 5% of the bullet damage over 5 seconds, stacking, effect lost when you stop firing,
I'm really thinking of MCG and big mag LMGs.

Completely unfair comparison. That's 5 sec 8% RoF increase on headshot kills, and 3 sec on kills. Reload speeds further limit what a good player could do with it.

Can't help but wonder if this will benefit only VS with that unstable ammo canis, meow, and lasher.

If it truly was too strong, why not just reduce the numbers slightly? At some point the tiny bit of extra damage starts to become a drawback versus other meta implants. This 'rework' doesn't seem right at all.

If they are mechanically bad for the game they need to be reworked to the point where that is no longer the case, not made useless. Wasting development time on features no one will use in your F2P title with a tiny playerbase is not a strategy for longevity. We absolutely shouldn't be celebrating knee-jerk reactions like this as if there were no other balancing options available other than "Sledgehammer".

As for your example, what happened to the Claymore brought it in-line with the other AP mines. Changes to Firestorm should bring it in-line with the other implants, something the current changes will not do. There is no incentive for players to grind for the new shiny if it is DOA. At the bare minimum it should be worthy of consideration.

It is too strong. Changes to TTK in a game like this where there is already a large gap between 'New' and 'Old' is never a good thing. But it needs a rework, not evisceration.

Feels like we're going in circles here, no?

Complete ability rework would be better, obviously, but if you intend to keep a powerful ability like 8% dps buff in the game it should come with hefty drawbacks. Like it is now post nerf.

Firestorm still has a place in the game just like big-bullets UA still has a place. Some shotguns, some heavy weapons, some SMGs and some high-capacity LMGs in CQC point holds can still benefit from the buff, it's just not as universally useful anymore. It's a (very) situational implant that can be useful if used correctly. That is in line with other implants.

Also imo Claymores are worse than the other 2 ES AP mines post nerf because directional blast cone < circular blast radius and they're easier to spot because they're high as opposed to flat but that's another topic.

Indeed.

This position I have no problem with. My only objection was to your original logic that nerfing it into uselessness was perfectly acceptable as a solution. I agree that a rework is the best fix and I hope that is what they end up doing instead of adding another niche implant that 0.1% of players use.

Everything is invisible when it's around a corner. Claymores require a bit more thought in their positioning, but in my experience the advantage of focused damage easily equals the ease of use of the other two.