To nerf a weapon with problems like this you need to check where it is over tuned or over power and if there is any work around it first.
For example:
In Arenas the musket is pretty much useless unless the player is really good at it.
In Wars the musket is good with a good assassin grp but not over powered like in OPR bcs of the terrain.
In OPR tho, it is a different story.
The terrain lets you snipe from far and keep sniping while someone is running from one point to another. You are forced to run in a zerg, have a healer with you or use rapier yourself to get away from all the shots.
Therefore I think the issue is more that the terrain of the OPR is a bit too good for sniping with a musket then the actual weapon or perk.
The musket has weak points as well, even if u have a lot of resilient or shirking fort, you need some elemental aversion as well.
The powder burn dmg is so underrated and most of the musket used rn have attunment or INT gems on them to do elemental dmg.
I play the musket when I am solo queue in OPRs, it is fun and I know how annoying it can get for the target. I get hate messages daily about it.
But as a musket player i think there is just too much space in the map for me to snipe from only one point, i rarely am forced to move from one point of the map.
But I do get your frustration, sometimes fighting against the musket feels like so unfair and not fun at all. But I am sure if more structures were around the map in OPR this would be much more different.
Defending yeah you got a point but attacking with a musket is much harder.
But still defending muskets need a good assassin grp to follow up, they can rarely kill a player solo (unless the target does not know what they are doing).
Fire & Ice is useless against musket for one and only perk: Elemental Aversion.
All musket players bis 2 perk items consist of resilient + elemental aversion bcs of the counter musket players.
there is so god damn much fortification in this game.
yes ik u can apply rends.
But not as Mage
Unless u go melee and use ur Ice Shower, which as said in other topics, is a ridicoulus bad skill ( 1 sec root, u can dodge, u can dash/leap inside and get out easily )
i mean abusing the bugged let it burn perk combination, to achieve empowerment… ye i forgot, new world community thing
u get hit alot in opr tho
u are often below 50% mana
and rarely are u running around with less then 50% max health either… lol ( specially cuz Musket’s exist, wouldnt recommend that )
but you didnt mention how muskets are unkillable. There have been plenty of OPRs where I have decided to go musket hunting because I was tired of getting shot. Once I [finally] reach the musket player (who typically only has 5-50 con), with a successful sneak up where they don’t actually see me (which requires running ALLLL the way around them) - I have 1 stun lock to do damage before they rapier away and then get a free 10% haste buff from musket. Pair this with zephyr cakes for an extra 10% haste at all times plus reposte if I do end up getting close. I don’t disagree that the terrain is responsible for the feeling like you cant run away from muskets, but then you also have a significant defensive advantage as well when people approach you. This isn’t entirely the rapier’s fault, it has a lot to do with the free 10% haste. In the regular game without haste you can press W and literally not get hit by most melee weapons. Add 10% haste to that and it is even more difficult to catch. As a result, you get to stack mortal empowerment which gives you free damage boosts that I can’t remove because of your defensive advantage.
My point is that there is more to it than just the terrain. I played musket in like 15 OPRs (before I got bored and switched back) and ended each one with 5-10 kills and 0-1 deaths - I have never played musket (have bad gear), am bad at shooters and aiming, and do not know a solid musket strategy and I straight up was able to come out with 10+ kills 0 deaths from a number of those matches. That alone should be evidence that something is wrong - ESPECIALLY because I was running 50 Con and should have been dead the second somebody touched me with a weapon.
EDIT:
because at this point everyone knows you’re unkillable and nobody wants to waste their time chasing a 20% haste guy across the map for 5 minutes just so he can land a cheeky reposte or 100-0 you from 50 meters away.
