um no..

I expected some negative responses to this as it's a pretty controversial but it'd be more productive for everyone if you could explain your objection at least a little.

Maybe there could be some sort of weapon that penetrates shields and only affects armor. i.e. shields would be left totally intact but armor would be damaged.

It would obviously have to have serious drawbacks like very very low DPS or very difficult to use.

What are your opinions on this idea? What sort of form do you think such a weapon could take? How could the mechanics be explained using reasonable New Eden lore?

um no..

It would certainly circumvent shield tanking but that's why it would have some pretty serious drawbacks, so not many people would use it and shield tanking would still be viable. Imagine something like an AR but with half the dps.

Options that can completely negate a game mechanic as broad as a type of tanking are going to wreak havoc on game balance. Much like explosive weapons do now, which it is worth noting are going to be changed so they have less of this effect.
Leaving aside explosives the nearest thing we have is the Flux which cannot kill. So we can dismiss the flux since presumably this weapon would be created to actually kill a target and now we're comparing the new weapon to the Scram, LR et al.
At which point the question must be asked "how do we add this new type of weapon without diminishing the roles of weapons which are already present" another way to look at this would be"what unique game play aspect could such a weapon bring"?

Simply ignoring shields isn't enough to be unique in that it is essentially a highly buffed version of weapons already present in the game. Then there's the balance issue in general, think of how potent even the STD LR would be if it applied all of its damage directly to armor completely ignoring shields. Against some fits that version of the STD LR would then be outputting more effective dps than many proto weapons, I trust the problem with that is clear.

I commend you for thinking outside the box to come up with new ideas, and I encourage you to continue, it is just that this specific idea is likely not the best addition to the game.

0.02 ISK
Cross

Two things.
1st, half the dps of an AR is still beastly. AR has more dps than large blaster on a tank.
2nd, to begin the trolling, how about a weapon that ignores armour and immediately kills people after getting through shields? Because thats pretty much what you're saying to the shield tanked people out there.

as a minny scout with 74 armor i respectfuly oppose this idea

Maybe there could be some sort of weapon that penetrates shields and only affects armor. i.e. shields would be left totally intact but armor would be damaged.

It would obviously have to have serious drawbacks like very very low DPS or very difficult to use.

What are your opinions on this idea? What sort of form do you think such a weapon could take? How could the mechanics be explained using reasonable New Eden lore?

Clear shields with Flux grenades. Then you can get your kills on armor.
Happy Trails

This idea just makes me think "Amarr Knives" but hey, if you guys wanna stick with automatic weapons for this idea then go for it. I'll keep watching this thread as I'm curious to know if anyone will find a good balance for this. Here's hope as the idea itself, I kinda like.

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`Sigh. Just another fun game of DUST.

This is entirely irrelevant to this discussion. Where's that -1 button?

Maybe there could be some sort of weapon that penetrates shields and only affects armor. i.e. shields would be left totally intact but armor would be damaged.

It would obviously have to have serious drawbacks like very very low DPS or very difficult to use.

What are your opinions on this idea? What sort of form do you think such a weapon could take? How could the mechanics be explained using reasonable New Eden lore?

um no..

It's completely relevant - I see you wanting to be lazy and use shield penetrating weapon that deals strictly armor damage to kill.
You should ask CCP to remove shields instead.