Hello,

First off I want to start by saying that I am truely confused about this next quote:




Now this leaves me at a bit of a loss. During my time using the plasma cannon and making videos for it, I advocated and, quite frankly ignorantly, kept repeating that the plasma cannon was not, for all intended purposes, an AV weapon. After months of saying it my greatest fears come true. Till now I had not found a single post by CCP saying that the Plasma cannon was for AV. I stayed in my little bubble believing that it was supposed to be a hybrid weapon intended not dominate any purpose but do decently in both.

As of aim assist the PLC has gone further and further into the anals of the dust usable weapons vault. In fact, it has decayed so much over time that even the good people of the cannon fever channel rarely use it anymore. My heart was burdened in many matches thinking of how I could make the gun work for anti infantry since no part of my mind could comprehend how this weapon was intended to be mainly for anti-vehicle use. I failed and, to add insult to injury, CCP has made my fear come true; they intended all along for the PLC to be an AV weapon. As of now, CCP will have no problem making it an AV weapon without making it OP against infantry if they take into consideration the steps below that I have thought thoroughly about and, it would truly lighten my heart see implemented to make this weapon as glorious as I first deemed it when it was passable against infantry but now against vehicles.



Since the plasma Cannon is intended to be an AV weapon, the fix is simple. Hopefully the foregoing list will help the Dev's fully understand how the weapon is used and how it will be affected by each and every suggested change; helping in the transition from ineffective to powerfully balanced.

1. Change it from light to heavy: While I know, or again ignorantly think, ccp wants to make a racial variant for all av weaponry in the light section, the plasma cannon does not fit that description. Light AV should be easy to use and somewhat lacking in power like the swarm launcher. The plasma cannon is extremely difficult to use and no extra power is given to it because of it. Making it a heavy weapon will add the drawback of being extremely difficult to use as well as being in a mobility impaired suit. This will add extra drawbacks so that we can now add the needed buff to it.


2. Change the direct damage: The direct damage of the plasma cannon is too low for a weapon requiring immense amount of skill and patience. A total of 5 seconds in between shots (3.5s for reload, 1s post fire pause and .45 second charge time) makes the weapons rate of fire more akin to the breach forge gun than it does any other weapon in the game. Hence this suggestion. Make the direct damage of the plasma cannon the same as a breach forge gun. The skill needed to use, the RoF, the range of 199 meters, being in a heavy suit and being mediocre against infantry makes it be balanced enough to warrant such increase in direct damage. There are few suits that would withstand a direct shot from a plasma cannon and direct hits are few and far between making this change not affect the current power of the weapon against infantry.

Making it a heavy weapon further increases the drawback of using it as well as making it not able to pursue vehicles without further use of assets. By buffing the direct damage to that of the breach forge gun we add usefulness to the weapons hard to use slow projectile nature. By not buffing splash damage, we maintain it's slight usefulness against infantry without making it overpowered against them. Simply put, by changing two of its values the weapon suddenly becomes as balanced as possible without the need for unnecessary coding and waste of time.



I have used the plasma cannon extensively and have advocated it's use via the creation of videos on how to use it. I have used it in every way possible including heavy suits. I have, to my knowledge mastered it in all three sizes of suits and have proficiency 5 and all supporting skills in the tree to 3 minimum including level 4 Rapid reload. I know this weapon like the back of my hand and do not give this feedback without thorough understanding of it.



Please do not troll this post. This weapon is one of my biggest loves in DUST 514. It has pained me to see it wither but am trying to get the weapon up to it's full potential; always abiding by CCPs intended design. Hence the Feedback oriented towards AV and not general use. Touch my PLC with crazy insults and I will bite you