i like this idea . the heavy would excel at clearing buildings and CQC areas . but if he just stormed in he would die .

to add a little kick however could we perhaps discus a vehicle only forge gun for dealing with tanks .
i understand that tanks are tanks . but i spent 9 rounds on a MLT tank using a 9k and a heavy weapons mod plus av grenades .

a short range falcon punch forge gun for tank fighting would be nice.

as for anti infantry the heavy needs a slight weapons buff as well . i don't care if its one gun for shields and then another gun for armor

Just put them back to chromosome standards. I think we all agree thats the last time they were good.

We all know heavies are rather gimped at the moment in regards to effectiveness, especially with all these rifles that seem to be designed for tearing apart the heavy suit.

Heavy suits are supposed to be "able to withstand combined small arms fire..." But yet in many ways they are ill suited to infantry combat. Their lack of slots, sluggishness, and lack of a complete suit and weapon roster make them sub optimal.

My thought is this: a slight buff to the Heavy suit... By altering the way it's hitboxes work. What if the Heavy suit recieved a percentage resistance to light and sidearm weaponry by skill level.. BUT only when said fire was hitting the FRONT of the suit?

Keep the slow pace and lack of slots... But make it so that the Heavy takes, say, 50% to 35% less damage from the front. Attacking a heavy from the back would still be the same. Perhaps it could even by slightly weaker.

In this way, Heavies would be encouraged to stand and fight and face the enemy as the suit was originally intended, however if the enemy players work to flank and take advantage of the Heavy suit's weaknesses, it would still be balanced. Attacking a Heavy suit head on would become very stupid, but would remain balanced because the suits other weaknesses would make up for it.

I believe with this implementation, we would find a resurgence in anti infantry heavies. Now they would be able to take some punishment without getting gibbed by a ton of headshots on their huge hitboxes. Flanking the heavy would remove its advantage, and using teamwork to split the heavies attention would work just as well.

Percentage of resistance is up to discussion but I think a rather high percentage per level (say, 10%) would give heavies the "feel" of power without actually tipping them into the OP realm.

Replication?

We need to stop trying to balance the heavy based on one racial suit tree. We need more racial symmetry before anything can really be done. I don't really think the suit is the problem, but rather the HMG. But with that said, if we buff the HMG, what's to say it won't be OP on the Minmatar heavy and likewise if we buff the Amarr suit and it becomes OP with its own racial weapon? Having all the racial suits and at least one racial anti-infantry and one AV weapon for each would paint a clearer picture of what needs and doesn't need to be done about the heavy and its weapons. But for the time being, the HMG needs it's dispersion fixed so it's not so laser accurate.

While I agree with this, the development on the additional suits and weapons is far from finished. The OPs suggestion though is an elegant short term solution and should be doable as a hot-fix since it's simple hit registration mechanics. I hate to advocate for expediency over thoroughness, but the timelines on this game seem exceptionally long. +1 OP