A barrel explosion is arguably the most lethal threat in the entire game, capable of instantly killing any player, regardless of their Toughness, Health, Wounds, Damage Resistance, or death resistance abilities. The main comparable danger is being knocked off a ledge by a Monstrosity. The frequent appearance of barrels in certain missions often turns these encounters into a source of frustration.
It’s jarring when a simple barrel of oil poses a far greater threat than a Traitor Captain, and that’s simply because there are no ledges in his arena that could allow for a similar one-shot kill.
In a game that features various shield and hitpoint systems designed to provide a margin for error, it’s odd to introduce mechanics that can bypass all of that and lead to an instant failure state. Imagine if Crusher overheads not only instantly removed all of a player’s health through their Toughness but also immediately stripped all their wounds and killed them outright, sending them straight to the respawn area.
Or better yet, imagine that same Traitor Captain fight, except now it’s fought on a raised platform in the middle of an endless pit. If you don’t dodge his shield explosion or sword swipe, you get sent flying into said pit and die immediately.
Needless to say, it would feel incredibly punishing.
Barrels are freaking annoying. It’s true that you can disable them when you see them but that’s annoying and stupid for 3 reason.
There are ton of them in a map especially when the condition is extra barrels (FU FS). Moreover, you have to waste amo and time reloading the gun and the impact varies depending on your gun.
You can’t use barrels anymore when you really need them. The situation when you really need a barrel because you get surrounded and can’t move happens maybe once or twice in 100 runs but they can be useful in this case.
if the barrel you try to disable a fire barrel, you’ll limit your kitting space and depending on the size of the room, this can have a huge impact.
besides barrels make for a useful addition if you’re familiar enough with the map as to offer free stuns for mini-bosses and nice slowdowns for hordes/clusters of specials/elites.
how many times a reposition or retreat went smooth thanks to a barrel being a free grenade.
people making mistakes doesn’t take from the barrels that they can be of use in an engagement.
i had one recent match so far where i thought just to be tired and yeeted a poor sod twice over the course of the whole game, picked him up and apologized of course.
in hundreds of matches that lead to this one, on record, barrels were rather a tool and people were smart enough to give em a wide berth otherwise.
so the fact some people are unable to use a mechanic doesnt warrant its removal.
maybe one or two even learn from their mistakes and evolve, you never know.
idc about removing it or not. it’s not like FS give a damn about it. they even put extra barrels condition in Mael.
People making mistakes, people trolling others, and stupid people who think knocking a few mobs justify team damage combined is way above its benefits.
If barrels cant get you out of trouble, that’s good for you. But I never need them and I rarely take any damage. To slow down monsters? I don’t care. I can lock Ogryn and Chaos Spawn. Beast of Nurgle? It doesn’t need to be slower than that.
I have some games where the only dmg taken I took the whole games came from ppl killing pox bursters when I’m about the push them and blowing barrels on me.
I don’t find exploding barrels particularly useful.
After the recent changes to explosive damage on monstrosities they just shrug them off without flinching, so it’s not like you can get much out of them that way.
They do sod all damage even to smaller enemies. And the stagger sprawling smaller enemies on the floor makes it harder, not easier, to kill them. Which is itself extremely incongruous as pox walkers get knocked a couple of metres away but crucially down on the ground, whereas players get launched twenty metres and up in the air.
I am fine with them being potential player traps, I just think they should do more damage to enemies to make it worth that risk, and at least be consistent with player mass effects.
The fire barrels are marginally better as they can help funnel enemies or whittle down a bit of health, but not ever to the point that my eyes light up when I see barrels in good positions.
well after the n-th run through a map i enjoy adding some stuff that gives a nice “flow” to it.
like sliding past a barrel, some ragers in tow, nicking it and let them trip by its explosion.
is it game-changing? no
does it save me from an
otherwise failing situation? not in the long run.
but it adds to that sense of “world manipulation” where my character has influence on things and can actively shape things as to simply react in a linear way.
bit hard to explain with text, some encounters properly choreographed just make for much more enjoyable gameplay in the long run for me.
as for the barrel in your face, i’m betting me rashuns you can switch “barrel” with “burster” and have the mobile version of the same team mate-misplay at hand.
at least the barrel remains a constant for both of ya instead of a moving variable
this is a very valid point and i got no idea why the engine seemingly gambles with the scope of the explosion effect.
sometimes air control can be applied, sometimes you’re at the emperors mercy.
While I appreciate the advice, I’m not looking for ways of dealing with barrels, I’m giving feedback.
Every source of damage can be avoided, but I think you’d agree that the game would feel pretty awful to play if neither HP, nor Wounds, nor Toughness mattered and anything could just kill you instantly, in one hit.
to be fair, plague ogryn yeeted as many people from the bridge in the torrent or side of open hourglass area as barrels did.
seldom chaos spawn or mutant with his throw.
middle on the rarity scale is beast of nurgle carrying me around past the point of max corruption/zero health. add the possibility of getting bbq’ed by flamers passing by, it doesnt matter if its instant or slow and sizzling you aint gettin out of that 4ss alive.
i’m not saying barrels dont do annoying stuff mind you.
i still play og doom from time to time so i know those never pop when they should in the heat of things.
kinda like a 30 year old golden rule.
yet barrels dont come after you actively, like bursters or disablers do.
they are placed and its my decision what route i take in and out of an encounter.
do i get yeeted sometimes by some careless chump, absolutely, sometimes i’m the chump myself.
so in terms of placement annoyances, those metal floor plates on clandest…something, new map, took larger chunks out of my ogryn by being an invisible obstacle than any barrel did to this day.
oh, and railings…
barrels i can vault at least, but railings…
I am more disturbed that yellow barrels can damage you through toughness. I’d rather they remove all your current toughness than bypass it entirely.
I like using the red barrels for cheeky movement tech and would like to do the same with the yellow ones.
Another possible remedy would be having % knockback resistance as a curio perk. There’s a lot of dead perks on curios, so this could replace one of those. This way folks can choose how “Safe” they wish to be around barrels and monstrosities, while others who are not as bothered can forgo in favor of something more fun.
“i have no idea how to tell where the barrels i walk past might throw me too and this makes them too powerful, nerf plz!” this is resolved by just no putting yourself between the barrel and the cliff, literally skill issue.
The fact is that the barrels add little in terms of combating enemies, and far more of the time I see them kill allies than do anything useful. I didn’t really have an opinion until that new map that starts with the long catwalk section with constant cliff and barrels everywhere. Just kinda feels like the game is being balanced around some really weird factors when half the time I play a certain level, part of the team is sent flying wildly to their deaths within 2 minutes.
Heyo! I admit I handle less of the moderation compared to others due to my limited bandwidth. I do feel like calling someone’s opinion a wimp take is a bit stronger than necessary, though. Even if you don’t like their thoughts.
you aint gettin out of that 4ss alive.
