>A quicksheet is available at the bottom of the opening post along with a few questions. However, it is recommended you read the entire post<
So, in a previous topic, the concept of using vials to empower weapons came up. This however becomes overpowered with certain weapons. So, then the idea of a weapon, oh say a gun, that has regular bullets and vial-powered bullets.
The suggested name was Vialance.
So about the gun:
I'm envisioning it being a branch from Master Blaster; having it be the 5* brother to Valiance. It would be a normal-typed weapon. It's speed would be equal to that of the Valiance, and having a level 10 power of half of the Valiance. The reason for this power deficiency is because of it's charge-mechanic:
Consuming the vial you have in the first, left-most slot, the Vialance's charge attack will have a good chance of inducing that status. The vial would be consumed in order to give the charge shot it's status. After a charge, the next normal bullet launched from the gun will have a Slight chance of inflicting that status. Pills, remedy, and mechaknight-kits would be ignored. The chance of inflicting a status with the charge attack would be Good, while the vial's *-level would increase potency.
0* status vials: Good chance of Minor
2* status vials: Good chance of Moderate
4* status vials: Good chance of Strong
The normal attack would take on the charge's status and the Tier you're in would determine how many shots will cause status.
Tier 1: one shot would have a slight chance of
Tier 2: two shots would have a slight chance of
Tier 3: three shots would have a slight chance of
When a vial is used to charge with, the charge would do significantly more power. Vial-powered shots part of the normal attack would also see a damage buff of doubled power. The power shots last depending on the Tier you are in, maxing out with one combo or three shots in Tier 3. I say or, as the programing may not allow one or the other. Without a vial, however, the Vialance performs as it does below:
Thus the non-vial-infused damage values would look similar to this:
---------|Stratum1|S2|S3|S4|S5|S6|
Basic Attack |19|24|34|44|64|84|
Charge Attack |40|50|65|75|105|120|
With a vial the values become:
---------|Stratum1|S2|S3|S4|S5|S6|
Basic Attack |38|48|68|88|128|168|
Charge Attack |50|63|130|150|289|330|
As you go through the Clockworks, you inevitably pick up many vials, most of which will either be dropped, used for some fan-fair on the elevator, or simply never used. With the Vialance as a usable weapon, it can make for both a use for vials, and a fun gun for players to use. With the charge attack draining vials and applying them to both charge and normal bullets, it can also fire a basic 3-bullet magazine and a statusless charge attack without the need of a vial. This would add a level of flexibility and unpredictability to an otherwise normal gun. Being based on the Valiance would also help to provide a solid base for implementing the gun's basic characteristics.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are a few things about the gun that should be worked out.
Sleep Vials.
There is no sleep-infliction weapon. While we have the vial, and with the Vialance, the weapon, the game may not be ready for a sleep weapon. This would result in having sleep vials not be usable with the gun, or finally remove sleep vials from the game. This point would be more for the Dev to decide. I'm rather impartial either way.
-Sleep being incompatible has been promoted.
Curse Vials.
If you did load up on 3 Ultra vials of Curse, you would, with the Vialance described above be able to inflict Gran Faust-level curse with a higher rate of infliction. Curse vials are, to my knowledge, not the least common vial-type, and a single player can only carry 3. Whereas the Gran Faust can spammed for eternity. Could a group stock up on vials and have one person shoot up to 12 Cursing-charge shots? Yes, that would be a possibility, but this is much less severe as that same group launching charged Gran Faust "swords". As it stands, Gran Faust (and it's downgrades) are the only cursing weapons, and while only the seal sword can inflict curse without also being cursed, it isn't anywhere near as reliable as the Vialance would be able to inflict it. I'm for the use of Curse vials in the Vialance's charge attack, but I will admit, if that makes the gun overpowered, it can be looked at further.
-Curse being incompatible has been promoted, though I am still ok with curse vials being able to be consumed.
Charge time.
The charge times for the Valiance have not been included onto the wiki, so I can't make an accurate say on the charge time, other than to make it comparable to the Valiance as it levels up. I would imagine, with the power already cut on the gun's basic and charge attack, having it charge it's vial-based status charge in a quick manner would be an okay feature. I'm impartial on this point in that it can be made longer or shorter, as balance sees fit.
-A short charge time has been promoted.
Knockback.
The valiance has knockback on all bullets, which I am not sure with being on the Vialance's basic shot or exist on the charge. It would seem even more of the valiance-gimick-clone than it already is. The removal of knockback on it's charge (status or otherwise) would help to underpower the overall gun. Flinching/knockdown, I'm less certain on. I would lean more against, however.
-Minor knockback has been promoted, though I am not for it.
Status Infliction.
Less of a point of contention, more a stating of it: The blast that would normally cause knockback on the Valiance, causes a status, instead, and does not knock back enemies. Those inflicted with damage from the blast have a good chance of the vial's status, if one was used.
-Making statuses more of a sure thing, and including them on the normal shot has been promoted.
Lockdown.
Don't care. Very simply, if vials are in lockdown, then I suppose the gun could be banned from pvp, if there is a problem. It is not possible for me to care less about this point. I would expect this gun to be used in the PVE areas of the game, and that is where I've concentrated my caring.
-Making the gun behave differently in Lockdown, by taking it's status-charge from the last status inflicted has been promoted, though I am not for it.
Aesthetics.
The charge blast would be colored based on the vial:
Orange: Fire
Blue: Shock
Yellow: Stun
Green: Poison
Maroon: Curse
White: Freeze
And Red would be the regular bullets.
The look of the gun would be like a paint gun,
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00KelEutjzsLcG/Spray-Paint-Gun-162A1-...
With the 'paint' container being a transparent vat.
-Paint/ball gun design promoted
Recipe
The Vialance can take advantage of the minor crownsink that are the vial-merchants in the Clockworks and Basil in the Mission lobby. If the recipe for this weapon were an exclusive to the Auction House, or Clockworks, or even as a boss reward, it could also serve to sink crowns. A player going into a mission or arriving at a Terminal could stock up on the vials they want, spending some crowns to not rely on enemy drops. My say on the matter is that I have no strong persuasion on how this weapon is acquired.
-Recipe not appearing in Hall of Heroes has been promoted, I am not inclined to disagree.
Backfire
Many top end and dangerous weapons have the possibility of inflicting the user with a status. As a 5* weapon, the Vialance could carry chance to inflict the user with that vial-powered charge. I can see logic in it, and while it would keep it behind or besides the Gran/Faust in terms of inflicting curse, I'm not sure if this would be a needed ordeal as it could make the weapon more of a liability than an asset. (though I don't expect this weapon to be the next Sealed Sword-line, either).
-Backfire on a 4* version has been promoted, I'm in a grey area with the idea of backfire, 4 or 5-star. It could help or hurt the usefulness of the weapon, as unlike the examples, the Vialance isn't a very strong gun.
4-star version
To make it more widely used and available, a 4-star version could implemented. There is nothing wrong with the idea. A power cut and scaling the possibility of status on the normal shots back a tier could a Vialance "Prototype" be. Though I also don't see a huge reason for it.
-4* version promoted, I'm not convinced of its necessity, but if it needed for spreading its' use, I guess.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick Sheet
Vialance (5*) branches from Master Blaster (4*) and shoots 3 normal-damaging bullets with a normal-damaging charge attack.
The Vialance has little power without a vial:
---------|Stratum1|S2|S3|S4|S5|S6|
Basic Attack |19|24|34|44|64|84|
Charge Attack |40|50|65|75|105|120|
The Vialance utilizes a vial from your inventory (slot 1, then when empty, slot 2) with a charge attack. The vial is consumed in the charge and is gone from your inventory.
When a vial is used, it's status is applied to the charge attack and a tier-based number of subsequent combo-shots. (Tier 1 allows 1 shot after charge to carry a chance at status; Tier 2 allows 2 shots; Tier 3 allows 3 shots)
With a vial consumed, the Vialance does more damage:
---------|Stratum1|S2|S3|S4|S5|S6|
Basic Attack |38|48|68|88|128|168|
Charge Attack |50|63|130|150|289|330|
The chance of inflicting status is Good for all tiers of the Charge attack, the combo-shot only has a Slight chance.
Strength of the status is based on Vial star-rating (ranging from Minor to Strong)
Sleep vials are not compatible with the Vialance.
There is no knockback on the Vialance's shots
The Vialance has a faster charge than Valiance. This may change when data is collected on Valiance's charge time.
The Vialance takes its vials from Slot 1 of the inventory and moves through 2 through 4 as they become vacant. (run out of vials in Slot 1, Slot 2's vials will be used)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, that is the gun, I would like to know how /vial/able this would be to implement. I ask you, the reader to answer these question of:
-Would you use this weapon?
-What about the gun do you like/don't like?
-What about the gun should be changed so you would use it?
Thank you for reading.
(Updated 9/22/12)
There was a thread like this but it seems to have vanished.
The idea was to have a sort of flare/pop gun that fires what was essentially a single shard from the old shard bomb mechanic, but only one in a controlled direction. This shard would inflict a random status (amongst fire, freeze, shock, poison, and stun) but the status could be locked for around ten seconds by using the charge. The projectiles had the same distant ranging ability but not particularly high damage, making it excel at sniping while being an actual gun. This would have reintroduced the sniping part of the old shard bombs, which would redeem the change for people who used it for that, while creating a new weapon which is not simply a reskin of something and has a lot of versatility and utility in general. It had a one or two shot clip and the charge attack was only to change the status setting.
I thought I had it in my index or bookmarks but it seems to be missing. It was probably deleted for trying to make Three Rings seem sympathetic to its player base while making something original when they could make new accessories or sell discounted energy packs.