True, but this is the latest PTR which should be up to date with all live assets, not doing that would potentally invite critical errors when stuff goes live.
Thats what i mean by bait and switch. They did the same thing to the VS gun. They ignored all of the feedback on the PTS and did their own thing without any warning at all, and put it in a tiny line that anyone could misread as a "flavor" discription in the patch notes. I'm really not happy about any of this. It's a dick move.
That isn't always true. They can't just copy the entire PTS code over to live since things like certs behave differently. So I assume the specific elements are are added to the live game files. And vice versa, they don't just copy everything from live onto the current PTS. So things that work right in live may not on PTS, especially if it has nothing to do with the new stuff they currently want tested. Just think of PTS as your "rough copy". So in the case of the railjack, the code was changed when to be implemented on the live server but was never changed on PTS. And since that single item's functionality wont impact the rest of the things that need to be tested, it may have just been left as is.
If variable lag wasn't a real thing then I wouldn't be so upset about the current functionality of this gun. Unlike the saron which seems to be the main counter argument, BSAR's only get one shot, If we miss we are potentially dead. Infiltrators don't get a nice hefty bulk of armor or follow up shots to make up for the fact that lag, or lack of skill just threw our first shot right out the window. We in fact get less health, and a cloak (our equivalent to the saron's mobility on a vehicle). A much flatter trajectory and 50 more damage seem rather irrelevant when coupled with the wind up handicap this gun comes with. While I agree that without the windup, the gun is straight up overpowered, the extra learning curve of lag compensation (of your ISP and your gun) seems a bit much. Instead of having the windup in its current state, it would be nice if we could hold the charge with or without an indicator. That should still preserve enough balance to stop NC snipers from twitch-sniping everything in sight, but still allow people to actually enjoy using a railgun. As it stands now it seems like a straight downgrade over the other BSAR's.
In all fairness, they didn't listen to anyone's feedback...TR included. It just seems that the TR made out a bit better this time around, opposite of the MAX abilities. They just don't seem to care much for the feedback of the players when it comes to the empire specific content they wish to implement. Hell, if you think about it...the Commissioner and Underboss feel like New Conglomerate weapons more than something which should be common pool...but I know that many would smack me for even saying that. It's just really sad how watered down the faction flavor in this game actually is...compared to what it could be. Least they did awesome on the new NS rifle. :\
Pretty much hitting the nail on the head with that one. On a side note, I never really thought about the commissioner or underboss like that, but now that you mention it I agree completely.
I don't believe that anyone did...and after this long, there's no way you could even pry them from the cold dead hands of us Vanu and the Terran Republic. While reflecting on faction flavor though...I can't help but think it could have been done so much better.
Interesting post by Planetdodge in the main forum here: Longshot vs RailjackL Some Numbers: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/longshot-vs-railjack-some-numbers.175457/ Shows how, at least from my reading, the Longshot beats the Railjack in pure stats.
Frankly I've used it and I don't mind the delay. I think it's necessary to keep a OHK weapon with 850 m/sec velocity and zero bullet drop balanced. And it's not .5 seconds. It's more like .15 seconds. Here's how I read the OP's post: "Dear SOE, We want a perfect gun that doesn't simulate any of our faction's characteristics, but provides us a clear advantage over every other gun in its class. We don't want a sidegrade that caters to different playing/shooting styles like you promised us we'd always get...we'd rather just pay-to-win, if you please. We, the player base, would rather play a pay-to-win model than see a weapon show interesting mechanics and be balanced in a game." Screw off, kids. The weapon's fine. They added the ~.15 sec delay because the weapon was too good without it. It was basically a better version of the Longshot...which ISN'T what you should want. You SHOULD want a weapon that brings an interesting weapon mechanic or situational use behind it. I'll explain: Got a bunch of bad guys running around in a valley? Grab the Longshot, or even a semi-auto sniper. No shot delay, high damage output, good accuracy, situationally sound choices there. Got 4 or 5 snipers nested into a hillside pounding your forces with sniper fire? Get the RailJack and take them out with precision shots that don't require much, if any target leading. Want to kill engineer's repairing turrets or tanks? Railjack. Want to annoy the hell out of slow-moving MAXes from long range? RailJack. If you want a weapon that does it all and is a CLEAR upgrade from a weapon already in the game...then go play a different game. Find the weapons that suit your playstyles, stop trying to find the weapons that are "better than the others". *rant over* TL;DR - RailJack's alright as is. It's supposed to be a side-grade, NOT a straight upgrade from the Longshot. Pick your panties out from your cracks and use the weapon in the right situations = profit. This game isn't pay-to-win and you should stop asking for it to be. EDIT: Also this - https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/longshot-vs-railjack-some-numbers.175457/
Hahaha, that's pretty much how I feel about the people crying because the crossbow doesn't OHK everything so they cant just camp in perma cloak and ROFLstomp everything. As for the railjack, when I had tried it on test, a rifle with practically zero bullet drop and high velocity out to render distance would have been too good. I think most people's issue here, though, is that the changes that went to live were NEVER on PTS to be tested in order for players to give feedback. I understand the frustration with that, but it doesnt surprise me one bit. I have been involved with feedback on PTS in other games and watched things go live with bugs I, and others, had pointed out and were ignored completely. That's why I see micro transactions as "buyer beware". Should things like that happen? Not really. Will they happen? Yes. I had a similar argument once with my father. He had gone to a fast food restaurant for dinner once. When he got home he realized they screwed up the order. When I asked him why he didn't check it before he drove off, he replied "I shouldn't have to if they would do their job right". My response was that, sure in a perfect world where everyone adhered to the highest standards you shouldn't have to double check. In this world, people are going to **** to things up.
I had a hard time reading anything past this: "Frankly I've used it and I don't mind the delay. I think it's necessary to keep a OHK weapon with 850 m/sec velocity and zero bullet drop balanced" I'm not someone saying the thing needs buffed, but "zero bullet drop"? You have no credibility in this argument as you are clearly lying when you say you've used it. Unless this was a joke post? The weapon to me is just plain boring, with no reason to get it if you've already got a longshot unless you think it looks cool. I was only hoping for something more "fun". And in the link you posted, from my reading, contradicts your conclusions. The post makes it clear that the longshot is superior, unless you are trying to snipe people outside of render distance, which is not possible.
They just gave it a 4 round mag to the Railjack... the delay is still there. The whole idea of faction specific weapons is for the factions to have powerful unique ways of fighting. They basicly gave us useless guns that they are activly nerfing to oblivion. At this point why not just make everything accessable by all classes. That way they could atleast solve the pop imbalance problems. I thought the whole point of the game was the factions, it seems it's just territory battles by nameless empires that mean nothing.
Thanks for the video, that's exactly what I encountered in VR. And I'm not sure there's slightly less drop. I count one dot down un-supressed for both, and 4 dots down suppressed. If there's a difference it's too small to even see. I do agree with your final conclusion.
Clearly you aren't reading the reasons why this gun isn't an acceptable option over any other BSAR... Any half-competent engineer will be moving while repairing or at the very least out of line of sight, in which case you still have no advantage over the longshot. As for the counter sniping, that works better when they don't have the ability to decloak and fire off a kill shot while you wait for your round to leave the barrel. Unless you were banking on the snipers completely lacking in any measurable level of awareness? We aren't asking for a gun that's game breaking, we are simply asking for the handicap to be reworked. Last time I checked having your gun punish you for using it over any other gun wasn't a NC faction specific trait.
Yes, they'll kill you during the 0.15 seconds (literally 15 hundredths of a second) that it takes the gun to fire. "While you wait for the round to leave the barrel"...ridiculous. Average latency alone is like 100ms (which is 0.10 seconds). During the "time it takes to leave the barrel" they wouldn't even see you decloak, much less get a chance to line up a shot and fire "before your round left the barrel". If you snipe in such a fashion, then you need to get better at sniping. Plain and simple. " Any half-competent engineer will be moving while repairing or at the very least out of line of sight..." - It's not always possible to be "out of sight" as an engineer repairing things. And a good sniper will be able to find a place where they have a shot. That's part of the game. ALSO many engineers DON'T move while repairing things...which isn't a problem with the gun, just a style of gameplay that gets people killed. That doesn't mean our weapons should be to blame. A LOT of engineers will die to the RailJack, just like they die to the Longshot. Every gun has pros and cons. As it should be. RailJack has 850 m/sec velocity...high damage, it looks badass, extreme range sniper railgun. It's got cool factor. Pretty big magazine too. It's got definite strong points and ONE obvious weak point (being a 0.15 second trigger-pull). The gun is fine. That said, if they (or you, for that matter) think of something that's a better "drawback" than the fire delay, feel free to let us all know. I'd be happy to explore other equal possibilities...but as I see it the RailJack is going to see plenty of kills.
If only I had thought about making a post like that ahead of time, oh wait... I am not trying to flame you, I am merely trying to pose a viewpoint. Please don't look at it as anything more.
Right, there was probably a more creative downside here they could have put in instead. I'm not sure what exactly, but y'know that's supposed to be THEIR job... Expecting all of us to "adapt" by relearning our Sniping all over again (like we took a time machine to the 90's and we're all back to "Lag shooting" in Unreal-1 / Starseige again) so they can punch out earlier for the night and rush the patch out sooner just to keep stockholders 0.05% happier. ....Okay it wasn't a huge adaptation for me b/c the 90's is when I learned to snipe, but for most other people it seems like the complete opposite of being Intuitive.
Wait ? Wasn't the NC the demanding influence during the 90's? How do we know if the sniper lag back then wasn't widespread, corporation endorsed, faction flavor?
