AR, scramblers and SMGs need a 10% damage reduction IMO, basically remove what you gave them when hit detection was broken. However the real TTK issues are the damage mods, especially stacking them. Until CCP addresses the damage mods were stuck with being killed in under a sec. I personally believe that the complex damage mod should give a 5% bonus instead of 10% and stacking should cause each subsequent one to be half the bonus it would usually give.

Aside from the Forge's infantry sniping ability, the other weapons need some attention, but are decently balanced. But you are absolutely incorrect in your statement that "every weapon does relatively equal damage over time". That's mathematically untrue. The rifles outclass almost everything.

But let's go back to your HP based proposal. The core issue with it is that it effectively nerfs EVERY weapon in the game, and not every weapon in the game needs a nerf.

Let's take the mass driver for example:

There are suits in the game that I can unload a whole clip on and will survive, unless I score at least 50% direct hits.

Keep in mind that the MD fires one shot per second, so that's 6 seconds plus round travel time. However the Rifles can down a suit in under 2 seconds.

What happens to the MD's effectiveness if suddenly everyone had 30% more HP? It means the MD user now has to suffer one of the longest reloads in the game to kill anyone.

Sweeping nerfs like that are a bad idea, and targeted nerfs are a better solution.

This game doesn't have bunny hopping. Bunny hopping is a glitch that is very specific to some Quake derived games.

I don't know what you mean by "super strafing" either.

I think you just want to shoot stationary targets?



I don't think they should be removed outright, and I think they already have a damage penalty. The problem is that the BASE damage before skills of every rifle is just way too high.



Not every single FPS, no.

There are games where a gun battle can go on for more than 2 seconds. It is wiser to stick to cover, but sometimes you have to move from cover.

With the current rifle damage (and the aim assist) it becomes an instant death sentence if any decent player has line of sight on you.

I've played shooters where someone can get the drop on you and you can still come out ahead thanks to superior footwork and gungame, and I think it's more fun that way.

That can almost never happen in Dust, and I think the core gameplay and the fittings metagame is suffering for it.



That's the thing, everyone is so used to the high damage environment that the "obvious" fix is to just buff everything else as well.

The game is a BLAP-fest regardless if you have 300hp or 1.2k hp, and that's a problem.

And the solution isn't to bring the "underpowered" weapons up to par.

The thing is that there is no reason to use anything but an rifle now. The niches of things non-rifle are now erased by rifles. CQC? Combat Rifle does better than the shotgun. Mid-Long Range? Rail Rifle outclasses the Laser. Getting guys out from cover? Grenades do that just fine, no need for the lolcannon or mass driver.

(side note, every smart player at this point knows that when I start popping them behind cover, they can just poke their head out and blap me before my 2nd round hits them.)

As far as the HP thing, that is one way to solve the problem, but canon-wise it's risky business, since a Rifter has a base HP of 1250.

I'd rather go the damage reduction route than to have dropsuits with more HP than spaceships.