Forum Discussion

Pheesley's avatar
Pheesley
6 years ago

Barrel Blast needs changes.

Currently Barrel Blast without upgrades is too weak as a defensive tool and with Incoming Keg is too strong as an offensive tool. 

Barrel has too little health to hide inside, and plants can simply use sprinting to run away from Barrel. It does not work as a means of retreating or defending Deadbeard, and using it defensively usually results in getting knocked out of barrel and dying.

With the Incoming Keg upgrade, Barrel becomes a very strong offensive tool. The extra speed makes sprinting away impossible and allows Deadbeard to use Barrel very aggressively, and this is becoming very abusable. Add this speed to Barrel being able to one-shot an Oak (effectively doing up to at least 300 damage) and Incoming Keg Barrel becomes a terrifying and frustrating weapon to play against. 

Although Incoming Keg doesn't really make Barrel better defensively, it makes it great for surprising plants. It doesn't really matter that the Barrel has only 100 HP when you can time the fuse so that the plants have very little time to react to an explosive Barrel.

I think Incoming Keg makes Barrel too difficult to balance as it boosts Barrel's normal speed and "Lit fuse" speed. Incoming Keg should only boost Barrel's normal speed, as a boost to Barrel's speed with a lit fuse makes it too easy to abuse.

I think the stats on Barrel are broken and don't fit in a defensive class kit. I think it should be apparent that Barrel should not be able to one-shot Oak or Citron. Being able to one-shot Oaks and Citrons makes Barrel effectively a "tank buster", as well as making it too strong as a tool for pushes. It should only do 150 damage max, which is already pretty strong. Even without Incoming Keg, Barrel CAN work as a way to surprise plants. I also think Barrel needs a health buff to make it better as a defensive reaction tool.

I also noticed that Barrel seems to have a bug where you can sometimes damage Deadbeard inside Barrel without destroying the Barrel. This seems to happen often when you shoot a Barrel on its top, but it also happens just by shooting the Barrel.

Edit: It turns out you can only do 300 damage WITH the Incoming Keg upgrade.

9 Replies

  • Pheesley's avatar
    Pheesley
    6 years ago

    I would also like to note that you can activate Parrot Pal with Eggsplosion already refreshed and ready by using Parrot Pal and exiting it whenever you want. For some reason, Eggsplosion still refreshes even when Parrot Pal is not in use and this will go on for the rest of the game. This is also very easy to abuse and needs attention.

  • TheSprinter85's avatar
    TheSprinter85
    Hero
    6 years ago

    @Pheesley  That makes it sound like the Barrel can become a destructive force if used correctly. Especially if you use the Incoming Keg. Maybe the developers should reduce either the speed or the damage boost of the Incoming Keg in a future patch, but not both, and increase the Barrel’s health slightly. That, to my standards, would be much more balanced for the Barrel. 🙂

  • 34975634954957's avatar
    34975634954957
    6 years ago

    Yeah can only agree. After the last patches barrel doesn't have enough health to be a good defense. 

    For the parrot I thought the already refreshed eggsplosion was by design. I raised here before that Cactus drone special attack should work the same to make it fair.

  • Pheesley's avatar
    Pheesley
    6 years ago

    @34975634954957I remember a long time ago when I was chasing a DeadBeard, and they rounded a corner, used Parrot Pal, then shot an Eggsplosion immediately while I shot him, and we both died. That can't be done with Big Bulb Barrage.
    I feel its a little cheesy that a drone can have their airstrike ready as soon as the drone is deployed. You could use the instant Eggsplosion to quickly attack plants near you.

    Edit: It's pretty wierd that Eggsplosion only starts refreshing after deploying Parrot for the first time. I think it's a bug

  • GraveledStoopid's avatar
    GraveledStoopid
    6 years ago

    Barrel Blast is absolutely trash. Half the time it doesn’t do damage, particularly to NPCs in ops. In pvp I refuse to play the most generic of cheating characters, but I am constantly killed by barrel blast and the double damage glitch. This is something that has been brought to attention of developers, it just wasn’t fixed obviously. 

  • Cameroid07's avatar
    Cameroid07
    6 years ago
    @Pheesley If you shoot the deadbeard's eye when he is in Barrel Blast it does damage which makes sense since his eye is looking through a hole in the Barrel and it can be shot at dealing critical damage
  • Pheesley's avatar
    Pheesley
    6 years ago
    @Cameroid07 good to know. I suspected that could be a thing but never tested it. Still feels like I could ignore the eye and still do damage to DeadBeard.
  • mikepal19's avatar
    mikepal19
    6 years ago

    @TheSprinter85That is a fair change for the barrel. 1) slight health buff an
    2) nerf speed or damage (probably the damage)

    I love barrel blast, but I don't think it should be able to one shot an oak.

    @GraveledStoopid most generic of cheating character.. dead beard?

  • GraveledStoopid's avatar
    GraveledStoopid
    6 years ago
    @mikepal19 Yes. When a barrel blasts does double damage and can vanq a loaded oak, cheap/cheater. Not to mention that he is incredibly easy to use rapid fire with. So now think about scuttle shot and rapid fire, do you see a problem yet? Most importantly, aim assist with any sniper is incredibly cheesy and most use it when playing in competitive matches. I personally don’t like knowing that my vanqs are from a glitch or script that is being abused. Therefor I don’t play characters that are easy to cheat with.

    Like 80’s Action Hero and rapid fire. I can eat through a crowd of plants with him. Rapid fire critical damage upgraded to give me 3 tags with one critical shot into can’t missile - dead. Cheating

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