I've been away from the scene for quite some time and when I read about this in the patch notes, it shocked me.
Such a fundamental piece of MB2 was changed drastically. It was the biggest change it's had since B18 or B19. It's been a staple for over 10 years.
It started off an as an instant win button with the secondary detonating just as hard as the primary. B18 nerfed it down to a simple concussive blast with heavy FP impact. Around RC1, some additional knockback was introduced to make it a bit harder to use by making the targets fly a bit from the blast. It's always been a good way for players to compensate for lack of more subtle skills and give an edge in an otherwise very precarious situation. An ace up the sleeve.
I thought the gameplay would feel awful after the nerf. So I had to test it out.
I've played frag grenade builds near-exclusively since I came back just to see how it pans out. It was a positive surprise! In the past, I haven't relied on the secondary function all that much in my play as I usually prefer to use the primary for the big booms and crowd control. Secondary was often a teamwork tool or a last minute Hail Mary against a swarm of jedi or sith. With the increased FP drains, I noticed that I hardly needed the grenade anyway. Knockback has also been ultra oppressive and feels like it makes it difficult for sith/jedi to comeback after getting hit once. It's either run away or pray that I miss the coup de grâce when they flail around in a panic.
Of course I've tried incorporating the secondary nade in its current form as well. It is somewhat lackluster. It feels good when you land a direct hit and sometimes that direct hit is what you need to win. However, I've noticed that jedi/sith are no longer stunned from the hit for as long as they used to. This would be fine if the secondary nade dealt more direct hit damage to offset that. So the current sec nade is quite cool to use for direct hits, but I think it lacks some strength. Either bring back the old recovery frames to allow for that additional shot to be snuck in or boost the damage. I'd boost the damage. Most of the time instead of trying for that crazy direct hit, I should've just kept shooting and guaranteed a win.
While the sec nade is lackluster, many have adapted around it by incorporating the less utilized grenades more.
I've seen amazing concussive grenade plays from soldiers and they feel much more difficult to deal with than the secondary frags ever did, but in a good way. There is a clear distinct setup for the conc, which makes the gameplay more nuanced.
ET players are using the special grenades as well. The incendiary grenades especially seem to be creating a lot of trouble. Great for controlling areas and adding peril to regions. Sonic dets also seem to more used more often. Not as noticeably as the incendiaries though.
Secondaries have been a good oppressive defensive tool and in a game where defenders almost always have a crazy advantage. Removing that has made attacking locations much easier, because you only have to worry about gunfire, snipers, push and pull, which all have better counterplay options.
My summary would be something like this...
Pros:
- Positive meta-shift in build variety with other grenades being used more
- Direct hits with the secondary are fun to try
- Offensive play is easier now due to the absence of old sec nades
Cons:
- Direct hits aren't rewarding enough to try
- Skill floor is lowered
What to do?
- Buff damage on direct hit
- Make a cooler effect with a rewarding sound on hit, the one I made has run its course, it no longer properly reflects its behaviour
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