The Bugs
Just to get this out of the way first since its the main complaint people have as of late. Let me just run through it and give suggestions that are hopefully agreeable to everyone
Pox bursters not exploding when they should.
Problem: Under some circumstances pox bursters will not explode/target the player when they should, leading to a very awkward and unfair interaction.
Solution: Pushing a poxburster should always detonate it regardless of if the burster is currently in its attack animation. Pushing a not exploding poxburster is a situation that can only happen due to bugs/unintended gameplay.
While fixing this specific bug should a higher priority, I think implementing something that will solve similar bugs in the future/rare edge cases is still a good idea.
Pox burster audio is still sometimes missing
Problem: During highly intense waves poxburster’s still sometimes do not play audio ques.
Solution: Limit the amount of audio que reliant disablers/bursters that spawn in general. I do not know the exact technicals of how the audio system works here. But having trappers, hounds, and bursters be limited to a lower number, while also having their own highest audio priority should hopefully fix this. (also maybe nerf hunting grounds a little since literally every time I play that the audio system breaks and I don’t hear about 50% of the hound jumps)
Unfair Gameplay
Pox bursters should be the archetype of “tough but fair” they do immense damage but are easy to avoid. This only works if they are always actually possible and easy to avoid in all cases. The audio que should make this possible however there are still numerous situations where this is unreasonable or near impossible.
The Ethereal Burster
Bursters should not be able to clip through enemies, especially those that make them impossible to see/counter. Yes you technically can still push them through a hoard of crushers, but them being impossible to see and thus aim at makes that impractical, and if you happen to dodge back around the same time that the burster explodes you will be both out of range to push it, and still in range to get hit by it for full damage.
Video Example:
Jump Scare Burster
Brusters are able to trigger their explosion while not in the line of sight of players making them impossible to push. This is technically not a issue as you can usually move around the corner and push the burster before it becomes entirely impossible. However this is often not possible if you are fighting a hoard and cannot move around the corner, by the time you realize the burster wont be visible to you and is about to explode in front of it, even if you dodge back you will still be in its damage radius.
(also it just looks really dumb to see them change direction while jumping through the air)
I think bursters should only trigger their explosion if they can actually see the player rather then at a set radius.
Video Example:
Burster Damage Radius
It is a little ridiculous that being on the edge of their damage radius is punished the same as being directly hit by one. This is most pronounced when you are against a wall and cannot dodge back or any other common instance where it is not possible to get fully back. You can still push the burster but there is no point, it will deal the same damage to you regardless
This is also not helped by the burster damage radius being exceptionally large:
My suggestion: Make bursters more punishing for actual mistakes with a small instant kill radius if one lands directly on top of you. While lowering the more distant damage to a level that feels more fair.
The outer radius not bypassing toughness would make it still deal some health damage to most classes but would be far less punishing to very minor positioning mistakes. With this damage radius just pushing the burster will be enough to get it to the weaker damage radius.
Burster Visuals
Burster visuals could also use some minor improvements I think. At least something to make them visible behind hoards of certain enemies.
Current Visuals:
Suggested VIsuals: (Bright stream of tox sparks similar to a tox flamer with a shot backpack that is visible and distinct over groups of enemies)
Current Explosion Visual: (Much smaller then actual damage radius and bright spark is only visible for 2 frames)
Suggested Explosion Visual: (Is actually the size of the damage radius, bright flash should also be visible for a few more frames. A more clear visual of damage radius will help reduce a lot of frustration… Also I mean really the burster has 3 melta bombs strapped to it, it should be a BIG boom visually)
(Also yes my edits suck but you get the idea)
Note about barrels:
Barrels are a kind of similar issue. Their explosion effect is much smaller then their actual damage radius. This should be made larger to give a more clear visual of their damage radius.
Also they have damage falloff but not knockback falloff. Knockback is a way bigger killer then explosion chip damage. There should be knockback falloff (this might be a bug honestly).