OK so I have hated pox gas since it came out and have largely avoided it since getting any related penances etc.
But now I am being forced to play it again via the event (I am a completionist) so it has stirred my disappointment at the mechanic once more.
Even tox bombers are too much, let alone entire maps of the bl00dy stuff.
So a few simple fixes could be applied -
tox bomber distance reduced (their throw distance is insane)
tox bomber cooldown/reload increased
number of simultaneous bombers capped
tox gas cloud area greatly reduced but effects greatly increased (ie make the clouds much smaller but more potent)
Same rules for tox gas modifier - make the affected areas MUCH smaller but more damaging.
This would mean there would be small pockets of very toxic gas that turns the map more into a minefield to be navigated (ie a more fun mechanic that requires more skill) instead of “run blindly for 5 minutes until you reach the outside of the 1 mile wide gas cloud, then immediately do it again because the 1 mile gas cloud follows you within seconds”.
Make it more about strategy and choice in the immediate area/battle. Current mechanic means you just ditch the fun of combat because you have to get out of the stupidly large and opaque cloud.
I disagree. The essence of the toxic bomber is to create chaos on the battlefield by blinding you and strengthening the enemies nearby, not to inflict heavy damage on you. By increasing the gas damage, you’ll just turn it into a literal clone of fire bomber.
Yeah on paper it sounds good but in reality it’s just no fun. If specials were actually “special” (ie not every third enemy) then it might be fine but it’s relentless, often multiple at a time. Boring AF.
And I disagree. The verticality of gas would still block vision and would still be larger than fire but mutch smaller than the current footie pitch size of a gas bomb.
Specialists have a negative survivability, this needs to be compensated by quantity.
This can be said about the whole game. We haven’t received a single new unique enemy in three years. It’s a shame.
This happens extremely rarely when there are two bombers and someone is in no hurry to kill them. Also, I really don’t understand the complaints about the tox bomber. Among all elites and specialists, this enemie is the most pathetic and not dangerous, provided that you do not play with 100% blur and are careful not to get lost in a gas cloud.
Since release, it has been greatly weakened, and the main change was to reduce the frequency of grenade throws. If you look at his behavior in combat, you may notice that he throws a bomb two to three times slower than a scab bomber. This enemy is exactly what annoys you, rather than trying to kill you directly. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
I don’t know what difficulty you play but this is absolutely incorrect for auric and havoc. They carpet entire areas nonstop and the modifier (welts on the ground) covers so much of the map at a time that it’s nothing but green smoke for 80% of the mission.
I don’t play below auric, and a gas cloud is the last thing I care about on this difficulty.
3 fire grenades thrown at a fallen ally, snipers shooting without sound and supersonic dogs that teleport to you cause 10 times more problems, but I don’t see any topics on the forum to fix them.
Well I’m not sure what you mean by sonic speed. I’ve never questioned their speed because they’re dogs. Corrupted dogs at that. They’re meant to be fast.
Sometimes they skip the pre-leap pause and just leap…but that’s a bug.
Not a bad suggestion tbh but I still feel the area is too large on the pox welt modifier. It’s entire sections of maps and starts as soon as you enter a new bit.
Here are some arbitrary things I would do, just because it would at least be more fun (don’t care about “challenge” part, aka “kick me in the nuts”, sweats should go to Havoc for that).
Make it a visibility problem for foes as well! So when gas is out, be it from vents or from the grenade, foes lose ability to attack you from range as well if you are in the cloud (except may be from really close distance, so shotgunners are still a threat). So everyone goes into melee. Otherwise it feels too unfair when enemy gunners and snipers still can hit your through the dense veil of pox gas.
Make it to enhance you as well, not just foes! You inhale it and go berserk, your attacks are faster and stronger. So you may have toughness issues but at least you are having fun. May be take away some of stamina (total cap, or just reduce it over time), as a payback for that.
Give players some extra (limited) ways to deal with smokes and fires. Like, make vet’s smoke grenades to extinguish fire and replace enemy smoke clouds. Make zealot’s fire and HS’s tox grenade to replace all harmful fire surfaces. Make all kinds of explosions to create small (temporary) pockets of clean air within smoke clouds of all kinds etc.
