In PS1 the lasher orbs point of origin was the person and not the tip of the gun so for awhile there when firing the lasher the lash started at your character allowing you to basically aoe around your toon while getting direct hits in cqc so you basically were hitting with the lash and the orbs at the same time to fix this they made it so the orbs lashing ability didn't kick in till it traveled a certain distance. doing this now could make the lasher much more usuable in PS2. So say the orbs under 5-10 meters travel faster and hit harder but do no splash till they travel the that distance then the splash ability kicks in that way you can use it around allies and in cqc with out damaging yourself and still use it further out with the splash.
The gun needs an actual lash, so you can use it on even grounds instead of just from high up. Could give it a Flares damage (167) with 2 levels falloff from 5-65 meters, and only have lash in the falloff period. Achieves just what you said, prevents FF by lash auto-targeting enemies, and saves on performance because the lash stops when you just fire at the sky. But all that and way more has been discussed to death.
