So, if LB's are worthless...

The idea of quicker/instant nub restoration upon destruction of LBs is nice, but if they remain as crap as they are now, the problem isn't solved. A smart enemy will simply not destroy them to free up the turret nub for something better and continue to use the LB as a juice dispenser. The juice gain from LBs is the very first thing that needs fixing. The second thing is that it just needs to serve a purpose as a makeshift defense. I.e. it should be more cost effective than rockits, but less powerful when fuly upgraded.

A good start would be to make level 3 LB better than level 1 rockit. Why spend twice as long making the LB that has less damage and health while costing more? Impossible to justify.

An idea to fix the ability to just juice farm these turrets would be to change the way they do dmg. Have a lower starting dps that ramps up to a very high dps after several seconds, If any of you play Starcraft 2 think how the voidray does dmg. There are 3 phases of its dmg output. It starts as a steady low stream then after several seconds of constantly attacking the dps output goes up, then after several more seconds of attacking the dps goes up even higher. If the turret has a span of time where it is not attacking, say 4 - 5 secs then the dps output resets.

Interesting. There is also the option of having the LB shoot out a constant beam as opposed to burst fire.

Or just have the LB not give juice at all.

That still wouldn't solve the problem about them being mostly worthless though, it would just help them not work against you entirely.

if a LB kills a target, the builders get more money from it?

Woah now, let's keep the suggestions in this thread realistic.

lol, being that its so unrealistic i was thinking if it ever happened then an extra benefit would be nice.

Edit:

Now that i think about it, the dmg output model that i posted earlier would help with bot waves. It would be able to kill the bot waves more quickly, but it could still be circumvented by pro's

You'd be $175 out of pocket?

The point is that it lets you build something cheap now that you can come back and replace later (if it gets destroyed). As it currently stands even if a LB survives it's a waste of space because of how little damage it does compared to a Rocket Turret at any level. If you buffed the LB some it would no longer be a waste of space when fully upgraded (so if it doesn't get destroyed, you can invest in it without feeling like its a super paperweight at level 3) while still serving as a quick and cheap defensive solution.

I personally imagine level 1 LB being at the bottom rung, then RT's and LB's exchanging rungs in terms of power. Level 1 RT is better than level 1 LB, but level 2 LB is better than a level 1 RT, etc. While level 3 LB's wont be as effective as level 3 RTs when fully upgraded, they're effectively "level 2.5" in strength so they will still aid in defense greatly (as opposed to being useless in overtime/general base defense as they are now).

Continually rebuilding a LB over and over again as it gets destroyed is nothing but a money pit for the enemy and a moneysink for you. It does no real damage while being built and a level 1 LB -- buffed or unbuffed -- is able to be muscled over by one lone Pro, let alone more than one person pushing the lane while the turret is constructed. That's not really overpowered.

aren't they in the game to be placed as a very.. very.. very last resort ?

The only redeemable thing I can think of is the ability to replace a Lvl 3 razor with a level 1/2 rock-it at the press of a button right now.

Sorry, can't think of how to fix the LB right now :I

Yeah, in pretty much the same way that holding up an umbrella is the very, very last resort to protect yourself against a burning meteor

thats why i also said "very" 3 times

yeah but hes got a point, its a resort only because its doable. Currently theres 0 reason to build one..

What irks me about this is that it is probably the one balance issue that is so very very easily fixed and so appearent because new players have no way to avoid it.

No one will tell them until its too late. Uber has gone very far in terms of balance and this is a blemish that shows. The turret does not fill its role because it is too weak and has too many drawbacks to be concidered a viable option in a dire situation.

What about making it so that the laser blazer only had one level? Make it cost 125 and be nearly as beefy as a level 1 rockit turret. Also slightly buff the damage.

It wouldn't be upgradeable and thus the cost of losing a node would be part of the balance cost, also unlike a rockit turret Laser Blazer's don't have AoE dmg.

It'd fufill its purpose as a cheaper quick defense solution, the idea being that while its more effective against bots than a level 1 rockit turret, and almost as strong in terms of health, it doesn't even compare to a level 2 rockit turret.

Another idea for complete redesign is to have it spawn bots. Higher level would spawn stronger bots and hacking it will make it spawn faster.

how about.... LB's do extra damage against pros? and tweak the cost/damage a bit. so we have more of a diversity in these standard-ish turrets.

I was actually thinking of an idea in the opposite direction

Have LBs do very decent damage against bots, but still be worthless against pros

Might make for some interesting tactics