Most arcing projectiles overshoot the target reticle

[CDranzer]

So it seems like most skills with arcing projectiles do not line up with the aiming cursor properly. The enclosed image of Paige's Conjure Dragon is one of the more clear examples. The projectile gets thrown out farther than where you point the mouse. In many games with thrown projectiles (e.g. grenades) this is of minor concern, but in Deadlock many of these skills are generally designed to be ground targeted, which makes aiming them a little awkward.

Here's a (hopefully) comprehensive list of every skill that that seems to demonstrate this problem:

• Calico's Gloom Bombs (in spite of not having a target reticle)
• Graves' Jar of the Dead
• Graves' Grasping Hands and Borrowed Decree possibly? Might just be slightly off-target
• Ivy's Kudzu Bomb
• Kelvin's Frost Grenade
• Lady Geist's Essence Bomb
• All of McGinnis's skills are kind of off, but it's hard to tell if it's the same issue?
• Mirage's Fire Scarabs I think?
• Paige's Conjure Dragon
• Paradox's Pule Grenade
• Pocket's Barrage doesn't seem to be affected by this, but I think the visual effect is slightly off?
• Rem's Pillow (in spite of not having a target reticle)
• Sinclair's Spectral Assistant and Rabbit Hex are slightly off kind of like McGinnis?
• Victor's Pain Battery?
• Vindicta's Stake
• Viscous' Splatter (in spite of not having a target reticle)
• Viscous' Alt-Fire actually seems fine, but it might just be a shallow arc?
• Warden's Alchemical Flask
• Yamato's Alt-Fire
• Alchemical Fire (item)
• Vortex Web (item)

I imagine the reason this issue is so widespread is because all arched projectiles rely on the same internal targeting logic, so they all break in a similar way. I also suspect this is partially because getting it right requires some semi-obtuse quadratics just to reverse-engineer the arc properly. My sympathies to the poor bastard who's tasked with actually solving this problem, as I've had to solve it myself in the distant past, and I seem to remember it being a considerable pain in the ass even in two dimensions.

 

[weebstrangler]

This is one of the reasons Paige can be awkward for new players to pick up, as it takes trial and error to figure out that Conjure Dragon, while great for clearing camps, is quite bad until you learn to back up and make sure that it doesn't miss the closest mob (due to spawning further ahead than indicated).

Also, even knowing this mechanic, it can be inconsistent because backing up results in the camp being outside of aggro range and therefore immune until walking closer. In this case, only the lingering fire on the ground is left to damage the camp, and all the burst damage is missed.

Most new players do not understand that failing to deal burst damage with the initial dragon hit results in the camp taking way too long to clear, wasting 10 seconds of their time left clicking the camp instead, and breaking the flow of the map for their team by taking too long in the jungle.