So, basically. What if instead of having to press activation button each time we just press it once and have a “power bar” that depletes while it’s active/on each swing that hits something (not per enemy hit, because then a bunch of poxwalkers will instadrain powersword’s battery). And said battery recharges when not in active mode.
Chain weapons can get the chainaxe “latch” mechanic for small enemies and a full sawing for specials/elites. With the same interactions as chaxe latch has with cleave/power (if you have enough cleave/power it will cleave trough first small enemies and only latch on the last one).
Thammers could get a small 0.5m aoe that deals the full damage and staggers enemies around it. Not to the point of crusher/paul where it throws them on the ground, just enough time for you to recover from the swing.
Power swords and power mauls could honestly stay the same.
EDIT: I don’t suggest we leave them alone and just change the chainweapons/thammers. What i mean is that their activated mode will stay the exact same as it is now with the exeption of “battery” mechanic i described above.
Mostly this change is aimed on fixing the annoying need to constantly activate your weapon. Whith a secondary target of making the gameplay with said weapons have more depth and decision-making.
One thing I dont agree with you on is saying the power sword and ogryn power maul could stay the same, those are the two that need a rework the most. They’ve needed to rework the powered up weapons for so long now its actually insane to me that they have been untouched for a year now. Its probably one of the worst designed weapon system ive ever experienced, the gameplay of constantly charging the weapon Over and OVER again because the uncharged state of the weapon being is absolute trash. The biggest example being power maul for ogryn, it needs to get the same treatment as the ‘crusher’ got for zealot, because its uncharged state is so poor it fails in every way. Easily the worst weapon in the game at the moment.
There are a few different ideas that could work much better than the current system its crazy to me that they ended up with what they chose.
Having it being a charged up state for a duration (or number or hits) after activation and then after you run out, having either a cooldown, or get melee hits to power it up again
They could have it as a toggle where when you power it on, it hits harder, slightly more stagger or cleave, but swings slower, then when you power it off it swings faster, has more finesse, etc.
They could even remove the special action button all together and having it work where the heavy attacks automatically power up the weapon and the longer you charge the heavy attack the stronger the swing will be with more damage, cleave, stagger, etc. Similar to how the Eviscerator works now where the heavy attacks will actually rev up and latch onto armor a bit unlike its light attacks. Just make it the actual more powerful rev’d up attack that saws armor, or cleaves or stuns like the power sword or thunder hammer/ power weapons respectively
I like removing the special action idea where it charges as you hold heavy attack.
I’m still of the mind that the power sword should be always on, normal range of cleave for a sword but it deals the same damage to all armour types, and make it activate when you pull it out. Yes, a melee weapon with an equip time.
Perhaps i wasnt clear enough. They should also get this “battery” mechanic imo. But their “activated” state will stay the same as it is now. I didnt suggest that paul and power sword should literally not be changed, they are worst offenders of having to constantly activate the weapon, the exact thing which this idea aims to fix.
Having the sword be constanly active is a boring idea imo. It will make the weapon ok in terms of balance, but it will suck any depth it has left from the actual gameplay.
I think you are misunderstanding this entire thread, we are suggesting to change the completely stupid gameplay it has attached to it. If fatshark could balance correctly it would remain just as strong
Like i said, that would be entire up the fatshark with proper balance, but ideally it would remain the same while also removing the F’ing god awful power up playstyle
They absolutely need to implement battery system for some weapons, like it was with Moonfire bow in V2, however don’t think they are gonna invest time in such overhaul.
Not liking the activation playstale and instead wanting something that always works the same, is not a valid reason to simply use one of the many weapons that do not have to be activated, and always work the same?
You dislike a specific thing about a specific weapon, so instead of using any of the many weapons that do not have that specific thing you dislike, the weapon that does have it should be changed to your liking?
My problem lies with having to activate the weapon every damn hit. And if with chainweapons/thunderhammers it’s kinda ok, with power mauls and powerswords it’s just annoying. And i believe i wouldn’t be wrong if i said that many people feel exactly the same.
This is why i suggest what i suggest. It still keeps that activation aspect, but gets rid of having to constantly press activation button for every damn hit.
And no, i don’t think it’s a nerf. I believe it’s a sidegrade. Right now you have to activate your power sword every hit or two which seriously eats at your attack speed/defence (you can’t block during activation animation). With what i suggest you can press the button once, and go ham with the weapon, with full attack speed and power, and ability to have your block up most of the time for when you need it.
It of course comes with a downside with having to manage your activation power. And here the exact numbers are left for fatshark to figure out. Having too little charge can make any weapon crap, and having too much will lead to that passive “always active” playstyle. I just hope that they can strike the balance with this.
The powersword is the only weapon where the activation does not bother me at all.
Every 3 swings with pc4.
Completely fine.
Imo the powersword should be left alone and chain weapons should be changed to keep their activations for 3 swings by default (activation ends early if an elite/specialist is hit, triggering the sticky attack).
I feel like you are just up in arms because you are worried about the power sword getting nerfed, after playing with a melee built vet for a while now, the power sword is not as strong as people make it out to be, I would argue its on the weaker side of his melee options. Its strong offensively but very bad defensively, which defense matters more in this game at high level, so I highly doubt they would nerf it.
The thing is the power sword shouldnt require a 4th level blessing just to feel ‘okay’ from the mind numbing power up gameplay they have designed,it just shouldnt be like that. If you think that the current gameplay is fine, then they need to make the 3 swings baseline again.
But ideally they need to do one of the suggestion changes because the current design feels so bad. Just like @nCmixam said, I believe the majority of people find the constant power up playstyle just flat out stupid feeling, because it is.