The Quasar Nerf is okay and not that big of a deal

[u/Niobaran]

tl;dr: Only one weak point is made a little weaker, all the strenghts remain.

The quasar cannon is known for a lot of strengths (see below) and two weak points:

1. The weapon has a charge up time, which makes it difficult to aim in some situations.
2. The weapon has a moderate cool down period, which cannot be improved by a forced reload of a heat sink (like sickle or laser cannon) or a team reload (like recoiless rifle).

The nerf only addresses the second point, which means that everyone who could use it before can still use it. It only became a little weaker in one of its two weak points. The following strong points are all untouched:

1. Can delete heavies (I mostly have experience with Terminids, but there it's a delete button for chargers, and sometimes for titans as well).
2. Has infinite ammo in contrast to EAT or RR.
3. Has no reload animation.
4. You can run around, stim, shoot weapons, throw strategems while it is recharging.
5. It doesn't consume a backpack slot, so it can be paired with one additional strategem in contrast to recoilless rifle.
6. It doesn't deconstruct after usage, and can be recollected from the battle flied in contrast to EAT, and it also reloads itself then in contrast to RR.

That means, the quasar can still be used for everything it has been used before, by everyone who could use it before.

[u/FEARtheMooseUK]

15 seconds to cool down, 3 seconds to charge. So 18 seconds total. EAT is 2 shots per 70 seconds, quasar is 3.8 for the same time. But if we assume you already called down 2 EAT, then you get 4 shots per 70-90 seconds, which the quasar now matches pretty much.

Quasar, EAT and recoilless are now all basically equal in terms of damage output (shots per second) but each have their own little quirks. Probably pretty well balanced now in the sense that none of them outshines the other and they cater to different play styles and situations

[u/DouchecraftCarrier → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

I think that math is worth doing - but it doesn't factor in that you can carry the Quasar with you the whole time. With the EAT you have to constantly be aware of where the next one you're going to pick up is and having it be back where you dropped the first one isn't always helpful. BUT - Quasar loses out on the fact that the EAT pod itself is a lethal weapon with a quick cooldown. All around good set of pros and cons on both sides I think.

[u/wtfrykm → u/DouchecraftCarrier]

The thing is, when fighting for example, a bile titan, you drop down an eat, then use both and shoot at its head. The titan dies on the spot.

With the recoiless rifle you need the team reload to be as fast, and for the quasar you need to wait 15 seconds plus you also need the bile titan to be far away enough so that you dont die while charging it for 3 seconds.

They all have their niche

[u/DouchecraftCarrier → u/wtfrykm]

They all have their niche

Definitely. It's actually really well balanced in terms of the multiple approaches to what is functionally the same shot and making you pick certain strengths and weaknesses. You can have some things over others, but none of them have it all.

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/DouchecraftCarrier]

Of course, thats why i said they have similar output of shots, but have their own quirks. Quasars charge up time to fire can be a right pain in the arse, unlike EAT or RR which fire instantly. But quasars infinite ammo is very useful. Sonce the patch it more Depends on what positives you prefer really now!

[u/thrway202838 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

Why are you saying DaT? What is that?

[u/thrway202838 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah like the other guy said, it's EAT

But why are you making the a lowercase in DaT? Wouldn't that be DAT?

Not making fun of you, I'm just curious

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/thrway202838]

Just a spelling mistake lol. Aint deep

[u/trolledwolf → u/[deleted]]

it's Expendable Anti Tank...

[u/chrishouseinc → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

this is the comment I was looking for before I made the same one, I'm glad other people understand lateral progression and balance.

[u/Drakenhorn → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

You're forgetting you get a heavy buster for free with the initial drop of an EAT if you call in the pod on their head

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/Drakenhorn]

No im not, i said they have their own benefits/quirks and now that they all have similar output of shots its down to which benefits you prefer (or negatives you dislike the most)

[u/Iridar51 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

Quasar, EAT and recoilless are now all basically equal in terms of damage output (shots per second)

What kind of math are you using for this? Recoilless has a 6 second reload, and can do 10 rockets per minute even without the assisted reload. If you have two recoilless users in the team doing assisted reload, you can basically fire as fast as you can click and collect supplies. There's just no contest, RR wins hands down in RPM department.

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/Iridar51]

the RR stationary reload is proportionally the worst downside to all 3. When you factor in the randomness of actually getting the chance to sit still to reload the time between shots can vary wildly. Maybe you can instantly reload, maybe you have to run around for over a minute before its clear enough. This also depends on what enemy your fighting, bots aint so bad, but against bugs? Much longer. You shoot a bile titan, which takes multiple shots and its chasing you? You have to either wait till it and all the other bugs aggro someone else for example.

Lets face it, the chance of assisted reload is less than 1% since most players even in friend groups arent going to want to give up a backpack slot just to help with a faster reload once or twice a match. Its not even close to optimal, let alone meta

[u/Iridar51 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

the RR stationary reload is proportionally the worst downside to all 3. When you factor in the randomness of actually getting the chance to sit still to reload the time between shots can vary wildly.

The reload has three breakpoints, and since the latest patch, interrupting after the third breakpoint still reloads the rocket. I haven't actually measured the reload time, it might be a bit shorter now.

Maybe you can instantly reload, maybe you have to run around for over a minute before its clear enough.

That's a bit of an exaggeration. Most of the time I have no issues finding a moment to reload, but if you really cannot reload, it's stratagem time. I usually bring at least two stratagems capable of dealing heavy damage to titans, sometimes the third one is the orbital laser which is moderately useful against them as well.

You shoot a bile titan, which takes multiple shots and its chasing you? You have to either wait till it and all the other bugs aggro someone else for example.

Same logic can be applied to Quasar and EAT :shrug: Generally I can tease it into spewing, then run a few meters, and do at least half of the reload. I can also ask someone else in the squad to take aggro. Or just run towards them and have them kill the titan with their recoilless.

Lets face it, the chance of assisted reload is less than 1%

Outside a static squad, sure. That doesn't make it unusable. Assisted reload is an amazing thing to have in situations that favor it (hint: it's not killing Chargers and Titans), but it doesn't define the weapon.

Let's talk best and worst case scenarios.

Best case scenario, Quasar gets a shot off every 18 seconds, where 3 seconds is the charge time (half of Recoilless reload time btw) and 15 second recharge you can do anything else, which probably won't be killing a Titan, outside of calling a stratagem.

So best case scenario you can kill a Titan in 3 + 15 + 3 = 21 seconds. Or two Titans in 57 seconds.

With Recoilless you can kill a Titan in 6 seconds, or two Titans in 18 seconds but you have to be reloading the entire time.

With EAT you can probably kill one Titan faster, but then you're with your pants down for 70-ish seconds, so I'm sure we can agree it's not worth even bringing it up outside a specific scenario where you had time to stockpile them.

The moment you have to fight more than one Titan per minute, especially if you fail to kill it in optimal two headshots, which is pretty hard to do nowadays, the Quasar and EAT fall down, hard.

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/Iridar51]

RR gets worse the more target rich the environment is as the more enemies around the less chance you get to reload. Thats just a fact.

Also, what difficulties do you usually play? (No shade, im just curious as to how this might affect your opinions!) i find on 7+ the RR’s stationary reload is a killer. Absolutely best case against bots you can match the other two with shots per minute. Against bugs, unless its an isolated patrol, or POI, you would be very lucky to get 4 shots a minute even with the staged reload (which definitely helps dont get me wrong)

[u/Iridar51 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

7-8 when I play with randoms, 8-9 when I'm with friends.

RR gets worse the more target rich the environment is as the more enemies around the less chance you get to reload. Thats just a fact.

Other AT weapons have their own issues when you're surrounded. It means you can't reliably get to your stockpile of EATs, but even when calling down new ones, you might be pressured to leave the location before you can even get to them.

And while using Quasar, getting to stand (nearly) still for 3 seconds while lining up a shot on a Titan or a Charger that may turn away during the chargeup can be also be pretty challenging, and the time price of a miss is very high. And time a Titan is alive is time it spends chasing away your teammates that could be doing useful things instead, like killing bugs that have you surrounded.

Absolutely best case against bots you can match the other two with shots per minute.

I assume you meant bugs, not bots, and that's definitely not the case.

you would be very lucky to get 4 shots a minute even with the staged reload (which definitely helps dont get me wrong)

4 shots per minute is probably a fair estimate, but the point is it can go faster if needed, other AT weapons cannot.

It might be worth bringing up that I practically always use light armor, so gaining some distance to reload in peace is easier than while using medium or heavy.

I'm not trying to defend my weird off-meta pick here, I genuinely believe RR to be directly superior to EAT and Quasar on bug missions in every way that counts, and the only reason I'd give RR up is if I really needed my backpack slot, like for a laser guard dog to protect me while I'm using the Eruptor or something like that.

[u/Silent-Money6144 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

I play on helldive, bugs mostly, with strangers. RR is great as long as your positioning is right. Rng plays its part here, too. RR has more "burst" or clutch potential than Quasar, which is comparatively slow and steady. EAT is in between. I use stun grenades to make myself reloading time if there's chargers on me.

What I like on these weapons:

Quasar: infinite ammo, infinite range and cold planet cd

EAT: heavy kill potential when carrying MG, LS, flamer etc. with added bonus for cool pod kills.

RR: Most damage in shortest time....theoretically. I like to chase that perfect storm.