Is the EZ Nade launcher bad or am I? (and other things in tandem.)

(BiigDaddyDellta) #1

Sometime’s it seems that the heavy weapons suck just because they are dedicated to heavies. Case in point the EZ Nade launcher when I use the lobster I can clean up an entire team for the majority of a round depending on whether I am/or have a soilder or not, but when it comes to the EZ Nade launcher I have fired at point blank range at a number of enemies before, never knocking anyone over or injuring them at all.

The range is irregular the damage is nothing at all and the knockback is what? non-existant (I do know it’s possible I’m just asking you’re opinions versus my own.) does anyone regularly use this weapon or honestly ever?

I remember seeing a trailer or gameplay video that excited me alot. There was a heavy engineer on a high point who guarded a door with a mine turned and planted a gatling turret on a ledge buffed his weapon and began maulinga group of enemies (from a good distance away, map may have been shipyard.) with the EZ Nade launcher and an AR with a scope on it I believe. I remember thinking to myself how wickedly dangerous and awesome that seemed as a combonation.

Now a few things have gone missing from this: Obviously we know the turrets range isn’t that good anymore, you can’t depend on your mines to acctually incap anyone, though the AR with a scope or reflex site of some kind remains deadly at any range (unless it’s versus an SMG for some reason they’re better :confused: ) the EZ Nade launcher only goes a few feet (In my opinion. It could just the that the physics of this launcher are different from any other grenade throw in the game… but then how the hell is it E-Z?) so you would never reach enemies waaay over by the objective.

Not really a complaint, I don’t use heavies because I have a hard time validating they’re uses but just a topic open for interpretation and some good disscussion I hope. :stroggtapir:

(Keep in mind these posts should’t be to flame the game they are merely here so that we can come up with a good premise to present to whom ever we wish in hopes for a change or a fix. I do not promote bashing people on their thoughts or opinions, nor will I do anything to give this game a bad wrap.)

Here’s looking forward to the future,

BiiG

(Stormchild) #2

I see the EZ nade launcher as a nade-spamming, are-denying tool.

If you can get to a good position with an angle on the main choke point or so, you can spam all the nades in your clip in the zon; which, combined with your friend’s guns, can hopefully help to kill many enemies fast…

But I haven’t invested enough time on it yet

(Miken420) #3

E-Z nade is great in close-quarters areas with lots of places to bounce the nades off of. You can easily turn a room into a death trap for everyone inside. It’s all about making the best use of the rebounding grenade spam.

If you’re in a more wide open area it’s better to go for a weapon with a high volume of fire, such as the Chinzor or Minigun.

As a Heavy having a Gerund or something similar with a Coga type scope as your backup weapon is generally a good idea too.

(tokamak) #4

It’s the most situational gun out there. Personally I would love to see it’s damage reduced, have a wider explosion range, have knock-downs and be more accurate.

(H0RSE) #5

I used to think the same way about the EZ-Nade, but after I spent some time using it, I have found that it can be quite good.

First off, some things to point out. It is a situational weapon. It excels in certain areas while an be just meh in others. When playing on defense, it is awesome for defending objcetives and really good for escort missions. Nothing disrupts a team trying to escort an objective more than a volley of nades going off all around them. It’s also good for choke points and trying to force enemies to go where you want them.

Another thing to note is that it does not cause knockdown, it does less damage than the Lobster and the nades themselves have a lot less bounce to them - they kinda “stick” to the ground where they land, so learning the trajectories is crucial. Once you get the angles down, the weapon can be devastating. I’ve killed 4-5 guys at once with it multiple times. It also helps to use it within a group, so you have teammates weakening or finishing off enemies hit with nades.

Last thing to note is the weapons purpose and ammo consumption. As noted already, it is more of an area denial weapon - like carpet bombing an area. You can get kills with it, but you have to know what you’re doing. It also sucks up ammo fast and doesn’t hold that much, so whenever I use it, I play Soldier.

Looks can be deceiving with this weapon. On the outside, you’re expecting to reign down hell and devastate the battlefield - I mean it’s a huge gun that shoots grenades out. But in reality, it’s only really good in skilled hands.

(Miken420) #6

lol Horse your forum title is awesome!

(BiigDaddyDellta) #7

I suppose that’s what dissapointed me about it, I was hoping to volley off an entire clip of grenades that acted much like the lobsters, knocking down a group and then actually being able to finish them. The lobster grenades have a bad habbit of bouncing away when you hit an enemy instead of just knocking him over resulting in more of a “stick” as you put if HORSE. I would think that given a certain trajectory sure that would work, but in most cases I think the velocity to knock a man down would be wasted upon impact. But that’s a whole different weapon I was just assuming the same mechanic would be at least partly applied to the other launcher.

(Stormchild) #8

But that would make the lobster quite useless, maybe ? Although I agree the spread is quite big with the EZ nade.

(tokamak) #9

The lobster is amazing in that it has a fast equip speed and is very precise. It’s terrific in combination with an AR (or okay, SMG for mediums). And let’s not forget, it’s a medium weapon.

The EZ needs to be able to paint an entire area and floor (knock-back) everyone who doesn’t move out. Maybe even a second longer arming time for the nades so it becomes more psychological in nature. Making the nades more visually obvious would add to this as well.

I’d like to see a similar effect for the gotling really (low damage, knock-down effect). These two heavy weapons are support weapons, they should be dangerous when you’re backing up a team, but pointless if you’re alone.

It’s also a great way of making the weapons stand apart more leading to more diversity. Maximus for killing, Mossington for just spraying and causing general damage to groups, Minigun for crowd control and EZ-Nade for area control.

There’s so much potential here, so much. Currently these weapons are bland and that’s not where people want to sacrifice their mobility for. Make heavy weapons the tools for the chess-players in the game. Heavy weapons aren’t supposed to be simply being bigger weapons, they’re supposed to be stratagems.

(Exedore) #10

Once upon a time the EZ-Nade did have knock-down abilities, but it was just way too powerful.

Anyhow, hopefully we can get the weapon tweaks news soon… :wink:

(BiigDaddyDellta) #11

My thoughts exactly, I would really love to play a heavy character more often but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Unless im running with two AR’s I feel useless ans slow.

(wolfnemesis75) #12

^Heavy is not useless if played properly and with skill. Isn’t the point to play a different style? Just because it may be a challenge, that is not necessarily a bad thing, right? Some people are up for a challenge.

(tokamak) #13

Yes it is bad thing, it means the bodytypes aren’t balanced. Currently the heavy is only different in that you get to walk slower and have a bigger ammo clip. That’s it.

I’m not even asking for more deadly guns (thought he maximus could be more lethal), I want more interesting guns.

(wolfnemesis75) #14

[QUOTE=tokamak;338109]Yes it is bad thing, it means the bodytypes aren’t balanced. Currently the heavy is only different in that you get to walk slower and have a bigger ammo clip. That’s it.

I’m not even asking for more deadly guns (thought he maximus could be more lethal), I want more interesting guns.[/QUOTE]

I disagree that it is a bad thing or that they aren’t balanced, that’s how you feel. Heavy could use a buff to HP but honestly will still be a bullet sponge regardless. But you do get a higher health currently and get to use more powerful machine guns. It comes down to preferred style: a Heavy is a good support player. Players idea of balance many times seems to be more about preferred style. Some feel a game where ARs dominate and long range combat is balanced, while others feel a balanced game is close-quarter combat. Just like the difference between the body types, it really comes down to how you want to play. You do feel like more of a tank when you play a heavy! Some people want that.

(tokamak) #15

The guns are only more powerful in their clip sizes that’s it. An HP buff is the last thing this game need, people already take too long to kill as its.

ALL my suggestions revolved around amplifying the heavy’s support role. Right now they’re only supporting because these weapons don’t do anything.

(BiigDaddyDellta) #16

I said it was how “I” feel I wasn’t speaking for other players.

(BiigDaddyDellta) #17

[QUOTE=tokamak;338122] An HP buff is the last thing this game need, people already take too long to kill as its.QUOTE]

Unless you’re playing the relentlessly accurate bots then they head shot you and you’re down in the blink of an eye lol.

(tokamak) #18

That’s a general problem of headshots awarding too much damage. The high spread combined with the high disparity between body and head makes for really random results in shoot-outs. Not fun.

(BiigDaddyDellta) #19

Agreed, but when it comes to online I don’t really have a problem. I believe you’re a PC guy so I can’t speak for those expiriences. Only Xbox.

(tokamak) #20

Xbox seems to have tighter spread if I’m not mistaken, this could be just be in my head though. In any case, the game already feels far less random on the consoles.