VS ESSR: Shade general discussion thread.

hey i never said the execution was good. i just said that was the idea.

I tried out the Phaseshift today and I actually really like it. It's not a replacement for other BASR like the Parallax or Ghost if you are already good with those, but that's ok because the need to be just like those is what's dragging down the other factions' rifle feedback.

I hope that doesn't happen here, because the odds of getting a BASR better than either the ghost or parallax is unlikely, and really it would be pretty boring to just do the same thing. I think being unique is enough to set this weapon apart.

Basically this is the rifle that should have been the VS starter rifle. It lets you plink away in semi auto without worrying about ammo, and you can still take a good BA strength shot when you are confident.

I'm not going to weight this against the other VS rifles, but some minor things:

Pros:
- Neat reload animation (the railjack also has a pretty nice one)
- Pretty cool sound on charge/fire
- Cool tracer, looks like a saron shot
- Neat unique supressor model (again all the ESSR have this)
- Very interesting balance to maintain for uninterrupted semi mode vs BA shots

Cons:
- Wish this gun could take down to 4x scopes at least, it's kind of a silly mix of trying to be "versatile" but only having scopes that borderline outrange it's own damage potential
- Supressed firing sound is a flyswatter, and now that I mentioned it you can not unhear it
- There is no charging animation, only a sound, the first person shake is not externally visible
- Autofiring after fully charging is almost un-neccessary for how loud the gun is, if you could hold the charging forever but not sprint or cloak while doing it, it would be enough. I mean you are sitting exposed, maybe walking with a reallllly loud whirring coming right from you. Alternately if you could charge forever but after two seconds of holding it you showed up on minimap as if you had fired would also be I think a fair tradeoff

Anyways overall I think it's a neat gun. Not a straight upgrade to anything except the starter rifle. But perhaps a fun alternative for newbies and certain situations (the kind you ejection seat into).

sad about the scope... no 4x

THIS PLEASE, Give it the two 4x scopes atleast or a 6x.

The Charge shot is nice and all if you can time well with your breathing but having a semi auto with 7x-12x scopes is just wrong and dosnt make it the versatile weapon you describe it as.

Tested the bolt shot more today.

At 300m.
One bolt shot to the head followed instantly by a semi body shot drops any target at render range.... I assume most people can do that.

Bellow 150m~ Two bolt body shots (takes aprox 1.2 sec to fire both) kills any target, can't test on HA shield, reckon it would then require a HS.
Above 150m you best aim for the head and follow with semi if need be.

On PTR I saw others holding charge each time as long as possible before firing.
This does not give you extra damage... it does nothing except hold the charge.
For max dps you hold the charge until the three extra white reticules appear around the scope cross hairs, this tells you its in BAR mode, it takes around 0.4-0.6 sec to happen.

The fire rate of semi auto is in a horrible position, it seems slower than normal semis however at the same time being fast enough to suffer massive recoil if you fire as fast as you can meaning its too inaccurate for anything apart from close-medium.. and suppression.
Considering the speed at which you can fire off two bar rounds I believe the Semi auto feature is completely inept apart from when you need to follow with a semi shot at extreme range or if you are spamming it with hip fire at close range in hopes of scoring a kill.

The real strength of this weapon is its 0 bullet drop and it's ability to fire out two BAR rounds faster than anything else in the game currently.
If you include charge time you may reckon that it is the same as the close range sniper, you would be correct.
However the initial charge time does not count if the target does not see you and you are instigating the attack as his response time will be the time that it takes to charge the second bolt which is less than a second not including lag etc.
This method means the phaseshift will have a great ability to hit moving targets and kill them fast with body shots.
The rail jack will probably be much better at killing targets that move with headshots.

Both weapons have different skill ceilings.
With the shade you have to time your shots well and make them count to not incur the reload timer while your enemy lives.
You have to mix your shots well in order to maximize performance at any range.
The Phaseshift will seem easy to use for a noob once they grasp the charge mechanic but I think the real wonders of this weapon will come into play with an experienced player who will know just what to use to take down a target or two.
It is possible and I did it on the PTR to take down two targets with head shots within less than a second, no other gun can do this.

People may get abit envious about this ability especially when a good vanu sniper releases montages of his double tap double kills.. heh..
I reckon it's balanced and unique though and I hope they keep it currently as it is.

From what it sounds, it really must have 4x scope. It is the only way a universal sniper rifle can be called as such. Also, the gun looks like it is most powerful at >150 meters, so...

So I just ran this thing through some "more" tests.

I'm only interested in its performance at ranges greater than 175m, so that's all I focused on.

I don't know if it was just too much morning coffee, but the scope sway seems extremely exaggerated compared to Parallax. This makes short range non-held breath shots incredibly difficult. Forget about trying multiple non-held breath shots and placing them precisely.
Also...that charge shimmy or shake is awful. Getting off a charged+uncharged combo is all but impossible. It's all about the time you have to take the shot. With no max charge indication, you have to guess when to optimally hold your breath AND have time to compensate for that little charge shimmy. The shimmy instantly begins by shifting your center, causing you to have to instantly compensate to bring it back. Then it does a small wobble. By the time you finally come to stable and put the crosshair in place, the shot is away, and you breath hold is expired, having the gun sway insanely and aimlessly all over the screen (apparently much more than any other SN).

I don't know what niche you guys intended this weapon to cover, but it certainly wasn't anything at long range. I couldn't achieve a [HEADSHOT] at anything over 198m. I can get the headshot "PLINK" sound, but not the indicator. Even with the headshot sound, at >198m, following up with anything other than another headhsot will not take down anything but another Infiltrator in TEST VR. That makes this weapon pretty much useless to me.

So I can BARELY manage charge and breath in order to fire a charged+uncharged combo, that won't even kill past 198 meters if I do manage to pull it off? Plus no 4X scope for those that may wish to run and gun with it?
Why should anyone buy this weapon?

I won't even mention that new NS sniper rifle. That thing is beyond broken!

I'm afraid my SC and CERTS will remain where they are, or be spent elsewhere.
Yes, i'm not threatening to never spend another cent or to leave the game. I just won't buy these two VS choices at the moment.

So right now this rifle sounds like a crossbreed abortion victim

THAT GIF!!!!!

Nope, just tested the gun today: Charged shot its still a 3 bodyshot kill at 300m, 2 headshotkill at 300m, which makes the charged shot pretty useless beyond 180m.
It's like you merged a Ghost with the Spectre damagewise... can't kill anything (beside Infiltrators... of course) beyond 180m with one shot and you always need 2...

The Parallax with this "cooling device" (however this is really called...) is better and more accurate in the followup shots than the "Phaseshift" formerly known as "Shade", the Spectre is is way faster and accurate in the double headshots.

So my conclusion: Only buy it when you really need infinite ammo!
But show me a sniper who really live that long...
The Phaseshift is useless in long range sniping and thats the only task where you could use infinite ammo, because you live long enough with the right tactics

It's a 200m SR. As a 200m SR it's easily the best in the game, and allows people to fire 2 body shots before most people can react, or you can fire 2 head shots if your skilled enough at aiming. With the charged shot, it's no recoil, no bullet drop due to the slight time between shots. I really think this gun is well balanced, and will be popular once people actually look at the average range they are fighting at. It also makes an amazing counter sniper.

Yea, if they added a 4x scope to the Phaseshift, then I would buy it. However at this point, I'll stick with the Ghost.