Missiles 2 stars

Seriously if missiles was on Yelp it would get 2 stars max. Want to have a weapon that spreads out randomly so you get even more RNG in your life? Want to have a weapon that will like 1/3 of the time or more, do ZERO damage to someone on the easiest closest shot? Didn't think so? Ok then don't use missiles! Gets one star above the minimum for cool sound effects and occasionally deciding it will do good damage.

 

+1
I've observed lots of missile shots which clearly land on ships but deal 0 - 10 damage, not sure if its a bug but it makes it even worse. With the inconsistency of it, devs should increase the radius of missile impacts by 10% and maybe reduce damage by 10% to make it more user friendly.

 

missiles RIP

 

There's nothing wrong with the missiles. You just have to know how to use them. Previously i used t4 rare missiles and trust me they were pretty good. It depends on the user, how you aim following enemy's movement and predict their drop zone. Its definitely something worth a bit of skills. I've seen players like HXD evilchicken, fen't and others use t5 rare missiles well.
About the missiles not doing damage, if you tried it before the easiest way to avoid missiles is to sway vertically if your moving horizontally and vice versa. Its kind of a dodging technique, though i'd agree some shots do damage even when visually the hits are away and some do not damage at target. But fairly speaking such cases do not happen much, mostly it is the user's accuracy and target's evadisiveness that leads to those.

 

I like challenges, so I've spent a lot of time with Missiles, but it's probably the most challenging weapon in the game.

Until you level it up and spec significantly into Blastian's Talents, it's a horribly weak weapon compared to other similarly-leveled weapons. That makes its popularity among newer players very low.

Unlike most other weapons, aiming takes a ridiculous amount of practice. Again, I like the challenge, but even when target the cursor properly, you might still completely miss or do virtually zero dmg.

There are 3 mechanics causing this:

1. The spread angle is wide. (Missiles will sometimes fly wide and completely miss.)
2. The blast radius is small. (Missiles that land really close sometimes still completely miss.)
3. The damage fall-off gradient seems steep. (Missiles that land virtually right next to the target still may only do 10 dmg.)

It's frustrating to do low damage even when I do everything right.
If any of those 3 mechanics weren't quite as punishing, Missiles would be a lot more user-friendly.

As with all things, I seek balance.

My suggestions (below) are not intended to make it "easy" to use (I like the aiming challenge - unlike Sniper Cannon).
My suggestions are intended to make "actual good aiming" less punished by inconsistent/unforgiving mechanics.
All this should increase it's popularity, especially at lower levels, which means more people might practice and use it. Win for Rovio!
And this will barely affect the best players, who are already masters with it.

My Suggestions

1. Don't change the spread angle.
2. The 4th Missile should be default. (This really only helps new users, which is a good thing!)
3. Blastian-12 should then be changed from +1 projectile to +15% bigger blast radius.
4. They should create Missile-specific Perks for +2/4/6% bigger blast radius. That gives Missile users something else to choose from besides +All-Weapon Dmg% or +Range. (Plus, more revenue for Rovio!)
5. The damage fall-off needs some tweaking. I'd love to play around with this in a sandbox environment. A slightly more forgiving fall-off gradient wouldn't make this weapon easier to aim, but it would make it more consistent/less frustrating when an experienced player actually gets the missiles to hit.

All of this could be seen as a slight buff to Missiles.
That's definitely true at the lower levels by getting that 4th missile for free - but I'm okay with that.
At the higher levels, it's not easier to aim, but more consistent damage output for when you use it correctly. Which is a buff I guess.
As a trade-off, I'd be willing to agree to a minor decrease in damage -- would 5% be sufficient?

 

It irritates me when people say "some pro has used these properly before, so it must be fine."

1. They probably had it at T4 or T5. That's a significant investment!
2. They also probably had it fully Talent-spec'd and fully Perk'd. That's a significant investment!
3. They also probably spent hours practicing with it. That's a significant investment!

When people complain about missiles, it's not a complaint that they don't do enough damage in the right hands.
The complaints are that (a) the required investment (1,2,3 above) for this particular weapon is TOO HIGH before it's even mildly viable, and (b) even in the right hands, the inconsistent mechanics are still often frustrating.

So, let's please try to address those specific complaints:
- How can we lower the required investment so more players feel like it's a viable option?
- How can we make the user experience less frustrating for experienced players who targets perfectly and still misses with every single missile, or maybe hits with a few edges and do only 24 damage?

I believe my suggested solutions (see post #6 above) offer answers to these issues without making it "deadlier" in capable hands.

 

Missiles in the hands of a GOOD and SKILLED player is deadly. Shit hurts especially in Nightmare.

 

Can you name a weapon you couldn't say that about?

 

Cannon

 

Here would be my beginner tips:

1. Don't use it until you've got that 4th missile (Blastian-12). The frustration involved with trying to get at least one of the projectiles to hit is too great if there's only 3 of them.
2. Don't use it until you level it up to be on par with your other strongest weapons. Otherwise, all your efforts to finally land a shot will leave you frustrated looking at tiny damage numbers.
3. Don't expect to do any damage at max range. The spread is too great. 15~20 range is the sweet-spot. If you have a better option off cooldown, use that instead. Or if you'll be sailing into closer range soon, hold off to get closer.
4. Leading shots vertically (in/out) is significantly more difficult than leading horizontally (left/right). Diagonals are somewhere between, but straight vertical leading is the hardest. Try to save missiles for situations where your target is only moving horizontally perpendicular to you (and at 15~20 range). ... or if they're standing still...

 

Christ lol, if you said std mortar i would have believed. But canon, idk man T5 epic does 800 damage on burning and it never missies. A defended can make you Feel like a bullet ant bite when it uses canon on burning.Small damage, but freq hits make it deadly...

 

If someone constantly hits me with a cannon or if that player constantly shoots a cannon, then there's something wrong between the two of us lol

Burst damage weapons are still the top choice.

 

Frankly speaking if sniper gets nerfed, you gonna see a lot of std canons flying around. Currently sniper is much better substitute with faster projectile hence nobody uses canon (aka most of shooters/defender)

And sure burst is better when you got less HP and less weapons (aka other 3 boats) cuz you don't get chance to hit freq like shooter and defender


Anyways coming to topic, I would agree with you missiles are infact deadly but it takes a lot of training effort (not just 5 projectiles but increase in radius available from multiple captains) which is a bit ridiculous

However i would trade off damage with for bit of more radius wouldn't make a significant difference

Anyways i also ask for one nerf of missiles.. I. E. Spam.. The weapon has low cooldown and it practically blinds you even tho you dont get hit. Frequent spam is very irritating. REDUCE the spam effects

I would trade of bit damage and cooldown both for increased accuracy of hit, but that's just me...

 

To clarify my original posting in light of subsequent posts about it:

I have missiles maxed. I have thousands of games played with missiles. I know all about aiming them and I am sure I am better than most when I decide to use them. Which isn't much anymore because, objectively, missiles are shit.

You can do everything right as far as aiming. Land your shot perfectly on your view. Zero damage. "Oh it must be latency" they will say. "But my latency is not high at all." "Then uh it must be THEIR latency." Yeah, missiles are shit. Signed, an experienced maxed missiles user.

 

I appreciate the clarification.

And being one of the rare experienced missile-users out there, I am now particularly interested in your feedback regarding my suggestions (see post #6 in this thread) to reduce the frustration of experienced players by:
- not making aiming easier (which you're already good at anyway)
- but making them slightly more forgiving, by allowing players to increase blast radius via Talents/Perks
- and making them slightly more consistent, by decreasing the damage fall-off gradient (i.e. missiles that hit on the edge will actually do damage)

^ would this be enough to make them seem viable again?

 

I dunno probably their damage is balanced at longer range but when all 5 circles are on the same spot at closer range they decided it was too much fast-applied damage to be allowed to be consistent.

If I'm right then they basically need a whole rework that won't happen for awhile so in the meantime 2 stars/shit/etc. ... maybe some kind of combo with frost would work, shrug.

 

P0rthos?

 

Missiles are heavily affected by defense similar to carronades so there is that. I have a rare lvl 40 and an epic I just got to 30 and have to say I love'em. They are tough to use till you get the 5th missile unlocked, and I find I do much better with them on a tablet than on a phone. They take not only left to right leading, but front to back leading to compensate for waves.

There isn't much else more satisfying than landing all 5 missiles on a racing speeder and doing 2k dmg for the final kill