Lets take a VS MAX as an example; he has 4 anti infantry weapon options: Quasar: default all around gun, 50ammo Blueshift: more accurate, 40 ammo Nebula: higher rof, 50 ammo Cosmos: longer reload, 75 ammo lets match them up: Quasar vs Nebula: Quasar takes t time to fire 50 bullets 7 bars of damage each for a total of 350 damage in t time. Nebula takes t*43/50 time to fire 50 bullets for 6 bars of damage. Reload speed is the same. That means that Nebula will shoot 16,3% faster but deal 16,7% less damage, which means ... that the DPS IS THE SAME. It means that when shooting Quasar in left hand, and Nebula in right hand, you will deal exact same damage by both weapons in time it takes to empty nebulas magazine, and then you will still have 7 bullets left in Quasar to shoot while Nebula will require a reload. Because reload time is constant, the more frequently you need to reload the lower your DPS (and you can not defend yourself). ALL THAT LEADS TO A FACT, THAT QUASAR IS A BETETR CQC WEAPON THAN NEBULA (designed for "CQC"). Nebula is not a sidegrade, its a downgrade. Quasar vs Blueshift: Quasar is horribly innacurate. Blueshift is less horribly innacurate, but now only with 20% less bullets. Blueshift is bad, you wont be hitting anything at medium range with it anyway Quasar vs Cosmos: Cosmos have 50% more ammo per magazine, 50% more ammo overall, all stats exactly the same except for a longer reload time (which is broken atm and the same as other weapons). taking into account what I wrote for Nebula, it is the best weapon in the game AT THE MOMENT, hands down. Now shouldnt it be like this: Quasar: all around Nebula: best close range, worst medium range Blueshift: worst close range, best medium range Cosmos: more ammo, but INSERT DOWNSIDE HERE PLEASE UPVOTE, it really needs developer attention! posted also here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/13kcoq/max_weapons_broken_with_statsexplenation/
I think you are confusing DPS with Time to Kill. Time To Kill is the stat everyone is concerned about. it doesn't matter if your dps is higher since you can shoot for longer, its more important to be able to shoot fast (and get a low TTK) when you want to. Thats why they are balanced the way they are, with the nebula shooting faster you have an inherent advantage over the quasar, that is your enemies have less time to shoot you back (assuming you can hit anything with it). Once they are dead, go ahead and reload. If there are still enemies around then you probably bit off more than you can chew anyway.
I think YOU are confusing DPS with Time to Kill. If DPS is the same on 2 weapons, whats the TTK for a same X health points target?
You have to take into account that targets will always be moving. DPS and TTK do not take practical applications that your reticule will not always be on target and your bullets will miss. It's an FPS game, not pen and paper like most other MMOs. Higher ROF will increase the likely hood of hitting your targets in CQC, especially in 10m to 25m engagements where enemies can disappear behind doors and take cover. More accuracy and lesser ROF means more deliberate shots and takes a more of a marksmanship type roll along long corridors, or open area fighting. Longer reload times makes targets specifically vulnerable, and very open to getting killed. Most people wait until their enemies run out of ammo to reload, and make the kill then.
Lets assume your damage numbers are correct (as I didn't test these), I did just time it takes to unload both clips (Quasar vs. Nebula). I got 9.5sec on Quasar and 8sec on Nebula. That figures as 350/9.5 = ~36.9 DPS for Quasar, and 300/8 = 37.5 DPS for Nebula (this of course does not factor in more frequent reloads on Nebula. Great these are numbers, Neb slightly edges out. But lets look at a practical situation, to do 100hp damage (1 player health), it would take 16.67 shots from the Neb and 14.28 shots from the Quasar. So at .16 Shots/Sec * 16.67 = 2.67sec to kill from Neb and .19*14.28 = 2.71sec to kill from Quasar. These figures just show that the two are way too similar. My suggestion, limit the damage of a whole clip from the Nebula to 250 or even 200, but let it unload that damage in 2x TTK as compared to the Quasar.
This analysis is terrible. Lets look at what the actual effective TTK is given these numbers. Refire Time: Nebula: 0.16 Quasar: 0.19 Shots to Kill: (Where did you get 100 health if these are doing 6 damage? That would mean he is using the 40 total health scale. Nebula: 7 shots to kill Quasar: 6 shots to kill. First shot is free if you are aiming correctly. TTK: Nebula: 0.96 seconds Quasar: 0.95 seconds Nebula scaling better over the next second if you are inaccurate, Quasar scaling better over the second after that if you need to keep shooting. Generally I agree that it seems a bit lackluster if these numbers are right, but lets be honest - this is pretty low-end testing.
Regarding the Cosmos, if there ever was a bug making it reload as fast as the other weapons, it was fixed. It has a longer reload time than a Quasar. The Cosmos is still the best weapon for the MAX in my opinion, 75 rounds per magazine is a huge benefit.
Given that the Blue-shift is incorrectly displayed as being less accurate than the Quasar, it might be that the Cosmos is incorrectly being displayed as more accurate?
