Burston vs Braton (and everything else for that matter)

[Volt_Cruelerz]

Well, as some of you may know, I started with the burston, got it to rank 30, loaded up with multishot and had a gun that could instagib anything in the game and then questioned why people thought it was so bad. In an attempt to try to prove them wrong, I grabbed the Braton and just finished getting it to rank 30, transfered the same mods I used on the Burston over to it and headed to Hades. I regretfully must say that I beloved Burston is indeed UP and lacked in several key areas, some of which it should have excelled at.

1. Inaccuracy: despite what its infocard might suggest, the Burston is more along the lines of an accurate shotgun with +212% multishot than a rifle. Tap-firing the Braton is significantly more effective at sniping distant targets.

2. Fire Control: the Braton has the advantage here as well because tap or limited firing allows you to only put as many rounds down range as you need to kill. While in a firefight the effect is negligible, it really shows up over the course of a Corpus mission when you are forced to use three bullets to kill one camera whereas the Braton can just fire a single bullet. Likewise, to finish off a target, you needn't burn two extra rounds when one will do. Burst rifles are supposed to save ammo, but in this game, they are resulting in wasted ammo.

3. Rate: This should come as a surprise to no one, but the Braton has much higher DPS than the Burston, making it ideal for bosses where the Burston lacks in a huge way. This is likely in part because rate nodes on the Burston are wasted slots because all they do is pack the bullets in the burst closer together but do nothing about the time between bursts.

4. Suppressive Fire: Once again, an obvious difference is that the Braton can mow down hallways of enemies by merely sliding your mouse. The Burston on the other hand must aim for a weakpoint and then fire repeatedly to have the same effect. The effect is even more pronounced when dealing with a swarm of Infested which the Burston cannot handle at all.

I love the Burston. It is far more fun to play with, but the simple fact is that the Braton is better. And I'm not saying the Braton is OP. It feels like a good all-around balanced gun and should not be nerfed. The Burston is at fault here, not the Braton. As such, I feel the following changes should be made:

-Accuracy Buff: make the Burston pinpoint. with minimal accuracy loss by the second and perhaps allow the third to go off target if trying to snipe an enemy (first shot accurate enough to hit a weakpoint, second shot accurate enough to hit the enemy, third shot might hit, might not). This will help it fulfill its desired role as a hybrid

-Rate Rework: allow rate nodes and mods to not just pack the burst bullets closer together but also allow them to allow bursts themselves to be closer together and in doing so prevent it from being useless when facing hordes of Infested (which it is currently).

-Damage Buff: very very slight buff to damage (I'm talking like changing the damage per bullet from 20 to 21 or maybe 22) to help deal just a hair more damage to targets and prevent the need for an extra finishing tap periodically.

This is not a case of pick 1 or two of the above. I genuinely believe that in order to be on par with other weapons, all three changes must occur. Only then would it be capable of dealing with larger groups of enemies more efficiently (I'm not saying it should be remotely as good as the Gorgon in this regard, but right now it is downright pathetic at mowing down Infested hordes), hit distant targets harder than the autos but less so than the semis, and have slightly better ammo efficiency.

[Golgotha]

same experience here..just without multishot.

started WF about a week ago, got myself the Burston because i like having fire control and accuracy - got it to level 24 until I decided to just check the braton for a while..because why the F*** not, couldnt be that much better right?

Boy was I wrong. Braton with the right mods (read: same exact mod-setup as in burston) outperforms the burston so hard, it brings tears to my eyes.

Fire Control : Check

Crowd Control: Check

Decent DPS: Check

Accuracy: Check

why did i waste my precious lifespan with leveling the burston..

those points you mentioned are spot on what I feel the burston needs to get on par.

[0bit]

+1 on OP's suggestions. Especially on the rate buff. Sorely needed change IMO.

[5UP4N0V4]

why did i waste my precious lifespan with leveling the burston..

Well, it's not a complete waste, at least you gain mastery points towards your rank which helps in the future. Every bit helps ^^,

[shygddt]

-Rate Rework: allow rate nodes and mods to not just pack the burst bullets closer together but also allow them to allow bursts themselves to be closer together and in doing so prevent it from being useless when facing hordes of Infested (which it is currently).

So much this. I would love the Burston if it didn't have this flaw.

Also, I would suggest a sound rework to accompany the higher damage. As it is it sounds exactly like the Braton weapons and lack oomph.

[Renan.Ruivo]

[...]I love the Burston. It is far more fun to play with, but the simple fact is that the Braton is better[...]

Pretty much this is my feeling. However the Braton "betterness" does not makes up for the fact that i like the Burston more.

The only area where the Braton is ridiculously more usefull than the Burston is for tough (read = same ranked) boss fights. And for those missions it's a simple matter of changing to a maxed out Gorgon (Which, to me is only good for boss fights). So i absolutely have no need for a Braton.

But i do not regret having ugly-duck maxed out guns in my inventory (Believe it or not, i'm working on a Boar at the moment. Also ♥ Bo-staff.)

Those itens will stay there forever, unless the devs exclude them from the game (unlikely), and one of the perks of MMO's is the constant balancing of everything. Warframe already does one thing right in that all the guns, with no exception, have a specific role and a specific play style. The Lato plays different from the Lex that plays different from the Bronco that plays different from the Sicarus that plays different from the Furis that plays different from the Bolto.

So even after all the balancing in the world, all these guns will still remain unique in their own ways. I trust Digital Extremes in that aspect.

Edited February 4, 2013 by ruivoml

[Volt_Cruelerz]

I just love the feeling of the Burston and would use it darn near exclusively if the above changes were made (honestly, my love for it would probably overcome the numerics of using the Braton or Gorgon in a boss fight).

The Braton is the jack-of-all-trades so it shouldn't be categorically better than anything. This is true in its relation to other guns but still gets used because it is a great gun overall. (Once again, I'm not at all suggesting a nerf to the Braton; IMO it's perfect.) The problem is that the jack-of-all-trades has beaten the hybrid at the things the hybrid should be winning at and completely outdoes it in other respects.

And yeah, I tried the Boar; got it to level 15. I gave that gun an honest try, but it simply was not worth it..

[Renan.Ruivo]

Rank 30 boar, Clip mods, max ammo mods, reload speed mods, multi-shot mods. Full line of running chargers, runners, leapers and ancients.

That is just something i have to see.