How to fix Fire Bomb

Ok, folks, over at reddit I saw a posting from Zeus admitting that firebomb was greatly distorting battle rewards. As we all know, the problem isn't limited to rewards - Fire Bomb is one of the most powerful and popular items in the game right now.

I think I have the fix.

The further you are from the center of the blast, right now you will take less damages (i.e. 5 dps for the full duration of the effect, so, 15 sec or so). The result being that even if you're able to avoid the full damage of the blast, you're still on fire for 15-16 sec, taking extra damage from teammates.

My change would be that instead of attenuating DAMAGE as you near the edge of the blast radius, the game should attenuate the DURATION of the effect. So if you're at the edge of the circle, you take, say, 24 damage for only one or two seconds. This would solve all of our problems. Even if total damage from a Fire Bomb hit stays exactly the same, my proposed change will reduce the amount of extra damage done by teammates, thereby reducing the distortion of battle rewards and total damage done in the match. Furthermore, my change would increase the relative value of the flare gun (which, if it hits, always sets the target on fire for the full duration of the effect), and it would also be consistent with how Frost Launcher/Frost Blaster currently work right now.

I'm sure my solution isn't original, but in a brief spin around the forums I didn't see this exact suggestion mentioned elsewhere, so I figured I'd mention it here. Thoughts?

 

Your solution will make the Fire Bomb obsolete. It's not overpowering in anyway except for star reward. If you half way out of the circle, all other mortars deal more damages instantly. I think a better solution is to only credit the extra damage from fire instead of the whole damage to the player that's setting fire, like they're doing right now.

 

How about taking NO damage when you're not even in the blast radius. I'd be happy with that.

 

I'm not suggesting any change in the total damage dealt. I'm suggesting a change in the speed with which it is dealt. You should think about WHY the star system rewards fire bomb so much. It is because it is, in fact, enabling your teammates with burn bonuses to do tons of extra damage. I don't think it makes sense to tweak the star system without also taking a look at the underlying dynamics which are driving the distortion. My change would still enable teammates to do extra damage to targets that are hit by firebomb, but it seems logical that if you're just barely grazed by a firebomb blast, you shouldn't then be vulnerable to tons of extra damage for a full 15-16 seconds.

 

Let's watch as all the bias firebomb users defend their precious firebomb. It is overpowered. Period.

Here are some fixes I came up with to trigger some firebomb users:

Nerf option 1: Firebomb deals same damage anywhere in the circle (besides bullseye of course) but duration is reduced accordingly as you are closer to the outer ring.

Nerf option 2 (indirect): Fire duration of all incendiary items are reduced accordingly every time the boat is hit with a cannon-type weapon.

Nerf option 3: The item is deleted from the game

 

5 players out of the global top 50 are using the 'most powerful and popular item' atm

https://forum.battlebay.net/threads/meta-snapshot-9-8-3rd-installment.11421/

I would be nice if it had less of an impact on stars though.

 

The top 50 players aren't the majority of the players in the game. With all the speeders up there hardly any mortars are used but in the lower leagues around 3k down, firebomb is spammed uncontrollably.

 

Since I literally just got a Rare and Epic Firebomb yesterday, I'm against option 3.

 

Totally agree, firebomb is OP no joke, it's in desperate need of nerf. It's really funny why they don't apply the same mechanic of frost launcher to firebomb. With frost launcher the further you're from center area, the less your frozen duration is but the slowdown percentage still the same. Firebomb should be no different, less duration on the sides but with the same damage at the center.

 

Haha. I use firebomb too. Why wouldn't I, right?

 

Great idea imo. Simple and efficient.

 

I use a level 30 rare firebomb at the 2,500 infamy range in an MK5 shooter, and I think the damage it does it okay as is. Compared to mortors, the damage a fire bomb does is relatively weak.

What should change are two things:
1 - Star ratings shouldn't disproportionately give "extra credit" to firebomb users.
2 - Fire damage perks should only do extra damage from the person who actually shot the fire bomb. Note if this is changed, it likely solves problem 1.

 

Here we go again. No, Firebomb is not overpower'd. Seems anything someone doesn't use is considered OP.

 

You can ask anyone who has played with/against me, I use firebomb. Always. I have complained about firebomb, flare gun and big torpedo, all of which I use or have used and enjoyed using. But with firebomb it is no joke, one of the, ifnot, the easiest item to use in the game and it's so powerful at the same time. I am not going to go in full detail about why it is broken/overpowered. And of course I am going to take advantage of it until (hopefully) it is balanced. Even then I will most likely still use it.

 

That would make it work the same way as Frost Launcher. No complaints here. Fire Bomb seems like it does more damage than a direct Berta sometimes.

 

I don't use fire bomb but I've played against it, it's not op, nobody uses firebomb for the dmg I think, they only use it for the burn effect.

Those who think it should do less duration when not at the centre, this is a weapon, not a control item, no matter how it's used or assumed to work it's still a weapon.

However, I'll admit this, firebomb is extremely unfair and totally DISTORTS STAR REWARDS. See, it's not op, it's not doing more dmg than it's supposed to, it's merely giving people a star they don't really deserve.

Hit a ship with firebomb once and hit then with a blast cannon with burn perks, suddenly you get 3 stars, it seems that's all it takes literally and that's unfair for everybody else who simply get 3 stars by playing better.

Wouldn't take me a week to build a good fire bomb and use one for the stars, but I wanna play a good game, get stars I truly deserve.

 

As of now this is a spam item. No strategy and no tactics you really need with it. Just spam away blindly. Once you get into the 2k-3k ranges you will see how abused this item is and how terribly balanced it is.

 

Yes you goddamn need a strategy to use everything, you either hit them with a fire bomb and then hit them with a blast cannon with burn perks or you play as a support with firebomb. There are some shooters who use nothing but burn items and weapons in synch with burns.

Just cause a lot of people use it, doesn't mean it needs a nerf, don't talk like devs now man, lot of people using it? Let's nerf that thing, don't want people picking a fav item, oh noo, let's drop all the work we could do, all the new features we could add, fix the issues that need fixing and instead nerf items cause everybody uses it.

If people use fb, it's a meta, not cause it's op, only unfair thing about firebombs is how it gets you 3 stars.

 

Yeah why does it always light me just even if I'm near it not even in the circle, this isn't a one time lag thing this is every single time.

Also, what if armor did something to the burn dmg... signed, a defender main

 

fire bomb is NOT OP... stund is OP... rockets, flare Gun is OP!! one slot I recieve like 2000 dmg from high levels players...speeder come put me a flare gun in the ass and then shot me with explosive o blaster and he run and I´m dead in two seconds...kmon.... nerf fuking Stun or flare gun, or rockets...check the Kitterine topic...those players can chose any weapon... Fire bomb is the only wapons help a little bit with the shields the other mortars are just a piece of shit.
Anyway, I suppose the developers make the changes based on numbers and not opinions, on the statistics they have. But it is not fair that two players of the same skill level, know that if one is a speeder and the other not, you are fucked. I have seen a mid-level speeder destroy a defender with a good player and the defender don´t have the chance to do a shot. It is not normal? The speeder with 3000 hp destroys the defend with 12000 hp without any option. And the same with the other boats. All the team to watch a ship while the others destroy you. Two players of the same level should have an option to win one or the other, but there are none. And in the case but if the speeder can not win, they just have to leave and force a draw.
If you want to ask for a nerf ask for the speeders and their incredible superiority.