Fusion rifles used to be a problem in the crucible. Their ability to deal damage equal to shotguns at mid range engagements was brutal. This should be offset by charge rate and stability. Fusions should either have a fast charge and low stability or slow charge and high stability. The damage they deal could certainly use a similar increase in PvE as the shotguns saw. At present, they do not see my inventory at all unless dealing with shields on nightfall. Another compromise would be to lower overall damage, but permit crits to proc on headshots while ADS. I've always found their lack of crits upsetting. A laser to the face would be just as devastating as a bullet (in theory).
Fusion rifles are currently broken and the current preview for changes doesn't seem to address that in full. If anything, the difficulty in balancing them is attributed to their lack of real world comparison.
However, nerf the hell out of the Felwinter Sniper and other High-Range/High-Impact shotties. For christ's sake, some of those kills are unbelievable. Give that kind of range to the Universal Remote, but quit that on the legendaries, for the love of god.
English
-
While Fusion Rifles lack popularity that doesn't equate to a broken weapon. They kill just fine, very easily in PvE, more of a challenge in PvP, but very capable nonetheless. I had to re-read the notes again but it's not all bad. A lot of what Bungie is doing is rebalancing the weapons within each weapon class so that players have to make a conscious decision about the range that they want to fight at and be effective with a certain weapon type. Having a Fusion Rifle that has high impact effective at all ranges would be broken. But making it less effective at longer ranges while making it more accurate at closer ranges seems like a fair trade off to me. If the optimal range is mid-range then this weapon tuning is going to help more than hurt unless you like to snipe with a Fusion Rifle. But then you still have the option of fine-tuning your range at the cost of stability. Again, your choice. Allowing precision hits on this weapon would make it overpowered. So, no, they shouldn't allow that. Agree with you about the Felwinter Sniper and every other shotgun that is being used to one-shot effect at mid range. According to Bungie, that is supposed to be Fusion Rifles wheelhouse.
-
I hadn't considered the impact into the equation, but I agree that the higher impact fusion rifles should have lower stability and slow charge times. That behavior is logical when comparing to higher caliber real world weapons. More energy displacement means less accuracy and more time to cycle (in realistic theory). Fusion rifles in PvE do kill, and they can kill a mob just as well as any other weapon. The problem with this, is their effectiveness in target rich environments. Shotguns outperform in this regard where snipers can take a passive approach to eliminate key targets. At present, a shotgun can eliminate high threat targets quickly (soon to be changed to increase TTK). Fusion rifles can also be effective as well, but their cost/benefit is not worth it. You have to factor in a charge time, during which the stunned target can resume movement which must be tracked. They also have a similar number of rounds as the shotguns giving them an equal playing ground on ammunition. In summary, a shotgun rewards a higher output versus the risk associated, whereas the fusion rifle has increased risks in a target rich environment. For single engagements, it doesn't excel much better except for its ability to deal damage at midrange (if rewarding proper recoil control and tracking: ie more skill). The fusion rifles require more skill to execute and have much larger drawbacks than shotguns or sniper rifles. This needs to be offset somehow by a damage increase or permitting crit procs on the exceptionally skillful. And when I say permitting crits, I am also suggesting a damage decrease on body shots. Therefore, you maintain the balance of the weapon and keep it useful for small mobs and hipfiring, but requiring ADS and high skill for VIP targets in a target rich engagement.
-
Edited by Dano2point0: 7/20/2015 7:08:57 PM[quote]In summary, a shotgun rewards a higher output versus the risk associated, whereas the fusion rifle has increased risks in a target rich environment. [/quote] I think you bring up some really good points regarding cost/benefit of Fusion Rifles and this is an interesting point in particular. But I think you haven't considered that when it comes to comes to fighting in target rich environments utilizing cover is critical to survival. Because of their range, I am able to effectively use Fusion Rifle's from cover which frequently happens to be within their ideal range without the need to incur greater risk in close quarters like I would be with a shotgun. This is perfectly in line with Bungie's categorization of it as a mid-range weapon with significant stopping power. Yes, it's going to be slower in close quarters than a shotgun but that's the trade off for having a multi-pellet special with mid-range capability. Outside of Rocket Launchers, we're only going to be able to deal with one target at a time whether it's with a Shotgun or Fusion Rifle. So in target rich environments I'm still dealing with one enemy at a time but the issue is whether I need follow up shots with slow firing weapons. Shotguns have a decisive edge in fire rate but not by much. Both stagger the enemy so the primary target isn't the threat, it's everything else around them and that's when positioning and movement come into play.