Gameplay Direction Post 1.4.3

Gameplay Direction Post 1.4.3​

Hi Guys, I am Hexodious - In the last few weeks I've taken over as Gameplay Lead for Moviebattles II and its occured to me that we've never actually told you where we are headed or why we make specific changes in regards to gameplay. I'd like to use this as an opportunity to change that for us as a team to be more transparent moving forwards as we look to improve the game throughout future patches. This will also allow you to know what we are looking to change, and what kind of feedback we are looking for.

In 1.4.4 we are looking to freeze a solid core for Jedi/Sith in place so we won't have to touch these mechanics for at least a few major patches - This includes: Saber vs Saber, Saber vs Gun and Force Regeneration. I've been looking at a lot of the feedback we've received for 1.4.3 as well as playing a lot of Jedi/Sith in this build and given everyone's experience with 1.4.3, we want to improve on the mechanics that were introduced to make them smoother and a lot more engaging. The goal for Jedi/Sith is to improve their staying power while reducing their ability to retreat while under pressure. 1.4.3's regeneration mechanic did allow this to some extent but was too punishing for players who were trying to support their team.

Below I will break down the core changes we are exploring for 1.4.4.
Please note all of the below is subject to change before release.

FP Regeneration and Drains
Based on 1.4.3's feedback we will be tweaking the FP Regeneration mechanics so that you don't have to worry about holding block, in fact we encourage it.

We will still have 3 states of FP Drain:

• Defenseless (Saber Down/Melee/Idle/Meditate): Base FP Drains for weapons.
• Autoblock (Running): Increased FP Drains for weapons.
• Block: Greatly Decreased FP Drains for weapons.

And there will still be 4 states of FP Regeneration, but we have modified them slightly:

• Meditate:
  • FP Regeneration: Highest, Transition: Ramps up over time, Restrictions: Stationary.
• Defenseless (Saber Down/Melee/Idle):
  • FP Regeneration: Base, Transition: Ramps up over time, Restrictions: Can't Block.
• Defending (Autoblock/Holding Block):
  • FP Regeneration: Slightly lower than base, Transition: Instant.,Restrictions: None.
• Deflecting (Actively Being Shot):
  • FP Regeneration: Greatly lower than base, Transition: Instant Debuff, Duration: 3 seconds (duration can be refreshed each shot, and FP Bar's hue is darkened to indicate debuff is present), Restrictions: Only applies while holding Block.

This combination of drains and states allow us to still have the benefits of really low FP Drains while blocking but doesn't needlessly punish you for holding block while you are not being shot at, whether you are dueling the enemy saberists or supporting your back line. We haven't got the numbers quite in place yet, but after initial testing this feels much smoother and allows the Jedi to have much more freedom while still pushing towards a more active responsibility to manage their FP.



Sense
Sense is a highly debated force power, many would like the power removed completely while others see it as a staple ability that should not be touched. Based on the feedback we've seen we have decided to keep the ability largely similar to how it is, but adjusting how its activated and the durations. In 1.4.4 Sense will tie more into the FP management direction we want to see Jedi's moving towards by using a similar mechanic to Force Speed, another toggled ability but where the duration is solely based on your remaining FP pool.

• Rank 1: Activation Cost: 15FP, Tick Cost: 5FP, 20FP grants you 2s of Sense (equal to the current implementation, but you can have it on for longer if you wish to spend more FP).
• Rank 2: Activation Cost: 10FP, Tick Cost: 5FP, 20FP grants you 3s of Sense (an increase over the current implementation, and you can still choose to have it on longer if you wish to spend more FP).
• Rank 3: Activation Cost: 5FP, Tick Cost: 5FP, 20FP grants you 4s of Sense (a large decrease over the current implementation, but you can still choose to have it on longer if you wish to spend more FP).

These changes allow sense to still be used as an information gathering tool, but encourages smart use of the ability only having it on for as long as you need. Having sense on for a long time while setting up that ambush will leave you starved for FP, greatly increasing the enemy's chance to counter you.


Wall-grab
This ability is a real life-saver while moving around a map and dropping to lower levels, especially on maps like Deathstar. But there are certain players who like to use its ability to hang onto walls forever, often in unreachable locations that cause it to be used in ways we do not intend or to setup lengthy ambushes. As such, the new wall-grab mechanics will actively drain FP slowly while holding onto a wall, automatically drops you upon reaching 0 FP. Also, wall-grab can no longer be used to regenerate FP after bunny hopping.

These changes will still allow the ability to be used as a safe-fall but should prevent poorly planned ambushes. Players will need to better manage their FP pools by choosing the right moment to setup an ambush.


Saber Perks
We've been here before. While Saber vs Saber perks offer a nice diversity between the styles the Saber vs Gun perks adversely change the gameplay dynamics we'd like to see during Saber vs Gun fights. For this reason Saber vs Gun perks won't be included in future builds. Expect refinements to the Saber System and updated Saber vs Saber perks in 1.4.4.


Deflect
This is another ability that greatly benefits from the reduced Block drains and as such we've made some tweaks while updating the mechanics to be less ping dependent. In 1.4.3 Cyan had the ability to deflect by simply holding attack while blocking, this allowed the player to focus entirely on aiming but was too powerful with continuous FP regeneration (even at slow speeds). We liked the quality of life this provided and have applied it to all ranks of deflect (with the Cyan deflect perk being removed). Deflect is in all cases activated by holding attack while blocking and pauses FP regeneration.

• Rank 1: Rapidly Drains FP while held, Cannot be used inside IDR.
• Rank 2: Slowly Drains FP while held, Can be used inside IDR, Cannot be used inside Flinch range.
• Rank 3: Does not Drain FP while held, Can be used inside IDR, Cannot be used inside Flinch range.

Deflecting fits the Jedi fantasy perfectly and gives them a great way to support allies at range beyond push and sense. Now the Jedi must make an active choice to pause their FP regeneration completely in order to reflect shots at the enemy. This still makes Jedi want to wisely time their Deflects as holding it down during a full barrage will quickly deplete your FP pool, but is much more friendly for players of higher ping. We didn't like how in previous builds deflect could be used to facehug someone to death, and while this issue still remains in the form of random deflects, we are able to minimize it greatly.


What about Gunners?

We are mostly happy with the way a lot of the gun classes work. While there are a few things we'd like to look at *cough* SBD *cough* the following are being changed in 1.4.4:

Projectile Rifle
The initial reason behind the Projectile Rifle FP change was to allow Jedi to survive a pop snipe from around a corner, but pop sniping was very fun to do. In reflection of this we've decided to bring back the protection for running Jedi outside of IDR and allow shot-gun snipes to exist vs running Jedi only. A blocking Jedi will be able to protect against a sniper rifle at any range.

• FP Drain Inside IDR while running: Uncapped.
• FP Drain Outside IDR while running: 40.
• FP Drain Inside IDR while blocking <40.

ARC Westar M5
The ammo on this thing has been too low for too long, we heard you. We are increasing the max ammo capacity of the Westar M5 to be inline with other weapons of its type.

• Ammo 1: From 240 > 360.
• Ammo 2: From 360 > 480.
• Ammo 3: From 480 > 600.

This change is very self-explanatory, we feel that ARCs are in a good place at the moment and are very versatile. But the extremely low ammo count was causing too many issues - especially on higher population servers, where the ARC felt like he couldn't provide supporting cover.

Dodge
While the new dodge mechanic does what we want it to, it feels a bit too cumbersome by forcing you into a movement state based on rank and having to hold a button at the same time. We want Dodge to be used to get through chokepoints and suppressed areas, but not to let you tank huge amounts of shots for free. We also thought it was too hard to glance at your Dodge Points while they were being drawn as small numbers and have re-introduced the Dodge Bar.

In all cases, dodge is activated by holding it and has no movement restrictions.It also cannot be used while scoped.

• Rank 1: Cost: A full bar drains over 1 second. Cannot be used up close.
• Rank 2: Cost: A full bar drains over 2 second. Cannot be used up close.
• Rank 3: Cost: A full bar drains over 3 second. Can be used fairly close.

These changes still allow Dodge to be use as a cover breaker while requiring a manual activation to complete. We wanted to keep the current Disruptors(Stationary/Hitscan) vs Projectile(Mobile/Pop-snipe) balance in Sniper vs Sniper engagements but wanted to still provide an alternative option to fight back. Dodge will allow you break the usual corner-play and press the offensive or fallback into cover while you are being shot at. We are still exploring the Hold mechanic over a form of Toggle, similar to what we've introduced for Sense.

Dash
Bringing dodge into a more manual ability was causing conflicts with Dash and Dodge Points. We want players to be able to Dash freely and not to worry about their remaining Dodge Points, at the same time we didn't like the gameplay double dashing in a row would cause skewing balance in the favour of the Hero. Dash has been changed as follows:

• Rank 1:
  • Dashes a short distance in the current movement direction.
  • 2.5s cool-down.
  • Doesn't share a cool-down with Melee moves.
  • Same activation.
  • Unlimited uses.
• Rank 2:
  • Dodges any incoming blasters for the duration of the dash animation.

The cool-down still allows Dash to be used as an intended quick escape or combat positioning tool but prevents double Dashing to escape instances where you may poorly used the ability. At the same time we didn't want to interrupt fun combos such as Dash into Flying Kick, similar to how Blob and Flying Kick function as independent cool-downs.



Final Thoughts

We are excited to get these changes out to you as soon as possible and are committed to continuing progress of the game. The above items are unlikely to change bar number tweaks, but now that we've been able to give you an insight into the direction we are taking we would love to hear back from you on new features, weapons, abilities and mechanics you'd love to see included into Movie Battles II in future builds following 1.4.4.

 

[Fang]

Most of my points are based on the meta map but can be applied to other maps. Ex main of dotf being as long as lunar side or as wide as boc hang like dotf.

I would still stand by my who what when where why points but even I have hated things because I blow against them like mt and sense 3 combo lel but the why is because is likely to do with being too away or traversing an area ALONE which means im gonna get rekt

Dont get me wrong though nerfing the force classes favors me in most ways as a gunner but is it a necessity after recent nerf.

Also can I clarify whether deflect only works at a set range now? Personally dont like being so close and deflect working but whatever

 

[Lessen]

Also can I clarify whether deflect only works at a set range now? Personally dont like being so close and deflect working but whatever

from the OP, in 1.4.4, Deflect 3 will be "Cannot be used inside Flinch range."

I don't have a super strong mental image of what Flinch Range is precisely but it sounds like saberists will be blocked from being able to totally facehug gunners while still threatening deflect. Meaning that SBDs and clones (with their high fire rates) and soldiers (with their expendability) may end up preferring to just walk straight towards deflectors so they can facehug them? But it's not like a facehugging deflector will be in a particular bad position even without deflect, I mean, they can still half-swing off non-deflect blocks.

 

[DaloLorn]

You very much so know what you're talking about, but allow me to add on to your statements:

Whether a Wookiee kills a Sith is *entirely* in the hands of the Wookiee player, not the Sith. Wookiees run as fast as Sith do in melee, and can outrun Sith using charge. Not to mention, a Wookiee with Bowcaster 3 will drain the FP of a running Sith in only a couple of shots. So the Wookiee can literally kite a Sith safely *forever*. The only reliable method to killing Wookiees, SBDs, and Dekas as Jedi/Sith, are to ambush them. Not to mention, Wookiee is one of the few classes with *guaranteed* damage on a Sith before it dies. I have had Wookiee charge+attack combo do 70 damage to me before I could combo them successfully with yellow.

Skill is definitely a factor - someone like me and someone like... Gumba(? Can't remember anyone who's specifically a brilliant Wookiee) will achieve vastly differing results. However, the moment they get touched by a red-using Sith, they're finished or very nearly so, depending on whether they were an unharmed raging Wookiee or just an ordinary Wookiee at the time.

So long as the Sith manages to avoid getting knocked down, and lands his swing successfully, the furball's in for a lot of pain.

On the subject of SBD, it is impossible for a Jedi to kill a decent flinch SBD, utterly impossible.

I actually find it peculiar that there has been nothing but 'coughs' on that topic.

However, Clone is just as bad, and everyone forgets about this class, or seems to believe it is balanced. Clone with flinch is a nightmare to kill without Grip 3/Lightning (and that only works in a 1v1 situation), especially with the regen changes. A clone will almost never miss with their ridiculously fast firing weapon, so trying to regain FP by dodging is impossible, and if you do decide to stand still to try blocking, you get blobbed. If the enemy team has a hero, that blob is your death. If the enemy team has another clone, that blob is your death. Your life is basically in the hands of how well the clone can land a blob, *period*. I have had so many instances trying to kill a Clone who just crouches and sprays back and forth, and I get constantly flinched. Not to mention how effective blobs are against gunners, ions are insane. Stassin seems to think there is strategy to blob whoring, and Clone, I have no idea where he could ever garner that hilariously wrong concept. You cannot out-gun a clone, and you cannot saber one reliably, the only reliable method to killing Clones is with sniper rifles, and if you miss, you're basically dead. Even the *worse* gunners are incredibly dangerous on Clone class, I was fighting someone yesterday named 'MingLee' who basically just held mouse 1 and crouched whenever I got close, and I couldn't kill him, even though he was missing 90 percent of his shots, with the rate of fire on CR3, I'd just get randomly hit. You can't even time your swingblock around the shots because it fires so fast.

You make a good point - I've noticed that my younger brother has an affection for the CR3 in recent patches, using a strategy similar to MingLee's. (He also has a fondness for firepower 3 SBDs, which are about as troublesome as a sniper if you can't get up close enough to throw off his aim.)

Okay so, I've been sitting back and reading everything and am going to both address specific points as well as expand/clarify on some things (mostly cause people either haven't read other discussions or have already forgotten). I know there weren't any points going into saber vs saber changes but that's mostly because they haven't been fully tested yet (yay for me indirectly DoS'ing the beta tests with badly implemented stuff!). I don't think there'd be any problem with adding them once there's been an initial test, @Viserys @Hexodious ?

Starting with specifics:

Parries were not added. They've always been part of the game (including base JKA). They had very minor (almost unnoticeable drains) prior to this version, so I had been discussing raising them a bit/changing how they worked slightly (i.e. having some scaling based off of ACM). I think having them at an equivalent to half of what a body hit does was too much and have already finished re-writing the adjusted versions of what they were before. That said, I'm pretty sure you're confusing parries with Perfect Parry. With some adjustments, faster styles are going to be based more around parrying/controlling opponents rather than trying to just spam them to death in most cases.


There's also going to be some adjustments to how Mblocking works (i.e. not making it all or nothing with side effects for either result) which I'll go into if/when I have the green-light from Vis/Hex.
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This seems interesting, in the 'more input/testing required' sort of way.

Strongly disagree with this. In most cases when I personally am using Sense, it's to survive while advancing. Knowing class combinations, numbers/locations of saberists, how many/where snipers are positioned, if/how many grenades are being prepped or are possibly going to be ready to be prepped/thrown immediately, and so on are all factors of survivability while moving around, regardless of direction/intention.
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Nothing you can't get with a little communication between teammates and personal observation. As someone who never found room for Sense in his templates, I get all of the information you mentioned with immense reliability just by being properly paranoid and looking around. Usually when I get killed, it's due to one of these reasons, few of which would be remedied by Sense:

• I let my guard down, either assuming the enemy couldn't possibly have gotten to a certain position yet, or forgetting to check a certain area thoroughly enough
• I engage an opponent I can't beat, something that has become an everyday occurrence for my saberists post-1.4.3
• Enemy reinforcements arrive before I can retreat/recover
• I'm among the last people standing due to my preference for caution, and get flattened by a small army as recognition for my self-preservation instincts.

First, thanks for detailed input/feedback on ARC in general. Quite a bit of the changes have been taken from those threads/discussions. The ammo change was supposed to already be in (I mentioned this once or twice already) but slipped through :X. Second, I disagree on the effectiveness of the sniper for M5. Sure, it's not a near guaranteed kill if it hits like Proj but it also doesn't require you to be stationary like Ruptor to be effective. It's more of a scoped suppressive fire weapon that can potentially murder people if you're accurate with it (I've loved using it since the changes to ARC, personally).

The M5 sniper works quite nicely until you're fighting (as opposed to lying in wait) at around 1-3x flinch range (I'm not sure what 'flinch range' is distance-wise, to be honest) or lower, at which point you're in too heated an engagement to manage both evasive action and retaliation without the help of considerable skill or aimbots. Like you, though, I've grown rather fond of it.

I think people have been using more force stuff because changes have made them realize that they're actually useful/more effective than before. Also, to clarify, I hope everyone isn't misinterpreting the points on Sense as them having such a short duration. Hex was stating the difference between what you'd get with 20 FP at minimum with the changes compared to how it is on live.

It's still a pretty sizable nerf for such a high-cost ability as Sense 3. It takes 14 points to get that far, points I could (and would rather) use on something with more tangible in-combat benefits than 'I can lay better traps' like Deflect, Push, Pull (and I don't even know how to use that one!), Force Block, Speed, Jump... the list goes on.

Not everything is limited to DOTF .

It's funny that you mention it, actually, because a lot of maps, especially the ones I typically see being played, still have fundamental similarities to DotF, especially if the defending team actually defends rather than allowing the attackers to slaughter them in a defensible location like the DotF hangar.

• Echo Base: Two to three approaches that need to be covered, depending on defenders' location on the map. All of these are tight enough that large forces can be blocked by choke points.
• Jedi Temple: One to two approaches that need to be covered, depending on map location and usage of secondary objective. Again, tight enough for choke points.
• Lunar Base: Two to three approaches, depending on location. I'm becoming repetitive with my choke points.
• Death Star: Two to three approaches.......

Sure, there are exceptions like Smuggler or Jakku, but I don't see those quite as much.

@CC-1119 "Appo'
Ammo drains for any weapon are less cost-efficient damage-wise if you're using the "power shot", as far as I know. 3x damage for 5x cost actually sounds pretty good, but I don't feel like actually comparing the numbers right now. I know you're the ARC pro here but I've gotta say the M5 sniper, on paper, is really great in the mid-range high-precision support-fire role. Per-shot, it's as strong as a P3, but, as far as I know, it has faster projectile speed and faster fire speed. Smaller projectile size, though. And it has a scope magnification that's great for closer ranges. And, like P3, it's completely accurate in all contexts. It's not the massive punisher that other "snipers" are, it's more like the P3: a really high power, punchy, precise, constantly-threatening, constantly-damaging kind of gun. On paper.

Honestly, if it could fire sniper shots unscoped, I would think people would see it as being bowcaster-tier. I mean. It fires fast-moving P3 shots, and it fires a lot of them, and it reloads from empty in a moment. That being said, does ARC move full speed while scoped? I feel like it does. I feel like sniper ARCs are intended to just run around with their scope always up.

I'm pretty good with P3 but garbage with snipers, for whatever reason, and so far I haven't ever been able to get a ton of mileage out of the M5. I'll definitely give it a ton of effort after the ammo buff, though, since that was a huge limitation on it.

Pulse Nades are an ultra hard counter to droid classes AND they make every other class pretty vulnerable for a while, too, it just takes good teamwork to capitalize on that vulnerability.

I'd totally like for Dex to be cheaper, so I could get max dex max armor max stam M5 sniper.

You're definitely right - the M5 may be the weakest sniper rifle in terms of raw lethality/lockdown capacity (let's face it, one or even two hits from a scoped M5 aren't as lethal or as frightening as a projectile or fully charged disruptor), but it has applications beyond 'sit here and lock this corridor down'. The relative lack of stopping power is more than easily offset by its flexibility, assuming you can hit anything. (I'm still working on that bit, and Appo seems to have given up on it. )

 

[Blazer]

Devs should think about giving Wookies double damage when hit with lightning and possibly catch on fire. This will not be overpowered to use against wookies because wookies can always just melee the sith and if the sith jumps away, use your pistol/bowcaster to fire them down.

 

[Lessen]

Oh, I wanted to say something about Wookiees.

As a Wookiee, I can get most of a Rage bar by taking advantage of some stupid mistake made by some newbie Soldier. I can then use that Rage bar to unstoppably slaughter numerous good players in most classes that I otherwise wouldn't be able to kill. That seems really unfair and unfun, punishing players that hard for a mistake made by their teammates. (then again, Thermal Detonators and Push exist. Although in that case, it's more likely that the player will notice how much they're harming their team, and it's much easier for them to keep it from happening again.)

both of those mechanics are more or less totally fine in the context of a competitive game where everybody's communicating and knows what they're doing, and in other contexts i'm somewhat against balancing things for pubs-with-newbs, but in this case it's so audaciously terrible in that context that i've gotta whine about it.

I mean, if the team catches on to the fact that one of their newbies is being a Wookiee sacrifice, then it would literally be an honest-to-god good strategic decision for them to take turns TKing that newbie to prevent him from getting eaten. That's bad! That's a bad thing.

edit: I remember the first time i played, several years ago, Wookiee rage was based on how much damage had been dealt to the Wookiee, which meant that Wookiees were basically guaranteed a rage once per life as they reached a certain health value. That wasn't great either, but it had its pros and cons.

do Wookiees NEED Rage? without it, they're still a big Melee threat to Sith, or to gunners that they ambush, they still can charge through Lightning, and they still have a bowcaster and a bunch of health (although headshots can chew through that pretty quickly). Is Rage necessary?

haha what if instead of rage, Wookies could buy armor or a helmet or something that makes them take regular damage from headshots or reduced damage overall. haha what if

 

[Onysfx]

Saw you guys talking about pulse nades a page or two back, here is my suggestion:

-Reduce Pulse Nades down to 8 points. It won't give you enough to buy more pulse nades than you already can, but it might just give you enough points for some extra armor or stamina/dex.

Since pulse nades are the weakest nade damage wise, I feel it should be 8 points, but it shouldn't be so cheap as 6 or 5 points (EDIT: My bad, sonics are the weakest damage wise, perhaps they should be 8 points as well?)


Another thing, you all keep forgetting jedi/sith have an instakill glowstick.

 

[Gumba]

Suicide main with imperials getting into main first

this statement is wrong btw. At least as a hero, dash makes you come to main first in 90% of cases unless you get a bad- and imps get a good spawn.

 

[DaloLorn]

this statement is wrong btw. At least as a hero, dash makes you come to main first in 90% of cases unless you get a bad- and imps get a good spawn.

Only partially wrong - as a non-hero (or a non-sniper hero), getting to main first doesn't let you cross the death zone - let's face it, that's what it is if there's more than two snipers in that corridor - and reach a distance where most snipers will either fail to hit you or switch to non-sniper weapons. Even as a sniping hero, Mando rockets will almost exclusively get to your side of the corridor at around the time a rush would reach it, with or without a Mandalorian still attached to them - as for Jedi, the FP cost for making it that far soon enough (let alone making it through the death zone) is such that they have to spend upwards of 10 seconds recovering from the exertion, preferably in a position where they don't have to keep their saber on; not very useful if you want to press the attack instead of exchanging sniper fire for 5 minutes.

 

[Blazer]

Talking about wookies, I just don't like them overall. Against sith, a decent sith knows how to crouch to prevent getting knocked down and slaughtered. So a decent melee wookie and a decent crouching sith vs eachother is just stupid. It just becomes a game of whoever can get the most hits in at saber-melee range and eventually someone has to make their move and it's just stupid. The sith looks ridicolous swinging his saber around while laying on the floor as the wookie taunts and runs to and from the sith, back and forth. It's just stupid.

 

[Blazer]

And with wookies vs gunners, it's just a matter of how many guys can shoot down a wookie as fast as possible. I find myself as a wookie just charging at gunners eating rockets and blaster fire for lunch as I hammer down on the gunner with my fists. Wookie is just a huge tank that deals and takes lots of damage as he tries to take down as many gunners with him as possible. Most situations as I play wookie, I just CHARGE IN AT the imperials and eat blaster fire, taking 2 soldiers, maybe a BH by knocking him down, and possibly an unsuspecting sith. Then I die. The game isn't fun when it's just picking a class to kill yourself just to take down a few other enemies then having to wait 3 minutes to play the same situation again.

 

[S o l d i e r]

To tackle the SBD issue I suggest making the exposed middle part of its body, the abdomen, its weakpoint. What I mean by weakpoint is that it either takes more damage when hit there, or that that part of the body is unaffected by the three specialised armour improvements (magnetic plating, cortosis, blast armour). Here's the part of the body that I mean marked on this picture:

Spoiler

This can also be interesting in terms of tactics. The SBD can crouch to dodge the damage directed towards its abdomen, and the SBD's enemies, even saberists, can aim at a weakpoint that is other than head.

 

[{Δ} Achilles]

More on the subject of Wookiees, as a gunner, a hiding Wookiee is infinitely more dangerous than a hiding saberist. If you're a soldier, or a commander, there is *nothing* you can do if a Wookiee is within 15 feet of you, and if the Wookiee is camping somewhere, there is nothing you can do to keep that Wookiee from getting within 15 feet. You're just dead. Bowcaster is also an incredibly powerful weapon that few people realize is good, it tears through solds/coms like butter, the charge shot is utterly lethal to BHs/Mandos, and you would not believe how much FP damage it does to a Sith. Honestly, Wookiee has the same dumb problem that Hero/Clone have, it has *too much*. It is too tanky, it is too mobile, and it is too lethal.

 

[RG4]

First one is from CMP and the other is Republic Cruiser. Basically these are two examples of special weapon models like how we see with Clone Rifle 2 and 3 w/o blobs, or the TFA models. So I dunno if I could be implemented or even possible to allow for some these custom models to be put into open just for some flavor, like all things consider there are dozens of nice models shuffled away that could be introduced or at the very least implemented in the way we have RGB models and saber hilts/colors.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[RG4]

Think like this but instead you have alternate view models for your E-11,Proj,Pistol.
For example the T21 could look like the Imperial Repeater, the normal blaster pistol could be Leia's pistol from deathstar FA

 

[Blazer]

To tackle the SBD issue I suggest making the exposed middle part of its body, the abdomen, its weakpoint. What I mean by weakpoint is that it either takes more damage when hit there, or that that part of the body is unaffected by the three specialised armour improvements (magnetic plating, cortosis, blast armour). Here's the part of the body that I mean marked on this picture:

Spoiler

View attachment 1355

This can also be interesting in terms of tactics. The SBD can crouch to dodge the damage directed towards its abdomen, and the SBD's enemies, even saberists, can aim at a weakpoint that is other than head.

I like what you're saying here Soldier. If the dev's could do something where the SBD changes colors at certain parts of its body or it loses armor like in REPUBLIC COMMANDO that'd be SO COOL! If you don't know what i am talking about, in republic commando when you shot SBD's in the same spot enough time, their armor would tear off and you could do like double damage if you shot that spot. Eventually those spots would blast or get torn off and it wouldn't have an arm or torso.

 

[Blazer]

Think like this but instead you have alternate view models for your E-11,Proj,Pistol.
For example the T21 could look like the Imperial Repeater, the normal blaster pistol could be Leia's pistol from deathstar FA

I discussed this in one of my own threads I think. I love the idea of customizing a weapon and offered the idea in my IDEAS FOR OPEN Thread. Check it out and tell me what you think!

 

[{Δ} Achilles]

I like what you're saying here Soldier. If the dev's could do something where the SBD changes colors at certain parts of its body or it loses armor like in REPUBLIC COMMANDO that'd be SO COOL! If you don't know what i am talking about, in republic commando when you shot SBD's in the same spot enough time, their armor would tear off and you could do like double damage if you shot that spot. Eventually those spots would blast or get torn off and it wouldn't have an arm or torso.

Or they could just balance SBD, and make it more like the Republic Commando SBD. A slower, more terrifying weapons platform, and not just some OP penguin-wobble tank.

 

[Lessen]

Or they could just balance SBD, and make it more like the Republic Commando SBD. A slower, more terrifying weapons platform, and not just some OP penguin-wobble tank.

That's already Deka's role, isn't it? Or by "weapons platform" do you mean you want it to have that super strong arm rocket it has in RC? (It has something like that in some Full Authentics but it's more of a conc than a rocket.)

The combination of decent mobility and extremely high strength seems fundamental to the class. SBD and at least Bowcaster Wookiee seem to be theoretically designed to be "easy to hit but hard to kill," so that unlike most classes, they don't stick around by avoiding damage but by sustaining it. Meaning that they can charge into and stick around for a scarily long time in very painful situations, but unlike good damage-avoiders they can't stick around FOREVER that well at all. They are more vulnerable to being worn down by people with better mobility who pop and shoot from cover, or flank.

(I'm not saying they're well-balanced in that role, I'm just saying I think that's the intended role.)

Theoretically, when this kind of "bruiser" role forces its way into your territory with its penguin wobble, the best strategy is to allow it to take that territory but wear it down as you retreat as safely as possible.

and the big problem with it right now is probably that it's too good at holding territory, because it's difficult to "safely wear down" an opponent that has cover and doesn't have to make themselves vulnerable. But... a combination of a crouch-smart saberist and a cautious gunner seems like they can flush out a campy wook/SBD. That still leaves bruisers in a fundamentally winning position against other lone gunners when on defense, but is that necessarily bad?

 

[StarWarsGeek]

Think like this but instead you have alternate view models for your E-11,Proj,Pistol.
For example the T21 could look like the Imperial Repeater, the normal blaster pistol could be Leia's pistol from deathstar FA

Not gameplay related and probably would be pretty low priority, but this still would be really nice to have. This would be so much more fun than having gun models based off character model, weapon level, or attachment (differences based on weapon level/attachment are usually very subtle anyway). Letting people customize their gun model couldn't be any sillier than having Qui-gon with dual purple bladed Desann hilts. This would also be a way to get iconic guns into open mode that are too similar to existing weapons to warrant their own separate weapon (DC-17m comes to mind, essentially would be the same as M5). There are enough alternate weapon models already included in MB2 to give every class some choices for every gun.

 

[SK5]

Yep we definetly need weapon customization for gunners too.