Hunter First Impressions

(kirinichiban42) #1

Got to play a few games as Hunter with all of his unique weapons and I have a few notes:

Crossbow:

  • Surprisingly spammy, but definitely not OP or gamebreaking( Possibly would like to see a system where there is a limited number of bolts, like 10, that regenerate over time although my opinion might change with time)
  • Have to lead targets just a little bit when aiming even while at close range
  • EMP bolt does its job and has a good enough cooldown
  • Hard to track where bolts land on low video quality settings and hard to tell where bolts are coming from when getting hit (the smoke trails disappear very quickly)

Ryburn MP:

  • Headshot machine at close range with decent chip damage going further out (very similar feel to MP-400)
  • Pretty low ammo capacity which really puts pressure on making the shots count
  • Great for finishing people off

Arevarov:

  • Very reliable pistol with good accuracy and decent damage (feels like the middle ground between the Caulden and M9)
  • Also great for finishing people off
  • Ironsights are simple, but effective (my preference)

Overall:

  • Hard to 1v1 people at close range, but becomes much easier to 1v1 at medium range
  • A little bit more difficult to fight long range due to arcing projectiles and travel time, but not overly so
  • Doesn’t give the feel of high damage output like Aimee/Redeye/Vassili, but really excels at giving moderate damage at a faster rate
  • Very fun to play as and not really annoying to play against
  • Very useful in disabling enemy deployables
  • Feels effective on defense or offense as long as he is not on the front lines

In summary, I feel Splash Damage did a great job with this merc. Personally, Hunter doesn’t feel overpowered or underpowered. Also, as an added bonus, he feels fun to play.

I want to stress that these aren’t my final conclusions. I would like to see how my perceptions of Hunter change over time. Additionally, what do you think about him by playing him or playing against him?

(Eox) #2

Did you know that you can charge the crossbow if you ADS ? Basically allows you to hit bolts with as much if not more power than a bolt action sniper. You can both burst damage players or put some them some more sustained form of damage if needed.

Also, Hunter’s spam around corners is tiresome. He should probably get some kind of overheat system, or his Crossbow should have a magazine of some sort.

(Craikn) #3

Hunter needs to get a magazine or at least a limited Bolt Number maybe like Nader- 5 and then cooldown…he has no cd on his Bolts and can spamm unlimited bolts with sniper like dmg…he basicly has a slow sniper with unlimited ammo…strange that nobody saw this at testing but THAT is OP somehow O.o ?!

(Mr.Cuddlesworth) #4

I think unlimited ammo is a good thing, my aim sucks with the bow and a lot of other Hunters I’ve seen do as well.

(Eox) #5

@Craikn said:
Hunter needs to get a magazine or at least a limited Bolt Number maybe like Nader- 5 and then cooldown…he has no cd on his Bolts and can spamm unlimited bolts with sniper like dmg…he basicly has a slow sniper with unlimited ammo…strange that nobody saw this at testing but THAT is OP somehow O.o ?!

I did. Many did.

@“Mr.Cuddlesworth” said:
I think unlimited ammo is a good thing, my aim sucks with the bow and a lot of other Hunters I’ve seen do as well.

We shouldn’t balance around people that suck at it. That’s how you end up with crazy overpowered stuff at decent level of play.

(GatoCommodore) #6

@Eox said:
Did you know that you can charge the crossbow if you ADS ? Basically allows you to hit bolts with as much if not more power than a bolt action sniper. You can both burst damage players or put some them some more sustained form of damage if needed.

Also, Hunter’s spam around corners is tiresome. He should probably get some kind of overheat system, or his Crossbow should have a magazine of some sort.

kind of like
@Craikn said:
Hunter needs to get a magazine or at least a limited Bolt Number maybe like Nader- 5 and then cooldown…he has no cd on his Bolts and can spamm unlimited bolts with sniper like dmg…he basicly has a slow sniper with unlimited ammo…strange that nobody saw this at testing but THAT is OP somehow O.o ?!

i think he doesnt really need a cooldown, he does need a magazine maybe at least a reload animation because i think the MP and the pistol is too weak if its treated like nader

(Eox) #7

@GatoCommodore said:

@Eox said:
Did you know that you can charge the crossbow if you ADS ? Basically allows you to hit bolts with as much if not more power than a bolt action sniper. You can both burst damage players or put some them some more sustained form of damage if needed.

Also, Hunter’s spam around corners is tiresome. He should probably get some kind of overheat system, or his Crossbow should have a magazine of some sort.

kind of like
@Craikn said:
Hunter needs to get a magazine or at least a limited Bolt Number maybe like Nader- 5 and then cooldown…he has no cd on his Bolts and can spamm unlimited bolts with sniper like dmg…he basicly has a slow sniper with unlimited ammo…strange that nobody saw this at testing but THAT is OP somehow O.o ?!

i think he doesnt really need a cooldown, he does need a magazine maybe at least a reload animation because i think the MP and the pistol is too weak if its treated like nader

Some cooldown mechanic like Nader might be too much : he’s limited to MPs. I’d instead go with a clip of 5, and passively reload 1 dart every 2s if he is not shooting or aiming down sights. It’s a bit like a very short CD, but slightly different.

(kirinichiban42) #8

@Eox said:
Did you know that you can charge the crossbow if you ADS ? Basically allows you to hit bolts with as much if not more power than a bolt action sniper. You can both burst damage players or put some them some more sustained form of damage if needed.

Also, Hunter’s spam around corners is tiresome. He should probably get some kind of overheat system, or his Crossbow should have a magazine of some sort.

Thanks! I genuinely did not know that. That changes everything! I initially thought he was meant to spam crossbolts at mid-range because he had a lack of high damage output at long ranges.

@Eox said:
Some cooldown mechanic like Nader might be too much : he’s limited to MPs. I’d instead go with a clip of 5, and passively reload 1 dart every 2s if he is not shooting or aiming down sights. It’s a bit like a very short CD, but slightly different.

I totally agree, he can be a bit too spammy, but that could be easily fixed by a magazine system for the crossbow.

Overall, I don’t really want SD to tweak any of the other stats as I feel like they are good where they are.

(mrdisco) #9

Love his gear but I’m not so fond of the arrows.

What if, at least, the scoped shots were hitscan and not projectile?

(Cordyceps) #10

I greatly enjoy using the crossbow, but I do not enjoy the new weapons he brings. They’re very low damage and hard to kill with. I feel like this was an intentional choice to put the focus on the crossbow though. I immediately crafted a card with the Empire and I like it felt so much more reliable than the new primary.

(TheStrangerous) #11

Coulda sworn he was going to be my most favorite merc, next to Phoenix.
However I dislike scope vision. So, he’s in my “Once in a while to play” merc category.

(Ptiloui) #12

@TheStrangerous said:
Coulda sworn he was going to be my most favorite merc, next to Phoenix.
However I dislike scope vision. So, he’s in my “Once in a while to play” merc category.

Wait… you’re playing Dirty Bomb ? :open_mouth: :wink:

I didn’t perform well with him tonight so I can’t really talk about the crossbow, though the EMP bolt is a nice feature and is for me a better tactical tool than the phantom’s emp.

His primary is not noob friendly :slight_smile: 18 bullets per mag is really short. You can kill one person only if you don’t miss too much shots. I’ve often been in moments where I had to pull my secondary during duel, at least way more often than with other weapons.

(Your worst knifemare.) #13

He feels balanced to play against so good job to SD for that

(TheStrangerous) #14

@Ptiloui said:

@TheStrangerous said:
Coulda sworn he was going to be my most favorite merc, next to Phoenix.
However I dislike scope vision. So, he’s in my “Once in a while to play” merc category.

Wait… you’re playing Dirty Bomb ? :open_mouth: :wink:

I didn’t perform well with him tonight so I can’t really talk about the crossbow, though the EMP bolt is a nice feature and is for me a better tactical tool than the phantom’s emp.

His primary is not noob friendly :slight_smile: 18 bullets per mag is really short. You can kill one person only if you don’t miss too much shots. I’ve often been in moments where I had to pull my secondary during duel, at least way more often than with other weapons.

Once in a while. But since now it’s a mess, with all Phantoms creeping around and Hunters staying at the backs. Gonna postpone 'til hype dies out and things get ironed out.

(Eox) #15

Actually one thing that bother me a bit with Hunter : earning xp is too easy. I noticed that most Hunters I saw ended up in the higher tier of the scoreboard without doing anything really meaningful. Any hit with the crossbow potentially gives you a spotted xp bonus, with is kinda insane when you think about it. The first time I played him, I ended really high in the scoreboard without even putting that much effort.

Those values should probably be tweaked a bit, or the way hunter gets xp should probably be organized differently compared to other recons.

(Eox) #16

That needs to be tuned asap. That hitbox is waaaaaay too generous.

(Craikn) #17

Talking about hitboxes…whats about Hunter meele ?..feels a bit to small for a hitbox…sometimes i cant finish mercs iam standing on…for THAT low range the dmg also is super duper low…even the hardhit is weak as f4ck…

(kirinichiban42) #18

@Craikn said:
Talking about hitboxes…whats about Hunter meele ?..feels a bit to small for a hitbox…sometimes i cant finish mercs iam standing on…for THAT low range the dmg also is super duper low…even the hardhit is weak as f4ck…

Yeah I agree. They said the ulu was short range, but it’s also super narrow as well. I would say both left-click and right-click are more narrow than the katana right-click.

Also, I’m not sure if this happens to everybody, but on several occasions I noticed the crossbow stopped firing completely if I spam M1 too hard (It starts firing again when I lay off of M1). Is there a hidden cooldown system or is that just me?

(TheTwinkie) #19

@kirinichiban42 said:
Got to play a few games as Hunter with all of his unique weapons and I have a few notes:

Crossbow:

  • Surprisingly spammy, but definitely not OP or gamebreaking( Possibly would like to see a system where there is a limited number of bolts, like 10, that regenerate over time although my opinion might change with time)
  • Have to lead targets just a little bit when aiming even while at close range
  • EMP bolt does its job and has a good enough cooldown
  • Hard to track where bolts land on low video quality settings and hard to tell where bolts are coming from when getting hit (the smoke trails disappear very quickly)

Ryburn MP:

  • Headshot machine at close range with decent chip damage going further out (very similar feel to MP-400)
  • Pretty low ammo capacity which really puts pressure on making the shots count
  • Great for finishing people off

Arevarov:

  • Very reliable pistol with good accuracy and decent damage (feels like the middle ground between the Caulden and M9)
  • Also great for finishing people off
  • Ironsights are simple, but effective (my preference)

Overall:

  • Hard to 1v1 people at close range, but becomes much easier to 1v1 at medium range
  • A little bit more difficult to fight long range due to arcing projectiles and travel time, but not overly so
  • Doesn’t give the feel of high damage output like Aimee/Redeye/Vassili, but really excels at giving moderate damage at a faster rate
  • Very fun to play as and not really annoying to play against
  • Very useful in disabling enemy deployables
  • Feels effective on defense or offense as long as he is not on the front lines

In summary, I feel Splash Damage did a great job with this merc. Personally, Hunter doesn’t feel overpowered or underpowered. Also, as an added bonus, he feels fun to play.

I want to stress that these aren’t my final conclusions. I would like to see how my perceptions of Hunter change over time. Additionally, what do you think about him by playing him or playing against him?

I do agree. The only thing I find is that with all the phantom and Hunters out there turtle is just an empty shell. Bad pun intended.
I drop a shield and two second after it is just deactivated and destroyed. It does make turtle a merc you can’t rely on and a defenceless as well. To be fair though it more a turtle balance issue than an hunter I think.

(Craikn) #20

Give Turtle 2 Shields :smiley: ! 1 is the Normal we know from ingame, the other one is the smaller Metall like shield we know from trailer…the smaller cant be desabeld by phantom and hunter but is…well …smaller you cant shoot throu it…only can deploy 1 shield at a time
Uplink stays the same :slight_smile: