Re: Disruptor Rounds Alternator & RE-45 Returning?
Supposedly they'll be returning. If it was to return, it'd probably be at a much later date simply due to balancing. Also supposedly the hop-ups rotate on a per-season basis to keep the game interesting and to shift the meta. Before Skullpiercer came back, I'd see Wingmans on mostly tryhard Wraiths. Now I see one (either on a teammate or the enemy) every match.
Also, the Disruptor hop-up essentially violated their intended "power curve" weapon design. This was a developer referenced design choice (though unfortunately I can't find the source post which outright states that there is supposed to be an intentional "power curve" towards the weapons) where players are supposed to swap whatever weapon they're currently carrying to make their way up the power curve.
The Disruptor hop-up intentionally bumped the RE-45 and Alternator up to the top of the power-curve and then some, effectively disregarding said curve.(Math based on Aug. 13, 2019 Patch) Disruptor rounds bumped RE-45 to 18.6 damage to body, and Alternator to 23.25, out DPSing all other light ammo primaries, which lead to "unstable" games that could effectively be won or lost dependent on the pure RNG of whether or not you or your enemies found the hop-up.
If it were to return, it would have to be effective enough to warrant keeping an Alternator despite R99 and R3, yet not so much so that it blows said weapons out of the water. Alternator already has low fire-rate and accuracy without barrel stabilizers (RNG) and for it to not out-perform or competitively keep up with R99/R301 despite going through the extra step of finding the hop-up (RNG) would be a slap in the face. In the case of the RE-45 (which I consider to be a poor mans R99) it once again has to be competitive enough to perform among all 3 weapons yet still not out-perform any despite having excellent accuracy and fire-rate without any additional attachments.
