Flare gun nerf was a bit much

[dharknite]

Trion, why exactly did you nerf the damage of the flare gun by almost half, without compensating in some other way. Did the gun hurt in pvp, sure if you actually hit someone. It has a mag size of 1 (a few more with the proper mod), has a rather slow reload, fires in arch and travels fairly slow. Decreasing the upfront damage without increasing the dot damage, clip size and/or reload speed makes this poor marginalized weapon even worse. The crit multiplier decrease was a bit harsh, head shot with a small. slow moving, arcing projectile is not easy, why make things worse.

This patch managed to nerf a rarely used weapon ( among others) while not addressing guns like the combat and pump shotguns.

[HellOnOrion]

they dont care, its that simple. kudos to them for getting my 130 something $$ though before the game launched. Too bad

[tangmcgame]

I'm a little surprised the Flare Gun got stomped but most of the shotguns went untouched. I'm not one to complain too much about balance, but I feel like a liability to my team if I don't use a shotgun. Flare Gun is great, but hard to hit with and requires good aim and a careful lead. Silly to nerf a gun that takes real skill to use effectively while ignoring weapons that take almost no skill to use and are currently dominant.

[Honved]

It was needed, as an lmg and sniper having a pistol out damage you is just ridiculous. A flare gun at that too, it still does nice damage though.

[Penguin]

No one ever complained about flare gun in pvp though, so I assume this was for pve balance purposes. RIP flare gun.

It was needed, as an lmg and sniper having a pistol out damage you is just ridiculous. A flare gun at that too, it still does nice damage though.

I don't see why not, magnums do like 1000+ damage per shot.

[nuarblack]

No one ever complained about flare gun in pvp though, so I assume this was for pve balance purposes. RIP flare gun. I don't see why not, magnums do like 1000+ damage per shot.

Most people didn't know you could easily give it 9 rounds and spam it into the ground like a detonator. Also if the main explosion hits the head it crits one shotting people. It did 1000 damage plus set them on fire for even more damage. I used it in pvp once and it was ridiculous how good it was. Maybe not shotgun or Canker good because it did require a bit of skill but actually far less than the magnum you mentioned.

It was like being able to throw 9 incendiary grenades in a row that also did a 1000 instant damage with a chance of insta gibbing.

[Huckleberry]

I used it with my sniper, who could pretty well proc a nano on one hit as well. So it was a pretty deadly combo.

Altho i think it required lots of skill to use, almost to much skill for the pay off now.

[tangmcgame]

@nuarblack: That's just my point. It was a strong weapon that probably needed a nerf, but, as you said, it wasn't as good or reliable as shotguns and infectors. Infectors got a tap, shotguns got a slight nerf to one type, and flare gun got cut off at the knees. I don't mean to say the flare gun is bad now. It isn't. It just doesn't make sense to me how these changes were done.

[DC Zero]

@nuarblack: That's just my point. It was a strong weapon that probably needed a nerf, but, as you said, it wasn't as good or reliable as shotguns and infectors. Infectors got a tap, shotguns got a slight nerf to one type, and flare gun got cut off at the knees. I don't mean to say the flare gun is bad now. It isn't. It just doesn't make sense to me how these changes were done.

Infectors didn't get a tap, they got destroyed. The only ones that did good damage, now have a range of 10. At that range, the enemy will turn around and 2 shot you with his automatic or pump shotgun while your trying to dot him up.

[dharknite]

Most people didn't know you could easily give it 9 rounds and spam it into the ground like a detonator. Also if the main explosion hits the head it crits one shotting people. It did 1000 damage plus set them on fire for even more damage. I used it in pvp once and it was ridiculous how good it was. Maybe not shotgun or Canker good because it did require a bit of skill but actually far less than the magnum you mentioned.

It was like being able to throw 9 incendiary grenades in a row that also did a 1000 instant damage with a chance of insta gibbing.

The gun has a slower fire rate than a detonator and one has to either buy or find the mod for ammo slot to it give that many shots. Nerfing a gun to such an extreme degree based on a few apex users is silly to me. The flare gun has a slow fire rate, a slow reload time, a relatively slow moving projectile, an arc and a small explosion radius (compared to detenators and explosive shot guns). A person can not spam it at the ground like a detonator and get the same result, they would have to be fairly accurate. Because of the speed and arc of the projectile head shot are a mix of skill and luck. Players can roll to get rid of the dot and as player shields ego rank get better the dot become less of a factor

I am not saying that the direct damage or dot could not have been toned down a bit, but the flare gun was a high risk high reward weapon. Nerfing the direct damage by about 50% along with the crit multiplier without something to offset it cripples the gun. I would like to see an increase is the fire rate/ reload speed or more damage to the dot to compensate for the nerf.

@tangmcgame: I agree with you, some of these nerfs do make sense. Another high risk high reward weaspon, Sawed-off shotgun get nerfed, but not the courier which is the sawed-off shot gun that shoots explosives. Combat and pump shotguns, which are the problem when combined with cloak, go untouched.