Was literally on top of me. Heard a thunk/saw the hitmarker so I turned around, saw him, and opened fire. He didn't even get through my shields. Wasn't until later that I died to someone else and saw the weapon name next to his damage percentage that I realized why.
Which is why I stated the fact that I want my station cash back for the purchase of said Roflhammer. Seriously. WTF WAS SONY THINKING?!?!?!??!?@#KJ!:L@ CJ:L@!LJ:L!4
My limited experience with the gun is that it will take some getting used too before it starts to perform. In the ideal setting, it kills just as fast as any other shotgun. The problem is that its easier to "miss" with than any other shotgun. The real downfall of the gun, and the reason many of the Heavy weapons will not see significant play, is that they don't have a full suit of attachments. Furthermore, with the possible exception of the sp'Lasher, they don't offer UNIQUE game play options. The current Jackhammer is outpaced by shotguns as a gameplay option (Shotguns that can be equipped by other classes) and the MCG is matched/beaten in use by a specialized CQC LGM...such as the MSW-R. My honest suggestion, set a development weekend and revisit all three heavy weapons in terms of function. Ask yourself as a developer, "In what situations do we want a player to pull a jackhammer/MCG/Lasher? What advantages and disadvantages should these weapons have in those situations?" Then, as players yourselves, consider what weapons you would replace the Heavy weapons with in these situations and consider a direct comparison. I expect it will look something like: Extreme CQC -> Jackhammer (vs) Mauler/Sweeper (vs) EM1 Medium CQC -> MCG (vs) MSW-R Long/Medium range -> Lasher (vs) S1 (vs) Orion From my gameplay perspective, I can say that i will pull/cert/buy the sweeper, EM1 or AI Max long before the jackhammer when rushing a biolab or defending a from a camped spawn. I expect the TR will say much of the same with their guns. Lasher, while may still needing work, is actually unique in gameplay and offers a potential gameplay option that is different from the other guns available. This is what the other two guns need most...something to differentiate themselves from shotguns and LMGs. Attachments for the Heavy Weapons is something that will need to be addressed as well to help make/keep them competitive. Granted, few will want a 4x scope on a currently glorified shotgun, but a possibility of a full set of creative specialist attachments that make sense will go a long way to boosting use and sales of these weapons.
The JH had "frag rounds" briefly as an ammo cert. That had some people wondering; would they deal small aoe damage, somewhat akin to the lasher? Maybe a straight damage increase per shot? Some shield penetration maybe? Lot's of lost possibilities there. Here's hoping the upcoming revamp makes the JH something really worth having.
Jackhammer ttk from close range is 0.25 seconds. The guy you were fighting missed, or he was using slugs (which have the point blank miss problem on all shotguns) Not that it's not bad, I mean it's just a shotgun. But it is not THAT bad.
JH can't cert slug ammo. It gets Laser Sight, Foregrip or Extended Mag, and that's it. Hitting with a full spread of shots has a TTK the same as the Mauler, only with a slower RoF. Meaning you'll need three good body shots or two good headshots to kill (unless you get lucky and land ALL of the shot on the head, then it's one). The JH sucks yo
Jackhammer does 112x6, so it's a 2 shot with bodyshots. Yeah it's just a boring old shotgun, but its not as bad as the OP says.
That's actually simple to explain. Prior to that, any conceived ideas that this is PlanetSide 1 need to be left at the door. These are no longer primary weapons, they're highly specialized squad support at best. The MCG must never be superior to an LMG flat out, it would ruin the existence of LMGs. So instead, they still made it statistically superior to LMGs with the tightest bullet spread, lowest recoil, and highest rate of fire, but they gave it the disadvantage of needing to spinup and made it less accurate while ADS moving. Now it's a great weapon if you are actually firing it, but you can get jumped easily -- so you need a squad with CQC players supporting and defending you. Likewise, the Jackhammer cannot be allowed to be superior to shotguns flat out, as it would ruin the existence of shotguns. This principle carries over to just about all the weapons, as even the carbines and assault rifles aren't worse than LMGs, only different. Prior to launch, that's exactly what it was, a superior shotgun... nerf bat swung and swung hard. It's obviously been a bit overnerfed, but the main issue is that it doesn't have something separating it from other shotguns. The Lasher has benefits being unique in its design. Neither of the others can say that much. Looking at the Lasher and the MCG, they are both suited to group combat, one because of the splash damage and the other because it's destined to never let go of the firing button. So I believe the solution for the Jackhammer is making it too better at group combat. Aside from giving it a ridiculously huge cone of fire that can slap four people at once, how does one accomplish this? One way I suppose is by giving it a decent clip size so it can never stop firing. The current clip size for the Jackhammer is way too small, allowing it to use say 30 rounds before reloading would at least give it a unique purpose in battle... it's the neverending shotgun, slightly weaker to balance. In a case like this, missing a shot matters a bit less than it currently does and you can effectively spam the weapon to attempt to land hits with it, allowing for a more reckless style of gameplay similar to the MCG and Lasher. So yeah... we can't just have the Jackhammer being the Ultra Shotgun, but we can't have it being useless either. Having a 30 clip would be a good start for giving it that something special. As for what they are ideal for? Room clearing. When you know where enemies are camping, when you know they hold point A or a generator or the spawn room, when you need to get them out of there and all your attempts with LMGs have failed...... ...bring a heavy weapon squad. Shotguns also have a 0.75x ADS move speed multiplier. Jackhammer's a 0.5x mult. It's slightly more accurate while ADSing, but truly the only thing the Jackhammer is good at is firing while jumping. It's a shotgun for bunnyhoppers currently.
Larger clip would be a start. I'm thinking some cert unique cert attachments would work to help the special HA weapons too. Nothing far and away better, so as not to trivialize LMG's, but something fitting for each unique weapon. Give the Lasher two types of ammo, one where you've got a slower moving ball that has higher damage and good splash damage (while using 2x the ammo per shot compared to normal), and one with a faster, lower-damage ball that is very easy to hit with at range. One is a "breaching" type ammo, great for indoors or taking down close range enemies fast, while the other is a longer range support weapon, letting you suppress and flush. The question is, how to do something like that with the MCG and JH. Larger JH clip (and ammo pool) would help. 30 in the gun with 90 in reserve would be amazing. But how to differentiate it from regular shotties? No slug ammo for one; let's keep it a close range weapon. Maybe adding variable certed "choke" types for the barrel attachment? You can get short-range or long-range, with short widening the spray by a good bit and long really narrowing it down. Short choke gets an increase RoF at the cost of being useless past 10m, while long-range decreases RoF by a good bit, lowering the CQ and room-clearing power but giving an accurate high-damage weapon useable at mid-range. Then maybe a pair of ammo certs or something. APE rounds (armor piercing explosive) that deal more damage to Maxes and light vehicles, so you could blow an entire magazine and take out a Lightning at close range, but obviously the Lightning will beat you in a 1v1, so the power of the APE is limited in effectiveness to group play. Flak armor will lower their damage of course. Then Shredder rounds will deal extra damage to soft targets, but have high damage fall-off past 15m. Maybe it's too much too soon but I'm just throwing out ideas here. The attachment system has a lot of potential and I see so much of it being wasted with mere rail certs for the JH.
Don`t forget the 3x alternate fire. its almost like a piston (if you get extended mag), and you can easily win in cqc if you just sit near a door where you know the enemy is storming the entrance. Just activate resist shield, get the 6 sec healing thing on you, look out the door, blam blam blam blam blam blam blam, and retreat, reload and do a once over. It`s not like a max, but you can work as such without spending resources. Also you`re probably having a negative experience with using the jackhammer because you didn`t put Giraffe camo on it. Its the only weapon that can be nicknamed: Giraffe hammer. Definitely wish there were more attachements on it though. High velocity slugs ? ;D
Im thinking of getting a jackhammer just for the swesome mocking region spam I could do if i managed to kill anyone with it.
Agreed. Planetside 2 is not Planetside 1. However, by the very design nature of Planetside 2, these are primary weapons in the game. They are not primary weapons in the sense that are set to favorites and that is all you pull, but they replace your LMG/shotgun/battle riffle while you are carrying it. This is at it's core, the design of this game, trading advantages for disadvantages. This is why we have 6 or 7 options for LMGs with very slight differences in performance. Pulling a heavy weapon should be a question of sacrificing what you would normally have in your usual weapon for the advantages of the heavy weapon. Be it AoE damage, sustained fire or whatever. Absolutely, agree...and at the same time disagree. This was a very good post. I agree, the MCG should not outright replace any LMG in the versatility of game play the LMG guns offer. LMG's, even when hipfire CQC specialized like the MSW or EM1, are still capable of medium to long range combat when brought to the shoulder...you won't feel useless if the fight turns to a long range standoff. This versatility would be one of the things sacrificed by the player when pulling the MCG, for example. He would loose the capability of being effective at medium ranges for the better performance in CQC and room clearing, by virtue of better sustained fire and rate of fire. In a sense, once the TR player spends these points on this gun, it should be the clear choice and risk(what if the fight changes?) in that situation to replace the LMG. Perhaps, like the lasher, the MCG is in a good spot as well. While still needing attachments to make it more interesting and specialized, it can offer a "glue the button down" untill the room is clear gameplay experience. The jackhammer still needs to have its 'experience' and gameplay developed though. While the concept of a shotgun that doesn't run out of ammo may be interesting, I believe that alone will not really separate enough from shotguns. While a MCG style shotgun may sound balanced, I expect it will not workout as a gameplay. I believe the burst fire mode is where the adjustment needs to happen. This is the spirit of the NC really. Do more damage in the short term, but pay for it with slower rates of fire and less control. This is the design of the Gauss, the Vanguard and the Reaver(to some extent). It is how this weapon should be approached.
Good post and explains clearly the complex issues that must be kept to. Purely to ensure that ONE weapon is not used or percieved to be OP in ALL situations. Thanks
I've used the jackhammer briefly, mainly situational cqc. I put the high capacity mag on it. This things a beast at close range, if you hit your target kills are instant especially headshots, you can tear through a small room with well placed shots. My only criticisms are that you run out of ammo very fast and at mid range you are not very effective unless you can close the distance quickly.
The alt fire helps yeah, but it's so situational that you'll end up with the same experience using a Piston only you'll be able to equip that on every class. If the JH is going to remain a heavy weapon, it needs something to set it apart from regular shotguns. Something that will make a heavy want to drop their LMG AND shotgun because the JH is simply superior in that environment.
In my experience, the alt fire is slower than triple clicking and has more recoil. I do not use it at all.
I have the JH unlocked. My HA shotty loadout is a Piston though, the 'hammer never gets used. Even if there was a benefit to using the JH over the piston in CQB, I'd still use the piston as it has the option for slugs (which makes it an amazing weapon). Full auto primary on Piston beats anything the JH can do.
Well, the other shotguns can be used by two other classes and unlocking it for one unlocks it for the other, so I see no reson why the Jackhammer culd not be better shotgun then the standard one as it can only be used by heavies.
So...heavy assault went to a bar with a jackhammer...and nobody was hurt. Just reading the thread title made me lol
