I would say the best way to improve the Jackhammer would be to give it a much bigger reserve ammo pool. Make it a weapon focused on longevity in the field. From what I gather, it is a strong weapon, pretty similar to the other semi-auto shotguns, but I think it has a faster firing rate. I know in VR testing it feels like I can mag dump the Jackhammer noticeably quicker than I can a standard semi-auto shotgun, so I believe it has a theoretical higher DPS. It's also not really all that bad at range, it seems to be able to put down a target at 15-20m a lot better than the other shotguns in the game, albeit at the cost of mag dumping which makes you vulnerable when you need to reload, but the option is there. However, it doesn't seem like it has enough to make it worth taking over a regular semi-auto. Well, that's the wrong way to put it. It kind of just feels like another semi-auto, it is viable, but it doesn't feel any different. And now with the pump actions, a lot of people prefer those for overall efficiency. I can see SOE does not want to make it the king shotgun in the game and make people feel that NC get a CQC weapon that is way too effective, so just give more ammo or something. Increase the stock magazine size by 2 rounds, so with extended mag it would have twelve rounds. Allow it to carry twice the reserve ammo it currently carries. And give it back the 3 shot burst at the cost of a little longer recovery time. Thus, it becomes a utility shotgun and doesn't really supercede the abilities of other shotguns in the game. It can technically one shot people in very close range like the pump with the proposed 3 round burst, but it can't recover as well as the pump (and this would also mean it could only do this 4 times before reloading, instead of the 7 that a dedicated pump can). Then, nerf the fire rate so it is a bit worse than a regular semi-auto, so the Jackhammer will have good semi-auto capability, but not AS good as the specific semi-autos. It will have mag capacity on-par with the high capacity semi-auto variants. The real special benefit will be, as I said, field longevity, it will have the most reserve ammo of any shotgun. So in the end, you kind of make the JH into the Swiss army shotgun. Kind of a hybrid of a pump and semi-auto and with the most overall ammo.
There are a couple of ways to improve the jackhammer. Have the semi-auto mode perform slightly worse than the semi-auto shotguns (in other words, semi-auto stays where it is atm). Then re-work the burst fire into a triple shot that is comparable to but just below the capabilities of the pump shotguns (just like in PS1, the pellets from x3 shot do less damage than semi-auto pellets). Another way to make the jackhammer more attractive is to allow HA's to equip their heavy-weapons in their rocket launcher slot.
Give the JH various choke options so it's ACTUALLY better at longer ranges (at the expense of wider spread and easier hits) and bring the damage per pellet in line with other shotguns, then remove the spin up time from the MCG, increase ROF to 1000, but have it build up from 650 -> 1000 over the course of, oh, 3 seconds. Bam, solved. Nothing absurdly OP while both are still unique and useful. Lasher is perfectly fine as is I think, but I wouldn't be opposed to having the projectile speed increased slightly so that it's useful in more situations.
I feel the shotgun should be more unique and different from other shotguns in that it is more designed for room clearing against multiple enemies. Basically, it should feel like a "super shotgun." There should be several times more pellets, but over a huge (90-120 degree) horizontal arc. Just a couple of shots would wipe out three or four enemies bunched up, but it would be quite inefficient against singular enemies. I feel that this change would make the Jackhammer more powerful while not letting it be overpowered or directly interfering with other weapons' niches.
I recently bought the Jackhammer. I have the Claw and Piston(and have had some fun times with both), so I figured that I could find a way to make the Jackhammer fun. Nope. Not even a little. There isn't a situation in the game where a HA would be better off carrying the Jackhammer. That's not exactly it. It's literally the worst choice you can make in any situation. Up close, it's too slow to kill one guy and has too little ammo to take on groups. At medium range, you'll use a whole mag to kill anyone and the accuracy and pellet spread is bad enough that it's never guaranteed. There are only three attachments. The secondary fire mode is asinine. There are no redeeming values to this weapon. Summation: If you feel that you kill people too easily and would like a challenge, I recommend getting the Jackhammer. It's guaranteed to make you worse.
The JH is definitely not a shotgun. You cant use it the same way you would use another shotgun. It performs badly at distance and stay below all the other shotguns in a CQC situation. In fact, it shines at mid distance. Just like the lasher, it is a very specific weapon that need a little training to master. I really like it. I find it far more satisfaying than any other weapon (Except maybe the Hacksaw ). I have the auraxium medal with it.
I wonder if the recent shotgun nerfs have made the Jackhammer better by default, since it seems that it wasn't affected at all by them.
It is pretty accurate and has longer range, a triple shot drops anyone close but you can still kill people effectively to 15 metres unlike the piston. It definitely isn't horrible, but if your good with the pump action it serves no purpose. Personally I hate the pump if I miss. You miss with the pump and you die. Miss with a jackhammer and you have plenty of rounds left to finish them and a very fast reload. Its not as bad as people make it out to be. not great but not terrible. If you meet a lasher user or mcg user in close they will die first. If it was a lot better there would be too much whining.
The problem with the Jackhammer is that it tries to fill the close-but-not-too-close combat role that SMGs can do much better.
Noone will use JH if its only sidegrade to common pool shotguns, actually its worse. It needs either same stats as (semi)auto (sweeper, piston) with higher clipsize OR same stats as pumps (claw) while being semi-auto (remove trippleshot). Pumps are not generally OP, only because of LA jetpack + pump combo.
It could be made unique and different from the other shotguns by having a huge spread (with more pellets of course). This would make it ideal for clearing rooms with multiple enemies.
There really isn't much reason to pick it over any of the other shotguns even with the nerfs. Personally I think it should be the best shotgun choice for the NC. I'm not saying it needs some crazy buffs but a few minor adjustments to it would be nice. As is it just seems like a waste. I think it should just be available to any NC class that gets a shotty and the HA get something closer to the lasher and minigun maybe the Gauss Saw's big brother or something.
It is 100% the best shotgun now (compared to the mauler, sweeper, piston) just look at the stats: Smaller CoF, faster reload, faster RoF (in burst mode), faster bullet speed, etc Some people may still prefer pump action shotgun but its more difficult to use. If you use the 3 shot burst mode the jackhammer is a beast People who gave up on it should give it another try now that the other shotguns got nerfed. Jackhammer used to be ****** cause you only had 28 ammo or so now you have 48 i think and it was inferior or equal in every way to other shotguns, none of this true anymore...
jackhammer ise use-able i like the damage it means it wont be getting nerfed anytime soon , which is good to know but the model etc needs attention and what i see the jackhammer having that would make you want to buy it for only your HA and not the other shotguns to share is simply. AMMO with extended mag if it had 10/60 or dreamboat 10/70 instead of 10/38 like every other semi auto shotgun that would make it awesome , sustainability not searching for that ammo pack every 30 seconds that would be a key selling point.. wouldn't have to change anything else
It trying to find middle ground between SMGs & shotgun when there is none, either make it a full shotgun with all it takes +bonus as a heavy weapon, or replace it with something more usefull & unique. 0-8m shotgun > JH 8+m SMG > JH There is nothing between!
