Alright, I think it's time I write something up here.
I love the new armors, the ninja ones are awesome and the long scarfs are one of my favorite things. Although, the other two sets the... Sentinel and Guerrilla lines? (The names on this server are such a mess so forgive me if I mess up.) They don't look like gunner armors at ALL. If you ask me Sentinel looks more like a sword set and the Guerrilla looks like a bombing set. (Oh god bombers/swords need this kind of attention that gunners are getting as well. I could list off 'useless' swords and bombs but, that is not the point of this testing period.)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32069310/gdsgg.PNG - How does this really look or feel like a gunner set? The armor/dress seems a bit cumbersome.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32069310/dfgfg.PNG - Bulky and tanky. This is PERFECT for what a new bomber line should look like. How can you possibly gun when you're looking out that narrow visor?
Anyways with the weapons they're all great, they just need a few tweaks. The Fire/Freeze/Shock Pulsar lines need to have a bit of a damage reduction for what they can all actually do now. Fire can make up for that bit of damage by burning things. Freeze does it by having enemies held in place to take more shots. Shock does a combination of both sort of.
The Blitz Needle/Grim Repeater also needs a tweak. I can understand what the gun tries to do, huge DPS in exchange for movement and a bit of a cool down. The damage though is way too high for the drawbacks to actually mean anything. A good example is Lord Vanaduke. Did you guys really intend that boss to be taken down in a matter of 5 minutes? Imagine what kind of suffering Jelly King will go through because of the Grim. My suggestion is that the cool down is made longer, ex; the reload animation taking several frames to run through and they ignore buffs such as ASI/MSI/whatever.
If I think of anymore to add I will come back to this post and add it in.
Lets discuss the magnus buffs (which I am fervently in love with)
I almost hate to bring it up, but it still bears mentioning. In an effort to fully test the new weapons, some confreres and I ran through Darkfire Vanaduke. Lots of fun, full gunner, definitely feasible.
Iron slug absolutely shines. Perhaps a bit too much. The almirian guards were absolutely DECIMATED by the slug, and by this i mean they receive multiple hits, even when shot in the front. It was my impression they were to be invulnerable from the front? Trojans on the other hand performed as normal, only receiving one hit from the rear, and were formidable as always (without blitz, ofc)
Another bug that has been mentioned in other threads is directional knockback. When using the magnus line charge, if you shoot a slag in the back, or in the side, etc, it will receive knockback in the inverse direction that it currently faces; ie usually towards you or a teammate. Instead of the bullet boring through the enemies, it simply brushes them aside, unless they are being shot in the face. Then, it simply annihilates them.
Lastly, regarding balance. I love that these guns got buffed, but man, this is almost too much. I was actually concerned that they would pierce Lord Vanaduke as well, because then we would never need another gun, ever. Fortunately, it only hits once or twice, so he remains a mild challenge. That said, the lack of MSD on charge makes it ridiculously easy to use, and moreover, safe. Even a MSD low would be sufficient to make it a bit of risk.