Just curious what people think of UT3's weapon designs, the changes since previous games, etc. Overall I think the weapons are a good compromise between UT1 and UT2k4 but there are a few things that stand out for me -
The Minigun/Stinger alt-fire currently makes the Linkgun rather redundant. Now that both weapons have projectile attacks, the Minigun is basically just a Linkgun with a more powerful projectile mode and lot more range on the hitscan mode, so why bother picking up the Linkgun?
On one hand, I feel that they could create quite a streamlined and efficient competitive weapon set by simply cutting the Linkgun out and leaving the Minigun as is. On the other hand, I feel that one of the major strengths of the Unreal series has always been the variety and diversity of its weapons. Therefore, in the end I'd rather see the weapons changed so that both a Linkgun and a Minigun can be in the game and they can both be unique. Of course the question then comes to how they can do that?
I tend to feel that the Link Gun and Minigun could best be differentiated by dedicating the Minigun to hitscan fire and the Linkgun towards projectile fire. I actually like the UT3 Minigun alt fire a lot, but for the sake of uniqueness, I think it would be best to make the Minigun alt-fire hitscan once again. There are a few options for this:
a) Make it more similar to the UT1 minigun; the current primary would be the faster-firing inaccurate mode and the secondary could be the slower-firing ultra-accurate mode.
b) Going closer to the UT2 route, you could keep the current UT3 primary as the accurate mode and make the secondary even faster firing and more inaccurate...however to make the spammy alt fire mode more challenging to use, increase the windup time and make it considerably longer - make it act like the Quake 2 chaingun.
c) Make the alt fire a hitscan shotgun-type mode, making the weapon essentially a hitscan version of the original Unreal stinger.
As for the Linkgun, it's ok as-is and would be relatively unique if the Minigun was changed, but I wonder if it could be revised to emphasize projectile fire even more. Some options:
a) If the Minigun is implemented as in UT1 or UT2, then just replace the Linkgun with the Stinger, using a shotgun-type alt fire. In order to differentiate it from the flak primary, make one or the other very fast or hitscan, while the other is slow and retains the ricochet.
b) Replace the Linkgun with a re-balanced Ripper.
c) Just keep the Link Gun but ditch the alt fire and make both modes projectile. One mode would be very slow and powerful like the current Minigun alt or Link primary, while the other could be twice as fast and deal half the damage, handling more like the Quake 3 plasma gun.
Opinions on this?
The Minigun/Stinger alt-fire currently makes the Linkgun rather redundant. Now that both weapons have projectile attacks, the Minigun is basically just a Linkgun with a more powerful projectile mode and lot more range on the hitscan mode, so why bother picking up the Linkgun?
On one hand, I feel that they could create quite a streamlined and efficient competitive weapon set by simply cutting the Linkgun out and leaving the Minigun as is. On the other hand, I feel that one of the major strengths of the Unreal series has always been the variety and diversity of its weapons. Therefore, in the end I'd rather see the weapons changed so that both a Linkgun and a Minigun can be in the game and they can both be unique. Of course the question then comes to how they can do that?
I tend to feel that the Link Gun and Minigun could best be differentiated by dedicating the Minigun to hitscan fire and the Linkgun towards projectile fire. I actually like the UT3 Minigun alt fire a lot, but for the sake of uniqueness, I think it would be best to make the Minigun alt-fire hitscan once again. There are a few options for this:
a) Make it more similar to the UT1 minigun; the current primary would be the faster-firing inaccurate mode and the secondary could be the slower-firing ultra-accurate mode.
b) Going closer to the UT2 route, you could keep the current UT3 primary as the accurate mode and make the secondary even faster firing and more inaccurate...however to make the spammy alt fire mode more challenging to use, increase the windup time and make it considerably longer - make it act like the Quake 2 chaingun.
c) Make the alt fire a hitscan shotgun-type mode, making the weapon essentially a hitscan version of the original Unreal stinger.
As for the Linkgun, it's ok as-is and would be relatively unique if the Minigun was changed, but I wonder if it could be revised to emphasize projectile fire even more. Some options:
a) If the Minigun is implemented as in UT1 or UT2, then just replace the Linkgun with the Stinger, using a shotgun-type alt fire. In order to differentiate it from the flak primary, make one or the other very fast or hitscan, while the other is slow and retains the ricochet.
b) Replace the Linkgun with a re-balanced Ripper.
c) Just keep the Link Gun but ditch the alt fire and make both modes projectile. One mode would be very slow and powerful like the current Minigun alt or Link primary, while the other could be twice as fast and deal half the damage, handling more like the Quake 3 plasma gun.
Opinions on this?