devtrackers.gg
We need do identify the culprit to the lack of build diversity and RNG on RNG from farming.
WEAPON DAMAGE
Where do we get passive weapon damage stats?
1. 12% weapon type dmg on gloves(red attr).
Nobody is using anything else than this. Trying to equip a blue or yellow attribute for active talent requirements, out of the question, thus forcing the use of more specific gear with right attributes and mods by removing gloves from the pool.
2. Devastating talent on gloves and holster.
5% weapon damage, clear winner. All other passive talents are subpar compared to this. CHC% will be 2nd by far when it's nerfed to 5% on PTS, DTE was a contender before the npc health nerfs.
3. Compensated talent.
15% weapon damage, self-explanatory. Forces this ridiculous 3/7/7 build that just takes you further down the rabbit hole of RNG. Maximum 3 red attr and max 20% crit to unlock, which forces you to find strict wpn dmg on chest and backpack.
4. Generic mods with 6% dmg and red mods with ~6% dmg.(Using 2x red system mods with 1,5%WD 4%ARdmg myself)
Renders all other mods useless.
5. Active talents on weapons that give % weapon damage. (Unhinged, Ranger etc.)
Renders all other active weapon talents useless.
6. Pure weapon damage from red attribute.
Forces builds to have strict itemization by only having this attribute on chest and backpack. If PTS recal hits, this will become even more ridiculous.
7. Specializations
15% damage for weapon types. Forcing usage of specific weapon type that you don't want to play because of gated spec. weapon that you do want to play. Also vice versa.
General
*Weapon damage is making weapon drops that don't have weapon damage or allegro, junk straight off the bat. Imagine rolling allegro in the middle slot, and actually being content with any other active talent slot.
*Weapon damage is forcing builds that forces the farm of specific talents and items that are gated behind RNG and those items, gated behind RNG of correct attr/talent rolls.
*Take On the Ropes as example, it's ridiculous when you have to hamstring an already in-a-bad-state yellow attribute build by putting its skills on CD and making them more broken only to recieve this god-forsaken 25% weapon damage.
*Weapon damage is hogging a red attribute which it under no circumstances ought to even be doing.
*Skill Power builds will NEVER see the light of day while %weapon damage exists. Skills will forever remain subpar. It will be impossible to get a proper TTK balance between a pure skill build and a pure X% weapon damage aim+left click build.
*Weapon damage being additive only adds salt to the wounds, no diminishing returns.
We literally have PTS up and running, this is the time to get creative.
*Add more defensive and utility talents. Run speed? Reload speed? +1 skill use? Accuracy? Stability? Armor on kill? Weapon swap speed? Extra incoming healing?
*Remove weapon damage from gearmods and make mod slots on items universal color so that building your character doesn't have to rely on RNG only. Easier to reach e.g. 7red. Add the aforementioned stats that I listed in the previous point to mods and give them the proper color.
*Make passive talents universal, don't lock them behind specific gearslots. Make the amount of same passive talents equipped, max 2. This way you can't stack e.g. 6x Hardening.
*Make tons more active talents that arent "make or break" a build. -Hit minimum 15/30 AR shots per magazine to spawn a free seeker drone that searches your target? Example here.
*We need to be able to recalibrate at least 1 talent and 1 attribute per slot.
Final words:
Weapon damage needs to be removed from the places where it's gating or completely locking down your character progression.
When the whole game is RNG, it makes farming and following this bottleneck weapon damage template completely impossible at times. (You can read people on forums being frustrated not having seen an upgrade for a week's time.)
Right now we're taking a step in the right direction by adjusting Berserk and UF damage to smaller numbers on PTS.
If you feel that weapon damage really needs to exist in more places than active buffs on chest and backpack, then give feedback, I am out of ideas atm!
EDIT 1: From what we can see from the PTS, developers are literally balancing the game around Berserk, UF and OTR which is totally crazy. Only thing that happened was 3/7/7 mutated into the same thing with a different name. Build diversity is still nowhere to be seen. Gear sets are useless.
Weapon damage needs to be removed to achieve the same linear damage line for all agents. i.e. hard reset. All agents will be just as powerful as the other. From here, players can branch out to any build or gear set they want, without having WD builds breathing down their necks whispering "you're not doing any dps, use me instead".
EDIT 2: If weapon damage stat was removed completely(or at least removed from gear where it's bottlenecking character progression and forcing 1 meta), players' DPS would be gutted after the change no doubt, but to compensate, devs could instead increase %dmg of all weapons in the game to equal that of what was removed.
EDIT 3: With weapon damage stat gone, gear sets would finally be usable. If not, the 3 new gear sets will be put on the shelf like the other 3, again.
WEAPON DAMAGE
Where do we get passive weapon damage stats?
1. 12% weapon type dmg on gloves(red attr).
Nobody is using anything else than this. Trying to equip a blue or yellow attribute for active talent requirements, out of the question, thus forcing the use of more specific gear with right attributes and mods by removing gloves from the pool.
2. Devastating talent on gloves and holster.
5% weapon damage, clear winner. All other passive talents are subpar compared to this. CHC% will be 2nd by far when it's nerfed to 5% on PTS, DTE was a contender before the npc health nerfs.
3. Compensated talent.
15% weapon damage, self-explanatory. Forces this ridiculous 3/7/7 build that just takes you further down the rabbit hole of RNG. Maximum 3 red attr and max 20% crit to unlock, which forces you to find strict wpn dmg on chest and backpack.
4. Generic mods with 6% dmg and red mods with ~6% dmg.(Using 2x red system mods with 1,5%WD 4%ARdmg myself)
Renders all other mods useless.
5. Active talents on weapons that give % weapon damage. (Unhinged, Ranger etc.)
Renders all other active weapon talents useless.
6. Pure weapon damage from red attribute.
Forces builds to have strict itemization by only having this attribute on chest and backpack. If PTS recal hits, this will become even more ridiculous.
7. Specializations
15% damage for weapon types. Forcing usage of specific weapon type that you don't want to play because of gated spec. weapon that you do want to play. Also vice versa.
General
*Weapon damage is making weapon drops that don't have weapon damage or allegro, junk straight off the bat. Imagine rolling allegro in the middle slot, and actually being content with any other active talent slot.
*Weapon damage is forcing builds that forces the farm of specific talents and items that are gated behind RNG and those items, gated behind RNG of correct attr/talent rolls.
*Take On the Ropes as example, it's ridiculous when you have to hamstring an already in-a-bad-state yellow attribute build by putting its skills on CD and making them more broken only to recieve this god-forsaken 25% weapon damage.
*Weapon damage is hogging a red attribute which it under no circumstances ought to even be doing.
*Skill Power builds will NEVER see the light of day while %weapon damage exists. Skills will forever remain subpar. It will be impossible to get a proper TTK balance between a pure skill build and a pure X% weapon damage aim+left click build.
*Weapon damage being additive only adds salt to the wounds, no diminishing returns.
We literally have PTS up and running, this is the time to get creative.
*Add more defensive and utility talents. Run speed? Reload speed? +1 skill use? Accuracy? Stability? Armor on kill? Weapon swap speed? Extra incoming healing?
*Remove weapon damage from gearmods and make mod slots on items universal color so that building your character doesn't have to rely on RNG only. Easier to reach e.g. 7red. Add the aforementioned stats that I listed in the previous point to mods and give them the proper color.
*Make passive talents universal, don't lock them behind specific gearslots. Make the amount of same passive talents equipped, max 2. This way you can't stack e.g. 6x Hardening.
*Make tons more active talents that arent "make or break" a build. -Hit minimum 15/30 AR shots per magazine to spawn a free seeker drone that searches your target? Example here.
*We need to be able to recalibrate at least 1 talent and 1 attribute per slot.
Final words:
Weapon damage needs to be removed from the places where it's gating or completely locking down your character progression.
When the whole game is RNG, it makes farming and following this bottleneck weapon damage template completely impossible at times. (You can read people on forums being frustrated not having seen an upgrade for a week's time.)
Right now we're taking a step in the right direction by adjusting Berserk and UF damage to smaller numbers on PTS.
If you feel that weapon damage really needs to exist in more places than active buffs on chest and backpack, then give feedback, I am out of ideas atm!
EDIT 1: From what we can see from the PTS, developers are literally balancing the game around Berserk, UF and OTR which is totally crazy. Only thing that happened was 3/7/7 mutated into the same thing with a different name. Build diversity is still nowhere to be seen. Gear sets are useless.
Weapon damage needs to be removed to achieve the same linear damage line for all agents. i.e. hard reset. All agents will be just as powerful as the other. From here, players can branch out to any build or gear set they want, without having WD builds breathing down their necks whispering "you're not doing any dps, use me instead".
EDIT 2: If weapon damage stat was removed completely(or at least removed from gear where it's bottlenecking character progression and forcing 1 meta), players' DPS would be gutted after the change no doubt, but to compensate, devs could instead increase %dmg of all weapons in the game to equal that of what was removed.
EDIT 3: With weapon damage stat gone, gear sets would finally be usable. If not, the 3 new gear sets will be put on the shelf like the other 3, again.