current power weapons like the power sword, power maul, and crusher lack excitement. the new zealot 2H power sword will introduce a system called the “heat activation mechanic”. while it’s unclear how it will play out, it seems promising at least.
veteran power swords usually rely on special activation attacks, with normal attacks rarely being used. without a power cycler, these weapons barely function effectively. with that in mind, adding a similar mechanism to the power sword, crusher, and power maul would allow differentiation between normal and activation attacks. this would prevent players from mindlessly spamming activation attacks and could add more depth and excitement to the gameplay. what do you think?
I think if the power attacks have a over heat they would have to make all the normal attacks feel like they have more of an impact, or have the activation of the power attacks be near instant. ( this opinion could be a skill issue )
Crushers already have the differentiation you mention. They are nothing like power swords. The crusher is normally used in unpowered mode, you only activate when you want to do something like opening a bulwark shield. The bonkstick does its job really well.
Hammers are an even better example of that differentiation. Using only activated attacks would be really unhelpful as the uncharged mode is better for horde. (Ironhelm might be the exception that would benefit from power cycler, you would have to ask one of the five remaining users).
It is two weeks too early to evaluate the heat mechanic. If your goal is to make the power sword less dependent on activation the price will be power - atm it’s a lightsaber when activated.
If the goal is to give the unpowered state a useful role like with hammers that could be quite interesting as it would become two different weapons in your kit with different jobs. Doing this would mean reducing the powered mode’s ability to perform in the situations you want the unpowered mode to handle though.
I agree that these weapons should either work like the thunderhammer, where you have an actual reason to NOT charge up every attack and the regular attacks are better for some stuff, or they need to be overhauled somehow for it to not just be a button spamming chore. It’s silly and annoying
I think the new patch does a lot of fantastic things requested by the community. The semi battery-system for the new power swords, the unique new special attack, the sniper & flashlight for oggies etc. It seems likely that they’ll use these as a kind of testing bed for future similar additions or changes in the future.
That said, they couldn’t just slap this on the existing power weapons without any other changes. The current weapons are balanced around the single-charge mechanic, and canceling when you get hit. Vet Power Swords in particular have historically been broken OP for half the time DT’s been out, and they’re still extremely strong. Their balance is intrinsically tied to how their offensive power is only matched by their massive defensive weakness. A similar idea applies to TH’s, the Crusher etc.
