EMP grenades too powerful

[Cosmos]

If you've ever played Nuketown or any small map in BO2 (there are plenty), then you'll know how annoying it is when the enemy team is continuously spamming EMP grenades over the opposite side of the map. That's not my issue; my issue is how poweful they seem to be against players.

Firstly, the blast radius. Even if it lands 10m away from you it still htis you, even if you are inside, behind a wall or upstairs.

If EMPs are meant to destory enemy equipment then why do they affect you for so long? I mean the EMP scorestreak is practically useless because you can achieve the same effect by throwing EMPs all over the place and even use scavenger to get an unlimited supply. Today I used a VSAT and I did not get to enjoy the benefits of it whatsoever, meaning my radar was down for the entire duration of the VSAT because the enemy team were simply throwing EMPs as far as they could. But it also prevents you from using any scorestreaks to keep the enemy at bar or off an objective, assuming you even know where they are withyour radar down.The only counter to is is meant to be the EMP scorestreak itself, not just a wave of EMP grenades.

There is also a short flash effect of the EMP grenade which disorientates players by messing with their view/vision, giving the enemy a window of opportunity to run in and get the first shot off. As a flow-on effect the thrower gets EMP assists if that enemy dies to someone on your team, which gives you the potential to get a lot of extra points for your scorestreak given the blast radius.

Oh yeah and of course there's the primary use of the equipment which is to take out enemy equipment which is extremely effective against sentrys, guardians, C4 etc. Of course this is fine because well that's the entire point of it in the first place.

However, when you compare EMPs to concussions and flashbangs it becomes obvious how much the EMP stands out in comparrion, as it has multiple effects despite being designed for taking out enemy equipment. By spamming them as often as possible you and your team can gain a massive advantage. We all know how important and influencial the radar and scorestreaks can be.

Yes I am aware you can counter EMPs with hard-wired but that's not the point because it doesn't deal with the issues above. Was that perk even designed for EMP spamming or for the scoresteak itself?

Edit: Just found out you can EMP yourself and it will only last for 2 seconds. Interesting.

[iStever]

I believe the forthcoming patch will address some of those issues.

[Cosmos]

I hope so.

Edit:

Full patch notes:
Game Update Notes: Jan. 26, 2012
New Features & Feature Improvements:

Added support for Live Streaming in all Public Match playlists.
Added League Best from Season 1 to Player Card.
If you played in multiple series and/or multiple teams then your highest division and rank will be displayed. The League Best will span all seasons. If you finish with a higher division rank in Season 2 then your new League Best will be displayed after Season 2.
Added a Cumulative Daily Pool instead of a Weekly Pool in League Play. 200 Rank Points are added to a player’s pool every day. Points that are not used are rolled into the next day.
Added 2 new pages to the Combat Record (the Combat Summary and Medals).
Implemented sorting of Medals in the After Action Report.
Lowered HUD threshold for the “low health” overlay to increase player’s awareness of low health.
Added a “Go to Top” button for the League Leaderboard.
Issues Addressed:
Matchmaking modified to never return games outside of player’s own continent, unless the Connection Type in Search Preferences is set to “Any”.
Addressed an issue where the UAV would not trigger if called in while aiming down sight.
Addressed an issue where the Master Demolition challenge did not unlock when the requirements were complete.
Addressed issue with the headshot sound not playing in final Killcams and Theater Demos.
Fixed an issue in League Play where “Career Wins” for a Series were not displayed during placement in the Lobby Career Overview.
Updated the After Action Report in League Play so that bonus points are not summed with the ladder points in points earned for the match.
Removed the ability to make dual wield attachment combos in Elite Create a Class and addressed an issue where these classes were appearing as missing in game.
Corrected mode description message displayed on YouTube when Live Streaming Public Match Core game modes.
Stocks on SMGs no longer allow a player to move faster while ADS than when moving normally.
Shotgun crosshairs will no longer turn red if an enemy is out of the shotgun’s maximum damage range.
Fixed an issue where bullets would not fire straight immediately after aiming down the sight while moving at the same time.
Improved turret tracking to eliminate false positives when checking line of sight.
Turrets now have smoother tracking when targeting players.
Improved bot pathing on multiple maps.
Current League Info is now getting updated properly in the Player Identity.
Manual sorting on League Teams removed as the results are now returned correctly.
Improved the Scoreboard to make friend Playercard information more accessible.
Addressed multiple UI issues.
Players can no longer earn credit towards a Prestige Equipment challenge through “friendly” flashbangs, concussions, and shock charges.
Fixed Select Fire weapons reverting back to their default fire method when using certain Scorestreaks and not calling them in.
Addressed an exploit where the game allowed access to the Custom Games Settings while believing the game was Public Matchmaking, allowing XP.
Fixed UI errors when linking Live Stream.
Score and points are no longer awarded if a player destroys their own turret in Hardcore FFA.
Improved image alignment when Stereoscopic 3D is enabled.
Addressed an issue where players were able to plant numerous Assault Shields.
Addressed an issue where the Stealth Helicopter was able to drop below the map in Drone.
Players are no longer able to get infinite Black Hats by immediately using another Black Hat.
Addressed an issue where it was possible for a player to equip two Assault Shields at the same time.
Players Spectating a One in the Chamber game no longer earn Survivor Bonus Points.
A player can no longer earn Medals for multi-kills if they continue to kill quickly after dying and re-spawning.
Various minor map fixes were made across multiple maps.
Gameplay Balancing:
Scorestreaks:
Death Machine: 3 hit kill range increased.
Dragonfire: health increased, gun spread reduced.
AGR: ground speed increased, reduced machine gun close range damage.
Warthog: reduced missile delay.
Lodestar: reduced missile speed and AOE radius.
Swarm: drone re-spawn delay increased.
Perks:
Hard Wired: Players with hard wired are now completely unaffected by EMP grenades.
Equipment:
Trophy System: increased range.
SMGs:
All + Silencers: reduced range.
Assault Rifles:
All: reduced idle sway.
M27: reduced amount of bullets to headshot kill at all ranges, increased 4-hit kill range.
Type25: reduced amount of bullets to headshot kill at all ranges, slightly reduced maximum hip fire spread.
SCAR: reduced amount of bullets to headshot kill at all ranges, slightly reduced maximum hip fire spread.
SIG556: penetration increased from medium to large, increased maximum number of bullets to kill at long distance and reduced burst delay.
TAR21: increased 3-hit kill range.
SMR: slight increase to damage so that 2 hit kills can still happen with minor penetration, headshot multiplier increased at long distance.
FAL OSW + Select Fire: increased recoil.
FAL OSW: increased hip spread.
LMGs:
All: ADS in and out time reduced.
Shotguns:
SRM1216: slightly increased short range damage.
Pistols:
Executioner: increased medium range damage.

[iStever]

"Hard Wired: Players with hard wired are now completely unaffected by EMP grenades"

Guess u gotta roll with da perk.

[castrol]

all in the same boat...just deal wiv it.

[castrol]

......oh!! and watch out for unholy eve, she will probably come out with"its a sign from god" or summat useless like that.

[Paul_Montero]

ist only for consols.on PC we still dont have the first patch,only part of it,just with UAV and THATS IT. FAL still doesn't have any recoil, smg hipfire didn't nerfed.It was in first patch.
And this is a great patch too,anyway,good balancing work,i wish 3arc will do some of these patches for pc someday.