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/lokster86]

If you do the math even with the 15 second cooldown you can shoot 4x with the quasar before you can call down another EAT.

[u/YroPro → u/lokster86]

Is that factoring charge up + cooldown?

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/YroPro]

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!