Pro Blasters Will Destroy the Hobby | Ep. 12

[@skipsnapdoesfish8457]

My dad still uses his 3s rival nemesis at our local games. It even makes the guys running 200 fps lynxes and caliburns scatter in fear. Rival isn’t dead!!

[@m00k61]

Nice lol

[@ursa_major9471]

I feel that I’ve basically married my mostly still stock Prometheus even with just getting both a nexus 2.0 and an x-shot long shot I still prefer my Prometheus it’s simpler and just dumb fun for me

[@Renn4657-YT]

The Nemesis is so good I would use it unmoded

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

@@Renn4657-YT Anyone would really.

[@GhostC10]

I've got a 3s nemesis that's deadly for holding down chokepoints. So much fun!

[@m00k61]

Modding is a blast. Spent many a friday night with friends, my nephew, my brother, and even my mom working on blasters, eating pizza and hanging out.

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

That’s pretty cool.

[@QuietWyatt2005]

7:10 was in Target the other day getting gifts for my family. Walked past the return desk and straight up witnessed a mom and her young son, she was complaining that the DZ Max Stryker fired too hard for her son and he hurt himself and couldn’t cycle the blaster without jamming. She also complained of dart incompatibility. Explaining that she was confused of why a "nerf gun" was so powerful. Might be a good idea to move to the sports aisle. Definitely has stuck in my mind for the last few days.

[@TrashTawk]

Fair, but parents should read

[@Thesnakerox]

@@TrashTawk This! Did that mom not read the "14+" number on the label LOL

[@VaporizedKerbal]

Yeah this exact scenario was something I was concerned about when I saw that they just added a plus to nitroshot to say that it has double the performance. It's not nearly clear enough that they're more powerful

[@gairkarohncatarn4527]

@@Thesnakerox a lot like that rating system for video games

[@skeemeastwood9075]

I agree the blasters i most want to use/paid the most for are seriously a bad time for my 6yo son and my 9and10 yo nephews. The only people i nerf war with. The sweet spot is 100. Hard enough to hit somebody far enough away to be fun.

[@nathanwagnon5406]

I am a senior nerf enthusiast, the things that brought me to the hobby are... 1. Well, yes I am going through my 2nd childhood it's fun, I am not hurting anyone, I am not going to apologize. 2. All of the nerfish offerings from abt 2000 on are sooo much better than the crappy toy blasters we had when I was a kid. 3. Thrifting is the bomb, the thrill of the hunt distilled into store aisles and garage sales. Even buying a broken blaster as a spring donor is a gas! 4. Modding does not have to cost an arm & a leg, I recently modded a thrifted marshmallow blaster to shoot Mega XL using paper towel tubes. It was big fun, even the neighbors thought so. Next project foam golf balls as ammo. Woo Hoo! For the future - I have finally reached the tipping point on my collection of blasters. I will be having a nerf garage sale, but then with what's left over I am thinking open community nerf war, stock blasters only, bring your inner child, and eyepro. And yes, we have loaners. In short nerf is fun, with the right attitude, and energy we can keep casual nerfing going for years. Oh, and I love it.

[@darthtanyan4851]

You just reminded me of how, long ago, I used a paintball marker for Nerf battles. It was a small, pistol-esque, CO2 powered pump one, and I put a sort-of funnel on the muzzle. That let me muzzle-load the old yellow foam balls (about the same size as those foam practice golf balls), and launch them at just about perfect velocity for our foam battles.

[@nathanwagnon5406]

@@darthtanyan4851 Wow, what a great idea! I have heard of loading the .50 paint ball practice rounds (some kind of foam) in certain automatic nerfy blasters with hoppers (Dr. Flux had a vid abt it.) and it was llike a mini proton pack. So cool!

[@Thesnakerox]

For me, pro-level blasters on store shelves have been an absolute blessing because my greatest joy is in plinking with them. Trust me, you don't know how fun plinking can get until you use a blaster that can shatter CDs. Also in Coop's words, "it's more fun to zip a dart in a straight line rather than having to lob it in." With that in mind, my hot take is: I much prefer to be able to start blasting the moment I take a blaster out of its box, rather than wait on replacement components and spend hours gutting and reassembling it to get it to the spec I like. That's also why stock functionality matters to me so much, and why the X Shot Longsh(i)t is one of my least favorite pro-level blasters of all time. That plunger tube is a ticking time bomb.

[@derkaiser9881]

Second on the X-Shot Longshot. Even though I really enjoy modding blasters, any one of them should perform their base functions out of the box without requiring mods. I suppose an exception to that would be shell kits like the Swordfish, but that's a shell kit--it's not a proper blaster.

[@gargunkle]

Around here, Walmart does seem to have gel stuff in the sporting goods section. But Target has it with the foam blasters...

[@442bluesbrotha]

Yeah, just noticed that yesterday. My local Walmart has the gel blasters in sporting goods, target has them all together.

[@Minuit_Monstre]

some people just like keeping an eye out for existing cool crap and changing things because we WANT to, not because we have to.

[@derkaiser9881]

Wanted a half-dart bullpup flywheel blaster, so I rewired a Sprinter for 3S and half-dart converted it. Did I need to do that? Probably not. But it was a fun project lol

[@anvu27257]

I feel like a purchase or build becoming “obsolete” so quickly because of the rapid pace of so much more releases and so much more hobby shops/designers since 2019/2020 plays a big part in people’s frustrations whether they wanna admit it or not. Feeling like your money and/or time is getting invalidated constantly by new products is effective marketing and consumerism running its course, and I think we need to be aware of that. On the flip side I am also extremely grateful of how many options there are now. As someone who left the nerfing hobby in 2016 and came back 2022 I was very shocked and happy to see how many options there are, so it makes it easier for me to be grateful. It’s like our hobby has experienced another renaissance/industrial revolution that we haven’t seen since the debut of N-strike. Old school staples to our hobby like modding off-the-shelf blasters and doing integrations are admittedly less attractive than they were before, but they will never die so long as there are still people willing to do them and bring attention to them. Also, I think the surge of pro half length blasters since 2019/2020 is because these companies are realizing that a huge chunk of the blaster buyer market (millennials and gen z) are older now so we can handle these blasters more maturely and have more disposable income to buy pricier blasters compared to when we were kids. I do still think that 120+ FPS blasters should be sold in a separate section of the store away from the blasters with power that people would typically expect though.

[@brickosaurus2276]

Modding and thrifting isn't dead. Pro blasters have changed things, but there's no reason we can't have both. Idk about yall but I'll enjoy my Nexus Pro X while modding Nitefinders and continue my search for the elusive Red Longshot. And guess what? I'll enjoy every bit of it 😊

[@akagainesy]

Way hing the first quarter of this video makes me wanna start making videos again. Old skool modding is why I got into this hobby..... I need to clear up my workspace and garage so I can get back at it (baby allowing 😂)

[@jsanchez9084]

You should I watched you videos your yellow prophecy was awesome

[@akagainesy]

@jsanchez9084 thanks man, that means a lot. I'm waiting for Mr Nathan to announce the merge masters rules in January. Should be a category for old part done projects so if I think I can make the deadline will try doing videos of my progress 😉

[@T238dotnet]

Happy holidays Beret and guys

[@MisterNathan]

Hey, thanks for the little MergeMasters mention. (new event announcements coming next month!) Also, thank you for the time you took to compile and discuss all these "hot takes". I think the hobby is definitely lacking in "thoughtful discussion" type videos, so it was refreshing to have a pretty steady stream of "ponderable" content for a while. Well done.

[@SodapopperAnimations]

I allready can't wait for what beret will do for next year.

[@NBL_USMC]

Great series! This was a lot of fun to watch!

[@gavinfuzzy]

I agree as a modder, all the pro stuff being readily available on store shelf has diminished some of the novelty of modding. It used to take great effort to even break the 100 fps mark. But for sure it opens up the hobby to loads of people who are just in for the gameplay aspect and not spending hours on their blaster before the first game. On-shelf pro stuff is also changing the trend in community blasters. Its probably moving in a direction of quirky stuff (non-mainstream ammo, maybe)

[@mattsubi3950]

Nah, bad take. Modding was never just about hitting hard. It’s always been about the integrations, the story behind the blasters, inspirations from video games, or even just your personal style. Gimmicky blasters still exist in the hobby-they’re just overlooked because we’ve got 300+ FPS blasters from Worker or whatever dominating the spotlight. But no, pro blasters didn’t kill modding, won’t kill modding, and definitely aren’t destroying the hobby. If anything, they’re shifting the focus away from FPS and toward things like cosmetics, style, practicality-stuff that actually matters to a lot of people. Also, the whole “has to hit 70 FPS” thing isn’t why Nerf stopped making certain blasters. Nerf still makes those kinds of blasters. Just look at the Flip Fury line from a few years back, or more recently, the Double Punch. Both are gimmicky and functional. The 70 FPS bar was always just a benchmark to compare with other products-it was never some ultimate measure of what makes a good blaster. At the end of the day, modding isn’t dead, not even close. Yeah, the rise of higher FPS blasters has changed the community, but it hasn’t killed modding. If anything, it’s encouraged people to focus on making what they like. Stuff like the Kirin and other cool blasters wouldn’t have happened without high-performance retail options pushing the boundaries. Making it seem like the hobby is just about hitting hard is way too shortsighted. So no, modding isn’t dying. If anything, it’s thriving because people are finally free to create and innovate in ways they actually care about.

[@KptnAutismus]

i wanna add to the Pro "modding isn't dead" argument. if you like a particular blaster but it doesn't happen to be a pro level blaster, you can mod that one with standardized modding parts. i'm actually considering a dual stage setup in my MA-40 just because i can (and stock nerf flywheelers suck)

[@zeroblade6599]

To me, modding is about making a blaster better for yourself. You see this new thing and go:"man, this blaster should definitely be a pistol instead of what it is now", or:"everything about this is great, except that grip doesn't fit me at all", or:"I love halfdarts, but I also need this to be able to fire megaxl for game reasons and also it should be chainfed and shouldermounted" More highpower blasters coming out just means you can focus your modding attention on the other personal points

[@beretnarf]

Agreed :)

[@Danielsworlds]

My main 2 blasters are a mk3 and a longxshot. I have modded them both to hell and back. Near total internal replacements. Custom paint jobs and a plethora of 3d printed parts and accessories. Could I have just bought a lynx or a Omnia? Absolutely. But these blasters are mine and I love them

[@mccbuddytaras6637]

i don't think i'll ever be happier than making an aeon pump action and hearing the trolls squeal ' just buy a nexus'.

[@grantponciano9386]

Just make sure you can still prime it in case the pump breaks. A friend made a bolt action prime but it broke and he already eliminated the top prime slide handle... he couldn't prime it anymore... lol

[@VectorWasTaken]

my guy robert at 24:40

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

He’s the goat

[@spacedoge14]

Another good video, happy holidays!

[@bz4701]

Beret is the patron saint of jank modding!

[@pavanj.b3197]

nerf was so fun when ti was just a bunch of dudes shooting at each other with whatever they found at walmart, maybe the occasional mod but people ruined it by making it wayyyy to competitive, complicated and just not what nerf was even meant to be

[@Salamander2-i6c]

the gelblasters in the walmart by me have the gel blasters in the sporting goods section

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

While I do still stand by my take, I will say this: Modding is NOT dead. To this day, I still see quite a lot of people modding. And while some people have shifted to buying pro blasters on shelves and 3D printing, that doesn’t mean that no one mods blasters anymore. It’s just being done a little bit less.

[@wistralis7387]

I agree that modding isn’t dead, I like building stuff and most importantly using it and showing it off. It’s bit of my personality in tangible form and man does it feel good when something you put time into pays off

[@robotmunkee]

Hot Take... Toe Jibbitz on your Nerf Crocs are an essential part of every loadout!

[@beretnarf]

oh dear

[@wistralis7387]

welp, I guess I’ll go buy some nerf crocs

[@Jakk3113]

I miss long darts and under 150fps games.

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

@@Jakk3113 same

[@T238dotnet]

Hot takes: Nerf and Airsoft can get along well. One can enjoy the fun & gimmicky from Nerf and still be able to play CSGO in Airsoft. it's fine to get Airsoft'd😎

[@mehmehpope12]

7:10 my walmart has the gel blaster between sports and toys

[@GhostC10]

Some real hot takes in this one. I still play lots of 100fps or less "family nights" and have tons of fun. And I love mega xl, i was sad to see it die out so quick.

[@Patty-Q]

These have been a great way to take some time out of my day to have a few chuckles and reflect on what I'd like out of the hobby and what I want to do. I recently bought an X Shot Longshot because I was curious about it and it is my first half length dart blaster as well as one that fires above the toy standard. I agree that it should be in the sporting goods section and that was reaffirmed when my nephew, who is 7, visited, saw the blaster and told me his friend had one, but it broke. My blood ran cold when I thought of these second graders trying to play against each other with this.

[@metalsuccattack]

i feel like some people misunderstand the context of the 3d printed stuff. i feel like its less about getting a performance blaster, but more getting a bespoke custom thing. the rush/crush makes hardware sourcing more accessible since they only use threaded rods/linear rails and screws aside from the plunger tube and spring material. other 3d printed blasters have different ergonomic or things to set them apart like a sideways magwell or different/removable grips. in places like canada where dart zone is practically unavailable unless you travel to the US, 3d print stuff is still the way to go and there is still a joy to being able to assemble things.

[@OrdemDoGraveto]

I think the guy that said "high FPS is fun" meant that it can be just that, FUN. Not a serious COMPETITION.

[@Strongarm_11]

3:16 I just realized how I worded my hot take was pretty dumb and sounded out of context. I didn’t add a reason for my take, so here is my reason. I am the type of guy who enjoys stock blasters and don’t ever mod as I just can’t and it’s too complex for me, though this is definitely a ME problem. I’m also sick of constantly hearing about the need to mod blasters, it’s as if it’s a requirement to be apart of this community. Having pro blasters on shelves is great for Nerfers like me who can’t mod and I feel I don’t need to mod when the Stryker and Longshot I have shoot hard and well, like most other pro blasters from Worker or OOD or whatever.

[@scottjs5207]

I'm not sure why you feel modding is a requirement. It's just a common question as us tinkerers want to know what's up. But I'm glad you've got options to come to a war and compete with those of us who know how to get the most out of blasters. High fps was definitely extremely gatekept back in the day simply due to accessibility which I'm glad is no longer the requirement.

[@Namasu604]

I can see some points of "modding is dead" but it's absolutely not true. Like myself recently, I had to make the decision of upgrading a old long strike to be a short dart, forward plunger, sealed breach kit, or I could just spend 1/4 as much on an x shot longshot for the same performance. I ended up going with the longshot, but you better believe I'm going to mod it the first chance I get.

[@CaptainShotgun007]

I feel modding is still a big part of the hobby, we just don't use modded blasters in game.

[@kittenclaws5775]

I love both higher power and lower power games for entirely different reasons. I think they're both awesome.

[@Foam0Fett]

Everybody keeps talking about half lengths vs full lengths, but I truly believe rival to be the ultimate foam ammo n terms of ease/fun to use ratio. I’d honestly be far more invested in pro tournaments where rival is the standard ammo vs. short darts.

[@BobOBob]

1:09 I feel seen. Thanks for that

[@scottjs5207]

People thinking the Longstrike has no potential: "And I took that personally!" Basically, the way I can tell people to look for me. Just look for the Longstrikes! I've been a frontline/rear guard fighter for HvZ with the Longstrike regularly, while everyone else is using reasonable blasters... mostly.

[@ScyHigh]

I didn't realize this video would be about nerf guns when I clicked it, I honestly thought this would be about video game modding instead. oops Great video tho!

[@somethingpurpul]

In here to say I do airsoft now but still enjoy nerf lol. Yeah the Seagull is like late game goals that you can just buy and I love it. airsoft modding is fun but you cant play airsoft in the house lol.

[@blendervendor2220]

Actually. I see some prople integrating really expensive blasters. I think there's a guy at my local games who's dine an integration with an inverted scales and it's really cool.

[@whitey00112]

The AoS was a bit of a design failure though. Going with full lengths made that thing nearly unusable in one hand. Which is kind of the point of a hand cannon. It’s just way too long. Half lengths would’ve made that at least more manageable.

[@therealTIE]

Here's a hot take, the Worker Harrier and Seagull are the best pro springers. Easy to mod, perfect quality 99% of the time, super super super simple internals, and most of all.. I'm biased.

[@potatokilr7789]

Both old and pro blasters can be modified. Sure, many people fall victim to the consumer practice of buying the next best thing (which enabled planned obsolescence), but others instead spend their money on parts to make their older blasters better to compete with the modern ones

[@m00k61]

Modding is dead ::stares at desk cluttered with solenoid Maxim I'm finishing up and Twist Fury I'm waiting for short dart kit for::

[@Ensbfgnerfer-rn5ck]

CAPPPPPP there is so much to do with the already pro guns man You can upgrade or turn it into something new There will always be a way to make a nerf mod

[@boostaddict_]

there are still those of us in the hobby who don't like buying "pro" blasters. You can pry my Gear Up retalicon from my cold, dead hands. Modding is most of the fun of the hobby for me, regardless of what type of blaster it is. Springer, air, or flywheel. I own a 3D printer, when it comes to nerf I don't print complete blasters, just parts. I'm an engineering student, making things and modifying things is what I do.

[@beretnarf]

Heck yeah

[@bigfootnintendorazr]

True.

[@skeemeastwood9075]

My biggest thrill has been making some crappy nerf elite blasters hit close to 100fps. 100 is the sweet spot for playing w my nephews and son. All in the 6-10 age range.

[@granttoye5852]

My hot take is that modding will never go away. It'll just change. People will take pro level stuff and make it hit down to hvz or og stock levels. I have light prime outlaws, and I'm getting LP springs for my stryker mk2. When I get a SLAB, I intend to have a range of fps for that, too. Tuning up and down is what I like about the hobby. Few blasters than can play in all categories

[@Volpurr]

Don't get why people hate pro blasters being a thing, it makes high performance blasters far more accessible. I only ventured into short darts and getting blasters to hit above 100 FPS with the original Nexus Pro. Before that, my collection was mostly stock Elite blasters or lightly modded ones like a double-spring X-Shot Rapid Fire hitting ~85 FPS.

[@dangermaus9253]

I have yet to see a perfect blaster that doesn't need modding.

[@Alexcursus]

Hot take: You can do non performance mods

[@haruharu0w0]

thank god in ASEAN some heavy modded weird chinese copy blaster from past are excellent. like mine with Blaze storm Hailfire and xuxiang Sportsman

[@Jambathementallyunstabledice]

7:28 anything made by sillybutts

[@Salamander2-i6c]

what are some good two blaster integration that i can do with blasters currently on the market?

[@nickprice2165]

Not really an off-the-shelf option, but this summer a friend of mine fused the grip/hammer prime of a hammershot with the front half of a magnum super drum. Both things that pop up at goodwill a lot!

[@Salamander2-i6c]

@@nickprice2165 thanks. the hammershot is awesome.

[@darthtanyan4851]

​@@nickprice2165 I might be picturing this delightfully clunky-sounding monstrosity wrong, but I'm imagining your friend 2-fisting a pair of them at a game, and cackling maniacally all the while.

[@paullassahn4641]

Nerf h1N1 darts make me feel sick😂

[@beretnarf]

fair lol

[@sweetlikechocothai]

Modding will decline. But it’ll always exist. Now we can mod better blasters if we choose.

[@grantponciano9386]

It's not the pro blasters "on the shelves" it's the top performing stuff "available online" even higher performing than store stuff restrained by things like safety regulations (Caliburn 300fps with extended and Bcar barrels)

[@MisplacedMoose]

Want full length darts that don't suck? move to mega. Y'all using pistol ammo in your rifles. But then.. my take might be a bit biased for somewhat obvious reasons. The last cool mod I did was over a decade ago when I released my rayven masterkey on nerfhaven. Since picking up 3D printing and Fusion, I haven't felt the need to buy an off the shelf blaster since, except the thrift finds I hand to Al the Geek for his marginally insane integrations.

[@stickbro4118]

i think theres supposed to a comment at the 1st mention of the second comment in Competitve play?

[@beretnarf]

Yes it shows up a little late but it's there, not a big deal

[@stickbro4118]

aye

[@BlizzardTheSnep3-n6w]

Why do you hate the reload vids lol

[@beretnarf]

They're lazy

[@lavatsunami_gaming9288]

Rival is overrated. you either have something with very low ammo capacity and you get outgunned constantly or a giant hopper that isn't fun to play against. it is still nice that we have ammo diversity but i think it should be split into 2 lines.

[@Demonanimator]

I know for a fact modding isn't dead because people are modding the PRO blasters to hit even harder because the stock performance STILL isn't enough. LAZIEST statement from a non Nerfer ever.

[@legoboy-ox2kx]

My final hot take: HvZ FPS caps are too low, and the format needs to evolve to keep its longevity. Many college campuses are not friendly to the hobby, or have banned anything that fires a projectile on their campus. My group plays on private venues or in large open parks that aren't very busy, and our HvZ cap is a soft 150 FPS, hard 160.

[@evandiliberto6238]

Got to be real, after thinking about this for a bit, your comment about uncapped groups being irresponsible left a poor taste. I genuinely understand the sentiment, but painting that specific group of people as irresponsible solely for playing with more powerful blasters seems a bit uninformed. Every uncapped group in the united states, which mind you is like 3, has extremely strict rules on eye protection and plays in places that are far from others, generally safer practices than most of the rest of the community follows. Putting all these people into an irresponsible camp feels wrong, not knocking your personal opinion but it seems rude in a way to talk down on a very important aspect of our hobby that are respectfully doing what they want. Many of the discoveries that are made through high FPS blasters trickle down into all FPS ranges of blaster and are responsible for many of the discoveries we have and love today, many only came from people pushing the boundaries and working backwards. Of course some people would want to play with these blasters as well, If anything, I unfortunately have to call out the park play that we take part of as more of a problematic thing that is likely to cause legal issues with our sport at some point (even at lower fps ranges). Not a bunch of high FPS nerds in the middle of nowhere taking the proper safety precautions. Totally understand your take about the negatives of real steelification but hating on higher power seems unnecessary and hitting down on our hobby, that's all. Love your content but you're one of the few large Nerf content creators left and advocating against High FPS kind of sucks

[@beretnarf]

Clearly it did. Did I call out individuals or specific clubs though? As long as everyone playing together gets it, that's what really matters. I'm also not advocating against high FPS overall. But you won't find me championing those crazy high powered builds or attending games where they're used. And guess what? Life will go on.

[@mechanwhal6590]

ALL THE HIGH GRADE BLASTERS LOOK THE SAME

[@Zippy_TF2]

"yes please more pump action mag fed springer slop"

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Like it was when Nerf came out with the elite dart and isnaly made all those custom dart useless? Also like you can still mod blssters that is were the real nerf blaster invation is from the pro blaster at Walmart and amazon are just letting anyomnbe get an isnaly modded. Custom Nerf blaster for cheap and takes no effort to get just walk ingto Walmart or get it shipped from amazon.... Also like you can still mod blssters even poro ones which all pro blasters at Walmart even encourage it! Like I git my trion 2 problaster an out of dart scar berral amd it has massively in provoed the acracy I no longer need it at 200 FPS to hit a 4 mills target at 17 feet in my room which by the way my macicks and deprto easly can... Like you have to be isnaly dislotional to honestly think that modding is the only way anyone should enjoy nerf... Not the most common nerf fans who just play with the guns in their "office" or just do nerf battles casually or at big events... Like people choose Nerf over every other shotting sport because of it's acsblity and very, very low cost that is cheaper then water... Like my guy why have you gone off the ariils in the last few months? This used to be a great channel now it's just this ragebait slop...

[@beretnarf]

Ragebait slop wow you’re too kind! I’m a little confused though…actually I’m very confused because your spelling and punctuation is all over the place. But did you not understand the prompt that these were “hot takes” from other people? Or are you just responding to a title and thumbnail?

[@OutOfIdeas9977]

@@GreenBlueWalkthrough Are you good?

[@albertdiaz6599]

Fifth

[@kevinschuurmans7738]

There is a group who are really players who have been destroying you reddit warriors for years!! Inferior players who are only part time coz they are more worried about impressing kids.