"Wasn't most of the kills" I find is the key component here. You DID use the broken part to unfairly kill some people. Likely those were the assaults and snipers threatening your life, or even opposing PC users. I saw the video linked, people were grouped up with PCs and spamming that insanely accurate snap shot against mid- and close-range targets. Had you not used the broken part to kill unfairly, your life likely would have ended thus compromising your position and possibly causing a drastically differenf chain of evemts. Like easily blasting away all the people that PCs effectively counter. You see how that day cannot effectively be submitted as evidence? FYI Vehicles are not a hard counter to PCs.
I see what you are saying. Yes, I did take out a few raptors with that snap shot. In my defense, I didn't know it was a bug and I was super excited about it haha. But yes Zed, What you are saying is totally correct. That broken quick shot definitely did save me from some raptors a few times and the outcome would have been drastically different had I not had that ability (which i know from previous experience). Now that it is fixed people still complain about them, and people were complaining about them before that day. It's just the way the weapon is. Vehicles may not be a hard counter to PC but it definitely helps you get to a point. 1-2 PCs are not(edit) gonna drop a rhino THAT fast.
The missing mechanics are what's keeping the Plasma Cannon in this realm of "OPishness" (And oh yes, many people have seen my public discord with it) Charge-shot salvos will be brought in check once plasma weapons can explode from overheating as well as an increase in splash damage to the user to prevent 1HKO shots at point blank range that leave the user still alive. Uncharged-shots could either be brought in check by having an accuracy penalty at range or making the ability to fire an uncharged-shot a basic attachment for the cannon itself. Being able to do so at point blank range, while annoying, stems from staggering ranged weapon holders with a melee attack currently being bugged. I will say the damage it does for the amount of shots you can make is rather..... annoying. It's hard to check a weapon that has 1HKO abilities in most combat scenarios it faces (DBash not working, staggering targets not working, etc). However much I would personally enjoy to see a damage reduction and charge shot splash damage increase to the user, I want to see where the actual mechanics of the game will go rather than the mechanics of an alpha.
In TT roughly the chance of a Marine dying from Gets Hot is about 8-9% per round of combat, not counting Psyker or any other invulnerable saves. An educated guess at the duration of a round of combat is 20-40 seconds of real time, which makes 8-9% per round equivalent to about once every 6 minutes if firing constantly during those 6 minutes. Do you feel a roughly equivalent chance of blowing up will deter people from using a PC? Should it be a harsher penalty? A more relaxed one? I do no think this drawback would deter me in the slightest. When I feel I need to spawn as a PC to take out a specific target, I will. We, every player, risk our life every time we step out a doorway or walk away from the spawn room, fear of dying is not a very effective deterrant in a video game, except to the inexperienced. The only thing this will generate is annoyance, not mitigation. Unless of course you nerf the PC into uselessness with it, of course. I do notice you mention "Salvos" which I think is your point you are trying to make. Currently whole squads of PC users are dealing out supreme amounts of damage. Does this truly differ from, say, an entire squad of Heavy Bolters? Or Stalkers? Shield-bros? Apothecaries/Sorcerors? Each of these thoughts strike a chord of THREAT in our minds, but truly the threat to us is Teamwork. A squad using PCs in tandem is SMART, not OP. Just as they are strong, a squad of Jump Assaults or Stalkers would end them fast. Hard counters work in squad tactics as well. The DPS of the uncharged snap shot is only slightly high, compared to a good baseline, the Bolt Gun. It does already have ridiculously bad accuracy. The issue is that it is Bursty, because the rate of fire is low and damage per shot so high, if the first two shots hit its game over. A bigger issue is that jump assault have HALF the armor+health of a Tactical or Devastator, so its much more obvious when used against that class. Currently Knife and Sword seem to not stagger, while Axe and Fist do. I wonder if this is a melee only rock paper scissors thing, so that Fist and Axe are good against Tac/Dev/Support while Swords are better against other Assaults? This needs to be tested/comfirmed. It will definately be interesting to see the final release mechanics.
It is the sheerest madness that I agree with Bentusi, but for once I actually do. The Plasma Cannons damage output is too high, for the flatfire at least. It's an accurate close range shot with no risk to the user that can down them in one lucky hit, it's only disadvantage being it's low rate of fire which is irrelevent in any situation where you have half decent support and haven't wandered off on your own. Plus, the overcharge has little risk associated for it's many benefits. Unless you hit a target point blank it won't kill you, when in the 'red' zone it created a pretty ridiculous spread that is only mitigated by the relatively slow projectile, and often will instantly kill it's targets on impact even if they are moving out of the way. The level of Risk vs Reward is heavily in the favor of reward, and often it takes little actual aiming to maximize the devastation that a PC can cause, you merely need to lob 'red' overcharged shots in the general direction of a few opponents.
Based on my actual military experience, the last two rounds I was fighting in felt like the enemy was blasting M203 grenade launchers with clips and no manual reload; so, yeah, I agree with Celestia - it made most any other weapon a joke to choose to use. And I HAVE fired automatic 40mm grenade launchers and, yes, they are almost ALWAYS vehicle mounted or set up on a hardpoint, so no being able to duck and weave with them.
I completely agree. If the devs want to have plasma SHOTGUNS for us to use, then make the range short, at best, but no weapon should be deadly at all ranges unless it is a single shot, period.
It's a cannon. And the risk\disadvantages factor is mostly tied to the sheer fact of being a havoc\dev class which is enough punishing itself because of their slow movement, no vaulting or real rolling capabilities. When you add slow RoF and the possibility of frequent blowing yourself up, you get a pretty balanced unit.
