Do not touch my Polaris!

Extreamly nice weapon! Instead of lowering it's specs - make another's handguns better. Callahan for example or 5* Antigua (Snarbolax Gun?).

If you need fast shooting weapon with elemental - use Voltech Alchemer. Shoot faster, then Polaris, no knockback (if it's annoy you) or Cryotech and get freeze as bonus for you slow party members. In fact, if you care about you party members - you will use proper weapon. That mean - not Polaris in that case.

Do not touch my Polaris!!

Only Polaris can Push Trojan on anotehr side of the level to a player with Blitz or another piercing weapon. Knockback is a part of tactic for me.

...but I do not agree with nerfing the weapon itself.

I understand the frustration of teammates spamming the weapon; I have one and try not to spam it unless my team is at a safe distance.

"It could still be the "knockback" gun..."

I think Supernova Covers the Knockback. Polaris Causes Shock, which REDUCES Knockback, so it is Considered an Interrupting Weapon.

Although, I do Agree About Nerfing it, Damage wise.

It Interrupts almost every Enemy in the Game & Deals a Status. My Suggestion, is that the Damage would be Lowered, so that the Supernova will be on Par with it. The Polaris can be a Weak, Play-It-Safe Gun & the Supernova the Strong, Knock-Enemies-Everywhere one.

The Visuals could use a Change, too, since the Brandish Lines kinda "Stole" the Explosions & some 0-1* Swords took their Explosions as well.

EDIT: Dude, Asukalan...Take a Chill Pill.

I think we could just put a blanket 30-50% damage buff on all guns save for the needle and pulsar lines and end up with a much more balanced arsenal.

I hate that this is how OOO responds to Gunners being underpowered.

They're just like "Aight guys, players are complaining that guns aren't strong enough, so let's just make one single gun that dominates all other guns and weapons, making them obsolete in comparison. Oh yes, let's also give it the most deadly PvP status, and Elemental damage since most everyone uses Skolver in PvP. Gunners can't complain now!!".

Oh yeah, except that it's BARELY a gun. It's a high-tech grenade launcher. I find it much more fun to use a real gun than artillery...maybe that's just me.

Thanks OOO, but try again please.

EDIT: @Pilot: It is generally easy to avoid, but when you are bottle-necked heading toward a Control Point and there are 2 people spamming Polaris in your general direction, it's very difficult to get through. Also, when a Guardian is on a Control Point, and a Striker has a Polaris, it's very hard to keep capping the control point and stay out of the Polaris' explosions...mostly because the explosions take up 3/4 of a control point.

~Sev

I just personaly think the delay on the shot expansion should increase. Increase the range for hecks sake. They blow up almost immediately. Damage/status is fine (says recon demo), just let it create openings as opposed to being the equivalent of shiver-spam with knockback and way more speed.

This post was intended for another thread, but I lost the page in a server error and now I can't find it again so I'll post it here. Seems somewhat relevant.

If someone rages about their stuff being debuffed, they shouldn't have been greedy and bought the most OP stuff in the first place. OP stuff gets debuffed, eventually. That's how it is.

I'm a Gunner. I've got two alchemers, a magnus and a catalyzer. I dislike the Polaris and the Antigua lines not because of their OPness, but because their popularity (because of their "OPness")

I'm waiting for the debuff NOT because it will balance the game, but because it will influence people to be more unique, and get what equipment they like, rather than what is the most "OP equipment".

I'm also making a Sadaruska, and a fiery Vaporizor. Two other infrequently used items because of thier UPness. I don't really care. I just enjoy using weapons that suit me, or I like the looks of. If they get a buff then I'll be happy, if they don't, then I'll just keep on playing and enjoying this game.

@Severage

The Polaris came out long before Lockdown did, so they couldn't really have had PvP concerns in mind when designing the gun due to said PvP not existing. All we had was Blast Network at the time.

@Evilnut

What about unskillful pulsar user knocking enemies all around? Then it's the problem of the player, not the gun.

But the problem is the way the pulsar works encourages unskilled spamming. Sure, you could make precise shots that work with your team. But why, when you can do tons of damage and crowd control by just spamming it everywhere? The pulsar user gets no apparent benefit from using it carefully and skillfully.

One funny(broken) thing in particular about the pulsar's design is that it actually works best when you stay a safe distance away from the enemy, and in fact discourages you from getting close. Which is pretty ass-backwards. It's the very definition of low-risk, high-reward.

By contrast, if you run around haphazardly slashing away with your DA, the cooldown leaves you open to attack. That's a weapon that invites more skilled usage.

Yup, it did. But it's about time they released their first LD-balance patch. Polaris is one of the main things on the list, I'd say. Flourishes/GF/DA are pretty much the only swords anyone uses either, with the occasional Voltedge or other 5* Brandish-line.

But I think should they be nerfed, people would simply find a new "strongest" weapon for LD. It's just how things work. On the other hand, Polaris needs to be nerfed, because the rest of the guns are in line with each other (Alchemers, Antigua-lines, Callahan).

@Evilnut:

"The whole Pulsar line are like that. Why only target Polaris but not Supernova/Biohazzard?"

Because Supernova/Biohazards aren't as powerful. If you spammed them in PvP it'd be less effective. By a long shot. People normally don't wear Elemental defenses in LD (Except for the occasional Vog cub, but it's mostly Skolver/Snarbolax), so it actually does more damage than the other guns, causes status, and has the same knockback.

Loads of plus's and no negative side to it.

"A skillful pulsar user..."

Sorry, couldn't read further than that. I don't think there is a such thing. I see Recons in LD all the time that literally spin in circles firing off shots haphazardly and can keep the entire team occupied for longer than a Guardian. I don't see how you could currently use this weapon with any more skill than the next person.

"I was talking about the charge attacks, not the normal swing of a 2-hit sword. The Divine Avenger/Calibur/Branish user can kite as well as a Polaris user, and be just as annoying by sending jellies, lichen colonies and lumbers into your face or knocking them away just as you are attacking."

I disagree with you again. Here's the difference: People only use Calibur/Brandish/DA Charge attacks while EVERYONE is kiting. Generally, this means that people are kiting the same direction.

However, Polaris users screw around with that thing all day in Arenas, when it's NOT necessary to kite, and send things your way out of nowhere; especially Lumbers and Trojans.

In spite of myself, I agree that the Nitronome's FX are WAY too strong. I usually die when my teammates use Nitro's just because I can't see a thing.

~Sev

"Because Supernova/Biohazards aren't as powerful. If you spammed them in PvP it'd be less effective. By a long shot. People normally don't wear Elemental defenses in LD (Except for the occasional Vog cub, but it's mostly Skolver/Snarbolax), so it actually does more damage than the other guns, causes status, and has the same knockback.

Loads of plus's and no negative side to it."

IMO LD's balance is completely out of whack. Before LD is released (I do not have access to testing), I imagined the class includes the items you use. Not this "time to trample on people with 4* gears with my 5* gears" game.

Also note that you can change loadouts in LD... if you see a sea of elemental bullets, you swap to Vog Cub instead of charging out with Skolver. You get to look at the guy who killed you, not just to get revenge, but to see what gear he's using so you can counter it.

I regret LD uses the same weapons used in clockworks for PvE, but I don't agree changing a weapon just because it doesn't work well in LD. Change it ONLY in LD.

"Sorry, couldn't read further than that. I don't think there is a such thing. I see Recons in LD all the time that literally spin in circles firing off shots haphazardly and can keep the entire team occupied for longer than a Guardian. I don't see how you could currently use this weapon with any more skill than the next person."

I don't really play LD any more after getting 1 mod calibrator, due to the game's nature (gear show off, imbalance, people fixated on fighting instead of winning by capturing) and my constant red dot latency. But back then I never do that. Spinning in circles mean you shoot randomly. With 3 bullets spread over 360 degrees... well, good luck hitting anything other than people blindly running into your bullets (you can abuse camera angle for better chance I guess). I used it same way as in clockworks - a cone of bullets meant to restrict movement in desired area.

"I disagree with you again. Here's the difference: People only use Calibur/Brandish/DA Charge attacks while EVERYONE is kiting. Generally, this means that people are kiting the same direction."

The sword charges are used outside kiting, and can send enemies into your face. Not just talking about arena last wave here.

"However, Polaris users screw around with that thing all day in Arenas, when it's NOT necessary to kite, and send things your way out of nowhere; especially Lumbers and Trojans."

I for one do not use Polaris much in arenas, for obvious reasons. In arena the room is too small and too many critters in the last wave. Polaris is instead mainly used to make polyps and gun puppies shut up, making the 8 turret wave a lot easier. Also useful is to pin down that giant lichen colony in round 1, if it managed to absorb everything and grow to be too annoying.

If one do need to shoot Polaris at that last wave (e.g. very low health), I recommend doing these:
1. Make sure everyone is running along with you. Not just in same direction, but relatively same position. The whole team move as one, firing off charges backward. People revived along the way should wait for one more loop before getting up.
2. Do not shoot Polaris towards the outer walls of the room. If you do that, you get foes knocked inward, across the room, right on the path you're traveling into. Instead aim towards to the center of the room, so that the expanded shot hit the critters and knock them into the outer walls.

I do not have the damage data comparing Polaris with Supernova - last time I checked the wiki, the tables aren't complete. If you don't realize it by now, I do not use Polaris for damage. As a sword user, I use Polaris to keep things away from me, and hit things I don't want to get close to.

So if any change I would agree with, it's lowering the damage. But I need to see how Supernova compares to it first. The cone of knockback is the signature of the pulsar line, its main purpose, it should not be changed.

It is pretty much common knowledge that in online gaming you will meet a lot of annoying people that will continue to be annoying no matter what. They beg, they spam, they cheat, they are clone armies that deploy singular popular tactics, etc.

You are right to choose to solo/friend/guild for clockworks. I've been doing that since 2 weeks after character creation.

The point is annoying people will continue to be annoying. Take one away and they will find a new way. You can take away the damage, but they can find the interruption and shock still worth it, and continue to circle and shoot randomly. They may even find that beneficial even if the absurd idea of doing zero damage is used.

Instead of take this away, take that away, you can instead think outside the box.
- How about using tactics to defeat them? Guardian approach and block, while someone else swoop in from behind and toothpick him?
- Tactics don't work in LD... because the team is made up of random people and you have no time to type? How about improver that aspect instead?

In my eyes, LD is deeply flawed. (and that's ignoring difference in latency and imbalance between different items)
- You have to be in a team, but there is no team work to speak of.
- Victory depends on the whole team. It's very rare that one man alone can win a game.
- Winning depends on gaining points; a good balance of fighting, capturing and defending is needed. Yet most are fixated on fighting alone.
- There are different classes to complement/counter each other, but you cannot put them to work because you have no time to type and random people won't co-operate.

To change those, I propose big changes to be made:
- Random match-making is kept intact, but it will be reduced to the same status of PUG in the clockworks. When you use it you can expect to see annoying people from time to time.
- A persistent score is tracked for each player individually, one score for each tier. The score should be based on the player's performance - no. of points captured, defended, damage output. Idlers and quitters receive penalties.
- Points gained in a match should be scaled. The stronger the opponents, the more points you can get. The weaker, the less.
- There can be un-ranked LD match, as I've read people use LD match for other purposes (1-on-1 duel and that kind of thing).
- Allow players to form their own team, and register it in LD's interface. The team registration is not persistent; it's for the immediate LD match only.
- Match-making will look for teams with similar amount of total points.
- When a suitable team cannot be found, waiting players will be notified if they are too strong or too weak, so they can decide to swap members or not.
- For fairness and ease of match-making, support only one team size (e.g. 4).
- Mini map to be expanded and zoom-able.
- You can click on minimap to place a point of interest flag, which only your team can see (like real-time strategy games). This minimap can be useful in the clockworks as well.

This way players in a team will know each other. They are more likely to be equipped with same voice chat software, and more likely to have developed tactics and even easy-to-type commands to be used during a match.

Then there can be real teamwork, real strategy. Not hoping you don't get shoved into a one-sided match, not watching as your teammates ignore capturing points and go die to 4 opponents guarding a single capture point over and over.

"We can discuss how the polaris works in LD (though I am speaking entirely from a PvE aspect) but this isn't the thread to discuss how to fix LD itself."

This. We're Talking about the Nerfing of the Gun, not the Performance of it in Lockdown.

Oh I love playing LD and enjoying all that spam-olaris bullets quickly travling in my directon. Just lovely.

eh, I play T3 Recon and find AP/Sentenza way more annoying than polaris. Polaris I can walk between the slow moving bullets, AP breaks my cloak by laying down a hard to dodge wall of bullets. Heck, with my VT I don't even care if a single player tries to push me off a CP. I'll just keep on dropping my VT and stay on the far side of the CP until they have to pause then drop another VT. I can keep a point indefinitely against an average single player trying to knock me out with a polaris.

Anyways, if you see way to much polaris, maybe you should stop only playing RJP or IMF. I play a decent amount of PUGs in T3 and rarely come across a polaris spammer. I really don't see a reason for Polaris to be debuffed just because it has a popular feature (knock-back and gun puppy locking).

Changing a weapon because people can be annoying with it... illogical and ineffective.

Annoying people will continue to be annoying. They don't think about skill, they find an easy method and stick with it. Much like mashing buttons randomly in fighting games. Take one method away and they will find another.

"Metal knives are banned - there were some kids stabbing old ladies. I don't care if you're a 5 star chef or not, you're using plastic knives from now on." And then there are old ladies getting stabbed by forks.

Please don't ask to actually nerf a gun's mechanics, if any weapon needs a nerf it's going to be a sword.

Asukalan is best conspiracy theoryman!

The way I see it, PvE can only be helped by proper weapon education. PvP, welp you know what kind of immaturity any kind of competition can cause, so best to leave that sucker alone.

Also for people saying it's easy to dodge. Yeaaaaah....while I believe it is possible. I find it hard to believe you can just waltz around dem bulllets. Once that starts with the spamming you have the wall of exploding bullets at their max range, and the blanket of spam at mid and close range to "attempt" to run around them. Precise dodging like that is finicky at best with differing latencies.

I'd rather someone use a polaris than an argent

It has come to this

Dont nerf the Polaris, buff up the other guns (AKA Catalyzer and Magnus lines)

Guess i hit weak spot? Why me, why not others? Guess im right and you want to silence me

Yeah, Asukalan. I gotta Admit, you seem pretty High-&-Mighty about your Posts & PO'd about everything else. Just remember about your Ban & try Responding to this Thread Again.