Lasher's cool as is. I'd still really like to have some firing variant that slows the orbs by about 75%. But if wishes were fish.
all i know is when i am fighting in a CQB situation and someone is using a lasher at every death i usually have 10-25% FF damage from that damn thing... Especially in biolabs.
well i took the plunge and unlocked the lasher , looks like we (vs) get scr3w3d over again what a joke . a tr runs infront of me i open fire as soon as i do i start getting grief and killing myself faster than the tr guy is dying i stop firing so i don't get grief or die , the tr guy turns round and kills me , if i hadn't have used SC to unlock the lasher i'd have laughed , pretty much what soe are doing to anyone who has put money into this game while the main wep sucks and the server goes off daily i'd like to ask for a refund but i've got more chance of meeting aliens
In my short-playing experience wielding it, the Lasher is a tactical weapon and it should only be used as such. You will be disappointed if you use it like a typical firearm as it's a terrible direct weapon. However, if you use it in choke-points, long and narrow corridors and hallways, and perhaps down a flight of stairs, this weapon will become a fantastic weapon of mass destruction! Your opponents will detest you as they can't hide behind any cover, can't get behind and close to a corner, and can't get away from your exploding illuminating balls of fire. It's simply a fantastic weapon during these infrequent engagements.
I can't comment on the power of the lasher, but it makes your screen go insane if you're facing the direction it's coming from..good luck seeing or hitting anything >_<.
I love my lasher. People pretend it's supposed to be another LMG variant but that's silly. It's it's own weapon type and it has very practical applications. I like to spam it at doorways and prevent people from stepping out, or spam it at the top of a stairwell and force enemies back around a corner. You can quickly turn a stalemated battle SINGLE HANDEDLY with a Lasher just by spaming an area with plasma awesome balls this way, allowing your team to repeatedly move up. LMG's aren't as good at this. The other weapons might get more kills at the choke point, but they don't change where the battle is because people go from not seeing a problem to being shot and dead. The lasher actually makes a very obvious flashing green barrier of death. From that moment forward, that is no longer a 'corner' for the purposes of the fight. Your team is going to move up the stairs or down the hall and shoot through that door instead of shooting at people that come through it. You now repeat the process for the next corner or doorway the enemy is using until you reach a spawn room. No other weapon can do that. Projectile speed is moot if you're already shooting the area. The RoF will ensure a fast kill if they step into the stream of plasma awesome balls and a small AoE+fantastic hip fire accuracy means you can dance, jump, dodge, and strafe at ranges where everyone else is using the iron sights. The only times I regret bringing my lasher to a zerg fight, is when we have to fight really close up indoors, or when we are going to fight uphill. If there's nothing behind my target but the sky and I can't hit the ground he's standing on then the AoE is useless and it becomes a very bad direct fire weapon.
I just trialed the lasher. For one, it had no audio when shooting - anyone else notice this? Generally, I was not impressed by it. The orbs fly so slow that any moving target is basically impossible to hit. This was "OK" in PS1, but the mobility in this game is way too much for it. These were my find with that thing anyway.
The Lasher is almost viable. It needs a slight buff to direct damage when the orbs actually connect. It needs a TTK somewhere between shotguns and carbines if you land every orb. The "lash" effect needs to not damage friendlies, or yourself. I'd be willing to trade some AOE damage and/or clip size in order to get both of these things.
I am to the point where I feel like I got ripped off with spending money on SC and buying the Lasher. It is worthless at long range even though it says "long range," and doesn't have any scopes. It barely does any splash damage, hell, it barely does any damage at all half the time. It is starting to really piss me off that I get the drop on someone and hose them from behind, just to have them turn around and kill me with only half their shield missing. They need to normalize the damage to where it says it is (high) and it needs to be accurate at long ranges like it says in the description. I am going to ask for my SC and certs back that I spent on it considering how misleading the weapons description is.
"Please please get rid of the self lash when too close to enemies..." This. This is the item that makes the weapon not worth using. Its great if you get in the right situation but all too often you end up in an enemy's face and you cant shoot them as you get the friendly fire grief lock from hurting yourself. Seems like a no brainer to make this fix, then we can worry about if anything else is wrong with it
The aoe really shouldn't hurt friendlies/yourself. The PS1 version didn't "lash" at allies, but direct hits still would harm them. Why can't this one be the same?
Considering my FPS drops when fighting in the domes or other high traffic venues, The slight AoE helps immensely as I don't have the ability to fine tune my aim while suffering through 10-15 FPS. I really can't use any other gun to any useful effect in those situations (Nova I'm talking about you). Now if lag and FPS weren't an issue I'd be owning with a sniper. Overall I think the Lasher's downside is pretty close to it's upside. You can suppress, which in squad/platoon play can be a huge benefit to an organized team. The AoE can flush enemy targets from cover or outright kill them even though you can't get a clear target. Two to three direct hits will kill almost anyone and a few more beyond that will kill anything around that current target. The cons are this is not a close range weapon and a HA can be considered a close range class, just not exclusively. Also it is a difficult gun if you are running around alone and are part of a zerg. In an organized outfit, the HA with the Lasher should be the point man, getting healed and suppressing/flushing enemies allowing your squad to keep you healed, them to flank, and the enemy to be pushed back. It is not a gun for a soloist and it requires teamwork to be the most effective. With that said, I can see why most people don't care for the weapon as usually there is no organization and it takes a bit of a learning curve to know when and when not to use the gun. When I'm scrambling about on my own through buildings and whatnot, I usually have my pistol or rocket launcher out to clear the single targets either quickly (rocket to face) or safely with the pistol. When things get hairy and I'm surrounded by my squad, I switch to pistol as I don't want any AoE hitting them. In that situation however, you really don't need an AE suppressor as there are so many guns around that any target will most likely be dead before you could put any significant fire on him anyways. I'd like to state again however that if your organized then your team would know to get behind you and let you spray while they take better positions/heal you. Saying the gun is too niche is synonymous with saying, "I want to be able to do anything and everything whenever I want and this gun does not allow me to do that." But to really do anything and everything whenever you want, you need AT LEAST a dedicated medic and engineer for heals and ammo. No class, no weapon, no vehicle or anything of the like can be successful in this game on their own. Even aircraft can't be very effective when being flied solo.
It gets even better: During the PS1 beta the original Lasher did lash friendlies, just like the current one does. It was commented on, and promptly removed. They really don't seem to learn from past mistakes....
I know the Lasher needs damage buff bad. The thing I hate the most is if I am spaming a doorway or a corner or a rock face because the enemy is trying to come in or around. My own team mates or allies run right in the line of fire causing me to stop because either I have killed one of my own troops or damaged them. Messages light up that I am shooting my own people and won't be tolerated or final warning but they run right in front of you while you are firing damaging them and you to the point you get weapons lock. I like the Lasher as it makes the enemy duck and hide but for your own people making you get weapons lock because they want to run into those balls of plasma is more or less Sabotage against your own team.
Maybe a two stage explosion? Slightly reduce damage, but have a noteable buff in a very small radius where it hits? The large explosion would then not damage teammates. This would raise it's damage above a pistol, but in very close quarters FF is still an issue, and on mid distance, it is slightly more efficient at damage, while losing a very small amount of it's crowdcontrol.
Lasher orbs too slow. Lashers locks up due to friendly dmg in close range fighting because it dmgs yourself.. so you loose rate of fire.. Orbs are visible as their so slow.. so everyone knows where your shooting.. Dunno, I feel like it should be like a secondary weapon.. instead of main weapon as it has no purpose outdoors almost. My personal opinions.. after about 1k kills with it.
Trialed Lasher during unsuccessful defense of Amp Station. I didn't expect anything interesting after reading this thread. We were inside, LAs jumped over barrier to turn off generator. I was standing below - like 20m away and shot jumping people. Suddenly - kills! MANY. Assists, solo kills, killing blows - during half hour I've made more kills than during whole week since launch as HA. I've scratched/killed literally everyone I've seen - having not-so-perfect targeting (I didn't play FPS for like 10 years) + night time + lack of any improvements on trial weapon (scopes / grips / etc). So far it's the best non-sniper weapon for me for close combat (5-25m).
The lasher is such a joke that last night I sent in a support ticket asking for it to be removed from my inventory and to be given back the SC and certs I spent on it. Considering I paid for the item with SC, I feel like I got ripped off, the description for the gun is 100% ******** and I would never of bought it if I had known what what a piece of **** it is. The saddest part is that it took me about 8 hours of using it to finally just admit to myself that it sucks.
Just remove friendly lash, bump direct hit damage by a very small amount, and call it a day. The weapon is so close to being 'right'.
I love it. One of my favorite weapons. It's not an all purpose thing like the LMG however. It's a crowd control weapon, best used from a good vantage point overlooking choke points. I don't think it needs any tweaking, scopes are pointless since its an AOE weapon, and the damage seems fine to me. I rack up kills like crazy on it.
