Boltshot & Ordnance Compromise

[Mythonian]

As with everything posted in the Suggestions forum, we read and listen to the recommendations made by members. The following is a result of the Boltshot issue, Personal Ordnance issue, and a few other smaller ones.

First of all, the votes cast in those two aforementioned polls were split pretty evenly. They are obviously divisive issues at the moment, and therefore deserve a nice compromise.

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There is one way to remove Boltshots without going to preset loadouts. This was told to me by Jam, who discovered it while messing with settings.

In the base player traits, you can designate a secondary weapon, such as the Magnum. This will override the personal loadouts, meaning that all your loadouts will use the Magnum instead of Plasma Pistol or Boltshot, but you can still select whatever Primary, Grenade, Tactical Package, and Support Upgrade you want.

Now, this would be a way to remove it completely, but as a side effect it also removes the Plasma Pistol. What we can do is add them to the Personal Ordnance, which would also end up making the heavy power weapons less likely to occur.

This would also be accompanied by a remodeling of the Personal Ordnance setup, as well as adjusting the number of points required to receive Ordnance.

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Here is an early proposal of a possible Ordnance setup:

Left Slot (Niche Weapon) Needler (w=3; 30%) Concussion Rifle (w=3; 30%) Plasma Pistol (w=2; 20%) Boltshot (w=2; 20%)

Bottom Slot (Main Ordnance) Shotgun (w=1; 20%) Energy Sword (w=1; 20%) SAW (w=1; 20%) Sticky Detonator (w=1; 20%) Railgun (w=1; 20%)

Right Slot (Powerup/Grenades) Speed Boost (w=2; 18%) Damage Boost (w=1; 9%) Overshield (w=2; 18%) Frag Grenades (w=2; 18%) Plasma Grenades (w=2; 18%) Pulse Grenades (w=2; 18%)

Regular Ordnance would have the Rocket Launcher and Sniper Rifle removed, which will be featured more on the maps.

Left Slot (Niche Weapon) Needler (w=2; 20%) Concussion Rifle (w=2; 20%) Plasma Pistol (w=3; 30%) Boltshot (w=1; 10%) Shotgun (w=1; 10%) Energy Sword (w=1; 10%)

Bottom Slot (Main Ordnance) SAW (w=3; 27%) Sticky Detonator (w=3; 27%) Railgun (w=2; 18%) Fuel Rod Cannon (w=1; 9%) Rocket Launcher (w=1; 9%) Sniper Rifle (w=1; 9%)

Right Slot (Powerup/Grenades) Speed Boost (w=2; 25%) Damage Boost (w=1; 13%) Overshield (w=2; 25%) Frag Grenades (w=1; 13%) Plasma Grenades (w=1; 13%) Pulse Grenades (w=1; 13%)

Heavy Ordnance would have the Gravity Hammer, Beam Rifle, and Spartan Laser removed, some of which will likely respawn on the map itself, depending on vehicles.

Ordnance would be earned every 150 instead of 200 points.

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Additionally, since the Boltshot and Plasma Pistol would be almost never used in the Ordnance, they will spawn on the map (not with 5 minute respawns, probably 30 seconds most of the time), so this will allow you guys to pick up the desired secondary weapon, but won't immediately have it off of spawn. This will be especially true of the Plasma Pistols.

On a side note, we may be adjusting power weapon respawns on maps. Before, we had everything respawn every 5 minutes. We may adjust that so that certain weapons spawn faster than others. No specific details, as this is something map-specific.


TL;DR:

• We can force you to spawn with Magnums but still keep Personal Loadouts.
• Boltshots and Plasma Pistols in Ordnance.
• Rockets/Snipers removed from Regular Ordnance.
• Gravity Hammer, Beam Rifle, and Spartan Laser removed from Heavy Ordnance.
• Ordnance received more frequently (150 instead of 200 points)
• Boltshots and Plasma Pistols on the maps, able to be picked up if wanted.
• May adjust other power weapon respawns on maps.

So, vote in the poll above with you opinion of this, and give us your thoughts in a reply below.

[JIMI HENRIX]

This seems to be a great step forward, but i dislike the idea of forcing everyone to spawn with the magnum. IDK but maybe there is a way to block certain load out traits. And i think we need to give the ordinance drop changes a test run, and have a few unofficial games that don't count, and see how people like them.

[Fuzzy]

Me gusta, but I like snipers in ordinance.

[Specact]

Beam rifle is my favorite power weapon… But this is a good proposal. With some testing I think we can find an ideal solution.

[Mythonian]

This seems to be a great step forward, but i dislike the idea of forcing everyone to spawn with the magnum. IDK but maybe there is a way to block certain load out traits. And i think we need to give the ordinance drop changes a test run, and have a few unofficial games that don't count, and see how people like them.

That's one of the things I hope that 343 adds eventually, but at the moment you cannot simply block a Boltshot from being used without other things being affected.

We will definitely be testing this a lot. We have 2 weeks, so we have plenty of time to make sure we fine-tune this.

[JamiDJ]

let me know, i'm back and ready to test

[Coda]

This sounds... Wonderful. I don't know how this will turn out, but this sounds awesome

[KazuhLLL]

Jam, you are a gentleman and a scholar. I couldn't have asked for a better solution for the Boltshot!

And I like the suggested ordnance adjustments, as well. The only issue I have is that I think it should stay at 200 score for Heavy gametypes only but I guess we'll see if 150 is too little when we test.

Me gusta, but I like snipers in ordinance.

They'd only be removed from regular gametypes (AKA small maps). Because of this, Snipers will be more likely to be put on small maps as static ordnance. Hopefully this will encourage more map-control centered strategies a la H2, H3, and Reach. Like Myth said, weapon timers are likely to be adjusted so they'll probably spawn fairly frequently anyway. The only difference is that you'll have to expose yourselves to try and get the sniper rather than calling in an ordnance from the comfort of your own base.

[Al Capone111]

This may need some further tweaking down the line. But I'd say this sounds great. Let's run with this for a few (2-3) weeks and see how we like it.

[Gargoyle]

The community voiced and we made an extremely good compromise.

I love this suggest and fully back it, good work Jam!