Weapon Ranges. Hekpwnemall Rant.

[Somtaaw]

Greetings Tenno brethren,

As a rather 'recent' member of our community, I seem to have issues with melee vs ranged. It seems that ranged weapons lose on totalled damage compared to Melee damage. Sure, you could start about the "Risk" involved with going melee and the chances of stun/knockback/rapid death... But with propper mods on the warframe, you can really dish out a ton of damage. And having a Trinity handy, tends to help on that matter.

What bothers me, is how the Snipetron is out-classed by both the LEX and HEK. The HEK being a shotgun which has long range accurate fire, bigger base magazine and bigger base 'max' ammo. This makes me wonder in what situation the Snipetron gains any advantage over these fire-arms?

Perhaps some of the current weapons need a range decrease, or a more serious accuracy drop over range. (Much like the Boltor needs to be 'lead' on the target to get shots in over long range.). The HEK just glances in the general direction and whatever on the other end, dies.

Could we discuss the matter, of weapon ranges and optimal range? I'm sure certain shotguns can get some range down-hill, but there ARE limits.

Let us talk about what could be better, and not say "no" merely because you happen to use the weapon.

[Hammie]

I think you're experiencing a misconception about the current state of the mod and weapon system. The problem doesnt stem from either the Lex or HEK being inherently overpowered due to how they function, the problem stems from 2 factors.

1) When the update hit and modifier trees were removed from weapons and warframes, this stripped much of what made them effective alternatives to the previously overpowered weapons such as the gorgon and hek. These modifier trees acted as a balancing factor that brought these weapons to a level playing field (for the most part, you could use them without feeling utterly useless - in short, they got the job done, but naturally some performed better than others, but thats all in the past)

2) Further compounding this issue is the change to how mods interact with weapons and warframes. You can no longer stack multiple mods of the same type into a weapon, further decreasing the potential of a broad range of weapons. Ontop of this, Rifle mods as a whole are noticeably weaker than other weapon type-specific mods. This most likely stems from fears of how it will interact with weapons such as the gorgon.

The weapons that required a specific rank to unlock each had a 'gimmick' that made it stand out above all the rest. The gorgon is able to spew veritable sheets of bullets in the matter of seconds turning everything to swiss cheese. The hek was a shotgun that remained efficient even at long ranges due to its narrow spread, These weapons were -designed- to perform this way, but they were also designed to perform this way with their modifier trees in mind. Now that such a thing has been removed, one of these weapons is standing out above the rest because its 'shtick' isnt reliant on its projectiles, but rather on its basic function as a weapon. That weapon is the Hek.

The Lex on the other hand, performed much as it did before all these changes, in truth however, because pistol mods are just so damn good, theres very little change between how it performed before the update, and after. Not many other weapons were as fortunate to come out so unscathed.

The answer doesnt really lie in nerfing either the Lex or Hek's performance/efficiency, but rather bringing the other weapons in line so that they too may be useful alternatives - currently they are not. The first step in doing this is bringing rifle mods up to par with that of shotguns and pistols - the thing that is stopping them from doing this however is most likely as i previously mentioned, they probably dont want a repeat incident of the earlier updates where gorgon reigned supreme.