Re: Phase grenade...
I found out tonight using my test Marksman why I found the damage to be so unimpressive. It's bugged, or at least seems to be so. Against really weak monsters like tiny mobs (e.g. blood coil) or the weaker sorts of zombies, it deals damage correctly. Against stronger zombies or imps or anything else, it will damage shields but only does very negligible damage to health, plus a chance to phase... even if I vastly out-level the mob in question.
For instance, it might take a half-second burst with my assault rifle to kill a weak zombie, or a one second burst to kill an imp. But while it takes one phase grenade to kill the weak zombie, a phase grenade will take down an imp's shield but otherwise barely scratch it. Even multiple phase grenades have very little effect.
I don't notice this problem with frag (fire) grenades, which seem to apply their damage correctly, so I conclude that phase grenade is bugged. If I want phase, there are probably better ways to get it, that also deal meaningful damage at the same time.
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Re: Sniper rifles...
They seem to miss more often than they hit, for me. Also the shots don't display correctly, so often I can't tell what's going on; either the monster drops or nothing happens. Sniper rifle shots are also very wide and often hit stuff that's apparently in the way, but doesn't seem like it should be. I don't tend to have these problems sniping with an assault rifle. I tend to find that after one shot with the sniper rifle, monsters are charging me and I'd be better off with the assault rifle anyway, as it's far easier to snipe moving targets with the assault rifle (the shots travel much faster and the delay between shots at different targets much less.)
I found out tonight using my test Marksman why I found the damage to be so unimpressive. It's bugged, or at least seems to be so. Against really weak monsters like tiny mobs (e.g. blood coil) or the weaker sorts of zombies, it deals damage correctly. Against stronger zombies or imps or anything else, it will damage shields but only does very negligible damage to health, plus a chance to phase... even if I vastly out-level the mob in question.
For instance, it might take a half-second burst with my assault rifle to kill a weak zombie, or a one second burst to kill an imp. But while it takes one phase grenade to kill the weak zombie, a phase grenade will take down an imp's shield but otherwise barely scratch it. Even multiple phase grenades have very little effect.
I don't notice this problem with frag (fire) grenades, which seem to apply their damage correctly, so I conclude that phase grenade is bugged. If I want phase, there are probably better ways to get it, that also deal meaningful damage at the same time.
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Re: Sniper rifles...
They seem to miss more often than they hit, for me. Also the shots don't display correctly, so often I can't tell what's going on; either the monster drops or nothing happens. Sniper rifle shots are also very wide and often hit stuff that's apparently in the way, but doesn't seem like it should be. I don't tend to have these problems sniping with an assault rifle. I tend to find that after one shot with the sniper rifle, monsters are charging me and I'd be better off with the assault rifle anyway, as it's far easier to snipe moving targets with the assault rifle (the shots travel much faster and the delay between shots at different targets much less.)