Firebug

[Yoshiro]

Firebug Goal: Our goal was to slightly reduce the power of the mac 10 to bring it in line with other weapons

Was this goal accomplished?


Also feel free to discuss the changes with your fellow testers in this thread.

[Evilsod]

After trying a couple Long games as Firebug i don't think it worked. Admittedly these were both solo on Normal (completed) and a Suicidal (failed wave 3) though.

Even at lvl0 the Firebug rendered every enemy below FP completely trivial and he could do so from across the map, WAY beyond the Flamethrowers maximum range. Suicidal solo it was still killing the weaker enemies in 1 shot, though obviously taking longer to kill. Not as effective indoors where the enemies get in each others way and block shots but then you can just turn to decapping them rather than burning.

[9_6]

I'm not so sure if that should've been a goal...
It's damage over time and ammo conservation that makes the mac strong after all.

If you wanted to really bring it down to close range flamer levels, just removing the ability to switch to semi auto would have been more than enough.

[Fel]

It seems to be a beautiful balance for the firebug. I love how you start with the mac, and then have to buy the flamethrower. Gives you something to work for

[Zonker]

So far I think the MAC-10 is ok in the beta. In 1014 it really felt a little too strong and although the damage reduction doesn't seem extreme, it's still noticeable. It SHOULD burn enemies faster than the flamethrower, otherwise its only advantage would be the unlimited range while having quite some trouble with large groups close range.

I'm still wondering, though:
Is it really intended for the firebug to just have his clip size increased but not his overall ammo? I noticed this after 1014, too. He doesn't get extra ammo, the 300 shots are just distributed to fewer clips.

[nutterbutter]

I think the reduction in damage was good, just not enough. After all, it is still a pistol cartridge.

[scary ghost]

No longer 1 shot decaps the clots on suicidal anymore which I like. One head shot pretty much instantly melts stalkers, crawlers, and clots and kills bloats and gorefasts in 2 seconds in patch 1014 even on suicidal.

YouTube - Killing Foor - 1015 Beta Patch - Mac 10 Nerf

[timur]

Well, you definately accomplished making it not a complete powerhouse on suicidal. Still awesome, but requires mutliple headshots, which works.

Also, for some reason, MAC10 seems an appropriate starting weapon.

[Fel]

Originally Posted by timur

Also, for some reason, MAC10 seems an appropriate starting weapon.

Agreed

[arramus]

My only real concern with the Firebug is the MAC-10 in semi-automatic mode.

Standing at a junction at the end of a corridor or other linear point or out in the open as Firebug with a MAC-10 in semi-automatic mode and sights raised makes this weapon most efficient and efficacious in every way -- cost effective/ammo economic -- initial hit damage/damage over time -- highly accurate over range -- lights em up like Xmas trees.

Losing the semi-automatic mode or introducing an additional balancing effect to decrease ranged sights raised accuracy would take the edge off.

Other than that I'm happy with the balance of the Flamethrower and Firebug incendiary grenades.

[THEDDLE]

I think the concept of the Mac 10 is great. Fire bullets are awesome; however, I hate the recoil. Makes me feel like my game is jumping. I would have the gun recoil more like the Medic gun but the bullet accuracy is the same. This is on auto. Semi seems to be fine. I agree with Arramus the semi shot is quite effective at long range with fire bullets. It might just be me for auto. I might have to play with it again but it was making the screen jump so much it almost made me motion sick. LOL. I will try it again later and see if I get the same feeling.

[Sammers]

Seemed alright to me. The extra range on it might be a bit overkill though.

[Xienen]

We have gotten the requested feedback. There may not be any more changes to the Firebug(but we'll analyze things again before the 4th/final patch).