My Thoughts On The Opticor

[GhostSwordsman]

First of all, I really enjoy using this weapon. It feels like a laser cannon, and that's a good thing.

 

However, I find it a bit lacking when it comes to some of the mechanics it possessed and does not seem to posses. For reference, I compare the opticor against Halo's Spartan Laser very heavily, granted the two function fairly similarly.

 

I enjoy the charge followed by instant release function. This really makes the Opticor feel like Halo's Spartan Laser.(which i've appropriately nicknamed my opticor) However, there is something that sort of irks me about it when I use it. The beam does not track the crosshair for it's duration to dissipation. What I mean is, when you fire the opticor, you can see the beam and it's a rather long beam of energy. The problem I have is that it feels unforgiving in the sense that it only applies damage to the point where the crosshair was when the trigger was released. I feel like this can get really frustrating especially considering that the enemy AI can sometimes move very erratically and change direction in an instant, "wasting" the shot.(I use quotation marks because there is more than enough ammo to compensate)

 

I feel like it would be more appropriate if the laser beam were to track the crosshair until it visually dissipates into those little lines that are left in it's wake. Again, this is a function much like Halo's spartan laser, you could fire the laser, miss your target slightly, and if you were moving the crosshair towards the target, you could still get full damage on your mark because the damage from the beam persisted until the beam itself dissipated and disappeared.

 

So, as an examle, I charge my opticor while a crewman is drinking his greedy milk behind cover. Right before the weapon reaches full charge, he decides to run and refill his greedy milk making me miss the shot. If the beam tracked the crosshair, then I could hit the poor crewman because I can move my crosshair over him while the beam is still visually coming out of the weapon and do damage to him.

 

This function, I believe, would also help to actually hit and kill enemies when you're adjusting your aim and help to hit moving enemies.

 

The other thing that sort of irks me about the opticor is that the laser feels too narrow. It feels too much like a bullet from my vectis or a shot from my lanka. It's as if it only hits in a very small circle around the dot in the center of the crosshair, rather than being a wide laser.

 

Rather than changing this though, I'd suggest making firestorm add to the radius of the beam itself rather than the AoE upon impact with a surface. Or make another unique mod like firestorm that has this function. This would allow you to fire a beam between two enemies that are standing next to each other and hit both of them without changing your position so one is in front of the other.

 

Here's a video depicting what I'm imagining for the optior, you need only watch to 40 seconds:

 

 

As can be seen, the Gundam's laser from his cannon is slightly wider than the end of the "barrel", for lack of a better term. and It hits in a much wider radius than the initial point of energy release.

 

I think that small changes such as these would help to improve the opticor and make much more fun to use(if that's even possible).

Edited November 6, 2014 by GhostSwordsman

[FierceRadiance]

...(T)he opticor...laser feels too narrow. It feels too much like a bullet from my vectis or a shot from my lanka. It's as if it only hits in a very small circle around the dot in the center of the crosshair, rather than being a wide laser.

 

Rather than changing this though, I'd suggest making firestorm add to the radius of the beam itself rather than the AoE upon impact with a surface. Or make another unique mod like firestorm that has this function. This would allow you to fire a beam between two enemies that are standing next to each other and hit both of them without changing your position so one is in front of the other.

^This.  Agree on both points.  With all the time spent on charge up, there ought to be somewhat more splash damage to this weapon.  Otherwise, it's just a snazzy sniper rifle.

[Arkanfell]

I have to agree. The resulting shot feels and looks a little underwelming.

[s7n7a7k7e]

If the beam were to be wider, it would need some punch-through added as well. As the Opticor currently stands it is mostly a single target weapon evem with the miniscule AOE damage it has. I would looooove the beam to be wider, so that it can hit more than one enemy standing next to each other, because in my opinion a weapon like the Opticor should be a multi-enemy destroyer. But without punch-through a wider beam could make targeting specifc enemies harder because enemies in the wider line-of-fire would more often trigger the beams AOE blocking the target from getting hit. Add some punch-through would fix that issue.

[GhostSwordsman]

If the beam were to be wider, it would need some punch-through added as well. As the Opticor currently stands it is mostly a single target weapon evem with the miniscule AOE damage it has. I would looooove the beam to be wider, so that it can hit more than one enemy standing next to each other, because in my opinion a weapon like the Opticor should be a multi-enemy destroyer. But without punch-through a wider beam could make targeting specifc enemies harder because enemies in the wider line-of-fire would more often trigger the beams AOE blocking the target from getting hit. Add some punch-through would fix that issue.

Perhaps I should have also stated that I default to modding in punch through my self. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree with you, the opticor is deserving of some innate punch through. However, the point of my suggestion for the change is because as it stands, the opticor feels a bit like a big box sniper that shoots a laser beam because the laser only does damage to the area where the crosshair was pointing when the charge reached it's maximum or when the trigger was released, meaning if you aren't aiming directly at an enemies body or body part, the shot will miss.

 

The worst offender in that case is when a Grineer soldier is shooting at me from behind a railing, I aim for his head and start charging, right before my opticor goes off, he decides to crouch back down into cover making the beam miss, even though it's still traveling right over top of him possibly even grazing his back in the process. That's why I feel like the laser itself should hit in a wider radius as it travels to the target.

 

Edit: Actually, the main reason why I didn't suggest any punch through in the OP is due to the fact that I read through some other feedback threads about the opticor and it was already suggested there so I felt no need to repeat it here as my two main points were different.

 

But I do see your point about the AoE, it's a nice little feature especially vs. low level enemies as I don't need to worry as much about actually hitting my target, but otherwise I could really care less about the AoE effect on impact with a surface.

Edited November 6, 2014 by GhostSwordsman

[_Absolom_]

Am I the only one who thinks the weapon is fine as it is right now?

Edited November 6, 2014 by Soulswipe

[GhostSwordsman]

Am I the only one who thinks the weapon is fine as it is right now?

I never explicitly stated that the weapon wasn't fine as it is, nor did I say that was my opinion. These changes suggested would be more like Quality of Life changes than anything. My aim certainly wasn't to change the core functions of the weapon as they are now.

 

I apologize, because I'm not trying to go after you specifically for what you said, I just simply want to make my intentions and opinion clear.

[TwiceDead]

Opticor is one of the most powerful weapons to come around this year, and you want to buff it further? 
The laser is fine as well, it even leaves a trail of particle lines in it's wake. 

 

Am I the only one who thinks the weapon is fine as it is right now?

It's completely fine.

EDIT: 

In my opinion. 

Edited November 6, 2014 by TwiceDead

[GhostSwordsman]

Opticor is one of the most powerful weapons to come around this year, and you want to buff it further? 

The laser is fine as well, it even leaves a trail of particle lines in it's wake. 

 

It's completely fine.

EDIT: 

In my opinion. 

I'm curious to know what exactly you're seeing as a buff. I myself can see how one could read the OP and see it as a buff for the weapon, but I'm not sure on which suggestion you're basing your question. And I never explicitly stated or even inferred (or intended to infer) that I wanted to buff the weapon. In my mind, these suggestions are more of a tweak to the functionality of the opticor's beam, as a stated earlier, they're more like quality of life tweaks than out right buffs.

 

To me, a laser cannon should not be a weapon that hits a pinpoint like a sniper rifle, it would be as accurate as one, but it would hit a large area rather than a specific point.

 

I agree with you on the point that the opticor is the most powerful weapon to be released this year. My radiation build spits out a little over 3000 damage total. But I feel that I can't functionally utilize all that power with the way the beam and weapon currently funtions, I think it needs a slight tweak.

Edited November 6, 2014 by GhostSwordsman

[ArkNeither]

The Spartan Laser was more than just an instantaneous shot? Dang did not know that or remember that... To me the Opticor did feel like the Spartan Laser with the instantaneous boom...

[TwiceDead]

I'm curious to know what exactly you're seeing as a buff. 

I feel like it would be more appropriate if the laser beam were to track the crosshair until it visually dissipates into those little lines that are left in it's wake. Again, this is a function much like Halo's spartan laser, you could fire the laser, miss your target slightly, and if you were moving the crosshair towards the target, you could still get full damage on your mark because the damage from the beam persisted until the beam itself dissipated and disappeared.

 

So, as an examle, I charge my opticor while a crewman is drinking his greedy milk behind cover. Right before the weapon reaches full charge, he decides to run and refill his greedy milk making me miss the shot. If the beam tracked the crosshair, then I could hit the poor crewman because I can move my crosshair over him while the beam is still visually coming out of the weapon and do damage to him.

 

This function, I believe, would also help to actually hit and kill enemies when you're adjusting your aim and help to hit moving enemies.

This is a pretty damn major buff, and it's just too much.

 

You're making it virtually impossible to miss with this weapon, a weapon that already has the pin-point accuracy of hit-scan sniper-rifles, an area blast on the impact point, and the destructive power of a rocket-launcher without the drawbacks of being able to F*** yourself over with a rocket to your own boots. 

This weapon is basically a hit-scan rocket-launcher, giving it more would make it literally "2 gud" in my opinion. 

[GhostSwordsman]

The Spartan Laser was more than just an instantaneous shot? Dang did not know that or remember that... To me the Opticor did feel like the Spartan Laser with the instantaneous boom...

You had to be really quick, but you could technically "miss" your shot with the spartan laser and still get a kill by correcting your aim. Granted the only time this ever happened was when the shot would have otherwise "grazed" your target.

 

Edit: Similar example (that's somewhat relevant I think), you could aim and fire the spartan laser in front of a moving target and when they drive into it, they take full damage. I feel that's relevant to what I'm getting at with this thread because it shows that the beam did damage until it disappeared not at the exact point where the crosshair was pointing when it fired.

 

This is a pretty damn major buff, and it's just too much.

 

You're making it virtually impossible to miss with this weapon, a weapon that already has the pin-point accuracy of hit-scan sniper-rifles, an area blast on the impact point, and the destructive power of a rocket-launcher without the drawbacks of being able to F*** yourself over with a rocket to your own boots. 

This weapon is basically a hit-scan rocket-launcher, giving it more would make it literally "2 gud" in my opinion. 

I'll have to disagree with that. You said right in your reply exactly what irks me about the weapon at the moment, it has the pin-point accuracy of a hit-scan sniper rifle. A lot of the time it just feels like a sniper rifle contained in a big box, and instead of bullets it shoots a big laser beam.

 

The beam only stays on screen for about half a second anyway, so how is adding crosshair tracking, which I imagine the flux rifle and spectra have, a major buff? I mean, I see your point, but it just doesn't feel like a major change to the weapon. If the crosshair tracking only persists until the beam stops coming from the weapon then you really only have an extremely small window to correct errors in aiming. In my mind that only helps to actually hit and kill enemies that suddenly move off the dot at the center of the crosshair.

 

Perhaps I'm trying to think about this in too much of a realistic/reality based way, because if I actually had a laser cannon such as the opticor, I'd expect to be able to move the beam horizontally or vertically while it was firing and the beam was coming from the weapon.

 

In fact, that's the reason why I feel that this change might be needed, because I feel like the opticor is too unforgiving when it comes to needing to adjust your aim. And it certainly doesn't help that the enemies in-game move around very sporadically.

 

I will admit though, now that I think more on it, if the other suggestion I put up were implemented, then the above probably wouldn't be necessary. If the beam itself were wider, then the opticor should be more forgiving on sloppy aiming or an unlucky encounter where the enemy sporadically moves left or right and out of the dot on the center of the crosshair because the beam would no longer be a fancy looking lanka bullet.

Edited November 6, 2014 by GhostSwordsman

[Jinryusai]

This is a pretty damn major buff, and it's just too much.

 

You're making it virtually impossible to miss with this weapon, a weapon that already has the pin-point accuracy of hit-scan sniper-rifles, an area blast on the impact point, and the destructive power of a rocket-launcher without the drawbacks of being able to F*** yourself over with a rocket to your own boots. 

This weapon is basically a hit-scan rocket-launcher, giving it more would make it literally "2 gud" in my opinion. 

If may seem that you, my man, have lost yo mind thinking this is like a hitscan Rocket Launcher, the radius is far too small for that. When they intensify the radius of the explosion and make it explode per enemy it goes through, then it shall come close to being a rocket launcher...

 

All this is is a chargeable Beam Rifle or Spartan laser. That explosion is barely noticeable and does not happen on enemies and and hardly kills.

[Gizogin]

 

Perhaps I'm trying to think about this in too much of a realistic/reality based way, because if I actually had a laser cannon such as the opticor, I'd expect to be able to move the beam horizontally or vertically while it was firing and the beam was coming from the weapon.

 

 

A "realistic" laser wouldn't track, because real (well, theoretical) laser weapons fire in split-second bursts.  They also cannot have beams wider than the end of the barrel; how would that even work?

 

The Opticor looks an awful lot like an electrolaser, which uses a brief, high-powered laser to ionize a channel of air.  A fraction of a second later, the gun sends a powerful electric charge down this channel, with an overall effect and impact similar to a lightning bolt (or the laser itself is the weapon, flash-vaporizing the surface of its target with a considerable explosion).  By the time you see the beam, the weapon has already finished firing; the "lingering" effect is simply the visible channel of ionized plasma left in the air.  It cannot possibly "track" in a meaningful sense.

 

The beam also dissipates too quickly to effectively cut anything, so it doesn't make sense to give it punch-through.  Real lasers used in machining are closer to the Spectra (an actual Corpus laser cutter) or the Flux Rifle: a continuous beam that burns or melts material away.  Even those lasers pulse, as the nature of lasers is such that they cannot easily maintain a constant output unless taken as an average over time.

 

On a different note, I bet firing the Opticor would produce quite a strong smell of ozone.

[GhostSwordsman]

A "realistic" laser wouldn't track, because real (well, theoretical) laser weapons fire in split-second bursts.  They also cannot have beams wider than the end of the barrel; how would that even work?

 

The Opticor looks an awful lot like an electrolaser, which uses a brief, high-powered laser to ionize a channel of air.  A fraction of a second later, the gun sends a powerful electric charge down this channel, with an overall effect and impact similar to a lightning bolt (or the laser itself is the weapon, flash-vaporizing the surface of its target with a considerable explosion).  By the time you see the beam, the weapon has already finished firing; the "lingering" effect is simply the visible channel of ionized plasma left in the air.  It cannot possibly "track" in a meaningful sense.

 

The beam also dissipates too quickly to effectively cut anything, so it doesn't make sense to give it punch-through.  Real lasers used in machining are closer to the Spectra (an actual Corpus laser cutter) or the Flux Rifle: a continuous beam that burns or melts material away.  Even those lasers pulse, as the nature of lasers is such that they cannot easily maintain a constant output unless taken as an average over time.

 

On a different note, I bet firing the Opticor would produce quite a strong smell of ozone.

You bring up a fair point but we are arguing over something that is based in science fiction. I think that opens the door to this question, who's to say the Corpus didn't stumble upon some old Orokin tech that actually allows lasers to "track" in the sense being discussed here? But again, it's a fair point.

 

As for the laser not being able to be bigger than the the barrel of the gun, that's precisely what I was getting at in my OP. Yeah, I used an example that wasn't depicting exactly what I was saying, though there is a scene where the energy released is so tremendous that the beam is much larger than the end of the weapon, but it's on me for not being explicitly clear in the OP. What I was saying is, sure, the beam looks like it's as big as the end of the opticor, but it certainly doesn't feel that way when using it. It feels more like the beam is as big as the dot in the center of my screen or as big as the small beam that shows up and acts as a laser pointer before firing, which is why I'd like the radius of the hitbox on the beam to be a bit larger.

Edited November 6, 2014 by GhostSwordsman

[Jinryusai]

[GhostSwordsman]

In essence, that's what I want the opticor to feel like.

[Jinryusai]

In essence, that's what I want the opticor to feel like.

Space magic should make it happen...

[TwiceDead]

I'll have to disagree with that. You said right in your reply exactly what irks me about the weapon at the moment, it has the pin-point accuracy of a hit-scan sniper rifle. A lot of the time it just feels like a sniper rifle contained in a big box, and instead of bullets it shoots a big laser beam.

 

The beam only stays on screen for about half a second anyway, so how is adding crosshair tracking, which I imagine the flux rifle and spectra have, a major buff? I mean, I see your point, but it just doesn't feel like a major change to the weapon. If the crosshair tracking only persists until the beam stops coming from the weapon then you really only have an extremely small window to correct errors in aiming. In my mind that only helps to actually hit and kill enemies that suddenly move off the dot at the center of the crosshair.

 

Perhaps I'm trying to think about this in too much of a realistic/reality based way, because if I actually had a laser cannon such as the opticor, I'd expect to be able to move the beam horizontally or vertically while it was firing and the beam was coming from the weapon.

 

In fact, that's the reason why I feel that this change might be needed, because I feel like the opticor is too unforgiving when it comes to needing to adjust your aim. And it certainly doesn't help that the enemies in-game move around very sporadically.

 

I will admit though, now that I think more on it, if the other suggestion I put up were implemented, then the above probably wouldn't be necessary. If the beam itself were wider, then the opticor should be more forgiving on sloppy aiming or an unlucky encounter where the enemy sporadically moves left or right and out of the dot on the center of the crosshair because the beam would no longer be a fancy looking lanka bullet.

Well i'll just mention that neither the Flux nor the Spectra have the capability to deal 6000 damage in one blast and even more if you count the radial damage on impact, not even close to it, that's why you don't add a continuous element to it. 

 

Look, I see what you want it to be, but I obviously don't want what you want, so all I can do is respectfully disagree with your opinion. 

 

 

If may seem that you, my man, have lost yo mind thinking this is like a hitscan Rocket Launcher, the radius is far too small for that. When they intensify the radius of the explosion and make it explode per enemy it goes through, then it shall come close to being a rocket launcher...

 

All this is is a chargeable Beam Rifle or Spartan laser. That explosion is barely noticeable and does not happen on enemies and and hardly kills.

You're using it wrong if you can't kill stuff with the radial damage. The radius is not too small, it's your aim and timing... Neither are precise enough. 

[Edgedemon]

but Opticor can already kill on almost misses.

 

and IS NOT A STREAM WEAPON, you can make that with flux rifle or Quanta why make it to Opticor too

 

lastly if it is outputting the energy it appears to channel i doubt you would be able to aim it in a controlled manner while it fires

[Edgedemon]

Well i'll just mention that neither the Flux nor the Spectra have the capability to deal 6000 damage in one blast and even more if you count the radial damage on impact, not even close to it, that's why you don't add a continuous element to it. 

 

Phage can do that, on unlimited Range is you are Volt

[TwiceDead]

Phage can do that, on unlimited Range is you are Volt

Phage does not come with sniper-range unless you're Volt, neither does it deal radial damage on the impact point.