What attribute is MOST important to you? (2014)

[isoaker]

An old topic, but it's always interesting to see whether people's opinions have changed. Dependencies aside, what attribute do you think should be prioritized/maximized? Of course, this is also presuming that none of the other attributes are horribly gutted, either.

You can only choose one.

[martianshark]

Normally and understandably, range would be most important. But as I'm mainly a soakfester around here, it's all about how quickly you can soak someone.

[SEAL]

Tough question. I went with range because in 1HK/1HS games it doesn't matter how much water hits you (unless it's just a couple drops); if you're hit, you're out or just lost a point. Therefore range is probably the most important attribute because if you outrange your opponent, you can hit them from a distance that they can't reach. However output is definitely also very important because the bigger the stream is, the higher chance it'll hit its mark. Capacity doesn't mean that much to me because if you know what you're doing, you can conserve water for quite a long time, even with a CPS 2000.

[HBWW]

Good range automatically requires useful output and some base amount of pressure chamber capacity, so that's what I voted for.

Meaning if Hasbro made the following:

Good range: Would be a blaster that actually has to have good range, requiring a PC capacity of at least some 200 mL or more.
Good output: Would be a water bucket.
Good capacity: Would be a 2 gallon backpack hooked to a MotoSquirter or piston pumper.

Range encompasses more battle practical attributes than other ones, so it gets my vote. However, it may not be 100% ideal; streams with higher velocity at a given nozzle size may be more practical even if they get less range than a perfectly laminated stream at the same nozzle size.

[DX]

Range, range, range, range, range, range, range, range, range, range, range.

[isoaker]

While not really surprising to me, I figured it wouldn't hurt to see how well my own gut instincts line up with the active membership. I would also guess that if the options were increased to two, range and output would win out over total capacity.

[HBWW]

Reservoir capacity is moddable. Pressure chamber is where it really counts; the volume needs to be usable, although excessive volumes (say, in the 1.5L range or greater) don't serve as much good, although that ultimately depends on the blaster itself.

[marauder]

Yeah, I still gotta go with range. You can increase capacity and output much easier than you can increase range. Other factors are almost as important, such as rate of fire (how quickly it pressurizes), ergonomics, and durability; but at the end of the day I will always place range and power number one.

Even in soakfests you can use range to hit someone before they can hit you. If you are as athletic as your opponent then you can stay on the edge of their range and continue to lay down the attack while dodging or stepping back from their shots.

Of course, you can't have only range. The best example of this is the Ultimate Explorer. I could get close to 40 ft with the largest nozzle, but the effective shot time was about 1 second. With the CPS 2000 you get 10+ more ft of range and ~20x the output, so the short shot time is not as much of an issue. I consistently bested the Explorer with my SC 600 due to its superior shot time and rate of fire. My opponent could hit me before I could hit them, but I could maintain my attack at a much greater rate of fire than they could. This was very similar to the Colossus 2 vs XP 150 battles I've participated in and have witnessed. Of course, if the Explorer was ~constant pressure like it was intended to be then it probably would have had the upper hand.

[HBWW]

The range statistic is not very useful until you start hitting the 45-50ft area and above, which is where you need useful output to reach. The output requirement curve spikes rapidly there, and no dinky 2x nozzle is going to hit that.