I love the aesthetic of the BFG in Doom for this Disruptor charged shot. It’s almost like a Dynamo grenade but instead of a grenade which is stationary the orb would be constantly moving (so less concentrated damage but it would cover mor ground for EMP / stun functionality). It’s a really cool concept, because the Orb would be very effective at doing chain damage to weaken a group of enemies which is what the Disruptor is kind’ve supposed to do.
A direct hit on a vehicle could EMP them for longer while a direct hit on an enemy could stun them and remove shields (slower moving than the Plasma Pistol with no tracking so direct hits should be unlikely). I think this would work great with the Disruptor.
As for the Energy Siphon, I have this idea for a Sentinel Beam variant that I call the Stasis Beam. The idea of the Stasis Beam is it can grab objects, targets, vehicles, etc. and manipulate their positioning. Push an enemy further away, pull an enemy closer, hold them suspended in the air. The reason I’m bringing this up is because I see this sort of functioning like the Energy Siphon in the fact that it would require a constant stream of fire and it could lock a vehicles mobility (basically like an EMP effect). I know it’s not exactly like your idea for the Energy Siphon, but I thought I’d share it anyways as they would have similar properties, although the Stasis Beam would have to stricly be a variant because it would have a lot of potential to be game breaking (just picking vehicles up and dropping them off the map for example, or even pulling them in for a hijack).
I’m assuming you’ve seen the concept of the Lacerator (Shock LMG)? I’m thinking the thunderball idea could actually go perfectly with that weapon, picturing it as a counterpart to the Hydra as a Banished Tier 2 “Anti-Vehicle” weapon seeing as the Ravager is useless against vehicles. It would address the imbalance of Hydra vs Ravager spawns in BTB.
The Disruptor could still have a charged shot, but maybe the charged shot could function more like the Halo 4 boltshot (projectiles spread out with range). Instead of being damage focused like the boltshot the charged shot could focus on the properties of shock damage (EMP, chain damage & stunned movement).
Yeah I saw it, although I wasn’t very impressed with it. Same issue I have with the SAW which I explained to you before. Honestly it just seemed like a disruptor with a bigger mag and higher RoF. However, if it were a heavy turret, I think we’d be in business. Also the Thunderball idea could be a turret too. Could be fun. Maybe.
You might be onto something here…
The Disruptor is pretty unique in that it gets more deadly with each shot you land. Specifically, 6 shots or 2 disruption bursts (3 shots x 2) will trigger a DoT effect that will eventually kill your target. Maybe the charge up uses 6 of the the 10 rounds in the magazine (so you can only do this once before needing to reload) to break the shields and start the DoT on a spartan. However, the 1-shot kill potential lies in the DoT.
It’ll take a second to actually kill the spartan, so players may have to rely on melee or another weapon to finish the job quicker. This also gives the enemy time to fight back still (you know, throw a sticky or trade a melee or something). This contrasts it with the Plasma Pistol which can break shields, but is incapable of finishing the job. But also with the Boltshot, which was just a pocket shotty, that was TOO good at killing. I always liked the idea behind the H4 Boltshot, and couldn’t stand what they did to it in H5, but even I knew that the H4 Boltshot wasn’t ok.
This change to the Disruptor might actually be the fix to that.
Agreed, exactly my take on this weapon too (although it’s important to remember it is still just a concept). That’s why I love the thunderball idea for this weapon, it is much more interesting than just a SAW with shock ammo.
I was thinking it would could be interesting to give the Disruptor a longer charge up animation in which 1 shot was charged at a time giving the player the freedom to choose when to release the charged shot (and if you don’t have a full magazine your shot’s power will be limited).
The balancing would be very in depth and I don’t have the best answer for that, but I think the properties of shock damage fit the characterists of a focused shot better than the current design of the Disruptor. Maybe it could look something like:
1 to 4 shots = standard damage (proportional to the amount of shots).
Like I said I don’t even know, just spitballing but I think it would be interesting to give more powerful effects to different levels of charge. Or maybe instead of a one shot kill (with DoT) the Disruptor could actually inflict the stun effect that we see in campaign, totally immobalizing enemies for a brief moment. Instead of a death timer (where players have a brief moment to try get some instant revenge) they would have a stun timer which gives them a chance to survive if they manage to escape.
I know immobolizing a target is pretty cheap, but I’d argue an unavoidable death timer is a worse outcome. Other games like CoD already feature stun grenades which doesnt even require a direct shot (or a charge up) like the Disruptor would.
I like this. It adds that sort of “on-the-fly” tactical-ness that so many guns could benefit from.
Honestly, this sounds fine upon first glance. And you’ve implied some natural nerfs to keep the Disruptor balanced.
Because the Charge Shot will be binded to [HOLD Fire Button], it means the Disruptor can’t be full-auto anymore. I was among the crowd of numbskulls who didn’t realize that thing was automatic and let me tell you, it’s kinda trash without it.
Like you said, ammo dictates how strong of a charge you can muster.
The range on the Charge Shot can be significantly shorter compared to the primary fire.
The time to charge up the shot can be very long. Maybe even longer than the Ravager.
The charge shot can’t be held indefinitely. Maybe once the counter reaches 10 or whatever the max ammo available is, it fires after 1 second. Similar to the Railgun.
Both effects are pretty annoying if I’m being honest, but at least DoT doesn’t hinder your ability to fight back. Plus getting killed by DoT simply means your opponent landed enough shots to kill you. Apply that logic to any other gun, and you’d just be dead on the spot. I think stun is better suited for PvE though since they A.I. has no feelings.
As it stands the only way (that I know of) to save yourself from DoT is to use overshields. This does bring to mind a feature that modern Halos have dropped:
Health Packs.
If Infinite used the 2 health system, like CE, ODST and Reach, then rushing to find a health pack could be a way to survive the DoT. Not ideal, but it’s something I guess. That or there needs to be a way to remove the DoT, but idk what that could possibly be.
True, you can still fight back, however you’re already dead where as with a stund you can survive. That DoT death logic only works if you apply it to a weapon that deals damage based on accumulated shots and not a single charged shot. With a single charged shot its like being one shot killed which isn’t very fun for either player (the user who trades kills or the target who knows he has an impending death coming). If the Stun effect was balanced properly I think it could maybe work.
At the end of the day though, if the range and the charge time of the Disruptor is properly balanced then the DoT death should be fine… I’m personally just not in love with shock damage doing DoT.
If DoT was reserved for fire based weapons (including superheated plasma or incendiary ammo) such as the Brute Plasma Rifle, the Ravager, the Flamethrower, etc. then I could think of a few creative ways to save players from an impending DoT death.
Water.
Basic map design that includes water could be an easy way for players that are actively burning to extinguish the flames.
The Repulsor
I think the Repulsor could have an extra niche by using it on a wall or the ground to repulse yourself thus repulsing the flames from your body (or you could even repulse the flames from an ally on fire as well).
Shield Regenerator
The shield regenerator in Halo 3 (or an equipment / weapon with a similar concept) would obviously be a natural way to counter DoT (or any damage).
With shock damage dealing DoT, I don’t necessarily feel that points 1 & 2 would apply.
All fair points, which just emphasizes why first comment in this thread: What should shock weapons focus on? EMP, Stun, Arc Damage or DoT?
Out of all of these Arc Damage is probably the most unique and interesting. The ability to use the environment to shoot around corners is pretty neat. And the method (via conductive items/surfaces) is something likely only shock weapons can achieve.
Yeah, that might be the best option for DoT, plus it gives Flame weapons purpose again.
Water:
Great idea. Also it would work well with shock weapons since water conducts electricity, creating zones where you can shock groups of enemies without having to shoot them directly. The only issue would be clearly communicating that these water sections are safe. Many maps use water as a kill barrier (Recharge). Of course it could just be a puddle on the ground or even a water that you can walk through. Maybe I’m overthinking this…
Repulsor:
Maybe… I like the idea, but the Repulsor just pushes air (I guess?) I’m just not sure if it’s an obvious enough visual effect to say, “Hey! This puts out flames!” Pushing it off other player certainly looks better that pushing it off yourself at least. Idk.
Regen Field:
This should just be in the game already. Especially in favor of the Drop Wall.
Fire Extinguishers:
Plenty of these can be found on some maps maybe it could be like a health pack and you just run over it to end the DoT?
Excellent observation, I think more interaction with the environment is a great thing. Water can be a safe haven against fire but a risk against electricity. That’s a really cool dynamic.
Yes, the visual effect would have to do it justice in order to work.
Another great idea, can’t believe I forgot about fire extinguishers. We could do better than just running over to them, some sort of button to interact with the extinguisher would work, making them like a real interactive object.
I mostly suggested it because it’s a quick interaction. Holding X to pick it up or having to shoot it or whatever might be the difference between life and death.