Yeah so I know I'm not the first one to say this but the Archer needs a buff. It is decent at it's anti-max job but it sux at anything else. And no, being a speciallised anti-max weapon is not an excuse. Look, an AP cannon is designed against vehicles, yet it OHKs infantry and in some cases even ESFs. A rocket launcher is designed against vehicles/aircraft but in some cases it can also be a very efficient anti-personel weapon. Even the AV mana turret can "snipe" infantry from very long ranges. Now imagine if it took several headshots from an AP cannon to kill an average soldier - this is how the Archer feels right now. It's a poor excuse for a primary weapon which is only efficient against ~5% of the playerbase and only in certain conditions. In this regard it's probably worse than the Striker or ZOE, it's under the bottom. Now, someone else came up with an argument that "you can't buff the archer because the Engineer would become better at sniping than the infiltrator". Well, having the Moonshot unlocked (Sniper Rifle Directive Weapon) based on all my experience I can tell you this: Bull$hit. The Archer has the highest rechamber time (so you can't shoot follow-ups) of all the BASRs, highest damage dropoff of all the BASRs, the second lowest muzzle velocity and artificially increased bullet drop on top of that. Furthermore without the cloaking device you're dead meat to any sniper worth their salt. The infinite ammo perk is useful, true, but consider the fact that most BASRs come with 40 bullets total, even without the ammo belt upgrade. With ammo belt lvl4 it's 60 bullets total. That's more than enough to kill several squads before needing to resupply. Most of the time you will be dead long before running out of ammo anyways. Suggestion: - Increase damage to 560 @ 100m, 416 @ 125m - Increase Headshot damage multiplier to 2 - Increase MAX damage resistance value to 40% - Remove the ability to damage tanks (it does very little damage anyways and is generaly misleading) - now, since it doesn't do any damage to vehicles, I think it's time to give the Archer to the Infiltrator where it belongs! It can stay on Engie too. - Lower total ammo pool to 20, 40 with max ammo belt Results: Infantry: - 2 BS kill up to 125m, 3 BS kill at 125m+ - OHK HS up to 125m, 2 HS kill at 125m+ MAX (Slight changes): - 3 BS kill up to 100m, 4 BS kill at 100m+ - 2 HS kill up to 125m, 3 HS kill at 125m+ HS- HeadShot BS- BodyShot OHK -One Hit Kill TL;DR This makes the Archer somewhat useful against infantry while allowing it to keep the title of the worst BASR (longest chamber time, low velocity, 2 HS kill at 125m+, lowest ammo pool, highest damage dropoff). Now it becomes a valid side grade, as it is still very efficient against MAXes but will always be a sub-optimal choice against infantry.
It's not supposed to do anything else. It's specifically for MAX units. That isn't an excuse, that's fact. Even so, you can kill a regular infantry with 3 body shots or 2 headshots, instead of the usual 2 body shots / 1 head shot. That's literally 1 round more to kill infantry. If it was any less it would just replace the sniper rifle and infiltrators would be pissed. It's fine. Doesn't need a buff. Either use it for MAX units with "limited" infantry support or use the MANA AV turret which you can ALSO have with the Archer at the same time. Want a list of everything you can do?: - 3 body shot / 2 HS MAX kills - 3 body shot / 2 HS infantry kills - 3 hit Flash kills - 2 hit MANA turret kills - 2 hit Spitfire turret kills - you can INSTANTLY steal any vehicle kill by shooting one that's on fire. This gun damages EVERYTHING, and it's almost instantaneous damage out to 550 meters
I like the idea of changing STK to the same as BASR but limit it to shorter range than regular BASR. But I think the ranges you suggest are too long. I would put it as short as 50m to better differentiate it from BASR.
agreed, I dont think anyone would be angry if it was pretty much an extreme CQC sniper rifle for then engineer when it comes to OHKing infantry with a well placed headshot.
Suggestion of archer, with comparison to current bolt drivah! Archer gets the fun of killing infantry as quick as BASR but only up to 50m. While BASR can do the same up to ~225m and therefore remains superior at sniping infantry. Edit: Oops the vertical axis is supposed to be damage.
Since one of the arguments for not giving it to infi's was that " It's not a Sniper Rifle " Then it shouldn't be changed to be more like one. The game has to much homogenizing of the classes as it is .. I want more diversity not less ...
No! The Archer does not need a buff, in fact it needs a nerf against maxes as 1 Engineer can take out a max that cant get to cover in time, making max's forced to use the run ability now. Meaning TR max lockdown is utter crap. No nerf it so at least 3 Engineers needs to work together to kill a MAX. Or decrease the DMG it does from range. MAX's are utterly useless when 3 Engineers are shooting with the Archer atm, even from the best Infiltrator sniper long range. Like this 450 certs are wasted in a second trying to defend facilities. While I like the idea that you cant have MAX's destroying everything form range, this is overkill atm. There need to be some Anti MAX when they are at irritating spots like hill/mountain alike top, but this is just annoying. So say 50%+ damage taken from the archer, give 50% certs back to the max who died unless revived. The Archer does not need a buff, a nerf yes. Against infantry, well use another weapon. It needs a nerf so not 1 Engineer can do overkill from long ranges.
Do you realise that 3 Body Shots with this weapon mean 6 seconds? This is literally tied with the NS Deep Freeze... A snowball cannon! It's the worst TTK of all the weapons in the game. Killing a MANA turret is no big deal rly Good luck hitting a Flash three times with this thing outside the VR training(Unless it's stationary) The damage dealt to vehicles is so tiny it's almost non-existent, you can shoot at a tank for 10 minutes straight and the driver won't even notice. It's hard to even steal a burning vehicle, that's why I want it removed completely
I made it in photoshop. Had some trouble making thw grid lines matxh the space between the numbers. The grid is in the pattern fill tool.
TTK isn't the focus. It's the fact you can kill the MAX at all with only 3 shots. Killing MANA turrets is a huge deal when 10 of them are lined on a ridge killing your friendly vehicles. Yes the damage dealt is tiny, but if something is on fire you can grab the kill credit. It happens about 80% of the time for me. And I hit Flashes all the time. Not really that hard.
Not a troll, and I don't need to validate what the weapon can do just for your personal satisfaction. Don't like it? Don't use it. Yep, we're done talking!
It's a niche weapon, it could use some buffs but it should stay a niche weapon, and it shouldn't be a full sniper. Here's an idea: Whenever you hit infantry they get a 2 second concussion effect, this is already a huge boost to the weapon, a headshot could give them a longer concussion effect. MAX's may or may not be affected by this. It should OHK Flashes, or set them to burning. Light armor vehicles such as Harassers and ESF need to receive more damage per shot, maybe 50% more. Damage against MBT's, Lightnings and Sunderers might need to be upped, but not by much. Maybe add a secondary fire mode, where you fire a vehicle tracker. This keeps auto-spotting the vehicle until the tracker is removed by destruction or the vehile is destroyed. Great for keeping tabs on roaving bands of vehicles such as combat sunderer groups.
I love how someone who disagrees with you is instantly a troll. No where in any of Dgross' posts did he claim to have "awesome kill streaks." He merely pointed out that your assessment of the weapon is wrong. This weapon is amazing at what is was designed for and introduced for, killing maxes. I have been using this weapon on one of my engineers load outs since it was introduced. Am I an unstoppable killing machine? Nope. Do maxes scurry for cover when they get popped by one of these? Hell, yes the do. Is there an immense amount of satisfaction when you get a max kill from this weapon? Again, hell yes. At the end of the day this weapon is spot on for what it is designed for. Not every weapon and or every class needs to be great at everything. Every class and weapon has a generally specific situation in which they/it are good for. Calling for buffs or nerfs on weapons and or classes because you are unwilling, unable, or lack knowledge of how to deal with situations is not the developers job to fix.
I called him a troll because he didn't provide any real argument. Simply saying "no, don't buff the Archer it's OK" is not enough. And when someone comes in with 0 arguments and just won't listen to the arguments of others then yeah, I consider him a troll. No arguing, the Archer is good at it's anti-max job. However, being effective against 5-10% of the playerbase in certain conditions for essentially giving up your primary weapon is a very bad trade if you asked me. I do NOT want the Archer to be great at everything, I want it to be good at anti-max and usable at anti-infantry. So my suggestion is to make it a really bad BASR while allowing it to keep it's anti-max power. So in comparison to a normal BASR the Archer gets: - the longest rechamber time of all the BASRs by far - the 2nd lowest muzzle velocity of all the BASRs - the highest damage dropoff of all the BASRs which translates into the lowest effective range of all the BASRs (OHK headshot and 3 bodyshot kill up to 125m, 2 headshot kill and 3 bodyshot kill beyond) - lowest ammo pool of all the BASRs - no cloak on Engineer makes it much easier to countersnipe you This is like terribad, the worst BASR by FAR. It will always be a sub-optimal choice against infantry. I just wanted it to be usable in normal combat scenario. Hell, why not? An AP cannon can OHK infantry, a rocket launcher can OHK infantry, C4 can OHK infantry, Hornets can OHK infantry, even Ravens can deal with infantry pretty well. Currently no other weapon leaves you as open to 95% of the threats as the Archer, that's why it has to change or die under the ZOE garbage pile.
But IMO you are going about it the wrong way ... It should not be based on a BASR .. A rifle that the Engineer class doesn't have access to ( Nor should it have access to ) A better solution would be to give it a secondary fire mode that allows it to be used as a weaker Battle Rifle . A weapon group that the class already has access to, so it would not needlessly blur the lines further between classes .. Ofc as a somewhat balancing mechanic it should have a quite hefty switch time .. So you can't just instantly switch if caught with your pants down.
Well, actually I like that idea! But it would require a complete revamp of the weapon, which probably aint gonnah happen anytime soon. Nevertheless, this is a great idea. Not only makes the Archer more useful anti-infantry, it also takes away the only non-infiltrator sniper rifle (which is good - infi should be the only sniper class)
As a TR player, the Archer is a sublime addition to my arsenal. Facing Raven NC Max, and Vortex/Comet(whatever the VS Max Lancer weapon is called) prior was a massive pain. Now, I can park my vehicle, and put a bit of fear in the Max units that used to be able to completely deny a vehicle push from the vantage point of a cliff or other high ground. It feels good, and I like it! If you do not like the Archer, I would imagine you are probably an NC or VS player, who never had to deal with long distance AV Max units that are a true threat. Im quiet certain that no NC or VS, ever, has been threatened by a TR Fracture Nest....
