Catalyzer series: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Thu, 01/15/2015 - 09:52
The Good:
Can bypass healers, by stacking incredible damage.
High knockdown rate on charge (especially against effective enemies).
Picking up an attack orb before detonation is greatly effective.
Incredible charge time makes charge spamming easy (hitting enemies is a different story).
__________________________________________________________
The Bad:
Slow bullets require up close combat for full effectiveness and countering enemy reaction time.
Tags have relatively low damage requiring a dozen or so tags to take down a large target.
Mechanic can be confusing to new players.
____________________________________________________________
The Ugly:
Hard to use in parties with players who don't understand or respect your purpose with the catalyzer. By attacking your target and killing it before you detonate it, this effectively wastes your time and theirs as you can handle that large enemy while they could be tackling the smaller ones.
Using this gun long range on targets that excel at dodging (devilites, thwackers, menders, wolvers) is difficult.
Bullets orbit outside the target essentially halving tag damage to targets with shields.
_____________________________________________________________
Thu, 01/15/2015 - 16:50
#2
Even worse: massive potential loss of damage due to inability to see how much damage you've accomplished prior to detonation.
Thu, 01/15/2015 - 17:19
#3
...
would be cool (for the sake of catalyzer alone) if they implement number counter or any signs (green colored) at their health bar counting how much damage it will be. I also would like to see the tags also works on objects like blocks, that brings a new cowardly strategy (which is very abuse-able on pre-danger area with party click button yet I still want to see it anyway).
Fri, 01/16/2015 - 02:00
#4
More cons:
Exploding tags get
More cons:
Exploding tags get a serious loss in damage from shielded enemies because half of the tags don't register.
Tags can explode pre-emptively due to the charge shots detonation range.
The direction of the knockback can't be predicted once you've stacked enough tags.
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 12:25
#5
Also, both Catalyzer lines
Also, both Catalyzer lines (Biohazard + Neutralizer) are utterly useless in PvP (Lockdown).
I was suggesting a change of mechanics again (but I highly doubt it) that would make it somewhat viable in PvP, and more party-friendly in PvE.
Tue, 01/20/2015 - 10:34
#6
....
@ Skepticraven
What are you talking about? Catalyzers can deal the lowest damage in the game per regular shot!
Of course if you don't feel like chipping HP away at 1 per shot you can probably bring another gun or weapon.
@ Fehzor
Understanding how many shots to place on a Catalyzer target takes a lot of game knowledge. Most aren't going to invest this time into a single gun.
@ Poopsie
Feel free to take this to the suggestions.
@ Keepscaite
Mentioned in "the ugly"
Tags are weak now, but charge spam is OP.
Can't predict? That is what a shield is for.
@ Amarille
Catalyzer is the Ultimate Anti-Recon, just follow the moving orbs.
More damage on regular bullets would be nice, higher flinch/status on stacked, and a faster flying charge bullet would help it out.
Worse:
Can't deal low damage. This is problematic when finishing off low health mobs. You simply cant without spamming another 500+ damage.