Has anyone else noticed something odd with a few of the guns? I've noticed a few things that are rather... worrisome about the states of some of our ranged weaponry. I know every weapon could honestly do with a little work, but since guns are what my playstyle revolves around, they're the thing that I have the most experience talking about.
If Knights from the other fields of weaponry have found some bugs or anything else of note, I could turn this into an all around weapon bug fix list of some sort.
Bugs
NOTE: Some of these may just be odd quirks of the weapons that I was unaware of. If so, let me know and I'll remove it post-haste!
- 4*Blackhawk has reduced range compared to the 4*Silversix.
Something odd that I noticed while I was leveling up both revolvers. The Blackhawk's bullets end a whole block shorter than the Silversix. When they're leveled up to 5* they both have the same range. A fellow gunner said that this is a known bug, but bringing attention to it may lead to it getting fixed.
- Antigua line charge attack collides with blocks behind the Knight firing.
This is a tremendous annoyance to me and I think I understand why it happens. The charge shot projectile is significantly larger than the other shots and collides with blocks on the side, but since the game generates the shot from exactly where the Knight is standing instead of in front, it also collides with blocks behind the Knight as well.
- Bullets colliding with target, but with no effect.
I've noticed this both with blocks and enemies. I've often shot at blocks, minerals, and enemies that are standing in the middle of an empty room, see the bullet collide, but not have the target take any damage. Usually for blocks this occurs when I graze the corner with a shot, so maybe the bullet collides but the damage registers in the block next to it? It also tends to happen when enemies are dashing towards me. Sometimes they'll take the damage, other times the bullets would collide and nothing would happen.
This one is probably due to lag, but it still seems a bit odd to me...
- Ghost bullets?
Sometimes when I rapid fire with weapons, there's the occasional extra shot that comes from the gun. This extra bullet does absolutely nothing, but it still gets really confusing sometimes. I sometimes have to ask myself whether I just fired six shots or five...
This is probably another lag problem.
- 4* and 5* Autogun variants are missing two bullets?
I honestly can't tell if this was a modeling error or intentional, but there's two bullets/needles missing from the ammo drum of the higher level Autoguns. Probably intentional...?
Imbalances
NOTE: This is mostly going to be opinion about some of the weapons. Granted, some of these qualms are felt community-wide, so maybe a few of these are more than opinion...
- Autogun lines' potential damage output is too high.
This is something that's been discussed a lot here on the forums, especially concerning the Blitz Needle. The individual bullets damage output seems to be fine, especially against the more speedy targets of the game. However, point it at a nigh-immobile target and the potential damage just goes through the roof! Compared to all the other gun lines that I've used so far, nothing comes even close to causing as much damage.
And another thing about the Autogun lines...
- Autogun lines have more range than most other guns.
I find this to be absolutely ridiculous, but the range on the Autoguns trumps that of every other gun. I haven't tested them all yet, but the Autoguns reach a good one or two blocks further than most guns in my arsenal. This is especially disconcerting considering that this line is supposed to be designed for short range. If anything deserves range like that it's the Magnus line.
- Iron Slug needs work
Nick has said that he is working on getting this gun buffed, but even just a damage increase or the ability to Stun would be a huge help to getting this gun on par with some of the others.
- Pulsar line explosions block view and lag game
Need some verification on that second claim, but considering the detail of the explosions and how often the can be spewed about, I think it holds some truth in it. Otherwise, the explosions are so ludicrously flashy it's hard to see what you're aiming at if someone else in the party is spamming this thing. Then there's the added danger factor of the enemies being thrown about...
- Catalyzers
Poor things really need some love. Their damage output and speed is low. Their charge attack, while unique, is a bit lack luster in terms of power. There's been some decent suggestions floating around with various ways to make it a more useful gun, such as the explosive charge attack can break through defenses and things like that.
Honestly, I'm working on making one just because I haven't seen a single one in-game during my entire time playing. Plus someone needs to fill in the wiki pages for it...
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I have a few more things that I want to add, but it's getting pretty late and I have classes tomorrow. Feel free to tell me your own bugs that you've found or your own thoughts on imbalances in the weapons. If I get the time, I'll try and consolidate them all into the OP.
Definitely agree with you on the Autogun range. Pepperbox's range seems about reasonable. The needles range (and damage) is rediculous.
A Strike Needle (4*) does 51 and 161 on regular attack and charge, respectively, on neutral targets in depth 26.
The Volcanic Pepperbox (5*) does 45 and 110 on neutral targets in the same depth. (dafuq?)
How can a 4 star weapon be dealing more damage than a 5 star? And the Strike's charge deals over 3 times more than its normal attack, while Pepperbox barely scrapes 2.5.
Ok, let's take into account that the pepperbox deals fire, and assume that damage reduction for adding a status is approximately 20%.
That means the Volcanic Pepperbox would do 56 and 137. Still gets screwed over by the 4* Strike Needle...