Being a fan of using "skill weapons" in video games such as snipers, bows, high caliber pistols, seeing a gun like No Land Beyond added to the game made me happy that I could use a gun that was a bit more challenging to use then the rest. While it is a fun gun to use, the overall reward for mastering such a weapon is far lower the I or most anyone would would wish. The gun is of course an Exotic weapon and in Bungie's own words an Exotic should feel Exotic, it should sound Exotic and it should look Exotic, the weapon should be able to out do others but not break the game. This Exotic definitely looks and sounds Exotic but when it comes to feel... it feels like a rare weapon hiding behind the golden guise of an Exotic.
I'd Like to list a few pros and cons I have found personally and I'm sure others could add.
[b]Pros:[/b]
- Fun to Use
- Looks are great
- Accuracy rewards better performance
[b]Cons:[/b]
- Low Ammo reserve
- Low rate of fire
- Low damage (When compared to some other snipers that are Legendary or exotic)
- Iron Sights are ok, but impractical for a sniper and limit usability (This doesn't need to change but its still a con)
- Almost impossible to hit accurately at long range
The cons really do outweigh the pros. When it comes to weapon choice a Auto rifle, Scout Rifle or Hand cannon will always be the better choice. Typically I would put something such as Vision of Confluence or even the new Up for anything before this weapon if i'm not just messing around. I'll leave my exotic choice to something truly exotic like the Icebreaker. I believe every exotic should make me want to have it when doing something as challenging as a Raid or Nightfall.
[b]Now what I think can be done to fix this weapon and make it the true Masters weapon.[/b]
Now the gun already attempts to be a masters weapon by rewarding extra damage for precision kills, but its not really enough the weapon still takes over a clip to kill some of the bigger enemies such as knights that something like the icebreaker can easily put down. Not to mention doing so will take 3 times as long.
The first thing that can be done is raise the impact so that it does the highest damage out of all snipers. If your going to be substituting your primary for a sniper it better be better then the one that is only one tap away in at least some way.
Lets talk about that nasty rate of fire, how do you fix it? Speed it up? Sure you could do that but now your making it more of a one gun fits all weapon that needs less mastering. The solution.. lets look to 'The Master' perk. All in all its currently pretty weak for an exotic perk. And seeing what you guys did to The Bad Juju, there is definite room for improvement. My solution is simple add this to the guns abilities. "Precision Shots will significantly increase the speed that the next round will be chambered" This should be as simple as when precision damage is the cambering animation will be speed up by 3-5 times (possibly have a stacking speed modifier) and the shot cooldown would be cut accordingly. This would make you feel like The Master, not only do you know how to hit your headshots (Vex Gutshots) you're just that badass that you can also chamber a new round 3 times faster then anyone else around.
Another perk that while it would be awesome, not really a priority. Allow the rounds to over penetrate or at least make it one of the options. That way I could take out 5 thralls at once if they where all lined up.
This idea that may be a little iffy, which is changing the Mulligan perk to either have a much much higher change to return missed shots to mag, or add the option that precision shots also have a chance to return a shot the the mag.
Last of all is the ammo reserve.. First of the weapon becomes useless if I run out of ammo after killing 20 little enemies or 3 big ones. If I can carry 700 in reserve for an atheons epilogue... I should be able to at least hold 50-70 in reserve for sniper ammo.
If these changes would be made the gun would actually reward the people how take the time to learn to use. But still be a little better for those who just wanna mess around with it.
Edit: Oh and also, why is there a scope glint...
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I agree with all of your points. It's fun to play around with, but hard to get consistent precision shots. Also, the ammo is mind boggling. I use a Scout rifle and never run out of ammo, with most shots being one-shot kills or less (Firefly). With NLB, if I'm not just patrolling around, the ammo depletes rapidly. Maybe NLB is just meant to be a PVP weapon... I only play PVE.
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Edited by DrasticLAG: 1/15/2015 6:07:13 PMThanks Firefox for aiding another fellow poster here on the forums. To those unaware of context, he liked and commented on a recent post of mine regarding the same issues. Out of territorial respect I will not place a link here, if you find my post and like it, more power to you.
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got a 23 kill streak with it. I think some of the perks should involve a faster animation or no glare one thing it needs is Void/Arc element changer
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Just a thought, but maybe it should take a bit from bad juju. Something like precision his (or kills) return the round directly back to the chamber. Would still keep the skill necessity there. And would even make the crappy ammo amount a little less of a drag.
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Perhaps switch mulligan for surplus, fixes the low reserve and useless perk problem at the same time.
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Bumping this stuff
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Only problem is zoom scope and maybe rate of fire.
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This is just my opinion. It may be a terrible idea, but I think it would be cool. Change it to a heavy weapon instead of primary, and make it a one shot kill even with a body shot. Put armor piercing on it, and change the exotic ability to each kill increases the pump action speed and lowers the sway. If it is a bad idea please say so respectfully.
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I think the reload speed stack is a good idea, I think another good perk, don't know if it exists already on another sniper, is the one from bad Juju, get a kill instantly refills magazine, that would be so helpful on this gun because it's not like you can just hold the trigger like juju, you still need to aim properly or you'll be exposed for too long
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Bump - the white class weapon needs to be upped to it's exotic rating. He pulls back the slide like it's going to break. In fact it should be upgraded to white class. It's the only gun in the game with "antique" status.
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This is awesome. Totally agree.
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Wow, I love these ideas better then my own. Got my support on your ideas.