When it comes down to it, the weapons that I am fondest of (even at the cost of a certain degree of practicality) are those that feature unique gameplay mechanics. LD raging aside, the hammers, for one, are just plain fun to play with. One mechanic that is fairly common in other games, and I think would be an interesting addition to SK, are weapons whose power is balanced by damage to the user. We already have one example of the power behind the release of a knight's energy in the rev blast--causing dmg and stun both in increasing amounts as the amount of energy expended increases--why not extend a similar concept to weapon lines as well? Just to clarify before proceeding, however, while I mentioned the rev blast, I am not proposing a weapon line that runs on the expense of energy--it would push the weapons firmly into the p2w camp. Instead, I'm interested in a weapon line that would effectively run on a knight's HEALTH.
My idea would be a new 3*-4*-5* gun line, which would end in two possible 5* variants: on the pure elemental dmg side, the Breath of Vog, and on the pure shadow dmg side, the Howlers' Lament. Here is a quick concept sketch of of BoV just for fun. The basic attack would be a single, short-range puff of energy (this would make killing anything with just the basic attack a slow, laborious process), but wouldn't damage the user. Charging the weapon, however, would "drink" a certain amount of the player's health in order to unleash a sustained stream of energy. This charge attack would be similar to a t3 scorcher's attack, persisting for a short time before clearing, and with the chance to inflict fire + stun (for the BoV), or curse + poison (for the HL).
As a place to start discussion, let's say that a single charge attack would drink half the baseline health for a player, scaled to account for tier. That would mean that without healing, vitapods or heart trinkets, a player could only rely on using the charge attack twice before falling over dead. In addition, taking damage from enemies would, of course, limit a player's ability to effectively complete a charge attack.
Anyway, a big risk/big reward gun line, with a new gameplay mechanic, and modeled (at least at the 5* level) on Vog/a t3 Howlitzer head. Thoughts?
Useless agaisnt anythign but bosses, just like FoV or even a GF charge.
The problem is enemies already die with a quick well placed charge/combo of a regular weapon and some damage bonus (more so if it's a small party). Blitz Needle can destroy trojans with 1 charge and you don't lose life (even on a full party with shadowsun).
All the extra power and life lost will be a waste.