The Flamethrower is not very flamethrowery
1dominator1
Join Date: 2010-11-19 Member: 75011Members
Join Date: 2010-11-19 Member: 75011Members
Is the flamethrower considered to be complete? I am particularly interested in whether the current visuals/animation is the final product since to me the current visuals seem rather poor. The flames do not behave like an independent entity and follow your crosshair around even after they have left the nozzle which imo looks terrible and ruins immersion which the detailed lighting and graphics are trying to build. It feels and looks more like some kind of laser or novelty rifle than a flame thrower. I have also noted that the damage hitbox (area in which it does damage) is not very well matched to the animation, so that often flames will go right through aliens but not cause any damage.
It also seems to me that the flamethrower lacks a distinct functional role, its only worthwhile feature (considering the rather subpar damage and high cost) is the reduction in alien energy regeneration. This imo is a let down for what is conceptually one of the cooler weapons. Seems to me that without its original purpose of countering dynamic infestation the flamer feels kind of redundant, with most players favouring the other weapons over it.
Perhaps reworking the flamethrower's emission so that they behave more realistically and independently of the player (sort of like lerk gas) would make it look a lot more appealing and more fun to use. It would also allow for novel things like clearing vents with it, since the flames would propagate some distance through the enclosed space and burn anything inside
It also seems to me that the flamethrower lacks a distinct functional role, its only worthwhile feature (considering the rather subpar damage and high cost) is the reduction in alien energy regeneration. This imo is a let down for what is conceptually one of the cooler weapons. Seems to me that without its original purpose of countering dynamic infestation the flamer feels kind of redundant, with most players favouring the other weapons over it.
Perhaps reworking the flamethrower's emission so that they behave more realistically and independently of the player (sort of like lerk gas) would make it look a lot more appealing and more fun to use. It would also allow for novel things like clearing vents with it, since the flames would propagate some distance through the enclosed space and burn anything inside
Comments
As far as immersion goes...lol? If that is ruining your "immersion" then you are nitpicking wayyy too hard, also a flame would appear to drag when turning a flamethrower as the trail of gas would become an arc. I don't believe it always looks like the flame is always in a straight line from the nozzle of the flamethrower.
The hitbox is a bit broken yes, this is the one point I will agree with you on. I really don't want to see effort being made towards "immersion" of all things however, the things the devs could work on besides that...
I can't speak to the visual effects, but functionally they are quite strong when used RIGHT. Too many people try to solokill lifeforms with one, get their ass whipped, and think it's worthless.
If you go out ON YOUR OWN with a flamer, you're retarded and deserve to die.
Pretty much sums up the game :P
A jetpack flamethrower can kill 50 res of cysts very quickly if not responded to in a timely manner.
I can just sit back and flame their feet to protect them, or disable those whips and hydras while they obliviously wreck stuff..
As long as the player understand what it does (which i agree is under communicated) and what its capable of, it can really provide a bonus and sometimes is crutch to a base siege.
Knowing to cover your teamate is no more or less important than that marine with a shotgun (i may, in fact want him to die so i can pick it up and use it better 0.0 )
3 shotguns in a group?
Or
2 shotguns and a flamethrower in a group?
It's also extremely useful against whip rushes (maybe more so than arcs). Great weapon.
Neither can you do it in ns2. I think UWE did a great job capturing that aspect of realism.
Don't be so negative OP
There's some notion against using flamethrowers because it's "a noob" way to go. The same people that say this build whips on alien so i dont really think there's anything to take away from it.
It's a situational item that's often remembered too late, then used too late, and ridiculed for its poor performance after being used so late. But it counters literally everything. It makes bile bomb explode ffs
In real life you don't hold a flamethrower in your face though - so you should be able to see above the flames, until the flame spreads out at the end/hitting a target. I think this could be managed by simply lowering the 1st person flamer model.
My only beef with a flamer is the cost. 25 res is pretty costly. But yeah, it's priceless to have 1 flamer in a group of +4 rines. Can handle all sorts of situations. 2 flamers in that same group tho is pretty much a waste of 1 dps.
This is the other thing, there's an opportunity cost to the flamethrower that makes it a hard decision. It takes a lot of marines in one place for the support role of the flamethrower to justify the loss of firepower. I just don't think it's a good idea for a gun to be that situational in this game where it's a significant risk of your PRes to buy said gun.
Burns umbra
Burns spores
Burns bile bomb
Burns mucous
Disables every structure
Can't heal, be healed, attack, ink, heal wave, echo.
You say that, but looking through fire in NS2 isn't nearly as romantic as it in real life. It's one of the main reasons the FT is underpowered.
I forgot all the other things it does when writing the OP, in light of all that 25 res is a reasonable price and it does indeed have a role, perhaps even too broad a role.
Though now that all of those things are mentioned it seems kind of OP. It disables every alien structure, nullifies every lerk support ability, totally counters gorges (burns all their buildings in seconds, seriously hinders heals, flat out cancels bilebomb) and prevents the energy regen of basically every alien in the current fight (you just have to set them on fire which takes an instant and they burn for a good number of seconds), and thats just the most significant things.
It might not be an issue when you only have 6 men on the field and every bit of dps counts but in pub games with 9+ players on the field (where 7+ of them might be present for an important fight) it now seems to me that flamer grants disproportionate returns for the cost to the player/team and the skill it takes to use it (which is less than all the other weapons, even gl takes more care). Its just that pubs havent yet caught on to regularly bringing one along.