Just because a gun has equal DPS to other weapons does not mean it's balanced.

Let's use two iconic weapons from any MMO, a dagger vs a warhammer. The dagger has higher DPS than the warhammer but the dagger has shorter range and low burst damage while the warhammer has longer range and higher burst damage. What do these 3 things mean though?

Well DPS is obviously the sustained damage of said weapon, the range is the distance the damage is applied, and burst damage is the amount of damage the weapon does on the first hit.

Now let's apply this simple balanced concept to Dust and where it IS working and where it is NOT. Blaster tank vs rail tank. At close range the blaster tank wins due to higher DPS and faster turning speeds, at long range rail wins due to high burst damage and a damage range outside of the rail turret. Any gun vs a sniper rifle, at short range any gun can ill a sniper rifle, granted he doesn't use a side arm, at long range the sniper rifle will win (thale always wins that's the loophole ).

Where it doesn't work is in the light weapon range. For example the rail rifle can compete with any short range weapon at short range, but the contrary is not possible. Equally the DPS, range, and burst damage is out of whack with long range weapons being able to apply damage throughout the entirety of their range. In all of the above scenarios a long range weapon cannot beat a short range weapon at short range. Although the long range weapon has higher damage, the short range DPS out classes the high damage. This is how the light weapons should work, not just the rifles. Shotgun and laser rifle are the only exceptions.

Tl; dr/ summary

Short range = High DPS/Low damage/Low burst/Fast
(Assault rifle, assault combat rifle, shotgun)
Medium range= obviously in between all of this...
(Combat rifle, Assault scrambler rifle, mass driver)
Long range= Low DPS/High damage/High burst/Slow
(All rail rifles, scrambler rifle, laser rifle)

Since all weapons have the same DPS, while long range weapons maintain the high burst damage while there is no penalty when they come to short range combat, except the scrambler, then long range weapons will always dominate the field.

To fix this reduce DPS, clip, and hip fire spread as range increases. Recoil should decrease as range increases but never be nonexistent.

So give the lazer rilfle lower DPS?

So give the lazer rilfle lower DPS?

The LR already has low DPS...

The LR is the best weapon in the game is the reason it stats are like that. If you are good with it and can dictate range then noting can touch it. It is almost perfect.

The LR already has low DPS...

I approve of this message.
The AR is the most useless AR in 1.7 for that reason.

There is no reason to use it, seriously.
I tried to find one.

Well, I found ONE, and that it's Gallente.
Gallente Foreva :3

At the 2nd second of continuous fire, the laser rifle has 67 base damage per hit which, with .08 shots per second that's 837 DPS. However that's 670 against armor, but 1000 DPS vs. shield. The proto version with max skills gets up to 450 damage per shot (5000+ DPS) in the last second before overheat. The advantage of the laser is that it is crazily precise, but that is also a downside too. It's almost like the dispersion cone is harder to dodge from other auto fire weapons.

That's great and all, but the other weapons will kill you in < 1 second.