Zoom Weapon Special for Bolt Staff

This is a pretty self explanatory post - add a zoom function the weapon special key for bolt staff! As is, it can be very difficult to use as a sniper weapon because it has no zoom functionality at all. However, I find that its frequently nice to be able to fire off bolts for medium range encounters without having to zoom. So I figured that functionality could be left undisturbed with the zoom function instead implemented separately rather than being tied to the alt fire.

Thoughts very much appreciated!

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I Actually think this is a great idea. Just add the ability to zoom in like we have on the Waystalker bows as a second feature. its not overpowered and helps provide a big Quality of life buff for the staff.

Tho im of the mind the damage of the arrow still needs a slight buff as well to make it more in line with the output of the beam staff.

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Been asking for this a few places already, just have it snap into place midway through the charge so you dont get annoyed when spamming out quick bolts but can zoom in a bit when you want a long distance shot!

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Newer to the forums myself so i have only seen posts centered around nerfs. I think That is working backwards personally so im just kinda posting my thoughts on here. ill go try and find the post your talking about.

Iā€™m inclined to agree that bolt could use a few tweaks (I would like to see the heat generation, particularly on the primary fire reduced significantly, and the damage/armor penetrating capability of the alt fire increased) but I tried to leave that out of the main post as I think the most important feature for now would be having a zoom.

Yes, please.

+1 for this, bolt staff (and anything labelled ā€œsniperā€) should zoom

nooooo

i hate the zoom on things, i donā€™t want my vision to tunnel

Hmm maybe zoom optional for all sniper weapons, that we can enable (or not) in options

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thatā€™s why i specifically tried to suggest something that was optional.

Yes please! There will always be people who want zoom and those who donā€™t. (Personally, I hate the zoom on my Beam Staff, but love it on the Elven Longbow). The perfect solution would be to let us enable/disable zoom for sniper weapons on a per-weapon basis.

I think that the zoom should happen on the first or second charge level, sometimes I find myself spamming it quickly and zooming would be terrible.

While weā€™re talking about the labels on the weapons, why does this have the headshot damage tag? Just for the right click? Iā€™s pretty hard to reliably headshot with lmb when it just flies left or right wildly. I know some would say ā€œgit gudā€ but seriously if you just stand still and aim at a dummy it can just veer off and miss! How do I make use of headshot damage when the damn thing doesnā€™t shoot straight?

I think that the zoom should happen on the first or second charge level, sometimes I find myself spamming it quickly and zooming would be terrible.

As Iā€™ve mentioned, this is exactly why I suggested tying it to the ā€œWeapon Specialā€ key, rather than adding the zoom directly to the right click.

the longbow used to have this when you had a certain trait in vT1 I believe, where you could zoom twice

I just got the red bolt staff and gave it a test run in a few mission. To say I was underwhelmed would be putting it mildly. The primary fire felt an inaccurate version of the beam staff primary, and the secondary was so slow and surprisingly weak. I was amazed I couldnā€™t body shot SV with a fully charged bolt on champ.

A zoom and an increase in damage similar to the handgun would give this weapon a place in the meta. Until then the beam staff will continue to reign supreme for special sniping.

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I donā€™t like this phrase, buy you need to practice it. Bolt staff is more than playable right now.

Why would I ever use it over beam staff on Legend? Sure itā€™s playable. Technically every weapon in the game is playable if you practice with it a lot. But why bother? Its primary feels identical to the beam primary, and its secondary is weaker than the beam explosion (someoneā€™s already done the math, itā€™s conclusive). Unlike the beam, it doesnā€™t have a third AoE attack, so again I have to honestly ask: why?

I have no interest in mastering a staff that feels very similar but weaker to another staff. Could I do it and be successful? Sure. However, since I donā€™t have unlimited time to play the game and master the nuance of every weapon, I donā€™t see the point of playing a weapon designed for sniping when itā€™s not the best weapon for sniping in its category.

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For a reason that makes each and every human on a planet do whatever they do: because itā€™s fun?

Are we talking about the same thing? I mean yeah, these staffs are similar, in a way that a sword is similar to a hammer - they both have light attacks and heavy attacks, both can be used to block and push.

These are completely different weapons on the other hand, and not just because beam staff has 3 fire modes, while bolt staff has only 2. Bolt staff is much better at dealing with groups at range and in tight spaces, while beam staff is much better at dealing with elites and enemies up-close.

Does bolt staff need buffing? Absolutely, itā€™s charged attack needs some love. Is it a bad weapon? No, not even once. Itā€™s probably the second best staff the wizard has, because Fireball and Conflagration staff light attacks are so weak, though the latter part is arguable, since their charged attacks are so very strong.

So if you donā€™t like a weapon and donā€™t wanna use it - itā€™s completely up to you. But coming here and telling something is bad, because you do not understand it - thatā€™s weird.

Iā€™m sorry no. The bolt staff is mechanically very similar to the beam staff. The primary attack on both staffs is a thin straight line of damage. The graphical difference of bolts or beam is almost entirely cosmetic. Both beam and bolt deal rapid, small ticks of damage to the first target in the playerā€™s cross-hairs, with some minimal cleave.

The secondary attack of the bolt is also very similar to the beam explosion. Both of them require being charged up, both deal one heavy spike of damage with pinpoint accuracy. The primary difference is the bolt is charged by holding RMB, while the beam is charged by holding LMB on a target and then pressing RMB.

Ignoring the beam staffā€™s shotgun blast entirely, itā€™s still superior mechanically to the bolt staff because its snipe attack is easier to aim and deals more damage.

Saying something is worth playing because itā€™s ā€˜funā€™ is a weak argument. Fun is subjective and personal and thereā€™s no point arguing it. However, since these are feedback forums for a video game involving a lot of numbers, Iā€™m fully justified saying something is bad because it delivers damage numbers in a very similar manner to another weapon, but that damage is harder to land (because no zoom vs zoom + beam targeting) and those damage numbers are objectively lower than its counterpart.

Judging by these words, any further discussion will be unproductive, so I withdraw from it. Good luck, have fun.

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