Re: Upgrades Discussion: Chomper Upgrades!
For GW veterans, BfN Chomper is an odd bird. I really liked it at first, as it felt less hung on the burrow/chomp system that causes so many suicide Chompers in the 2 GW games, but it has other issues. If any character needs some kind of redesign/serious look, it's Chomper.
Face Bite: I like this one. It would be nice for a GW game too if they took away the auto-chomp when behind a zombie to encourage more biting and less swallowing.
Halitosis: While not a huge fan of BfN's idea to make almost everyone, including Chomper, a sniper, this upgrade does work. If they reworked it to be more of a midrange weapon when enemies are staying out of your melee range, like give it a drop off so it can't go all that far, this would fit the character better and avoid the sniper plague in BfN.
Chomp Thing: This is one of those upgrades in BfN that tries to emulate a variant from the GW games. It's not bad but removing a variant with it's own look and weapon, and this having no indication that you have it, makes it less than ideal.
Mastication: This is also present in GW and GW2 although under various names between those 2 games. This one is very useful, as the worst part about devouring zombies is how vulnerable it makes you, and that vulnerability is where suicide Chompers come from.
Vampire Spikeweed: @stukapookawill most certainly bring up his disdain for this one when he posts here! I'm fine with this being an upgrade with the appropriate cost, but spikeweed in BfN is terrible and it should have a visual indicator to make it distinct and to add to the little touches that we love in the GW games in the first place.
Symbiosis: Great idea to be sure, but they shouldn't be temporary, at least not with how bad spikeweed is in BfN. If they made spikeweed more effective and less of a mere annoyance, this could be a solid ability.
Hotrod: My favorite Chomper variant from the GW games that they made into an upgrade. Again, no visual or audio cues so while I love the variant, the upgrade is a letdown.
Well Fed: This one more or less reflects the inherent burrow functionality from the GW games; holding still while burrowed uses far less burrow meter. To me, this just points out how much they altered Chomper for BfN. To be fair, Chomper has always been an oddball, when they added graveyard Ops and more PvE in general in GW2, notice that the AI Chompers can't swallow you in these modes, although the bots in private matches still can. This massive difference shows how hard it is to make the character work.
Upset Stomach: Grody Goop is an ability I really liked when I first started playing BfN as it made Chomper more of a team player instead of a solo menace/suicide bomb like he often is in the GW games, but then they overbuffed goop and now it's a menace, especially to Imps,. while spikeweed is still awful. As an area denial weapon, it's a fine idea and I enjoyed it a lot before they made it too good.
Dirt Bath: This one isn't all that useful as you have to stand in the goop, which you tend to launch at a distance usually to stack its powerful effects with your long range slobber shot. As an idea, it's fine, but in practice, it's not all that great.
