Make it even into alpha as they currently are? Fast rate of fire, huge health shreds, and a charge shot that not only has the capability to one shot ko someone, but has no cool down charge after firing....
Not too long ago, people were asking the exact same question. Only back then it was because the Plasma Gun was "completely fucking useless"
I wouldn't even touch a Plasma Gun with a Singing Spear at that point, damn it was a let down. They could change it so that plasma weapons have a bit more pen, but less damage. Though I guess that would make the "MoN is ridiculously OP" Federation even bigger, especially since it would then be more effective against Shieldbros :/ Anyway @kataclysmic , could you come with any ideas on how to balance it? A Tactical Marines takes 7 Bolter shells before he goes down or 5/6 Plasma Gun shots (iirc), but the Plasma Gun will overheat after 7-8 shots (meaning that he will be very vulnerable if he misses 2 shots on full auto). I personally only use full auto, unless I am in very specific situations.
I've found the plasma gun seems to cool off a bit too quickly, which is the secondary reason for it being OP. Switching it over to something similar to how it was done in SM would be better. Like giving it a slow passive cool-off, but you can press r to make it cool off faster (but be unable to shoot until it does). This is really just spitballing though. And hurt the user if it overheats, naturally. It just seems to be objectively better than the bolter in most situations. Which is a bit suck.
I have to say I cannot use a plasma gun, simply because the bloom of it is too strong for my eyes haha.
you never played with the stormbolter pre nerf right? the next flavour of the months is probally the heavy bolter or the melta or both
I've actually been using the plasma gun exclusively for the last few hours to get a good feel for it. The short version is; I'm not impressed. The long version is as follows; The damage added feels insignificant when compared to the lowered rate of fire and the massive heat build-up the weapon has. It -does- kill marginally faster than a bolter but at the cost of being much less versatile and much, much more punishing of mistakes. I find myself firing until it overheats, then pulling out my pistol to try and finish the foe off. And then there's the charge shot, which bounces around like pong and never, NEVER goes where the crosshair is actually looking, it always goes above it, usually a lot, sometimes not much. This brings me to my last point, it feels like a very inconsistent weapon and I find myself never feeling confident when I'm using it like I do with the bolter, even stormbolter.
The Plasma Gun is indeed a tricky lady, no doubt about that. I hope more people will try out the Plasma Gun for an extended period of time (like you), before they judge it for being "broken". It got its advantages, but it sure as the Emperor also got some disadvantages and it cost 100 loadout points more than the good ol' Bolter. My favorite thing about the Plasma Gun is that it can deal a surprising amount of damage to vehicles
