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Edited by GentleRoost:
7/29/2014 12:36:42 AM
27
Opinions on Hand Cannon
Hey there everyone, this is my first post and first off I just wanted to say it's nice to meet you all! I hope you have all bee enjoying the game as much as I am and I really hope I run into all of you out there in the wild! (b'v')b
But onto the main reason of this post, I'd like to know what all of your opinions are on my personal favorite weapon, the Hand Cannon. I'm sure many posts like this have already been made but I would really love to talk to you all about this subject. Me and my roommate were in the alpha together, and we both agreed that while the hand cannon had its flaws (which I will go into detail about in a second) it still had many a redeeming quality, being versatile in PvE and PvP. Now in the beta though, it seems the Hand Cannon has been put to the side by many players, and truthfully I can understand why. To be a fan of something, at times you must also be a critic. To me, the Hand Cannon as of right now, is a wonderful, fun, and strong weapon in the PvE area. Impact plays a big part here in the wild, and most common enemies will go down in one or two head shots. However, there are many times, especially fighting bosses, where six bullets do not just cut it, and with the hefty reload speed time, the payoff doesn't quite match the reward. This can be countered by having gloves that increase reload speed and playing a Hunter with the Chain of Woe skill, but not everyone is lucky enough to come across said gloves and not everyone wishes to play a Hunter or even use a Hand Cannon as one. In comparison to say the scout rifle, the damage seems quite tame too. I remember in the Alpha you could pop off baddies left and right with a Hand Cannon, but in the Beta, it seems that the Scout Rifle does all around better, only lacking in impact effect. I'm not saying the Hand Cannon is a bad weapon at all, like I mentioned, it's my personal fave, but I can easily see how it is outclassed in many situations, especially when fire rate, stability, and overall ammo count come into play. Speaking of which, maybe it's only noticeable because we all have a cap in the Beta, but you really should be able to carry more ammo for the Hand Cannon, especially when I'm dealing the same damage with a Scout Rifle, and that easily carries twice as much ammunition. I'm not saying the Scout Rifle is better, personally I think the Ganon does a damn fine job compared to any Scout Rifle, but these two guns are the most easy to compare in a PvE sense.
PvP wise, well, in the Alpha, there was no doubt that the Hand Cannon, could, for better lack of terms, wreck face. In the Beta, it still has a presence, but it just falls flat when compared to a Scout Rifle in long range and a Auto Rifle in close to mid range. The reload speed, while manageable, hurts more in PvP then ever in PvE, and compared to the Auto Rifle, which can tear up a room in 3 seconds flat, the Hand Cannon struggles to take down two at most. Skill does play a big part, there is no doubt about that, but I have seen player rack kills like no tomorrow with an auto rifle, just because its versatility, range, fire rate, ammo count, and reload speed, dominate the mid to close range scene, while a scout rifle has a lot less risk then the Hand Cannon in the long range scene, while still giving the same benefits, better stability, reload speed, and ammo count. The only Hand Cannon that can truly hold its own in PvP at this point is the Ganon, and I do hope all of you get a chance to use said gun at some point in your time in the Beta.
So, after all that blabbering, I want to know ,what do you guys think of Hand Cannons and where they fit in the PvE and PvP scene. Personally, I think they would truly amazing guns with three differences. 1. Faster reload speed, does not need to be on par with rifles, but could definitely use a boost. 2. More ammo, not a bigger magazine, although that would be nice, but we should be able to carry at least 100-120 rounds. 3. A slight damage boost, not a giant one, but enough of one to make the Hand Cannon a good competitor compared to the likes of the Scout Rifle and Auto rifle in the PvP scene. I mean after all, it is a cannon that you wield in your hand, it needs to start feeling and acting more like one. Thank you guys for taking the time to read this, I look forward to hearing back from you. (b'v')b
P.S. Also, is it just me, or do Hand Cannons seem not to be the best at taking down enemy shields in the crucible?
(Update: Sorry for the wall of text guys, I just fixed it so that the PvE and the PvP section would be not clumped together.)
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I was so excited when I first had the option to pick a HC as my primary weapon, and when doing missions it performed very well. I had such an easy time picking off headshots and the damage it did was very satisfying. But when I first joined the Crucible with trusty HC in hand, I was absolutely destroyed. I was landing plenty of shots, but the damage it was doing to enemies was negligible. In PvP, the enemies have much more and also shields to disable. It can't compete. I saw someone do a damage comparison between a HC and a Scout Rifle with identical damage. Assuming you get a headshot each time, unlikely I know, the scout rifle is able to do almost 2.5 times the damage of the HC per clip. What's the point of using one then? If the Scout Rifle with the same damage stat can do twice as much damage per clip, has more ammo per clip, carries more ammo, reloads quicker, and has a longer effective range; why even bother putting in the HC? Don't get me wrong, I love the hand cannon, but as of right now it can't compete. Even looking at the level 20 legendaries, they don't have any significant damage advantage over any of the Scout of Automatic rifles. If they don't have advantages in any categories, by level 20, what's the point? They've created a class of weapons that effectively useless at this point in time. Having one or two bad weapons is one thing, and entire category of obsolete guns is inexcusable. The balance problem can be fixed with 2 simple steps, with one other optional one. Step 1, up the damage. A permanent boost to both the base damage and the critical hit damage would go a long way to fixing the problem. They should be able to out perform any weapon in close to mid range damage. Scout rifles have an advantage in mid to long range and Pulse/Automatic rifles have higher clip size and ROF so they are comparable in short range. Step 2 would be to increase the amount of ammo you can carry. You should be able to miss a couple shots without worrying about not having enough ammo to keep competing. The smaller clip size should mean you can carry more. Right now ammo is very quick to run out in missions and the Crucible. 100-120 rounds should suffice to make it a less pressing problem. Additionally, upping the reload time would be good, but it isn't something that is a needed change. With the other changes, the current reload time would be sufficient. To wrap up, these changes would enable the HC to become the weapon it should be. The way it was designed compared to the other weapon classes, it should be a skill cannon; somewhat difficult to get the hang of and master, but in the right hands it would be a devastating weapon. In its current form, it doesn't do any more damage than any other weapon. It has the potential to be a specialized weapon, but it's not quite there yet. I apologize for the essay, but at least it isn't a wall of text.
