>>>>> WARNING: Huge wall of text !!! <<<<<
Hello there you useless clotsuckers!
As the topic says, this is a post about the Firebug. The Firebug to me is a fun class, yet it is lacking quite alot, especially in terms of weapon choices plus it also has lots of bugs and weird and inconsistant functions/bonuses. This post is not only about that though, it will also be some new ideas for the perk in general and i hope you guys don't dislike it too much *nervous* hehe *gulp*
These are the 5 main points about my thread:
* The inconsistancy with the weapon bonuses
* The Firebug weaponry (and lack thereof)
* Perk bonus changes & ideas
* Burn refresh
* Firebug burn stacking
So let's get straight to it:
1) THE INCONSISTANCY WITH THE WEAPON BONUSES
There are 3 main gripes here for me: The reload bonus, the mag bonus and the Mac10 damage.
The reload bonus is not that big of a deal, but it's still kinda strange that one weapon has a 60% reload speed bonus, while the other is only 30%. Why is that?
The mag bonus is a big flaw though. The Flamethrower gets 60% increased mag size, and it also increases the total ammo by 60% because of that. The Mac10 however only gets an increase in mag size (60% as well), but it doesn't increase total ammo, which is lame and weird, yet understandable. Why is it understandable? Well, because of the weight of the weapons.
The Flamethrower weighs 10 and gets 400 base ammo, which is kinda low for its weight.
The Mac10 weighs only 4 and gets 300 ammo, which is a lot for its weight.
Thus the Mac10 gets no total ammo bonus, but the FT does. It's balanced, but lame. One of my suggestionsis to make the ammo bonus change the total ammo of all Firebug weapons. However, that would make the Mac10 quite unbalanced, wouldn't it? That will be discussed further in the next section, The Firebug weaponry.
Last part on this section is the Mac10 damage: It doesn't scale AT ALL with Firebug levels. It is always dealing 35 damage on the bullet (which is ok), but the burn damage is always the same
damage, wether you are Firebug level 0 or level 6... that's really lame.
2) THE FIREBUG WEAPONRY
This is a big problem. The Firebug, a damage dealing perk, only has 2 weapons to choose from. And one of them, the Mac10, seems a bit... out of place? Don't get me wrong, i like the weapon, and i think an incendiary weapon works just fine for the Firebug. But Mac10 as the incendiary weapon... seems weird imo. It doesn't say "firebug" to me.
So, there will be quite a few suggestions here and i will explain them more deeply, however, I'm first just gonna say all the suggestions briefly in an easy to read list:
a) Move Mac10 to a different Perk
b) Changes to the Flamethrower
c) Add the weapon "Sterling Incendiary" for Firebug
d) Add the weapon "Flare Gun" for Firebug
e) Add the weapon "Husk Cannon" for Firebug
f) Make the Welder able to hurt specimen (Firebug weapon)
Now let's get in to each point here more deeply:
a) The Mac10
I would suggest moving the Mac10 from the Firebug. As i said before, i don't really see it as a "Firebug" weapon. Moving it would ofc also make it non-incendiary, which maybe makes it sorta... lame? Thus i also suggest making the Mac10 dualwieldable to give it that little "touch of awesomeness". Now, what perk would i move it to? I would move it to either the Commando or my other suggested perk Agent. Not gonna go into details about the Agent-perk here though, but if you are interested about the perk, here is the link to that suggestion: http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=51088
b) Flamethrower changes
Two changes could be made: Weight and sheathing speed.
The weight of the Flamethrower, being 10, is quite restrictive of what other weapons you will be able to use. My suggestion would be to make it weigh 8. At a weight of 8 the Firebug then has 6 spare weight to buy other weapons. While i am suggesting Firebug-weapons further down that occupy all/some of that spare 6 weight, the weight of 8 would also allow you to use other unperked weapons along with the Flamethrower, such as the Bullpup, AK47 and LAR, opening up some more variety to choose from if you want to.
The second change, the sheathing speed, with that i mean that time it takes to put down the Flamethrower when you change weapon or throw a grenade... Why does it take so long? At the very least, can't this speed be quickened with Firebug levels, similar to the reload bonus (as both the reloading and "sheathing" uses that little lever in its animations)
c) Sterling Incendiary
This is the main replacer of the Mac10, and while it does have quite a few differences, it still would act somewhat similarly to the old Mac10. Before going into the numerical and balancing details of the Sterling Incendiary, let me first explain WHY i chose this weapon as the new incendiary weapon for the Firebug.
Let's take a look at the weapon:
That's the weapon-graphics my suggested Sterling Incendiary would be based of.
As you can maybe see, the Sterling has quite a few similarities to the Flamethrower: The Flamethrower has a sidegrip, the Sterling has its mag to the side. The Flamethrower's front barrel has lots of holes in it, so does the Sterling. Also, did you know that the Stormtroopers' weapons in Star Wars (the first 3 movies, episode 4, 5 and 6) was based on the Sterling? And you know, laser is quite hot... laser... fire... get it?
So, from just those little things, i think it has a more "Firebug" ring to it, don't you think so too?
Anyway, let's go to the suggested weapon's specifics:
Important features: The Sterling Incendiary has 2 important features. First, it has an underslung shotgun on it and second, the sterling (both the main bullets and the shotgun) are ALWAYS incendiary, regardless of it is used with the Firebug or not. And you may think, Incendiary Shotgun shells? Well, there is this shotgun shell known as "Dragon's Breath". This Dragon's Breath shell shoots out lots of hot burning sparks over a short distance (think, shortdistance burst of flame from a flamethrower). Yes, it actually exists in real life
Weight: 5 (thus able to be carried with the Flamethrower's newly lowered weight!)
Magsize: 30 bullets in the mag, 1 shell in the shotgun.
Total ammo: 240 bullets, 10 shells.
Impact Damage: Bullets deal 35 damage (doesn't scale with firebug levels), Shotgun shoots 20 pellets
Hello there you useless clotsuckers!
As the topic says, this is a post about the Firebug. The Firebug to me is a fun class, yet it is lacking quite alot, especially in terms of weapon choices plus it also has lots of bugs and weird and inconsistant functions/bonuses. This post is not only about that though, it will also be some new ideas for the perk in general and i hope you guys don't dislike it too much *nervous* hehe *gulp*
These are the 5 main points about my thread:
* The inconsistancy with the weapon bonuses
* The Firebug weaponry (and lack thereof)
* Perk bonus changes & ideas
* Burn refresh
* Firebug burn stacking
So let's get straight to it:
1) THE INCONSISTANCY WITH THE WEAPON BONUSES
There are 3 main gripes here for me: The reload bonus, the mag bonus and the Mac10 damage.
The reload bonus is not that big of a deal, but it's still kinda strange that one weapon has a 60% reload speed bonus, while the other is only 30%. Why is that?
The mag bonus is a big flaw though. The Flamethrower gets 60% increased mag size, and it also increases the total ammo by 60% because of that. The Mac10 however only gets an increase in mag size (60% as well), but it doesn't increase total ammo, which is lame and weird, yet understandable. Why is it understandable? Well, because of the weight of the weapons.
The Flamethrower weighs 10 and gets 400 base ammo, which is kinda low for its weight.
The Mac10 weighs only 4 and gets 300 ammo, which is a lot for its weight.
Thus the Mac10 gets no total ammo bonus, but the FT does. It's balanced, but lame. One of my suggestionsis to make the ammo bonus change the total ammo of all Firebug weapons. However, that would make the Mac10 quite unbalanced, wouldn't it? That will be discussed further in the next section, The Firebug weaponry.
Last part on this section is the Mac10 damage: It doesn't scale AT ALL with Firebug levels. It is always dealing 35 damage on the bullet (which is ok), but the burn damage is always the same
damage, wether you are Firebug level 0 or level 6... that's really lame.
2) THE FIREBUG WEAPONRY
This is a big problem. The Firebug, a damage dealing perk, only has 2 weapons to choose from. And one of them, the Mac10, seems a bit... out of place? Don't get me wrong, i like the weapon, and i think an incendiary weapon works just fine for the Firebug. But Mac10 as the incendiary weapon... seems weird imo. It doesn't say "firebug" to me.
So, there will be quite a few suggestions here and i will explain them more deeply, however, I'm first just gonna say all the suggestions briefly in an easy to read list:
a) Move Mac10 to a different Perk
b) Changes to the Flamethrower
c) Add the weapon "Sterling Incendiary" for Firebug
d) Add the weapon "Flare Gun" for Firebug
e) Add the weapon "Husk Cannon" for Firebug
f) Make the Welder able to hurt specimen (Firebug weapon)
Now let's get in to each point here more deeply:
a) The Mac10
I would suggest moving the Mac10 from the Firebug. As i said before, i don't really see it as a "Firebug" weapon. Moving it would ofc also make it non-incendiary, which maybe makes it sorta... lame? Thus i also suggest making the Mac10 dualwieldable to give it that little "touch of awesomeness". Now, what perk would i move it to? I would move it to either the Commando or my other suggested perk Agent. Not gonna go into details about the Agent-perk here though, but if you are interested about the perk, here is the link to that suggestion: http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=51088
b) Flamethrower changes
Two changes could be made: Weight and sheathing speed.
The weight of the Flamethrower, being 10, is quite restrictive of what other weapons you will be able to use. My suggestion would be to make it weigh 8. At a weight of 8 the Firebug then has 6 spare weight to buy other weapons. While i am suggesting Firebug-weapons further down that occupy all/some of that spare 6 weight, the weight of 8 would also allow you to use other unperked weapons along with the Flamethrower, such as the Bullpup, AK47 and LAR, opening up some more variety to choose from if you want to.
The second change, the sheathing speed, with that i mean that time it takes to put down the Flamethrower when you change weapon or throw a grenade... Why does it take so long? At the very least, can't this speed be quickened with Firebug levels, similar to the reload bonus (as both the reloading and "sheathing" uses that little lever in its animations)
c) Sterling Incendiary
This is the main replacer of the Mac10, and while it does have quite a few differences, it still would act somewhat similarly to the old Mac10. Before going into the numerical and balancing details of the Sterling Incendiary, let me first explain WHY i chose this weapon as the new incendiary weapon for the Firebug.
Let's take a look at the weapon:
That's the weapon-graphics my suggested Sterling Incendiary would be based of.
As you can maybe see, the Sterling has quite a few similarities to the Flamethrower: The Flamethrower has a sidegrip, the Sterling has its mag to the side. The Flamethrower's front barrel has lots of holes in it, so does the Sterling. Also, did you know that the Stormtroopers' weapons in Star Wars (the first 3 movies, episode 4, 5 and 6) was based on the Sterling? And you know, laser is quite hot... laser... fire... get it?
So, from just those little things, i think it has a more "Firebug" ring to it, don't you think so too?
Anyway, let's go to the suggested weapon's specifics:
Important features: The Sterling Incendiary has 2 important features. First, it has an underslung shotgun on it and second, the sterling (both the main bullets and the shotgun) are ALWAYS incendiary, regardless of it is used with the Firebug or not. And you may think, Incendiary Shotgun shells? Well, there is this shotgun shell known as "Dragon's Breath". This Dragon's Breath shell shoots out lots of hot burning sparks over a short distance (think, shortdistance burst of flame from a flamethrower). Yes, it actually exists in real life
Weight: 5 (thus able to be carried with the Flamethrower's newly lowered weight!)
Magsize: 30 bullets in the mag, 1 shell in the shotgun.
Total ammo: 240 bullets, 10 shells.
Impact Damage: Bullets deal 35 damage (doesn't scale with firebug levels), Shotgun shoots 20 pellets
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