Rapid fire laser cannon completely useless

[DartDaya]

They're crap, they do no damage, it's a pin***** compared to the burst laser cannon. Edited April 9, 2015 by DartDaya

[RickDagles]

Yep, they're even mathematically worse than Light Laser Cannons for the one job that they are supposed to be better at (shooting at high deflection).

 

The only time they are somewhat worth using is on a Starguard build with heavy laser cannons as the main gun.

[Bolo_Yeung]

While I agree that they are worse than BLC, they have their usefullness - mostly in sat humping, where the ability to constant 'spray and pray' with frequency capacitor means at least one will hit. And when they hit, the shield arc regen is blocked, so in a war of attrition they have their use.

Weak? Yes. Useless? no.

[RickDagles]

While I agree that they are worse than BLC, they have their usefullness - mostly in sat humping, where the ability to constant 'spray and pray' with frequency capacitor means at least one will hit. And when they hit, the shield arc regen is blocked, so in a war of attrition they have their use.

Weak? Yes. Useless? no.

 

Light Lasers do that job better.

[Ardaneb]

I suggest the following buffs to the baseline rapid fire lase cannon stats:

Accuracy:

close 110% (unchanged)

mid range 95% (up from 85%)

max range 85% (up from 75%)

 

Tracking penalty: 0.5% (down from 0.8%)

 

Three numbers to change. Should be an easy buff to make. This will provide a niche high accuracy, low energy build which suffers from poor burst (due to high firing rate and low damage per shot) and has unimpressive maximum dps. It will also make it so that new players do not have as many misses that they do not understand

 

I am not really opposed to some of the other suggestions from other posts, this one just seems really easy to implement with the potential to help new players and counter evasion builds.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Ardaneb

[StrixHiraeth]

They may be useless, but I find them fun and still equip them sometimes. They're particularly fun with frequency capacitor, though the damage capacitor is probably the best choice for effectiveness. Like Drakolich said in another thread, it's hard to get the killing blow--but that's what cluster missiles are for!

 

Edit: Using targeting telemetry with rapid-fire lasers will melt a bomber's shields off quite quickly.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Ymris

[Nemarus]

I suggest the following buffs to the baseline rapid fire lase cannon stats:

Accuracy:

close 110% (unchanged)

mid range 95% (up from 85%)

max range 85% (up from 75%)

 

Tracking penalty: 0.5% (down from 0.8%)

 

Three numbers to change. Should be an easy buff to make. This will provide a niche high accuracy, low energy build which suffers from poor burst (due to high firing rate and low damage per shot) and has unimpressive maximum dps. It will also make it so that new players do not have as many misses that they do not understand

 

I am not really opposed to some of the other suggestions from other posts, this one just seems really easy to implement with the potential to help new players and counter evasion builds.

 

It'd be interesting if Rapids just had absurdly high accuracy (like 150%), such that they'd largely negate Evasion builds.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Nemarus

[Ramalina]

They're crap, they do no damage, it's a pin***** compared to the burst laser cannon.

 

BLC's have their drawbacks too, namely that depending on build and cooldowns any shot past 1500 - 2200 m is mostly just a waste of weapon energy.

 

I know Drako uses them in a trolling Flashfire/Sting build in matches where it's obvious that it's going to be a lopsided slaughter of newbs. Against someone that doesn't know how to defend themselves the difference in effectiveness is not really that great.

 

Not to mention the fun of the spray of bright lights and the fountain of damage numbers coming off of the target.

 

It's sort of like the GSF version of an arc welder.

[Nemarus]

BLC's have their drawbacks too, namely that depending on build and cooldowns any shot past 1500 - 2200 m is mostly just a waste of weapon energy.

 

 

I don't agree with this statement. Even 3000m, BLC's hit for over 500. That's better than the single-shot damage of any other weapon, and in competitive dogfighting, a single shot is often all you get before your target goes evasive. Sure, you should always strive to get as close as possible with BLC's, but a shot at the even at the edge of their range is certainly worth the energy, especially considering BLC's never run out of energy if used correctly.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Nemarus

[Verain]

They're crap, they do no damage, it's a pin***** compared to the burst laser cannon.

 

 

Amen.

 

Here's my thread on it:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=723029

 

And also I'll add that pretty much any buff will be good. You could extend the range and make them interesting that way, increase the damage and make them not trash that way, basically remove their tracking penalty, or give them a giant accuracy like Nemarus says. I guess, if pressed, we could all have a preference about what the best way to buff them is, but really, anything at all would work.

[aakrea]

When I started playing RFLs were the only way I could hit anything. After a few day gave HLCs another try and did much better so I guess they weren't entirely useless, for me anyway.

[RickDagles]

I love Nemarus' idea and I love Verain's math. RFL ftw

 

Regular lasers should be the default laser on every ship.

 

 

 

 

...and yes I agree with Nem that it is totally worth shooting BLC at any distance if you make a judgement that the risk of blaster power is worth the 70%ish chance of a 500ish hit

Edited April 11, 2015 by RickDagles

[Squatdog_nz]

RFL really aren't THAT bad, but could do with a buff. It's low cap use means you can select frequency capacity instead of damage for an extra 5% DPS.

 

BLC is difficult to land hits with (especially against crossing targets) and has very short optimal range.

[Ryuku-sama]

RFL really aren't THAT bad, but could do with a buff. It's low cap use means you can select frequency capacity instead of damage for an extra 5% DPS.

 

Thing is you can run Freq with every single weapon (yes, with weapon efficiency crew, you can use a freq Quad with T4 Crit)... SO far from something useful.

 

BLC is difficult to land hits with (especially against crossing targets) and has very short optimal range.

 

BLC is ridiculously easy to land.

1. Point

2. Click

3. ???

4. Profit.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Ryuku-sama

[Zoom_VI]

Y'all need to stop doing stock nights, and start doing RFL nights.

[JediMinerBob]

Y'all need to stop doing stock nights, and start doing RFL nights.

 

We could name them ROFL Nights.

[Squatdog_nz]

Thing is you can run Freq with every single weapon (yes, with weapon efficiency crew, you can use a freq Quad with T4 Crit)... SO far from something useful.

 

 

 

 

 

15% higher rate of fire = 15% higher rate of cap drain

 

BLC and Quads will run out of cap very quickly with sustained use. while you can lean on RFL all day.

 

BLC is ridiculously easy to land.

1. Point

2. Click

3. ???

4. Profit.

 

Against a crossing target, it looks like this...

 

BLC:

 

1. Point

2. Click

MISS, MISS, MISS, target is outside envelope

 

RFL:

 

1. Point

2. Click

MISS, HIT, MISS, HIT, MISS, MISS, HIT, MISS, MISS, MISS, HIT, MISS, HIT, MISS, MISS, HIT

[RickDagles]

BLC armor piercing and lower tracking penalty automatically make them better than RFL. That's not even getting into the higher DPS, accuracy, and surprise factor. Edited April 12, 2015 by RickDagles

[Ryuku-sama]

15% higher rate of fire = 15% higher rate of cap drain

 

BLC and Quads will run out of cap very quickly with sustained use. while you can lean on RFL all day.

 

lol. No. Quads doesn't run out of energy if you aren't firing like a *******. When you have 50-60% accuracy with most weapons... Freq Quad are very viable. BLC on the other hand are better with range simply to extend their threat range and make the most out of the point and shoot playstyle (which would be destroyed by high frequency).

 

Against a crossing target, it looks like this...

 

BLC:

 

1. Point

2. Click

MISS, MISS, MISS, target is outside envelope

 

RFL:

 

1. Point

2. Click

MISS, HIT, MISS, HIT, MISS, MISS, HIT, MISS, MISS, MISS, HIT, MISS, HIT, MISS, MISS, HIT

 

L2P

[Squatdog_nz]

I know, right?

 

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/Squatdog/swtorgfsrape_zpszp7dquyn.jpg~original

 

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/Squatdog/swtorgsf222_zpswomey2ut.jpg~original

[Verain]

Tom just got over 70% with BLCs, and he's temporarily down a whole hand.

 

RFLs are likely the least accurate laser over the course of common use. If you take every possible shot with quads or heavies they can have a lowish accuracy, but the standard is certainly not that.

 

Also the links seem to be about something called Galactic FighterStar?

 

BLC is vastly more accurate than RFL. I don't know what you are talking about with MISS MISS MISS but that's certainly not the community experience with that gun.

[Zoom_VI]

Using accuracy rates with RFL is kinda pointless. It's like saying a gatling gun is useless because it misses the majority of shots. The idea is that whoever fires the most shots hits the most targets. RFL's issue is that it doesn't hit hard enough for the 'spray and pray' to be useful

[Nemarus]

I know, right?

 

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/Squatdog/swtorgfsrape_zpszp7dquyn.jpg~original

 

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/Squatdog/swtorgsf222_zpswomey2ut.jpg~original

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to prove with these screenshots? That RFL's are good because you can hit 44% accuracy, get 16 kills, and do 71k damage with them?

 

Well, I guess that means plain old vanilla Laser Cannons are the BEST WEAPON EVER, because that's what made these

 

http://puu.sh/h2J5f/f1fbcfee7c.jpg

http://puu.sh/h2UoR/764ebb25a4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/u90ZjYc.png

[Squatdog_nz]

Using accuracy rates with RFL is kinda pointless. It's like saying a gatling gun is useless because it misses the majority of shots. The idea is that whoever fires the most shots hits the most targets. RFL's issue is that it doesn't hit hard enough for the 'spray and pray' to be useful

 

This.

 

BLC are extremely inaccurate outside of bursting people down from pointblank range. The reason for "HURRRRRR....70% accur-macy!" is that burst scouts will usually hold their fire until they're aligned and in the opponent's face, with TT and Wingman up.

[Ryuku-sama]

This.

 

BLC are extremely inaccurate outside of bursting people down from pointblank range. The reason for "HURRRRRR....70% accur-macy!" is that burst scouts will usually hold their fire until they're aligned and in the opponent's face, with TT and Wingman up.

 

Eh?? Maybe because that's what you should do with every single weapon??? Shooting when you won't hit isn't very bright.