Critical Damage for Assault Rifle

I know some people are wary about gimmicks, but I'd think this would be a nice change for Assault Rifle.

Was thinking about this the other day, and the idea is a throwback to what I think were the alpha stages of the CoH targeting system, you aim at the enemy's head and you deal critical damage. I was thinking a variety of Critical, DoT and Slow. With the exception of Ignite and Flamethrower, each attack would have a chance to critical and/or provide a status effect. AoEs would have less chance to critical, but a higher chance to provide a status effect. Sniper Shot would provide a extremely high chance to crit as well as to lay in a status effect.

Pairing the set w/ Devices and picking up Targeting Drone would also increase your chances at achieving a critical hit.

While I'm not sure how practical this is for a change...just something to kick around.

I like the idea of putting "Luck" on the rest of Assault Rifle attacks...it is already on Full Auto. Although I admit the chance seems low, and may need a boost.

Any positive change to AR would be a good thing. I think adding crit damage is a great idea to buff AR and give it some uniqueness other than being a subpar set.

One thing though, did you consider corruptors? I really don't want to use OP in the same sentence as AR, but Critical Scourge would be pretty heavy burst damage to anything that doesn't resist it, since its basically a double crit.

They nerfed Ignite way too hard IMO with 20s recharge.

They should either increase Full Auto's arc or make the extra damage better in the last tic.

Yeah, the only thing I would change is widening Full Auto's cone. Ignite can already be made perma even after the nerf.

The nerf was necessary - it was insane before.

I tend to take the middle ground approach with Ignite. While pre-nerf it was too much (it outshined Full Auto), now it is has been nerfed to the ground.

Anyways, back on topic a crit mechanic with other Assault Rifle attacks would be neat, but how would it be balanced out?

The idea of criticals in Assault Rifle have been suggested before and personally I like the idea. There're lots of ways Assault Rifle can be buffed, but does it really need it? I'm quite happy with the 30 second-or-less cone nuke and the chainable one-two attacks of Burst and Slug with a chance for -res and heightened range.

If any changes were to be made to Assault Rifle, I would make Flamethrower's damage front-loaded like Burn, then make Ignite an ST attack which, again, is front-loaded for damage but still puts down the fire patch so it can be used for area denial still. No broken cottage rule, faster AoE/ST damage which isn't Lethal.

Didn't Flamthrower already get nerfed at 1 point? I dont see them buffing it after that

Poor AR really could use a revamp.

Edit: Misread the original quote

I believe mobs run from Burn not because of any Avoid flagging but simply due to the amount of damage it does, it's -insane-.

Should Ignite be buffed similarly, it would be borderline overpowered. My idea was to turn it into another ST attack which also puts down the Ignite patch under your target with reduced damage but keeping the fear so that it can still be used for it's original purpose, area denial, while giving AR more damage which isn't Lethal, much like Archery's Blazing Arrow.

You could argue that Flamethrower fits the bill, but as it is, the attack is just the wrong combination of high endurance, short range and slow DoT for it to be considerably less powerful than at first glance. Either the range should be increased, endurance reduced or my personal favourite idea is to make the first tick of Fire damage 66% of the overall damage, with 33% of the damage as the current long-lasting DoT (pulled numbers from a dark place, so certainly not solid and open for balance).