Balance Is Bad

[rhoenix]

Ok, I'm going to short-circuit this entire argument right now, because this is silly.

 

There is not, nor will there ever be an "uber-gun" in this game.  There is not, and should NEVER be a weapon that clearly outclasses every other weapon out there in this game, because doing so would create exactly the game environment described, where people mindlessly focus on one or two weapons and simply ignore the others as "useless."  And in that scenario, the other weapons would indeed become useless, which would not benefit this game in any way.

 

Moreover, the very fact that you'll hear so many different "nuh-uh, weapon x sucks, weapon y is teh best!" type of posts just goes to show that the varying sorts of weapons fits the varying sorts of play style that different players have.

 

Some players prefer to engage at closer ranges, and will naturally gravitate toward melee and/or shotguns.  Others will gravitate toward having a bit more distance, preferring rifles.  Neither group is wrong.  In fact, the very fact that both groups of players are correct is proof that the varying sorts of weapons are just about perfect for the game.

 

I was very glad when the Hek and the Gorgon settled into their present states.  Each of them is powerful on paper, but both of them have drawbacks that are not found in other weapons - the Hek's small clip size compares badly against the Strun, and the Gorgon's inaccuracy makes it lose in longer-range contests against more accurate rifles, despite the clip size and damage per shot.  Each weapon should be useful for a specific set of circumstances, and having overlap appear in those roles is one of the benefits of Warframe's setup - not a detriment.

 

This game not having a "final tier" of weapons considered as "necessary to have" is a very good thing, I feel.  It means if someone settles on a particular weapon they like, if it's modded properly it can be taken all the way through Pluto, and they're never forced to change.  The only reasons a player might change weapons is if they want to try another one more, and again, this only benefits Warframe in the longer term.

[Caliocerion]

Braton has a ROF of 11.3 and damage of 20. Its DPS is 226. It is suitable for clearing mobs and generally everything

Gorgon has a ROF 12.5 if we skip wind up time and damage of 25. Its DPS is 312. It is a Boss Buster and is capable of taking down Golem in less than 1 mag or 7 seconds.

Snipetron can only shoot 3 times every two seconds and has a DPS of 150. It generally has no uses but is great for hitting enemies across the bridge.

Boltor has a ROF of 8.8 and damage of 18. Its DPS is only 158 but in practice does much more damage than Gorgon or Braton against grineer and bosses because it has armor piercing.

Hek has a ROF of 2.2 and damage of 140, its DPS is 308 but can only be used in close range. Plus it has a tendency to overkill normal mobs, making damage wasted.

Twin Vipers has a ROF of 25 and damage of 16, its DPS is 400 but most people don't like to use it because it wastes bullets and is generally ineffective.

 

 

I don't see stuff being tweaked around so you get the same DPS in the end, and even so, the highest DPS weapon ends up being one of the more useless ones.

[Botein]

This is a PvE game, if balance is what you really want then the game isn't going to last for very long. I mean, what reason do I have to go and max out all the weapons when they're all essentially the same?

 

Warframe should be as much of a grindfest as possible because there is literally nothing else to look forward to besides overpowered mods and weapons. If you balance everything, you remove most of the satisfaction of grinding. There should be weapons that are better than all the others and they should take days if not months to get, and when you do get them they really should be XXXXing awesome, otherwise what's the point?

[stacey69]

The balance in weapons is brilliant imo. They feel different and play different to each other. You kind of missed out frame balance. This is an issue as some are far far more versatile than others and some just do so much more of the killing.

[Judopunch]

Braton has a ROF of 11.3 and damage of 20. Its DPS is 226. It is suitable for clearing mobs and generally everything

Gorgon has a ROF 12.5 if we skip wind up time and damage of 25. Its DPS is 312. It is a Boss Buster and is capable of taking down Golem in less than 1 mag or 7 seconds.

Snipetron can only shoot 3 times every two seconds and has a DPS of 150. It generally has no uses but is great for hitting enemies across the bridge.

Boltor has a ROF of 8.8 and damage of 18. Its DPS is only 158 but in practice does much more damage than Gorgon or Braton against grineer and bosses because it has armor piercing.

Hek has a ROF of 2.2 and damage of 140, its DPS is 308 but can only be used in close range. Plus it has a tendency to overkill normal mobs, making damage wasted.

Twin Vipers has a ROF of 25 and damage of 16, its DPS is 400 but most people don't like to use it because it wastes bullets and is generally ineffective.

 

 

I don't see stuff being tweaked around so you get the same DPS in the end, and even so, the highest DPS weapon ends up being one of the more useless ones.

 

Exactly. There are other limiters too. For example the Hek has a ton of damage close, staggers ancients  and reloads fast. However the Gorgon will be less efficient killing the same mob as well as having a MUCH higher reload time and is more suited to dealing with large groups at medium range or closer. The Bratton strikes the middle ground between efficiency and damage providing a better all around weapon that offers considerable damage and accuracy at all ranges, where the reload and amo consumption of the Gorgon holds it back, and the Hek has more trouble against targets past mid range.

 

Also effective damage tell out of ammo, dps uptime over time accounting for ROF, clip size, and other factors completly break the unfounded fears of the OP.