So, as a Lancer main, my experience with Gears games have had peaks and troughs due to the inconsistent ‘balancing’ throughout the games. Won’t even mention Gears 2 because 10 years on and that still brings my blood to a boil…
In Gears 3, the Lancer was at it’s most balanced- a medium-ranged support rifle with a deep 60-round mag, mediocre damage and accuracy offset by amazing stopping power and the fearsome chainsaw for slicing up the careless and unaware.
In Gears 4, they dropped the mag count to 40 and removed most of the stopping power in lieu of a flat damage boost- this I could get to grips with, even with the sad departure of the 60 rounds, and the Lancer still served as an optimal choice to bunker down behind cover and suppress and punish those who strayed in the open or who tried to charge you.
Now Gears 5 has been around for 7 and a half months and the Lancer is in a constant state of under-performance one patch, back to respectable usefulness in the next, then nerfed back into the ground with the next.
40 rounds reduced to 30 on a 14-shot down meant we (me and other Lancer users) required a 50% accuracy most of the time just to drop a player to their knees. Given the age-old wallbouncing “”“meta”"" and increased reticle bloom, that’s nigh-impossible, even with a keyboard and mouse (play-tested).
The launch update of Operation 3 brought 10 rounds back to the Lancer mag to offset these issues and compensate for the lack of stopping power and a wider spread- the Lancer was fairly balanced and more versatile.
Now the latest patch has landed as of this Tuesday (14/04/20) and the bloom has now been increased to the point where the 10 rounds make zero difference- rendering it’s usefulness in midrange firefights to really low.
I understand that Gears has a large community that mains the (expletives) Gnasher shotgun with twitch-shooting frenzy brawls, but there is still a large, silent majority that play the game by its intended base principles; a cover-based tactical shooter that favours multiple playstyles with either rifle or shotgun, and we’re constantly getting shafted because the moment the meta get shot down one too many times, they cry for a nerf because ‘tHe LanCeR iS oP’.
It really isn’t…as someone who’s mained Lancer from Gears 1, I can say with full confidence the Gears 5 Lancer grossly underperforms in the state it is now in.
TC, can we PLEASE have the Lancer reverted back to the title update of Operation 3: Gridiron to make it what it’s supposed to be; a long range support rifle that suppresses and punishes.
Thank you!
If bloom has been made similar to g4 then you just need to burst fire to contol the bloom. As in all previous gears.
The reason it had to get nerfed though is a combination of tc’s mental auto aim suite, the maps designed around static rifle play and super slow sliding.
If the rifles aren’t toned down (as this tuning is attempting) games become static and stale very fast. No one want’s to play campy games that lack any cqc.
In koth it can become endless running into a brick wall due to the built in crossing set ups and some hills can prove virtually unassailable with a good stack.
Edit : No one wants to have weak weapons. Hell the legacy games didn’t have weak guns. But unless the 3 issues I mentioned are addressed, rifles can’t be as strong as they have been in g5 so far.
It’s good to hear your opinion. Great post. I use gnasher and lancer almost exactly 50/50 and so want both weapons to be viable for the appropriate situations.
Exactly. In Gears 3 and 4, the Lancer had cons you had to understand and adapt to make the most use of the weapon, whereas in Gears 5, the changes feel sporadic and extreme to the point where us Lancer mains are struggling to make versatile use of it, even WITH burst firing.
There was many ways TC could have improved the situation with the Lancer that doesn’t involve crashing the gun itself. Speeding up the movement and cover slides would’ve mitigated this problem. Though I slightly disagree with the whole ‘static rifle play’ map design point, as every map seems to have open areas for Lancer firefights, and smaller, more-condensed blocks for tight close quarters fights with Gnashers and Chainsaws.
Not to mention, the tried and true smoke grenade was always a solid counter for the Lancer as it allowed others to put pressure on the riflemen and push forward with less risk.
Tl;dr, whilst I understand what TC are trying to do, this just ain’t the way to go about it, chief, as it’ll only result in more grumbling and grouching, and be followed by yet another questionable title update which has the potential to piss somebody else off.
Sadly the state of balance in Gears 5 is a mess, right now.
everyone keeps saying that a “stronger” lancer (id call it adequate) makes for campy games, I’ve never been so afraid of a lancer that i stayed hunkered down behind cover, a sniper or tork bow yes, but never a lancer. Honestly the fu*king gnasher keeps me from advancing anywhere because I don’t know who’s hiding behind a corner just waiting with it.
Agreed. Combined arms is the way to go for core Gears play…just wish they’d stop catering to the damn shotgun because the more elite “WE ARE THE PROS” claim they are the only players that matter.
It’s funny you say that. People keep saying “Go play CoD!” to Lancer mains, but…Call of Duty’s all about twitch-shooting, instagratification low ToK f*ckfests that use no tactics.
That sounds more like a perfect comparison with the Gnasher playstyle than the Lancer. Sometimes I wonder what the hell kinda game do they think they’re playing? #hurrdurr
Right!!! Having more range capable weapons keeps people from running around like a goon, and promotes teamwork.
The more I think about it the same gnasher supporters are often the same ones saying that they don’t make store purchases, they don’t play campaign or hate the new story/ characters. I feel like most gnasher only users are a big majority of the constant negativity around here.
I don’t know what you guys are talking about. If the lancer is so weak why do all these stacked teams just lancer lancer lancer? It’s been lethal in every single game. The only nerfs are just to make it slightly less lethal.
Gears 3 lancer was powerful and they had heavy stopping power in that game to boot on top of that the retro lancer for those who wanted an even easier rifle experience.
The main issue is that any smaller cqc area is either in a tactically unimportant part of the map (the cool side bits at the top of exibit) or locked behind those nice empty lancer areas you mention.
TBH they aren’t even very good as cqc areas, either too little cover (meaning that there are very few ‘plays’ to make in a given space) , are completely open to cross map lancering or are exposed to rifles firing from high ground (looking at you district). None of which encourage cqc.
Improving any of the things I mention would easily allow for more powrful rifles, like you want.
It’s a win win if we prerssure tc to fix the right stuff instead of fudging the weapon tunings to compensate.
Until that happens the game needs to have a lancer that leans towards g4 comp.
Of course multiple guys with Lancers will be lethal as its multiple guns on you at once, that argument can be used on every weapon…
If you read the OG post, you’d see I acknowledged the strength of the Gears 3 Lancer. Also the Retro is a poor comparison as it traded the deep clip and stopping power and accuracy for flat-out damage. Totally different gun, chief and a poor example when we’re talking about the state of the Lancer in Gears 5 where the Retro is now a power weapon, anyway.
every map has zones to make a flanking run, i get gibbed from behind all the time in exhibit because someone isn’t watching the lower portion of the map (or they lost it) which is what its for.
Same with district, you have the equal elevated areas in the middle but the outside of the map is perfect for flanking if you can pull it off,
I am typically a gnasher player I won’t even lie, my lancer was usually decoration until I traded it for a power weapon… that being said I did think it needed a nerf, only because it was bogus being out in the open for 2 seconds and instantly being downed and screwed… on that regard I don’t think it needs to be useless, it still needs to be useful for those who like to use it,
What I’m saying it only needed a small nerf not a big one, I haven’t played enough yet to say where it is, but im just saying it needed a common ground, if someone catches me off guard with lancer, at least give me a CHANCE to reach cover instead of being instantly screwed, but don’t make them completely useless either.
Not every weapon has the range that the lancer does.
Two or more lancers crossing is too powerful. I mean theoretically it’s team work, but it makes the game less fun imo. It becomes team lancers. Not much moving around, get picked off.
And if you’re a lone lancer you can still be the difference in cqc battles that are happening.
Don’t get me wrong i do a lot of lancering. Improves odds of winning, defends the opposition from walking through. But with these maps it’s pretty much the same old lancer fest when i play ranked gears 5.
