Benefit to Shooter Mode?

celticfistcoh

I like playing some of the ground mission and done many runs of Colony Invasion. Before the first spawn comes up, on a Tac Capt I hit "B" going into shooter mode toss a plasma gernade where first spawn appears at the 2sec mark, then hit "B" to exit shooter mode and continue play.

When you know where spawns typically appear I see the benefit of placing some sort of area of effect power in that location using shooter mode. Outside of placing those area of effect applications is there any advantage to playing in shooter mode?

Thanks .. Celtic Fist

ortsim

I believe shooter mode gives a boost to damage dealt, but increases the flanking damage you take. It is a similar mechanic to crouch which gives increased dodge, but at the cost of drastically lowered melee resistance.

gerwalk0769

I only play ground in shooter mode. I find the rangesighter and zoom (for extra damage I believe) essential. Judging distance to deploy TH or a pulsewave blast is important.

jeffel82

I think it comes down to play style and personal preference. I don't like shooter mode, but I know there are players that do. It's cool to have the option.

I suspect the main reason we have shooter mode was that it was a testing ground for Neverwinter's development, which uses a mouselook mode as its only option for gameplay. This is not a criticism; I think we benefitted from it.

captainoblivous

I don't think that shooter mode has a damage benefit in itself, it just shows a scope when you enter "aim" mode (which works perfectly well in RPG mode btw, it just lacks the scope overlay) and allows manual aiming (for lobbing grenades or firing at targets that can be hit but cannot be targeted in RPG mode).

Also, the old "crossfire" tribble gave a different bonus depending on which mode you were using. RPG mode caused the tribble to give a damage resist buff and shooter mode would cause the tribble to give a damage buff. At least, that's what I recall.

uzenchar

misposted /10c

baudl

everybody is entitled to his own opinion and preferences, but in general STO's ground combat is considered the weak point of the game, by pretty much every rating they got in the past 3 years.
Ontop of that, shooter mode received eve lower ratings. Not a single article i read had anything positive to say about it.
Sad, considering Neverwinter from the same company has such an outstandingly awesome combat system...on the same game engine.

i'd even stretch it so far and say that they left the old combat system in the game, when they realised that this shooter mode is really that bad.

ground combat and especially shooter mode are still the worst part about STO, and considering it already was redone once is sad.
IMHO, cryptic should go back and look at ground combat once again...
my proposal would be to cut abilities to a maximum of 5...on your KIT and the KIT is customizable and you select those 5 out of 20 or so abilities.
1 firemode per weapon

doffingcomrade

Shooter mode doesn't really provide much in the way of advantage: It adds the ability for you to miss, and makes you more susceptible to attack since you will not automatically turn to face an attacker if flanked. Its only advantages are that it allows you to place AOE effects like airstrikes, grenades, and mines, without the need to target an enemy, and without having the aforementioned features above causing you to face the wrong way while doing so; and the ability to fire your shotgun at invisible enmies. In every other way it is a disadvantage.

shadowwraith77

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94j3m1WkQgQ

It's a bit old but still seems accurate, however zoom mode they kind of forgot to mention does add a damage boost but makes you more susceptible to not seeing enemies flanking you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gSR7_RKIe4

In this one pay close attention when he switches between normal shooter mode with basic crosshairs to zoom mode with large sight reticle, you will see a passive ability pop up in the list of currently applied affects under the health bar. It is toggled on/off with the use of zoom mode! The whole concept of shooter mode was to give an option to those who prefer FPS style combat.

doffingcomrade

The "zoom" mode damage bonus is exactly the same as using the same "aim" button in RPG mode, so that is not really an advantage offered in shooter mode. You cannot actually score better damage by sniping opponents in the head. You cannot even target their exposed portions if they are behind cover, the shot will aim straight at their center exactly as in RPG mode rather than the point of them you aimed at, and thus will strike the cover, exactly as before. Shooter mode is really only useful for placing AOE effects without using an enemy as a centerpoint.

shadowwraith77

doffingcomrade wrote: »

The "zoom" mode damage bonus is exactly the same as using the same "aim" button in RPG mode, so that is not really an advantage offered in shooter mode. You cannot actually score better damage by sniping opponents in the head. You cannot even target their exposed portions if they are behind cover, the shot will aim straight at their center exactly as in RPG mode rather than the point of them you aimed at, and thus will strike the cover, exactly as before. Shooter mode is really only useful for placing AOE effects without using an enemy as a centerpoint.

Than why does the aim mode say it adds 33% ranged damage when in use? :rolleyes:

glassguitar

doffingcomrade wrote: »

Shooter mode doesn't really provide much in the way of advantage: It adds the ability for you to miss, and makes you more susceptible to attack since you will not automatically turn to face an attacker if flanked. Its only advantages are that it allows you to place AOE effects like airstrikes, grenades, and mines, without the need to target an enemy, and without having the aforementioned features above causing you to face the wrong way while doing so; and the ability to fire your shotgun at invisible enmies. In every other way it is a disadvantage.

^^THIS^^

I think MANY players do not realize how much negative impact come with Shooter Mode. Basically it entire purpose was to try and give FPS players an interface they were comfortable with. I've seen MANY a ground STF go terribly wrong because some Leroy just had to be in Shooter Mode so he could blast away at nothing with his mini gun ... LOL.

PLEASE play in RPG mode except for the type of situations listed above.


That said: it would be really nice if RPG mode had a similar option to fire without target.

buccaneerdtb

shadowwraith77 wrote: »

Than why does the aim mode say it adds 33% ranged damage when in use? :rolleyes:

Because it does add 35% damage, in both shooter and RPG modes.

nicha0

I use shooter mode a lot, while in more random situations like the battlezone RPG seems to be superior, in fixed situations like an STF shooter is more responsive and easier to move/control.

In battlezone enemies come from all directions, I'll use the omega gun here mostly in RPG mode, its clumsy but you are flanked less. Enemies are quite weak and you can be lazy about using intelligent buffs or burst damage.

In an elite STF enemies take a beating but are always in the same spot. Its far easier to be in shooter mode, run behind one while buffing, flank, aim and fire causing a lot of damage. Doing this in RPG mode is slow and clumsy. Grenade, mine and orbital strikes are much more effective because you can plan on where enemies will be instead of where they are now. You also rarely get flanked.

shadowwraith77

I do perfectly well in shooter and aim modes, and has never prevented me from completing missions on elite. It's all preference IMO. :P

edgecrysger

shadowwraith77 wrote: »

I do perfectly well in shooter and aim modes, and has never prevented me from completing missions on elite. It's all preference IMO. :P

The problem is, the shooter mode in STO is terrible. Is not right implemented so i dont see the point on playing on shooter mode. Besides, a game like STO must be played in RPG mode, not shooter mode. Shooter mode is cool, and it is an alternative, but it is really far from being better than the RPG mode. I am a fps player since ages ago, and i tell u, the shooter mode in STO is really cathastrophic. The only reason to play in that mode, is that you like it, nothing more.. it has no advantajes over the regular play mode. On the contrary. The only thing you can expect is to have a challenge really harder than playing in regular mode (but only because as i said, shooter mode is not designed for STO). More than that..

shadowwraith77

edgecrysger wrote: »

The problem is, the shooter mode in STO is terrible. Is not right implemented so i dont see the point on playing on shooter mode. Besides, a game like STO must be played in RPG mode, not shooter mode. Shooter mode is cool, and it is an alternative, but it is really far from being better than the RPG mode. I am a fps player since ages ago, and i tell u, the shooter mode in STO is really cathastrophic. The only reason to play in that mode, is that you like it, nothing more.. it has no advantajes over the regular play mode. On the contrary. The only thing you can expect is to have a challenge really harder than playing in regular mode (but only because as i said, shooter mode is not designed for STO). More than that..

Shooter mode sure makes it easier on me to exploit enemies and land my grenades on que every time, the only advantage I have seen with rpg mode is it allows you to lazily auto target and fire more accurately more often, but IMO isn't really any better! :P

jackassassin

So far, the only benefit of shooter mode, as far as I can see, is the ability to very quickly target enemies if they are side by side. Switching from one target to the next is not always pefrect in rpg mode, as the "next" target might not be the one you want, and you have to cycle through or click on that target. There is simply NO faster way to use an ability on another target than when using shooter mode... unless you're REALLY good at keybinds and use the most ONLY for clicking on enemies in RPG mode. Beyond this, though, I don't see any real use other than it simply being more fun for some people. It's a shame there's not a built in feature like the crossfire tribble, where there's an actual, if not minimal, advantage to shooter mode. An automatic 25% increase in damage or perhaps critical hit chance would be nice to see for those that WANT to play like that, but do much worse when doing so.

gerwalk0769

In shooter mode you can hit multiple side by side targets with Tachyon Harmonic.

starsword1989

If I rmb correctly, the counter command rep passive and the commando specialization gives sweet bonuses to shooter mode. I may be mistaken abt it.

rickpaaa

jeffel82 wrote: »

I suspect the main reason we have shooter mode was that it was a testing ground for Neverwinter's development, which uses a mouselook mode as its only option for gameplay. This is not a criticism; I think we benefitted from it.

That is THE reason that I don't play Neverwinter. I did try. I really did!

Obviously I do RPG mode in STO. I hope it never goes away.

kapla1755

gerwalk0769 wrote: »

In shooter mode you can hit multiple side by side targets with Tachyon Harmonic.

It doesn't matter if in shooter/rpg mode for Tachyon harmonic as it can hit a max of 5 targets in a 30 degree cone at up to 15 meters in either mode.


PS the aim damage in rpg/shooter mode is the same at +33% damage increase.

simeion1

The biggest issue I have with shooter mode is watching players buff on a target that is unable to take damage. Example: Rebecca when she first appears in infected ground. In RPGS mode you can't target, in shorter mode I see many players waste buffs and shots on targets that can't take damage.

Benefit of using it is guess where a cloaked player is in PvP, or trying to hit a cloaked Jem'hadar.

The biggest reason why people struggle in the ground in this game is because players do not crouch or aim. These bonuses help more than players think.

serranostivlen

I like shooter mode. It gives me more control over of what I'm doing. I can shoot and do things precisely where I want to.

jodarkrider

I close-combat on ground everything... a shooter mode is more smooth, fast-paced, and thus more suitable to my style. And it works just great for me.

So I'd say there's no universal answer - just that styles vary, and some styles may be more smoother with the RPG mode and vice-versa...

szerontzur

Honestly, the only time I use it is against Jem Hadar(and rarely Voth) - so I can still fire at them while they're cloaked and I know where they are.

Otherwise, I find it a bit too cumbersome to try to use all the ability-creep while in shooter mode. It's a little too inconvenient to ctrl-# hotbar abilities while lining up shots and staying on the move.