Yes, the artificial(remember to include this because suppression also exists in a natural form) suppression should be fixed by being removed so the weapon can have the stats it should have. Until the Heavy Bolter can defeat a Bolter user more than 50% of the time in medium/long range combat the weapon will continue to be ill-designed. And by defeat I do not mean suppress until an ally goes and Downs/Kills them I mean the HB should be able to Down/Kill the Bolter user more often than they are Downed/Killed. If you are Downing enemies and getting Assists you will be getting points, which should feel good.
Nah. I don't see the HB being so dominant, since it's rather tough to use. Although I'd totally want to see a raise in HB use.
In a 1vs1 Situation without cover the HB should win everytime, because the normal Bolter would get supressed and not hit things. But we will see how the update playes out.
In a 1v1 situation the HB should win because it out damages the Bolter use that should only ever get naturally suppressed if they do decide they do not want to die.
We will have to see what the future changes bring. For now i like the supression mechanig, as it can add to the game.
Yes, it can add to the game, as has already been proven. Now what needs to be proven, by changing stats/mechanics, is that a natural Heavy Bolter can out-perform an artificial Heavy Bolter without becoming an OP weapon. It's a matter of what we have works but is far from the best of what we could have. For an analogy, the artificial Heavy Bolter is like using a hoe to dig a grave. Yes, the hoe is capable of digging a grave, far better than using your hands, but a shovel is better than the hoe still as it is meant for digging large holes, such as graves. We currently have a hoe for digging graves. We need to be given a shovel.
@Aritol I'm not good with keeping up with the stream itself yet, but there is a Heavy Weapons specific news and development plans thread in the Eternal Crusade Heavies Steam Group I try to keep updated
After playing for a few games with the new patch I'm finding that the HB is still massively under performing in most situations. Still having completely inconsistent times to kill. Not to mention the accuracy seems even worse now, anything past 50 feet feels like you are lucky to get a hit even while braced. Switching back to pretty much any other gun gets rid of the inconsistent times to kill so I don't think it's lag majority of the time. It still feels like a gamble if I can kill them or not, with the other guns I am completely confident I can get the kill. When it feels like it's damaging the correct amount it feels pretty close to what it should be but other times I end up pumping 60-90 rounds into someone before their shield even drops. I also think the headshot damage needs to be brought back. If I can hit the head I should be rewarded with a faster kill. It makes no sense and punishes skill. EDIT: decided to go test it in close quarters on the points and it is shredding people most of the time. However if I shoot at anything more than like 20 feet away my damage disappears. Is the damage falloff bugged or something? A friend is having the same exact issues. Just put 63 rounds into a Sorcs back from probably 50 meters and they didn't die. Well looks like I'm removing the HB from my loadout until it is usable for me.
I need to play test myself, but are you sure all of your shots are hitting? Patch notes say they increased spread when braced, and barrel climb made landing all shots at range challenging even before the recoil nerf
