1.7 is here, the AR and SCR got a range buff, and the rail rifle is now the king of ranged combat aside from the sniper rifle. The laser rifle has lost its already questionable niche.

Problems with the laser rifle

Low damage up close, then it gets good, then it gets crappy again. The band of effective range on the laser beam is only 66-88 meters, that's only a 23 meter effective range. Basically this weapon is only good for only a specific 23 meters, otherwise it sucks. Its also just counter-intuitive that a gun would do less damage up close; sure you can say its because of the focus on the laser's lenses, but it makes no sense why the lenses wouldn't already be focused.

Even when in its optimal or effective range, the rail rifles can still dominate the laser rifle users with their range. A rail rifle's range can be from 85 to 102 meters depending on the tier. An advanced or prototype rail rifle has the range advantage over a laser rifle. Unlike the laser rifle, the rail rifle doesn't suddenly start doing less damage at close ranges.

Overheat damage increments with tier. This is just terrible, higher tier weapons are suppose to be better than their lower tier predecessors, not just better in some ways but worse in some ways. Overheat damage needs to be the same for all tiers, or should get lower as the tier increases.

Solutions

Make the optimal range start from 0 meters like any other gun. This will make the laser rifle actually not worthless in close range, and allow it to be useful for more than just a short 23 meters of distance. You may be thinking "but the laser rifle is meant to be for mid-long range", but so is the sniper rifle, but shots do full damage if you can hit the target at close range. The base damage can also be lowered if needed.

Obviously the range thing would be a huge buff, and might make the laser rifle OP. To balance it, damage buildup should not be based on how long the laser has fired, but how long it has been hitting the target. The longer you hit the target, the more damage should increase. The heat buildup on the target should decrease slowly when the laser stops hitting it, but should not automatically reset. It will reward precise aiming skill, and also makes sense because the laser should be heating up the enemy's from continuous fire.

Standardize overheat feedback damage, or reduce the feedback damage as the tier increases. Higher tier weapons should not perform worse in any way to their standard counterparts.

Save the laser rifle.

It's tragic what has happened to the gentleman's weapon, it's been rendered useless twice now. Tried to use it last night just to see if it really was UP and I was getting crushed by RR's left and right. I was actually thinking earlier today that if the Amarr scout isn't in 1.8 I might get my Caldari Assault to proto next instead of Amarr because the LR is so useless now. That was a depressing thought.

I'd like to keep the same damage increase mechanic too. That's what makes it unique. There definitely needs to be a damage and range progression with tiers along with an across-the-board increase in damage and range. The beta viziam was only (ok, mostly) OP because there were no other long-range weapons. The RR and newly range-buffed ScR and AR have obliterated that.

The massive dropoff at the end of the optimal for what is supposed to be a long range weapon has always been kinda ridiculous, too.

The increased viable range would make up for not being able to engage multiple targets.

I guess it would be cool to have a variant of the laser rifle have damage build up on the beam instead of the person.