I know Orks are fresh from the oven but they seem to all have electrified choppas or plasma deffguns. Maybe it's just my imagination but it seems like I haven't won more than two matches against these alien fiends. They don't seem to have a problem destroying vehicles by what I can see and once the devs put in the power klaw I fear it will become the power fist spam all over again. As it stands all non power weapons seem to lack something that sets them apart from their power variants beside a lower cost. I see apothecaries with chainswords, but almost never an assault of any kind with one. No one seems to take a choppa blad, chain choppa, or choppa axe over the electrified choppa either. As a side note does anyone know if the choppa club is a power weapon? I hear the power weapon "shimmer" noise when I have it on but it looks like just a stick to me.

In short, there doesn't seem any great incentive to use non power weapons, especially among orks and it makes me worry abount an absolute power klaw spamfest. Know they're just in and know they need more equipment right off the bat.

So in other words you'd like to avoid a repeat of what the Marine factions have been doing! I agree with this notion. At the moment though, there's very little reason to take more armor or stamina over a good weapon. Which makes those advantages null, perhaps if they provided more benefit. Or if the more "interesting" war gear was out, people would be inclined to take the weaker weapons in order to have stronger armor.

That aside, if you're fighting against Orks that're organized.. YOUZ NEVER GUNNA BEAT US! Orkz are made fer fightin' 'an winnin'! No stinkin' 'UMIE has ever beaten a full WAAAGHBOY party! (WBZ!!')

Its because they Orks either are squishy or are perceived as squishy. Still not sure about that head hit box being as easy as a torso shot so maybe that's the cause of being squishy if it is an issue.

So by taking the armor penetration highest dps weapon we are more likely to escape the conflict with a kill before being gunned down. I know I played with the normal choppa and chain axe thing for a while but every swing you take to down your opponent is another few seconds to get murdered hard.

That said, in general the game is skewing towards that strategy with power fists and power weapons since staying in melee the least amount of time possible is the best chance of survival. I very rarely see someone toting the basic melee weapons since they take way to long to kill with vs the alternatives. Plus anti-armor why not!

Orks however are just extra squish perhaps so we're more urgent with our big ass weapons...plus Armor pen against Power Armored enemies just seems practical lol.

I'm less worried about the plasma Deffgun than about the general situation with the damn power weapons. I would actually like to have a chance while using chain weaponry as well. (Not just on Orkz)

I would take Choppas if i wasn't squishy, and it was low-cost weapons, so you can take moar Armor and tanky stuff. Actually, a Choppa worth 200 LP, and a eletric choppa worth 300LP. Only 100 LP of difference. I would take one for 100LP.

And i feel Choppas are weaker than chainsword.

I honestly think these things can be addressed though the progression tree. I really dont think the elite armor sets are that good as the high tier weapons mulch through you anyway, so the best thing is to invest all your points into the most dangerous weapon you can afford. With progression tree they may make chain weapon cost no LP, have higher durability, etc. Same thing with armor.

All I can say is have patience until we get the progression tree so we can see the game's long term goals in balancing.

Ehh.. I always thought it was odd that rank-and-file units that are a part of these factions, (such as a recruit for the space marines), are somehow authorised and fully capable of wielding rare and powerful weaponry - being the power weapons - which is intended to be used by much more veteran soldiers, such as their Captains.

Why are Recruits allowed to use Power Fists? A standard marine which has just arrived on Arkhona shouldn't be given such a powerful device unless they're in some sort of mass-surplus crisis of Power Fists.

Although, they did say that the new advancement tree will mean that you won't have access to Power Weaponry right off the bat, so there's that. We may see more people being forced to use much more standard equipment in later patches.

My biggest issue with that is that in all honesty I don't think it fixes the problem. Unless power weapons are locked to tier 4/5 most people are gonna play enough to get them and we'll be back where we started.

Another thing that probably doesn't help is that it's not entirely clear what tier each ork weapon is. Knuckles are equal to knives at tier 0, chain choppas should be on par with swords for being stated as being an ork chainsword, choppa blades are thus either tier 0 with the knuckles (though that seems unlikely) or tier 1 with the chain choppas. Choppa axes and electrified choppas are axe equivalents, the choppa club being one as well and thus all tier 2. finally the power klaw would be tier 3 right up alongside the power fist.

Personally I think the way to fix it is to retune damage and vitality stats. Make blunt weapons like mauls and fists overwhelm armor more easily but do less damage to health. Edged weapons would be more effective against health but have a hard time against shields and armor. Chain weapons would be the apex of anti-health weaponry, cutting through flesh easily while power or force weapons (with exception of fists and klaws) would be an unsteady middle ground. It's not lore friendly. In fact it's downright heretical, but aside from creating true scarcity it's all I can think of. No one is going to care that a power fist you can get from a store is in theory weaker than a weapon base you get and mod yourself if the store thing already two hit kills the tankiest builds a faction can create.

Without higher health and armor for everyone (and seeing toughness have a more concrete effect on survivability) melee will continue to be the superior form of war except in specific situations. Guns are obsolete when you can't stun the enemy long enough to shoot them. Melee players who aren't even necessarily good quickly learn that the moment they hear the clang sound of a weapon bouncing off a person winding up a bash they can just roll around the person's side and kill them near instantly with a chop to the back.

Yeah gating the weapons behind progression is make the game varied for about a month before most of us are at cap and mary sues toting power weapons, elite armor, massive pauldrons and golden/demonic/psychic/Waaagh auras of ownage

It is likely going to be unavoidable unless the weapons carried an equip costs on death and we have to keep repurchasing them (with requisition points, not virtual currency with real money of course)

Maybe I went off on too much of a tangent in my last post. My point is just as it was before; Melee kills in close quarters, so unless they give people a reason to choose a certain type of weapon beyond just loadout points we're always going to see bull rushing with the strongest weapons equippable.

Tacticals, traitors, avengers, and shootas can't have the most damaging weaponry but they are light on their feet and agile to a point. Devestators, havocs, reapers, and lootas are strong at range but too slow to get to battle. Assaults, raptors, and stormboyz have high damage melee weapons and too much mobility for them to be balanced with the others. Maybe another way to even them out is to have the weight of your melee weapon effect stamina and fuel. Heavier weapons slow down your run speed and/or reduce maximum fuel or stamina.