The Wrist Laser is Rather Silly

[TronTheNoob]

PLEASE BE AWARE: This is not intended to be a "buff mando plz" thread, I think they're fine where they are. This is more a thread to try and give a useless point slot in mando builds some love.

Mandos have been my favorite class to use since I started playing some 500hrs of game time ago. The rocket is fun, jetpack is fun, the flamethrower is fun (to use at least), and the weapon selection is pretty nice. But the wrist laser doth sucketh.

From what I gather reading older threads, it used to be much better (too much), and was struck a fatal blow by the dreaded nerf bat. Now it's just a p3 with a weird cooldown mechanic. So, as I haven't heard anything about it on the forums since january, I thought I'd post my opinions and suggestions on the internet so I can be called an idiot-- I mean start a conversation about it.

1. Make it non reflectable
Pretty self-explanatory. It's the least exciting but probably easiest to implement idea that'd at least make it somewhat useful against the dreaded turtle-jedi. However, even then it would be less useful than flamethrower.

2. Knockdown on leg hit
This one would be interesting at least, would probably have to be balanced with a fairly significant increase to recharge time and/or decrease in shot capacity. But essentially, if you hit some poor bastard in the knee (except maybe immobile guarding jedi) you'd get a knockdown effect. *Insert dead Skyrim meme here* This would get an interesting dynamic going, where you'd get much less damage on hit compared to body or head shot, but y'know... knockdown.

3. Charge-Only P3
For this, we must embrace the gimmick. Essentially, you'd give it a minimum charge time of 0.5s (er something in that neighborhood) to be fireable, and a max charge at 2s (er something in that neighborhood) and do away with any timed discharge. So you could walk around corners with a big ass pew on your wrist. (And maybe small knockback?)

4. Unlimited Shot Capacity, But Drains Fuel
Again, fairly self explanatory, maybe a bit too gimmicky, but would at least offer a more interesting and versatile way of balancing than "3 shots or you lose it."

Really, these are just stray shower thoughts. I have no experience in game development but figured I'd throw my lame brain juices at people and see what they think.

 

[yoinkboink]

PLEASE BE AWARE: This is not intended to be a "buff mando plz" thread,


1. Make it non reflectable


2. Knockdown on leg hit

3. Charge-Only P3

4. Unlimited Shot Capacity, But Drains Fuel

Sounds like a major buff to me

 

[TronTheNoob]

Sounds like a major buff to me

Not sure if you're grouping all those together as one buff. Wasn't my intention, they're separate ideas.

But, I'll omit, pretty much anything done to the wrist laser right now that isn't a nerf would be some form of buff. My point was to say I'm not trying to drastically increase mando power levels overall, just add new options for playing it. Hell, if you're not going to change the wrist laser in some capacity you might as well just remove it.

 

[yoinkboink]

Not sure if you're grouping all those together as one buff. Wasn't my intention, they're separate ideas.

But, I'll omit, pretty much anything done to the wrist laser right now that isn't a nerf would be some form of buff. My point was to say I'm not trying to drastically increase mando power levels overall, just add new options for playing it. Hell, if you're not going to change the wrist laser in some capacity you might as well just remove it.

I must have misinterpreted. I agree with you, then.

 

[P4KISTAN]

Wrist laser might be a whole lot useful if it's projectiles were more like shotgun shots rather than a p3 knock off...not so movie friendly I guess but i think it would work better as a close quarters alternative to the flame thrower.

 

[Noob]

could make it so when you try to deflect the shot you stagger a bit. Would have to reduce the ammo count. I like the idea of making it a contender with poison darts by making jedi afraid to approach head on.

 

[takuta pls]

how bout they just make it so you can use it while knocked down like i've been suggesting for well over a year

 

[yoinkboink]

how bout they just make it so you can use it while knocked down like i've been suggesting for well over a year

if you could tell me 5 things that players have suggested and actually were implemented...

 

[takuta pls]

if you could tell me 5 things that players have suggested and actually were implemented...

chances are there's probably a lot more things in the game that have been suggested prior by the players than you or I realize, dude

 

[StarWarsGeek]

I think wrist laser while knocked down would be a really good buff. I'd definitely use it more.

if you could tell me 5 things that players have suggested and actually were implemented...

Off the top of my head:
1. Cyan and purple in open mode.
2. Shooting during ARC rolls.
3. Wall runs for ARC.
4. Side rolls for heroes/BH.
5. Removing firing delay on wrist laser.
Not to mention numerous small value buffs/nerfs (e.g. M5 magazine ammo increase, P3 damage nerf, etc.)

Pretty sure I've seen all of those things suggested by players before they were implemented. I'm sure you could find many more examples if you dug around on archives of the old forums on WaybackMachine.

 

[Subaru]

A combination of 1 with the drawback of 4 could be neat.

 

[Chocorope]

PLEASE BE AWARE: This is not intended to be a "buff mando plz" thread, I think they're fine where they are. This is more a thread to try and give a useless point slot in mando builds some love.

Mandos have been my favorite class to use since I started playing some 500hrs of game time ago. The rocket is fun, jetpack is fun, the flamethrower is fun (to use at least), and the weapon selection is pretty nice. But the wrist laser doth sucketh.

From what I gather reading older threads, it used to be much better (too much), and was struck a fatal blow by the dreaded nerf bat. Now it's just a p3 with a weird cooldown mechanic. So, as I haven't heard anything about it on the forums since january, I thought I'd post my opinions and suggestions on the internet so I can be called an idiot-- I mean start a conversation about it.

1. Make it non reflectable
Pretty self-explanatory. It's the least exciting but probably easiest to implement idea that'd at least make it somewhat useful against the dreaded turtle-jedi. However, even then it would be less useful than flamethrower.

2. Knockdown on leg hit
This one would be interesting at least, would probably have to be balanced with a fairly significant increase to recharge time and/or decrease in shot capacity. But essentially, if you hit some poor bastard in the knee (except maybe immobile guarding jedi) you'd get a knockdown effect. *Insert dead Skyrim meme here* This would get an interesting dynamic going, where you'd get much less damage on hit compared to body or head shot, but y'know... knockdown.

3. Charge-Only P3
For this, we must embrace the gimmick. Essentially, you'd give it a minimum charge time of 0.5s (er something in that neighborhood) to be fireable, and a max charge at 2s (er something in that neighborhood) and do away with any timed discharge. So you could walk around corners with a big ass pew on your wrist. (And maybe small knockback?)

4. Unlimited Shot Capacity, But Drains Fuel
Again, fairly self explanatory, maybe a bit too gimmicky, but would at least offer a more interesting and versatile way of balancing than "3 shots or you lose it."

Really, these are just stray shower thoughts. I have no experience in game development but figured I'd throw my lame brain juices at people and see what they think.

Yeah, I kind of like these ideas, could be interesting, have a nice dynamic going, like you said.

Thanks for your ideas

Cheer.

 

[Smee]

how bout they just make it so you can use it while knocked down like i've been suggesting for well over a year

I don't think there is a single instance in the last 3 years of devs actually listening to feedback

 

[GoodOl'Ben]

could make it so when you try to deflect the shot you stagger a bit. Would have to reduce the ammo count. I like the idea of making it a contender with poison darts by making jedi afraid to approach head on.

This sounds like a fun mechanic, albeit in that case I would restrict the ammo to a set amount.

The only critique on this I'd have is that it's hard to telegraph to the Jedi so he can evade accordingly. Still it could be just fine without any adjustments. Clone blobs are much more volatile and there's no warning besides players fully expecting clones to have blobs.

All the other ideas here are fine as well, but I think they lack the unique factor that this one presents. Creating new situations for both players and giving an empowering tool to the user.

OFFTOPIC WARNING:

if you could tell me 5 things that players have suggested and actually were implemented...

There have been plenty, some of which are mentioned by SWG. Many tend to have come from players who've joined the team and helped put them in themselves.

Before I was in the team, I suggested a movement speed boost to melee wooks. This has been in for the past 10 years. When I was just a beta(tester), I reskinned Alora and added a shine shader to the battledroid skin. Oh I think I also made a louder grip sound. These three are also in now.

Another feature I remember coming in from players was rolling with pistols and grenades.

Overall a lot of features that exist as they are now became so due to betatester feedback and ideas. One fairly new one that I coded was Qwerty's request for faster bullet speeds. Worth noting that I did tone it down slightly from where Qwerty liked it due to being a conservative fuck, but I do think the game experience improved greatly.

Other cool instances of community creations reaching official:

• Community Map Pack, which is a metric ton of amazing maps, some of which also received official adaptations based on the original .map files: Deathstar, Corellia, Echobase
  
• TK-421's Enhanced Effects pack (movie realistic smoke and sparks for gun wallhits and explosions)
• Grenade glow effects
• A ton of character models
• JAMME (albeit now out due to license issues we were initially unaware of)
• Jek Porkins (Modeled by non-dev Lerv and the beard/moustache added by yours truly)

I'm sure this is just a scratch on the surface, there's been so much discussion going on in the forums that sometimes it's hard to remember where the original idea came from.

A big reason why you could say "devs never add anything from the community" is because people perceive the devs as an outsider of the community, when in reality all devs originated from the community. Often times getting in because of their contributions prior to joining the team. People with keen insight and enthusiasm such as Hexodious have made an impact on MB2's gameplay way before joining the team.

Not trying to rub anyone's dick, while I wouldn't mind doing so, but almost everyone who has joined the team has made contributions to the game as a whole prior to joining the team.

The #1 thing that devs add from the community is more devs.

 

[takuta pls]

I don't think there is a single instance in the last 3 years of devs actually listening to feedback

remember the ridiculous cyan/purple open perks? the deflect and the q3 thing, and how the response was so overwhelmingly negative that they got removed incredibly quickly?

yeah, they listen, it's just tough to make decisions

 

[Liniyka_xddd]

Keep this shit outta here. This is a wrist blaster rework thread and I 100% support the idea of it.

It's a gadget that almost never gets used and desperately needs some love.

 

[Gumba]

Keep this shit outta here. This is a wrist blaster rework thread and I 100% support the idea of it.

It's a gadget that almost never gets used and desperately needs some love.

Although there are classes that need reworked abilities way more.

SBD and Hero comes to mind.

 

[GoodOl'Ben]

Keep this shit outta here. This is a wrist blaster rework thread and I 100% support the idea of it.

It's a gadget that almost never gets used and desperately needs some love.

The stagger sounds the coolest to me. The only thing I don't like about the idea is that it's once more something very specific that'll only be really handy vs Jedi.

What would make wristlaser something you can whip out even against gunners. Perhaps create an interesting interaction with another class? Let's not add another knockdown ability.

 

[Manyo]

Wrist Laser faces the same problem as the Dual Pistols. When you got one of the most powerful guns in the game, there is no rational justification to use Wrist Laser or Pistols other than beeing stylish, unless they do something that the EE3 can't do.
I like the first idea, maybe increasing fp damage the further you are away from the Jedi. Wouldn't be too unfair imo since those shots are hard to hit and it wouldn't be in direct competition with the Flame Thrower this way.

But actually i'd go with something along the lines of your second idea to have something more useful against gunners, not necessarily a straight up knockdown tho.
How about the shots set the enemy on fire. It would do way less damage than the Fire Nades, but it would force the enemy to either roll and risk some easy shots, or to kill the manda fast and get rid of the fire later. Basically it would simply put pressure on the enemy to make a mistake. Saberists should be rewarded for their reaction time by holding block to not be effected.
With number of shots per round, impact damage and damage over time, there is enough room to balance the whole thing. You can even set a damage limit where the fire just fades away after some seconds.

Honestly tho i got no problem with the Wrist Laser beeing a useless gimmick, considering how using it turns out for Boba in the movies.

If you want a stagger, please put Jangos Hook Shot into the game and use this instead of the Wrist Laser!

 

[Gumba]

Wrist Laser faces the same problem as the Dual Pistols. When you got one of the most powerful guns in the game, there is no rational justification to use Wrist Laser or Pistols other than beeing stylish, unless they do something that the EE3 can't do.

This.

Westars are amazing weapons that are super underused because EE3 is completely broken.