Lots of good thoughts here, @Justas1988. You have to level up a lot to have a fair fighting balance. My problem with the experimentals is, that the game is set in 1989. Now, thirty year later I"m not aware about EMP enabled, timed micro-bomb shotgun shells. I might have been unlucky that my first encounter with EXP weapons was the pumpgun but I felt like getting a “model spacecadet” gun. Just as appropriate as a dog on a pool table. But if we’re doing fantasy then it’s fine 
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well… flechette shotgun rounds are not fantasy they are real and were used in Vietanam War
now in a game where we have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSjKoEva5bg with a machine gun, I can accept that we may have a flechette rounds which can explode 
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Fascinating, I had no idea. I am an engineer but I’m in the wrong business. I do medical equipment for Radiology (saving lives, not … never mind) 
So what about the red paint that comes out of the other type of shells? I’m eager to learn
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dont know about the paint, but I found something more about the shotgun shells
I think this should return some faint to you Ian it even says Experimental many times
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Hello @IanForce you make some valid points above. I like you love this game greatly I play it on Xbox & find it enjoyable even with the many well known bugs/glitches. You & I in some areas will not agree in others we will as in life.
Now for my opinion/view of this update after a heavy play weekend of it:
I love the Halloween clothing drops one of the things that tipped the scales for me was the late 1980’s theme with the clothing & clothing pack DLC’s ( I am a huge fan of personalization of characters). I like the rivals overall but as others feared the prototype weapons are way OP I thought for sure they would add some sort of balancing factor to them like overheating or less accuracy…they did not (sadly IMO). I do like the numerous bug fixes (though much yet needs done in that area) & I like that they did NOT add base building or crafting keeping the guerrilla fighting feel to this game. I did notice fewer machines in small groups patrolling & larger “packs” in areas (at least it feels that way to me).
I still stand by what I said during my Mixer Stream that this update was an A+ but the lack of balance when it comes to the new weapons is a bit worrisome to me. That said at this point on this generation of console this is still hands down the best co-op vs AI game on the market & the best “mech” game this generation of console.
Again the above is all just my personal opinion/view & nothing more or less than that. Thanks for reading & have a safe & fun week.
SPP
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I’ve read a lot of postings recently that praises the Rivals and experimental weapons highly. Someone has already requested 7-star weapons and the wish for bigger machines have only increased after the October release. I acknowledge that and I must admit, that Avalanche apparently made the right choices over the last few months of development. And even though I’m not happy about it, it seems like the majority is. And that is good, honestly. I never cared for shooters where the entire playground becomes an arena, I like story driven games. That is pretty much all. 
One thing I really do like about the new experimental pump gun, though, is that when I changed shell type, it shot what I first believed to be red paint at the enemy. It turns out that this is actually up-concentrated blood plasma encapsuled in small syringes. If you fire that on an injured co-player, he’ll get a remote blood transfusion.
And on this light note I will leave it and wish you all happy gaming. I’m sure that I’ll check in on the game from time to time 
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Not at all! I play Half Life Episode blah blah Chapter wotsit (and I haven’t finished it yet) and Generation Zero. I love the concept, I love the world, I love my weapons, I even love my enemy! I want more story. Sue me.
I have crashed only once (playing with Xezr) and I don’t care if the bushes come through the floor - I’ve rebuilt houses worse than that). I ignore floating trees (I figure they’ll come down to mate). Floating rocks I find ways to jump upon, and nothing bothers me. I want narrative, now. And new worlds to explore…
I’d have preferred the Rivals to have been a radio message that high level reconnaissance had spotted that the robbots were attempting to upgrade and had produced experimental models - quick I must go and kill one and report back on its new capabilities…
Just as easy to produce, more involving.
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Likewise, I guess. I’ve been enjoying the forum much more than the game of late, and the whole Rivals thing grosses me out more than it should. I’m still playing since it will take a little while till I have the next game at a point where I can play it while listening to an audiobook or watching something on the second screen without getting killed or missing exposition in the game, but I suspect my days here are numbered just like yours. Take care, mate, and see you on the flipside. 
And you ended up with GZ?
Aw, bless! 
I betcha when we’re both long gone, they’ll release DLC, and that will introduce story to the game!
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Hopefully they do something more with the Russians, because there is plenty of interesting story potential there. 
And probably while I’m waiting, I’ll be playing Cities Skylines.
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Exactly.
Like, we’ll play something else for a bit, and then when there’s DLC for GZ, we’ll be right back. With dollars in our fists to boot.
I wish they’d just accept that, perhaps give us an ETA for DLC, and let us go on our merry way for a while, rather than desperately trying to keep us in the game with low quality updates like some needy, manipulative lover.
If you love somebody, set 'em free, eh? 
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I feel like they should take the No Man’s Sky strategy, letting the player numbers fall a little, and then release an update a few months later that almost completely changes the game until it’s at a state where the game is enjoyable for hundreds of hours.
I currently have a save file that is over 200 hours in No Man’s Sky, and I still play on a regular basis. I’d say when No Man’s Sky became extremely enjoyable was almost two years after release, when the NEXT update came out.
What the devs need to do is take their time with updates, prioritizing bug fixes before new features. They need to listen to us as well, we don’t want higher tiers of weapons, we want a good story, more interesting areas, and new robots that strike fear into us.
The current story feels more like a prologue than anything, so hopefully they decide to expand the story in the foreseeable future.
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Wait, what? Are you saying that the shotgun can heal other players?
Hahaha! Gotcha 
Sorry, that was mean! Just pulling your leg I wrote that, because the experimental shotgun can shot something that looks like red paint. So I was being sarcastic when I came up with that explanation
Yeah, you got me. For a moment I thought it had a use after all…
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As people are putting together a hardcore variant, let’s collect some ideas for a comedy mode: a shotgun that deals health!
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Not even that unusual, a number of games have shoot-to-heal mechanics (either “shoot that monster to heal your team mate”, or “shoot the team mate to heal them”).
The latter especially was a giant WTH to me when I first encountered it, but then, that was Borderlands 2, stupid is kinda its stock in trade.
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NOOOO, that was MY idea!! 
Ok, it was Ian’s.
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The only thing this game actually need, in my opinion, is a new world for every new character you start up with.
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