What weapons are overpowered in D2, in your opinion?

[karx11erx]

Well, the Gauss obviously - but who would want to live without it?

[Sirius]

Shakers are sufficiently overpowered they basically need their own level not to ruin it. Those are fine, but they are a different type of game.
I'm not convinced smart mines make for a better game anywhere they are, though. If everyone has them it's fair, yes, but it still slows down the game - and I can't find much appeal in playing 3D Minesweeper.

The others... some are quite strong, possibly enough that some may consider them overpowered, but I wouldn't really go that far since they aren't "auto-win" buttons against most other weapons.

On the single-player side: Gauss works better against AI than basically anything else, so it absolutely could qualify, but if you use it exclusively you will usually find yourself running out of ammunition. It does have quite the knack of tuning "ridiculous" robots down to "moderately tough" for sure. If the level designer deploys it as such, it can actually work pretty well.

[Aus-RED-5]

I'm not convinced smart mines make for a better game anywhere they are, though. If everyone has them it's fair, yes, but it still slows down the game - and I can't find much appeal in playing 3D Minesweeper.

OMG - are you kidding me??

Back in the day. We had LOADS of fun playing with 8 players hoard mode on Ambage! Take the shakers out but leave everything else in! Smart mines was something to learn to avoid - out smart them, AND use them to your advantage! That was crazy fun!

I wish I still had those demos I made back then... memory.

[Hawkins]

Well you both said it kinda. Smart mines is a kind of a different game, closer to strategy, rather than action. It's kind of a game style that one prefers or not. But it's because they are capable of differentiating the game so much that I have also tagged them as OP. But contrary to where this poll is aiming, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Same holds for shakers in an appropriately designed (and therefore dedicated as Sirius pointed out) map.

[Aus-RED-5]

Yep, Gigadeath 2 was my all time favorite for shakers. I was once a pro at dodging them bad boys!

Sorry KakHome for going off topic.

[ryguy64]

The weapon I would choose isn't on the list... The homing flash missile the level 16 boss uses. Add that to the fact that he shrugs off energy weapons, and he becomes the most overpowered thing in the game. I think he cheats.

But, since this is about player weapons in single-player, I would have to say Gauss. It is by far the most effective against robots. The other primaries on the list I hardly ever use. Phoenix and omega use too much energy for me to consider them long term. So does helix. As far as secondaries, flash missiles don't do much, and earthshakers are really only useful in certain areas and situations. Smart mines are much more effective in multiplayer (maybe too much), because your targets actually move around the mine.

[Sirius]

Poll/thread focus is single player.

OK. So yeah, there is no overpowered in single player.

OMG - are you kidding me??

Nope. Of course it's subjective, but I don't find D2 with smart mines as good a game as D2 without.

[Hawkins]

Discussion of OP in single-player is tricky, because opponents vary. In a sense, a weapon can be OP in singleplayer if and only if you waste it in a "lesser encounter" (to borrow some RV terminology :P) SO yeah, if focus is there, I'll just leave the gauss cannon and earthshaker. Gauss can be OP in bosses where it can be used. and earthshakers make even the last boss obsolete. (harder without cloaks/invs; with them it's walk in the park with cake, and it has a lot)

[Alter-Fox]

A heads up: OP also stands for "Original Post". And you probably knew that -- but it is confusing to someone just trying to keep up with the last post on the general board.

Another heads up: Overpowered is one word. Technically using a two letter acronym for one word is... confusing.



On topic, you do realize what Parallax's motive might have been for making the Gauss and Helix more useful -- to the point of being a little ridiculous. Don't you realize that?
A hint: the Phoenix and Omega cannons are less broken for exactly the reason you describe, Kak. And think of where each weapon was introduced.
To make this even more blatant, which weapons were introduced before the end of level 3?
And if you still don't get it, think of what else the end of level 3 is the end of.

Can I get a facepalm?

Strictly in terms of Parallax's singleplayer levels, I don't think the earthshaker was that broken because they were all generally so hard to find, and by the time you were able to get a lot of them you had to start hoarding them. And smart mines were more broken when the robots used them. Mercury missiles on the other hand... well who am I to complain, I love them.

[Sirius]

Though I wonder - is it possible to easily create a mod that changes the energy/ammo consumption rates of weapons?

Yes, people have been doing it quite a bit for multiplayer levels lately. And I invariably end up wishing they hadn't, but that's an execution thing.