As others have stated, gear and skills do make a difference, but it matters very little if someone gets the drop on your with the current low TTK for just about any fitting.

If someone starts shooting you in the back it's going to take you a couple seconds to turn around and engage the enemy. It's only about one more second before he cuts you down with a militia AR.

Situational awareness and flanking is much more a factor than gear, and it's something that belongs to the player not the character.

A lot of experienced vets with high skill levels run low meta level fits which can mislead you. Seeing that a STD suit with a MLT BPO rifle killed you leads you to believe that the stats are broken.

What the kill screen won't tell you is that they guy had level 5 prof and SS on his AR with a complex damage mod making it more lethal than your GEK with prof 1. It also won't tell you that he's been playing for a year and knows exactly where you are likely to be and flanked you to get the drop on you.

Levels in DUST are nothing like what they are in a traditional MMO. High levels don't mean invulnerability from low levels. It gives you an edge, but you have to know how to take advantage of it. Think of it as having an 8" knife when your opponent has a 4" blade. It's an advantage, but it's not going to help if you turn your back to him.

Every one doesn't have the resume that you have in your assault rifle arsenal but I was asking because I see these guns get A LOT of kills. I know that in this game you kill and get killed , that's a no brainer but sometimes the ways that it happen seem a bit cheesy.

People like YOU are the reason that I wrote this. I wish I could give you five likes. THANK YOU !!!!!! Seriously. This is what I was looking for. A shame others can't give such detailed statements when speaking , all they want to do is break you down and that doesn't help at all. Everyone who puts up a post like this one isn't crying about loosing or getting killed , ( It happen to the BEST of them ) it might sound like that because of the frustration that's present at the time of writing but they are looking for instruction and little gems like this one that turns a light switch on so they can understand and not be spoken to like a kid that had it's " toy taken away and this is why ". No one want's to be demeaned , at least I don't . THANK YOU AGAIN FOR BEING HELPFUL. MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS YOU. YOU HAVE CLASS.

You'd actually be surprised how many people have AR Prof III, IV or V. The AR is the most commonly used weapon, and the Exile is the BPO version of it, and it has been given out / included in packages for more than a year. That's why it is seen a lot. Also, as soon as you notice something, you start taking note of it more; it's a brain thing.

Just reaffirming that it is not because the BPO is more powerful than the ISK version.

To be fair to the others they have heard complaints over and over to the point tthat they assume people know better but are just complaining. We get alot of that on the forums.

To elaborate, the suits and weapons have had their differences muted over time. Suits used to go up in base HP quite a bit with meta level and weapons used to go up in damage more too. Meta level meant much more back then, causing many to complain that gear meant more than skill. There are also folks who want further tiericide to completely remove the difference in power levels, leaving only different specializations.

The reduction in power difference has led to more folks running the cheaper lower level gear.

I believe that fact is the cause of the current BPO issue. CCP sold BPOs of MLT and STD items for cash thinking that folks would eventually quit using them when they skilled into ADV or PROTO gear. The problem is that used to be true but with the changes it isn't any more. BPOs are attractvie for vets now that character skill levels are high and player skill makes more of a difference.

That means vets are frerquently using BPOs and that's affecting the economy. It also means you will frequently be killed by low meta levels.

You'd actually be surprised how many people have AR Prof III, IV or V. The AR is the most commonly used weapon, and the Exile is the BPO version of it, and it has been given out / included in packages for more than a year. That's why it is seen a lot. Also, as soon as you notice something, you start taking note of it more; it's a brain thing.

Just reaffirming that it is not because the BPO is more powerful than the ISK version.

Exactly. My Toxin AR hits like a Duvolle because I have the skills for a Duvolle, and running damage mods. Also, my core fitting skills are all 4 or 5, so my BPO or standard suit is as good or better as your Adv suit with your crappier skills. I'm just running a cheaper fit isk wise, but not skill wise.

As this game grows, you'll never be able to know enough. As soon as you get something figured out, you'll change your fancy, and have to start learning all over again.

CCP propagates this mentality by refusing to properly document their games. This has the effect of encouraging their community to design and distribute their own tools and guides. Believe it or not, it actually strengthens the fan base.