The idea of ​​remaking Caustic from scratch [ Edited ]

[I-ONE___Sea]

  To begin with a "small" entry.

  Hello!

 I, like many here, love to play Apex Legends.  Although I entered the game at the end of the second season, I quickly got involved and I liked the game quickly.  I still missed a lot, as well as a lot of good and bad, in particular the problems of the imbalance of the characters.  At the time of writing this text, many problems were solved, but this did not change the ranking of some legends, as I understand it, at the beginning of the life path of the game, the most popular legends were Wraith and Lifeline and the less popular were Gibraltar and Caustic, and now the most popular legends in the ranking  there is Wraith and Pathfinder, and less popular are Mirage and Caustic (as I understand it from the reviews of legends and on the forums).

  Personally, I am of the opinion that in shooters with technically well-made shooting, the reaction and skill level almost always wins, even in the situation at the start of the game if the master playing Caustic with Mozambique comes 1v1 to just a good player playing for Wraith with much better weapons, master  will win anyway.  Different abilities only supplement the usual gameplay, but also add balance problems, because one ability will be more useful in battle than another, but in the open skirmish 1v1 the master wins.

  I must say right away that I am not a master either in the game or in matters of balance.  But it offends me that most players do not know anything about the complexity of developing games, thinking that they (some players) are right, they go to write "posts of rage" or constantly indicate a well-known problem without offering anything useful, as if someone had something to them  should.  I’ll say for sure that Apex Legends is not Overwatch, not Rainbowsbow Six Siege where balance issues are especially acute because these games cost money, and before you buy these games a potential player will first think if they are worth their money (only if it’s not ...  ), and if he bought them, then he has the right to demand a good quality game so that it matches the price.  (Now there will be an appeal to the players) Apex is free!  basically you give it your time (micro transactions is a completely different topic) you should not pester developers and poke problems in their faces, just report a problem by providing more accurate information in case of a rare and not noticeable problem, and if this is a well-known problem,  instead of a "post of rage", which only makes it worse, can offer a useful solution?  IT IS IMPORTANT TO SPECIFY PROBLEMS, BUT DO THIS IT IS NECESSARY CORRECTLY!  Also, do not forget that in order for the game to develop faster and better, developers must constantly improve feedback.  I respect people with good ideas and suggestions, and I do not like those who do not respect the work of others.Among all the characters at the beginning of the game, I liked Caustic with his manic character as a mad scientist, of course I opened it first, but the gameplay for me rediscover it, and only with time I realized how much potential was lost.  Caustic attracts death, and as a mad scientist he puts death experiments on people so that the torment of the following experimental subjects is even more terrible (which could be used as hidden mechanics when playing for him).

  But in the game it was limited only to gas cans and gas grenades, which are effective in a rather narrow application (based on my opinion and the opinions of many players on the forums).  Many good ideas have already been raised and approved by the players, and many would not mind seeing these ideas in the game.  But I believe that almost all of these ideas will not be able to reveal part of the lost potential of this character, since they are based on the existing mechanics of the game for him.  I think differently.  I OFFER REDUCING ABILITY FROM ZERO!  ... or not at all, leaving something and finalizing something.

[CM - changed text color above to make this easier to read]

 If you have not read all this text from above then you are well done.

 Now, let's remove all this water from above the screen and proceed to the main thing -

IDEA!

 I propose to rework existing abilities into these:

 - Tactical ability: Nox devices

 Instead of just a Nox trap, I suggest giving Caustic several devices, each of which will effectively cut the enemy’s path to you and your squad in different situations.

 • Nox trap - similar to what it is now but with changes that would make it a real trap:

  - the size is much smaller so that it is difficult to notice;

  - the gas release time will be 5 seconds (30 units of gas damage maximum);

  - the radius of action and activation will decrease and the shape of the gas cloud will be spherical (for a more persistent technical work);

  - traps can be set on walls and ceilings, on doors and some interactive objects it is impossible;

  - if you shoot at the bottom / bottom when it is active, it will be neutralized anyway;

  - fast speed of raising in hands and deployment.

 This device will be useful for braking enemies and increasing the distance between you when you run away, as well as for an ambush.

• Nox gas barrel - more similar to the one that is now but also with its own changes:

  - this device will have about 50 units of safety / health of the bottom / base;

  - the barrel size may need to be slightly increased, as well as the coverage area, it is also possible to increase the time of gas spraying, min 13s;

  - when firing on a barrel, it activates and releases gas within 1-2s after the last shot (even if you shoot at the bottom / base) after which it can still spray gas for the remaining time, also by itself, if the enemy approaches the activation distance and leaves  the affected area, the device will still release gas for 1-2s and will stop with a further possibility of reactivation;

  - the device is placed only on the ground;

  - the ability to activate gas barrels, as well as possibly traps, remotely looking in their direction and pressing the interaction button, when you press the barrel again, it explodes like a Nox grenade;

  - when activating a gas barrel, as well as traps, Caustic and possibly his team, receives news of this, quickly reacting Caustic will be able to detonate the barrel at a distance.

 This device will help to protect the space from the enemy to strengthen the protection especially in buildings.

 • Nox grenade - operates on the principle of the same grenade as it is now, but of course with minor changes:

  - the coverage area will remain the same but the height of the cloud will increase;

  - the time required for picking up and subsequent throwing will be the same as for ordinary grenades;

  - a grenade explosion will have the same delay as it is now;

  - the gas holding time will be somewhere around 3s;

  - enemies being in the gas take standard damage, but their speed and visibility decrease only slightly (so that they can see well enough in the gas, but not through it);

  - when a grenade is thrown again in the same region, in the double gas zone, the opponents do not take double damage, but their visibility and movement speed deteriorates significantly and the gas duration increases to 5s, when the third grenade is thrown, the gas damage doubles and the gas duration increases to 6-7s.

 This device will be useful in open spaces to create an active barrier, similar to Bangalore smoke, and to quickly prepare before the battle / withdrawal from battle, temporarily cutting off the enemy from you.

 • You can select different devices in the special weapons menu.

  - Nox trap and Nox gas barrel will be used when you press the tactical ability button, you can select the desired device for further use, you can use the special weapons menu.

  - The Nox grenade will be selected among other grenades and for use it will be necessary to press the same button as for conventional grenades.

  - All Nox devices will require one charge of tactical ability to use, the recovery time will be the same as now.

  - Traps and barrels will have restrictions on the number of devices installed simultaneously, I think that 6 for traps and 4 for barrels will be more than enough.

 • Nox gas, I believe that the damage from being in the gas as it is now is quite suitable for my requirements (4 units of damage per second increasing to 10 every second, from one barrel / trap / grenade) but I would add more poisoning from gas : 2 units of damage per second until the moment of complete healing, or after 1 minute (120 damage), when poisoning, the enemies do not slow down, and at the edges of the screen they will have a green aura, indicating that they are poisoned  , they will also cough giving out their location.

 A similar poisoning effect will slow down opponents even more, forcing them to constantly heal, and change their attack tactics, which will give you and your squad extra time.

 - Passive ability:

 I, like many other players, believe that the Nox visor is an overstretched ability caused by a lack of imagination, and I completely agree with this, since I also could not come up with something serious, but there are still ideas:

 Caustic and his entire team should be immune to their gas, which means that Caustic allies in the gas do not slow down but see a little worse.  But if the allies find themselves in the gas of an enemy Caustic, they will be susceptible to it as well as everyone else, while Caustic being in the enemy gas will only see a little worse.

 And now the ability itself:

 Option 1 - “Observing scientist” or something like that.

 When killing an enemy by execution, or if the last two units of damage before knockout / killing were caused by gas / poisoning, the following enemies will be dealt 1 more damage (4-10 gas damage, after which it will be 5-11, 2 units from poisoning,  after it becomes 3 units), the more these actions are done, the more damage will be inflicted on the next opponents.  As if after the death of each test subject, Caustic refines its formula making the gas more deadly.

 Option 2 - “Cover Nox" operates on the principle of "Encore!"  Mirage

 If you knock out Caustic, he will release a gas cloud, similar to the cloud from the Nox Gas Barrel, which will last for about 5 seconds.

- Ultimate Ability: Nox Venom

 For starters, another “small” introduction.

 Caustic mad scientist, maniac, he likes to watch others die long and painfully from his gas.  That’s why I came up with the idea of ​​adding this to the game.

 Give a Caustic syringe a rifle that will fire a syringe / dart with Nox Poison.  When hit by an enemy, up to 10 units of physical damage will be inflicted on him and 1-3 units of health damage every second until his death (summarized with the ability of the Observing Scientist).  Perhaps it’s worth adding the ability to inflict 1-3 damage to allies when they raise a knocked out comrade.  The enemy poisoned by poison does not slow down and visibility does not deteriorate, but the aura of poisoning at the edges of the screen remains, the cough may also be worth leaving.  The main disadvantage of this ability is the long recovery time and only one shot per charge, they also can’t shoot at a distance of more than 200 meters, and it will also have a long preparation time before shooting.

 According to the idea, this ability should not be very effective in battle, but when preparing for an attack, it gives a small percentage to victory in the main shootout.  These factors make Nox Poison not so much the ultimate or universal ability as fun, which is my idea.  And yes, I know that it will cause the ignition of the fifth point in many players, but if you have good allies and you can run to the lighthouse of rebirth, you will need to make your death, after that the allies can immediately revive you, and you can immediately take everything  their stuff no longer worrying about poisoning.  And then I would add one more, when examining the loot in the death container left after you, all players will receive, somewhere, 1 unit of damage per second.

- And one more thing: I had the idea that if you make the gas flammable, and give a Caustic device that will make traps out of grenades, but I realized that it would be too

  CONCLUSIONS

  All the ideas written above, in my opinion, can make Caustic more popular with players who want to play as a defense character.  But I do not deny the fact that these changes will be difficult to reproduce technically, and that they will cause even more problems in terms of character balance.  And I will not be offended if the developers, even after reading all this, do not add any of my ideas to the game, but I will be very pleased if they do something!

 P.S.  Sorry for this translation, I do not know English.

 And also, I invite all people with good ideas to discuss this topic, you can criticize and even better share your suggestions (preferably useful) to improve the gameplay for Caustic.

 And another P.S.  I still have a lot of different ideas and suggestions for characters, weapons, maps, and not only that, for Apex Legends, but also ideas for three new (I invented) characters, one of which has a very tragic fate and unique lines of dialogue, and  if you want to learn about all these ideas, just let me know

[KrakaDrak]

@I-ONE___Sea While I probably agree with your idea, i had a little trouble reading it, if you could write it for idiots who only want to spend 5 seconds per paragraph that would be wonderful. As far as i understand you want him to have an extra ability next to his gas canisters. and i completely agree with this, currently playing caustic on the offence is a nightmare and i do think he needs much shorter throw time on his traps and his traps need to be operational much faster in order to enable caustics to push people with their traps. as far as reworking his entire skillset, i dont think the devs would enjoy this as they have been making trailers with the origional ability set and other stuff. i'd suggest trying to find a method of tweaking numbers on his abilies in order to make a playstyle that you want buffed more viable.

[I-ONE___Sea]

I understand that my proposals seem too impossible, but if the developers change the existing Ultimate ability to something stronger, change the passive ability, make the allies immune to gas, and also add gas poisoning (when the opponents leave the gas, they will continue to receive small damage over a long time), then Caustic will become a little more useful in battle. But I would still rather make it more effective in terms of protection