i get it folks! the damage nerfs are making us all a bit grouchy, but its time to commend DBG for the GOOD changes they've made to our boomsticks. "CoF 0" this is awesome, finally the full auto shotties don't end up painting the walls to the left and right of you with bullet holes! AMMO! almost all shotguns have received a much needed increase to the default magazine sizes. (even my precious Brawler, which suffered from not being able to take extended mags, now has 8 shots! ) and yes ofcourse... JACKHAMMER oh sweet delicious PTS jackhammer! i can't praise DBG enough for the changes, not only does the "CoF 0" change mean that you can land the 3xburst way more reliably, but the magazine has been massively increased from 9 shots (3 burst shots) to 15 shots (5 burst shots) the damage nerfs to JH aren't even noticeable during testing (and are completely negated by the burst mode firing all 3 volleys without cone of fire bloom, you actually do more reliable damage now.) the recoil nerf is noticeable, but very manageable. also PSA, if the semi-auto shotty damage nerfs are getting you down, equip slug ammo, it hasn't been nerfed at all so they still reliably 2 shot kill in cqc, with slugs equipped you can completely negate the downside of the damage nerfs, while enjoying the buff to default magazine size so thanks DBG for the good changes made to shotguns, P.S please don't nerf slugs, and keep jackhammer how it is on PTS right now!
Pellet count reduced, damage reduced, range brought EVEN FURTHER IN, minimum damage range and minimum damage was not reimbursed for bring in of range and damage reduction and if you miss even one damn pellet you get just below their HP pool, practically forcing you to constantly use the burst fire which means the ammo pool of 90 is actually 30 which is every single other pump. They basically made it a glorified nerfed pump with no slugs. At one point should I be happy about it?
like i said, try it. the burst is way more overkill than before due to not having CoF bloom, all 3 bursts go where you're aiming, and with 18 rounds you get 6 of them before a reload. try it! i've auraxiumed jackhammer twice, it is my favourite weapon in the game, if they made a change that ruined it i would certainly speak up about it!
The burst went from guaranteed killing a shielded heavy which pumps often don't pull off to can possibly kill a shielded heavy if all pellets land. When using burst, ammo often did not matter because you are limiting your engagement time to kill one particular enemy at a time, lowering the damage also make them less viable against maxes. And I auraxed it as well, if you actually cared about it you'd do the math on the most common types of enemies as well as get the TTK down for example: Nanoweave: because nearly guaranteeing that its never a 2 shot kill is kind IMPORTANT Heavies overshield: Because as a jackhammer heavy with no mobility to speak of you will often run into other heavies. Maxes: Sure not many weapons stood up to maxes in the first place but shotguns, high burst dps tied to a unit designed to mitigate max threats, kinda important Midrange combatants: A shotguns greatest threat is something it can't touch, jackhammer is one of the tightest spread shotguns in the game, being able to touch midrange targets better than other shotguns made it viable in that niche, I don't think I have to explain why it loses out on this. The jackhammer loses SO BLOODLY MUCH damage on everything that it isn't viable out of burst fire, because it's RPM combined with a theoretical 500 per shot (which is more like 400 because nanoweave) means it wouldn't be as versatile as before, it won't beat common enemies as well as before, it will get strictly out dpsed by better players if you don't use burst. I could say more but I will simply quote: Shotguns are not viable on PTS.
have you even tested it?! if you had you'd know that the cone of fire bloom getting REMOVED was a massive buff to burst mode range. currently on live, when you use burst mode your first shot is accurate, your second shot has a fairly larger CoF and the last shot COF is much larger than the first. on PTS the first shot is accurate, the second shot is accurate and the third shot is accurate. there is no bloom, if you're aiming at someone you will land the entire burst, not spray holes in the walls either side of them. you keep talking about "if you don't use burst" jackhammer is made for the burst... if you aren't using burst then you're using it wrong. also as i said before, TRY IT. from your negative view i still sense that you haven't tried it. download the PTS and try it.
If I hadn't tried it then how am I pulling up all these numbers? It's a glorified nerfed pump. I'm sticking to that.
