Grinders Still In Running For 'worst Enemy Of The Game' Award

[MJ12]

Let's talk Grinders! Grinders are fun! They're tiny with tiny hitboxes so you can't hit them easily due to a total lack of splash damage effects. They're fast moving for something so tiny so they're even harder to hit. They have damage reduction because, obviously, hitting them isn't supposed to happen. You're just supposed to die when you see them. And obviously you aren't supposed to be able to hit them, so why should they be affected by freeze damage or other slowing effects? They don't even have an attack. They deal damage just by touching you. This damage also instantly staggers you. They do a ton of damage for something so small. And unlike Nervos they don't even serve a purpose with their mechanic besides "make the Grineer more annoying". They literally exist solely to give the Grineer an annoying sh*tty enemy because apparently having one faction with plenty of annoying sh*tty enemies wasn't enough.

And if you do manage to kill them (not an easy feat now that things seem to do way more damage in general and spawns are such that you can easily be facing a firing squad of 4-5 Lancers while trying to deal with Grinders) they give you a whopping... 50 base Affinity. For an enemy which is simultaneously more annoying and less fun than anything else in the game. I mean, given their unfun status they should drop at least 2 Orokin Reactors and Orokin Catalysts apiece. Oh yeah, and literally two of them spawning in any wide-open area can put you into instant staggerlock. It just happened to me. Twice. FYI: There is a boss who you fight in an open area who can spawn two Grinders.

Some may say that Grinders are useful for flushing people out of cover so you can be shot. Except they do the opposite. They encourage you to hide in tight confines where they can't maneuver. Some sort of Grineer grenadier with medium-damage indirect-fire grenades would be far better at doing that without the frustration.

How to fix grinders? Simple. Stop spawning them. You've clearly gotten use out of the art assets since Latchers and Nervos use the same model and texture, just shrunken down so you're not losing anything. Either that or if you insist on keeping a boring terrible stagger enemy, make them self-destruct when they hit you once, like Runners which are mostly manageable and not actively detrimental to the game. Right now, they serve no purpose in the game. Now that the Heavy Grineer AI seems to be less buggy you could replace them 1:1 with Grineer Minigunners and the game would become more fun and be about as hard with less fake difficulty.

On an unrelated note, I also died from Grineer Minigunners recently. Yeah, it surprised me too. A bunch of regular Grineer had suppressed me and the minigunner was moving aggressively to flank me. I didn't have much of a choice but to jump out guns blazing and try my luck because if I just hid there I'd get torn apart. I rolled snake eyes. That was actually fun. So you know, memo to DE: There are fun ways to fail missions and unfun ways to fail missions and "having to deal with Grinders" is distinctly the latter. I don't remember a single fun or exciting experience involving Grinders. Just teeth-grinding frustration, a blinding rage, and me coming back to my senses literally with my mouse pointer hovering over the 'post new topic' button to post a thread that was titled "Whoever decided Grinders had a place in this game should be tried for crimes against humanity."

And yes, that's kind of overreacting which is why I've posted zero of those threads. But they really are awful.

[I00thlurker]

Grinders remind me of wheel skeletons from Dark Souls

F*** those guys.

Edited March 27, 2013 by I00thlurker

[shoudra]

They haven't won yet? What's taking the vote so long?!

[MJ12]

They haven't won yet? What's taking the vote so long?!

The voters were stunlocked by Grinders :(

[Grinstone]

The voters were stunlocked by Grinders :(

+1

That is all.

[UnderYourBed]

Grinders remind me of wheel skeletons from Dark Souls

F*** those guys.

At least those guys only spawn at a couple of rooms in the whole game (last I checked at least). These Rollers are out to get you.

[Wesgile]

i thought the nervos had them beat.

well better luck next time, and they probably will be the strongest candidate for the next award though.

[shoudra]

Don't be silly..nervos eventually explode if you die at least you will be put out of your misery, grinders wil last however long it takes to kill them!

Edited March 27, 2013 by shoudra

[UnderYourBed]

Nervos got removed from the running (or they've already won so got removed for rebalancing) so the Rollers are the top candidate now.

- temporarily disabled Nervo enemy type pending tuning/re-balance pass

[AsianJoyKiller]

Grinders are literally Satan.

[Mirsh]

Use aoe and they die.

[HadronVictorioso]

Grinders remind me of wheel skeletons from Dark Souls

F*** those guys.

Problem, friend? *trollface here*

[NDroid]

Apparently the community likes fighting Grinders so much that the new Sedna boss Kela has an infinite supply of them she can send your way. Having a hard time against 2? Try 5-6 of those things rolling after you, fun times all around. I'm just happy I got all the Saryn parts so I won't have to fight her again anytime soon.

Edited March 27, 2013 by NDroid

[Aggh]

Apparently the community likes fighting Grinders so much that the new Sedna boss Kela has an infinite supply of them she can send your way. Having a hard time against 2? Try 5-6 of those things rolling after you, fun times all around. I'm just happy I got all the Saryn parts so I won't have to fight her again anytime soon.

Honestly, Kela is the only situation where it's problematic what with you also have to deal with a boss that has an uber buffed bombard. They're pretty easy to deal with everywhere else.

[Tvol]

Get Boar.

Shoot Rolie-polie-olies.

???

Profit.

Seriously. Just learn to adapt and overcome. There are counters (that you an buy with in-game credits no less) to these guys. A coordinated group with one person on duty against the rolie-polies with a boar can easily wipe the floor with Kela.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Tvol

[UnderYourBed]

Just because you know how to deal with doesn't make them any less annoying and/or cheap.

[shoudra]

Maybe I'm jaded from doing kela to farm my saryn parts but I just hate the little rolling...evils I know you can aoe them or use a shotgun however I still hate them.

[RXZ71]

they can be anoying type of fun once u get used em ^^, i actualy like em in a way. (for those who cant get used to them or wana get it over with, spam overheat with ember)

[Splosions]

If they stayed on the ground so you could jump over them, would be one thing, but you jump they jump, you get stunlocked, you die.

Fun times.

[BobDillinger]

Worst enemy of the game? nay worst enemy 2013.

[AsianJoyKiller]

Get Boar.

Shoot Rolie-polie-olies.

???

Profit.

Seriously. Just learn to adapt and overcome. There are counters (that you an buy with in-game credits no less) to these guys. A coordinated group with one person on duty against the rolie-polies with a boar can easily wipe the floor with Kela.

You shouldn't need to have one person in your party, specially outfitted to specifically deal with the Grinders... That's just poor game design.

[CosyPigeon]

+1 to OP. Am more afraid of grinders than Stalker

[Kadishia]

Soundquake doesn't seem to effect the grinders. :3

If a grinder gets stuck under a mobile defense mission, it will shred the cyropod alive -.-

[MJ12]

You shouldn't need to have one person in your party, specially outfitted to specifically deal with the Grinders... That's just poor game design.

Also what about people who play solo?

Note that the Sedna boss has:

1. The ability to knock you off of boxes

2. The ability to spawn infinity Grinders

3. Did I mention she can spawn infinity Grinders?

Basically the only viable Solo strategy is 'upgrade your shields a ton, block missiles to your face while you grind her down'.

[Alienami]

I hate them. They've forced myself to aim better and be less lazy in movement...but I still hate them. FOOOOOOOGA YOOOOOOOOO BALLS OF SATAN!

Be nice if Mag's Bullet Attractor forced Grinders to attack enemy affected by it. Also, does Nyx's abilities work on them? If you can't kill them...use them, am I right? I want to see enemies hate them more than me.