Does anyone know what happened to this idea? I have looked around on the roadmap, but no word on it. Has this idea been axed?
The VS need this weapon. With Zealot overdrive not having a way of being turned off (unlike Aegis Shield and Lockdown) and AI weapons that behave like bursters but without the flak a flamethrower would do a lot to balance out the VS MAX's weakness in close range.
The idea was scrapped because it would make NC maxes redundant and useless, and if they did implement it, they would have to give the NC max some ranged options which you know, everyone is against. Not to mention all the bugs and the system can't handle the payload of 100 max spamming flame thrower making everyones frame drop to 1st.
It was put on hold because they were not pleased with the absence of burning mechanic. On PTS they were just auto shotguns with special graphics. They wanted them to be more different so they postponed them to the next MAX revamp. I don't think the game will live long enough for the revamp circle to come full.
They didn't work very well and seemed to have some serious animation problems. I dunno that they've been dumped in the bin like the MAX grenade launchers, but equally I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting for them to appear. They'd also likely have to be put in with an NS Blueshift/Mercy to remotely be faction balanced.
It was horribly broken as well. Back when ZOE first came out if you were to use it the Flamethrower would insta gib everything it hit. Everything it hit.
For the record, the flamethrower would not make the NC mac "redundant". Judging by the video, flamethrowers seemed to take a very long time to kill (a good choice, in my opinion). NC maxes are famous for their split second TTKs.
But used en masse? I think they would be too strong even in groups of 3, not to mention their blinding affects or them more than likely making the recipient's FPS drop. Assuming it's an AOE weapon.
flamethrowers probably arent going to be implemented due to performance reasons. the game already runs like crap again for many people because most benefits from the recent optimizations just vaporized. then again, hossin appears to be the most demanding continent now due to its gfx density and effects. as much as i would love flamethrowers to happen, the devs would probably ruin the game implementing them when some max starts burning away and most people in the region start stuttering or crashing like hell. maybe in Planetside3 with a more optimized engine
Right. That would make it powerful. But the selling point of scattercannons are that they allow a single player to instagib targets.
The were pulled for a couple reasons. 1. No burn damage applied once hit. 2. The flame only hit the person in the center of the cross hair, and wasn't a cone effect. 3. Standing behind the person being sprayed you where not going to take damage. Even with a jet of flame covering your arms, legs and, other areas. Their likely to return after EQ Next, which has effects like this we will get them and the code can be copied and pasted over. Hmmmm, only if they go back and add this burn damage effect the the VS Comet AV weapon just like it had in PS1.
