Fire Rate On Burst-Shot Weapons

[Azamagon]

As the title says, fire rate on burst-shot weapons... what does it actually represent?

 

I got curious about some various DPS charts and how accurate they actually were regarding the burst weapons, seeing that the (imo dreadful) Hind was REALLY high on the DPS charts and Burston Prime was close to the very top!

 

So, I tested them out for a bit. Note: The burstrifles i tried REALLY hard to find the right timing on the trigger pull. It really speeds up the RoF dramatically!

 

Burston (regular)

Magsize: 45

 

Test 1:

RoF: 5

Theoretical time to empty the mag: 9 seconds

Actual time to empty the mag (best time): ~6,5 seconds

 

Test 1:

RoF: 7,5

Theoretical time to empty the mag: 6 seconds

Actual time to empty the mag (best time): ~4,6 seconds

 

Hind

Magsize: 65

 

Test 1:

RoF: 5

Theoretical time to empty the mag: 13 seconds

Actual time to empty the mag (best time): ~8,7 seconds

 

Test 2:

RoF: 7,5

Theoretical time to empty the mag: 8,7 seconds

Actual time to empty the mag (best time): ~7,9 seconds

 

For comparison

Braton

Magsize: 45

 

Test 1

RoF: 10,9

Theoretical time to empty the mag: 4,1 seconds

Actual time to empty the mag: ~4,1 seconds

 

Test 2:

RoF: 15,3

Theoretical time to empty the mag: 2,9 seconds

Actual time to empty the mag: ~2,9 seconds

 

 

The results were really surprising to me. The burstweapons are far better than they say on paper, even the crappy Hind (although, that one was really hard to get the timing down, so its practical use is quite meh)! The Braton was extremely predictable in its results, which was nice to see at least.

But, what the uncle Hek do the RoF values really mean on burstweapons? Even with crappy timing on Burston for example, I STILL got far less than the expected 9 seconds to empty a mag when I had a RoF of 5 on it. Does it mean a burst RoF of 5? Then its actual RoF should be closer to 15 (5 bursts a 3 shots per second), meaning the time to empty a mag could be done in just 3 seconds. But, even with absolutely perfected timing, I don't think you'd even get CLOSE to that speed. If the 5 bursts per second is the "in between bursts delay" time, the actual time it takes for a burst, the time to finish each individual burst, should have its time displayed on the UI as well, so it's easier to calculate ACTUAL RoF!

 

I know RoF (and accuracy, urgh) is wonky in this game, in particular for melee weapons (Fire rate of 1.0 on heavy weapons is slower than 1.0 on longswords, for example), but one would expect RIFLES to at least have their RoF done right.

 

Also, the fact that the RoF mods only boost the speed BETWEEN the different bursts (it doesn't speed up each individual burst) is a little weird. It's also the reason why I think the Hind had extremely little benefit from the RoF mods.

 

If you ignore the fact that burst rifles actually have a higher RoF than on the "paper", fully automatic rifles are thus better burst rifles than actual burst rifles in some regard (as RoF would increase the speed of the actual burst AND the time between bursts on automatic rifles).

 

So, could we get better clarity on this? DE, it's really time you refined the arsenal UI so we actually understand what the heck the values we have there actually mean (not just RoF for burstweapons, but also accuracy, RoF on melee weapons etc). It's kind of silly how bad the info is.

[fatpig84]

Problem with burst rifle is that they are not consistent.

You need at least 120+ fps to be able to squeeze out the max performance.

 

Any FPS drops will reduce your DPS dramatically.

[SolarDwagon]

As above, this may be why you didn't notice a change in burst speed-it definitely changes with shred+speed trigger compared to unmodded, but can run into FPS limits.

[Azamagon]

Yeah, I know that FPS has a huge impact on the performance on burstweapons. But I ran solo, shooting just at the very start of the mission, where FPS shouldn't be that big of a problem.

 

I DID notice a big difference with RoF mods, but only on the Burston (the bonus was huge for the Burston, look at the numbers!). Hind on the other hand had very slightly noticeable change, due to the time of the burst lasting so frikkin long, and RoF mods not boosting the actual burst itself, only the delay between the bursts.

 

My suggestions:

* RoF-mods needs to affect the RoF on the actual bursts as well, not just the delaytime. Otherwise, automatic weapons are better at bursting than burstrifles!

* The arsenal needs to display more values, and more ACCURATE values! Some values don't mean much really.

[Kyphe]

what we need on burst guns is to just hold down the trigger and have it auto burst not semi auto burst

[00zau]

My guess is that the RoF stat is the delay between bursts, but since you fire several bullets quite quickly when you pull the trigger you actually fire much faster. With a Semi or auto rifle, an RoF of 5 means you can fire 1 bullet ever 1/5 seconds; with a burst rifle you fire 3-5 bullets every 1/5 seconds. Even though those 3-5 bullets take a bit of time to fire, the you're still going to be able to fire more than 5 bullets per second.

[Volt_Cruelerz]

The RoF stat is the delay between bursts, not the averaged rate.  This has been the case ever since last March/April or some time around then when the Burston's listed fire rate dropped from something like 22.3 to 3.3 so that fire rate mods could increase the rate with which players could pump bursts into enemies (one of the like five assorted mechanics overhauls burst weapons had early last year)..  It's applied to all burst rifles since then.  

 

Between semi-auto bugs and the time taken to clear a burst itself, that is what accounts for the remaining difference.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Volt_Cruelerz

[MechaTails]

5 minutes into using the Hind I knew it was going to be awesome, and it is. Great for mobs with punch through and burst fire weapons naturally make it easier to find your next targets without wasting ammo. All the Hind requires to be amazing is for the user to stop looking at its traits as disadvantages and be more active in lining up shots.

 

But anyway, everyone just wants bullet hoses so what are ya gonna do *shrug*