Time to kill is such a non-sense statistic for mass drivers.

Even if both players directly engage each other, any other weapon is not going to hit every single shot. But what's more important is that mass drivers can make themselves extremely elusive. The best mass drivers strafe like mad men in close combat (they'd be silly not to) and still hit every single shot because it's practically impossible to miss with it. Especially combined with the disorienting elements of being hit by the grenades, this alone creates a major imbalance.

But even more significantly, a mass driver can stay behind cover for 90% of the time, either popping out for a split second to launch a round, or even hitting the target behind cover. The little targeting triangles are essentially a wall-hack which makes this tactic incredibly easy.

A rifle user has to stay within line of sight during 100% of their damage output, which makes it practically impossible to compete with mass drivers who really know what they are doing.

Yes, the mass driver has poor effective range (which is ridiculous considering it's a grenade launcher) and limited ammunition which may be keeping it at bay to some extend, but in close to mid range it really is an "I win" button and it's not that hard to get into this range.

It's not bad enough to make me quit the game, but it saddens me that CCP apparently has no opinion on it other than "let's wait for the statistics". Everything recently seems to be about statistics and metrics. You know, it is possible to analyse these things beforehand... That's what game designers should be paid for.

My prediction is that the situation is going to gradually escalate until we will get the inevitable correction in 1.5 or 1.6. Let's see if I'm wrong.

Personally I think it would be horrible to just nerf the mass driver as it is, because that would just make it a worse weapon without addressing the fundamental problem with it. There are many possible changes which would make the weapon more interesting and balanced without necessarily reducing it's potential efficiency at the hands of a skilled user. One such possibility would be the minimum flight time which has been brought up a few times. Another would be gradual damage fall-off for explosives, so higher accuracy is actually rewarded.

I would much rather see a change like that, than simply reduced clip size or damage properties. If you only tweak values as a response to metrics, you run the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture. This isn't an RPG after all.

46 kills? I reckon that guy was so out of sync with the server it literally gave him kills and nobody could get a single hit marker.

You can't run around destroying like that unless people literally cannot hit you.

The MD is not being used the way that kind of weapon is intended. Players are taking advantage of the lack of permadeath and virtual danger that is a video game to use it like a ******* handheld 50 cal.

Yes,. this needs to be looked at. Considering that it's a chore to use, aim, and kill with; it's only got one round per shot; the aiming mechanics on it are questionable; etc. This really ought to operate like a rocket launcher, considering all the drawbacks it has.