Multiplayer Balance Change Feedback For Patch 1.05
After my first set of testing weapon balance changes in Patch 1.05, here is my feedback.
Preface: My suggestions here are based upon a concept of keeping the game a balanced mix of fun and challenging. If enemies are too "bullet-spongey", then matches become tedious and exhausting. If enemies are too weak, there is no challenge and the matches become boring. All of my suggestions are based upon that principle.
1. The Sandstorm assault rifle buff makes it feel a bit more usable, albeit still slightly weak. However, before tweaking damage more, I feel it might be better to look at other solutions: The magnification of the built-in scope. As it's a battle rifle meant to be used at mid-range, I would suggest reducing the scope magnification to 1.5x. The current zoom (I assume to be around 3x) is far too significant considering the weapon and the size of the maps.
2. The Shadow sniper rifle is sadly still completely garbage. I would posit a complete rethink of this gun, as it is currently just a P.A.W. with a scope. A particle-sniper to me should have a small magazine but a high level of burst damage. I propose that the magazine should be cut in half, but the damage magnified by 2.5x.
3. The N7 Valkyrie, Sweeper , and Mattock assault rifles still feel far too weak. I propose more significant damage increases. Most underpowered is the Valkyrie, as its two-round burst at best (Rank X) deals 198 damage whereas the Rare Sweeper with a three-round burst deals 231. That feels completely unrewarding because such a difficult item to acquire is outclassed by lower-grade items.
The Mattock might be safe to just revert it's damage to pre-patch but leave the fixed fire rate.
The Sweeper damage should be increased from 64–77 to 80-93. A full burst at Rank X would deal 279 damage.
The Valkyrie should see a significant buff from 86–99 to 130-143. A full burst at Rank X would deal 286 damage.
Now, with all that said, I have another bit of contention with the weapons in Andromeda. The major issue I first noticed in the multiplayer was not actually the lower damage output. It was the lack of crowd-controlling stagger from weapons. The Disciple, Venom, and Scoption (as examples) were more prized for their ability to reliably stagger even shielded and armoured enemies. Now, the Naladen most particularly feels like a gimmick, as even Outlaw Sharpshooters completely ignore the munition explosion.
That said, I recommend possibly giving certain weapons a Force buff, specifically guns previously noted to stagger enemies, and new weapons where is makes logical sense (i.e. high calibre or explosive munitions). Shotguns, sniper rifles, heavy-but-slow pistols, and heavy-but-slow assault rifles should all received enough force to stagger at least any light troops. Specialised weapons for staggering, such as those three I mentioned above, should receive an additional bonus to stagger above that... The Venom, Scorpion, and Naladen most specifically to the radius of the munition explosion.
Those are my thoughts so far. I'll have more feedback on the the pistols tonight, and continue that as balance changes come out.
The testing was done live on stream and can be found at the top.
UPDATE
After testing the pistols enough, my thoughts:
1. The Carnifex and the Phalanx both reveived increases in damage, however I really think that overall DPS was not considered at this stage, as there is a huge descrepency despite them both being Uncommon weapons. The Carnifex at Rank X (220 damage / 100 ROF) deals 374 damage per second whereas the Phalanx at Rank X (142 damage / 260 ROF) deals 610 damage per second. As the Phalanx feels like the better balanced gun, the Carnifex should see its per-shot damaged boosted to 314-359.
2. The Hornet feels passable on Bronze, but every level higher you go the higher my concern of worsening the RSI in my wrist from how long the time-to-kill is for this gun even against basic grunts. In Mass Effect 3, the Hornet actually had rather high per-shot damage and ROF, but was off-set by insanely strong kick. Here, the kick feels almost non-existent, and in exchange it feels like it deals no damage. I would propose making it closer to how it was in Mass Effect 3: Increase per-shot damage to 64-75 but increase the recoil by 1.5x to start.
3. As I mentioned already, the Scorpion's damage feels fine for what it is. The major issue here is the almost complete absence of stagger on all weapons. This is one of the major weapons I'd recommend receive a massive buff to stagger on the radius of the grenade explosion.
As a closing to this, I would also note that much of the damage buffs requested here could also be better fixed by instead reducing the health of enemies across the board. So, as an alternative to any weapons buffs, I'd recommend testing a 20% health reduction on all enemies at all difficulties. See how it feels and tweak from there.
