Posted 06 July 2012 - 11:36 PM
In my personal experience Vortex blasters have too many quirks to make up for the range and velocity.
I have NO scientific evidence to support this, but from my limited experience with disks, they seem to fall in a linear fashion. Rather than follow a parabola like other things do, disks seem to linearly float downwards at a decent speed. This would cause the discs to be at a low altitude for a longer period of time, making them very easy to dodge. Now, darts still wouldn't do any better with a flat trajectory, but darts seem to respond better to angling than discs. I find that discs veer off sharply with very minor errors. I dislike having to mount a carpenter's level to my blaster to ensure my shots don't land in somebody else's yard.
Let me restate that I have NO way to support this, but whatever shenanigans are afoot cause me to be more consistent with a dart blaster despite the range difference. Don't even get me started on ricochet, I spend more time looking for discs than shooting them. Beaver mentioned that you can spray at people until you can get close to them, but you can do that just as easily with a dart blaster. That also uses alot of ammo, which is upsetting.
On the other hand, dart blasters have the choice of turrets or magazines/drums, each with their own strengths. I personally adore using open turrets to gobble any darts I find without much hindrance, or spraying 35 darts, then proceeding to load my second drum. The Pyragon excluded, none of the Vortex blasters have the high capacity or the ability to reload without rendering the blaster unloaded. The Pyragon looks to rival CS-35 drums, but I still dislike discs. Not to mention 18-round clips will be available from the Elite series, making a volume of accessible darts a financial possibility, while you need to buy twice as many Vortex clips. Clip capacity aside, the shape of N-Strike clips/drums are easier to carry with the bandolier and vest, so more of the clips are immediately accessible.
I used a Recon at my first couple NIC wars(both indoor) with 18-shot clips and I simply used the Nerf Bandolier to hold another 2 clips. Reloading wasn't as big an issue as it was a sidearm. I would use it as a panic blaster when my primary was empty/unprimed. Clip changes happened every couple lives during the "walk of shame" and I refilled the clips between rounds. Problem solved. It was handy for an AR-removed Recon, and the compact size for the capacity was a pretty good niche. The proton or the Vigilon would have been the closest equivalents, and they have lower capacity and don't work well when shot at funny angles, which those 2 wars necessitated at times.
If your blaster is a pain to reload, carry more blasters. Between that Recon and my primary, usually one of them was loaded. If I had single shot pistol to boot I would basically always be ready to fire. Having a quick-draw sidearm makes reloading problems negligible. A good secondary holster/mount makes "clippys" more practical. If you're concerned about actually reloading the magazines during rounds, buy more. It's copping out to say each blaster has it's strengths and weaknesses. It's being smart to work around them.
Anyway, I put way more thought into that than I care to admit. I dislike Vortex blasters, but I'd like to hear how a disc-lover could counter somebody sporting a crapload of clips or a couple turreted blasters that never seem to be completely empty. Briguy did mention the lack of jams, but personally I find that only Recons have those issues, I've used just about all the other clipped blasters and they seldom jam when loaded correctly.
I'll also note that my small novel concerns only stock blasters. In terms of modding I feel that any type of stock ammo isn't suitable at all. The N-Strike clip breeches lend themselves to modding, but they are pushed FAR beyond their safe working limits for good ranges, even with OMW kits. Longshots are somewhat excluded because they're longshots, and perhaps the Elite blasters to a lesser extent.
