CCP hates Gallente.

Yeah. It should do about as much (even more, maybe)damage as the ScP. The main differences between the two should be that one has a headshot bonus and a longer range, but the other can charge a shot and has a lower range with a bit more DPS.

Is that what the charge shot is? It says in the description it has the ability to overload, like a module in EVE, I assume. No idea what that keybind would be though. :/

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah *suicide*

I said this in the other thread and I'll say it again here. You bunch are jumping the gun here, the Ion pistol may turn out to be the shotgun sidearm that has been requested by every shotgun user ever.

Perhaps you should read the thread.
How can it possibly be the 'shotgun sidearm' when it's so terrible compared to all the other sidearms? There are other sidearms doing more DPS with twice the range.

Please do explain how this is 'jumping the gun', though. CCP have released stats. The stats are terrible. Are we meant to wait until we can see the pretty models before we point out that the gun is terrible?

What you are doing right now is pretty much looking at the current shotgun or NKs and saying they're complete garbage based on their expressed stats.

What I am doing is explaining, quite clearly, that the weapon is outperformed in almost every way stats wise.
Would you like to give me an example of a weapon that has worse stats than everything else yet actually is a good weapon?

You don't know how damage it does,[/u][/b] based solely on the released stats. Pellets/bullets fired per shot is not listed, and you're making the assumption that it is 1, and that may be wrong.

You don't know how damage it does. based solely on the released stats. Pellets/bullets fired per shot is not listed, and you're making the assumption that it is 1, and that may be wrong.

The description of the ion pistol refers to a single 'slug' or 'discharge'.
Also, if it fired multiple pellets it would quickly go from 'underpowered' to 'horrendously overpowered'.

Comparing the stats of the ion pistol to existing sidearms, this is a weapon of very dubious value. IGÇÖm not comparing it to nova knives, because theyGÇÖre really quite different, but it is horrendously underpowered compared to the other ranged sidearms.
To prove this, I have some statistics. Please do feel free to point out if I have missed anything.

First, letGÇÖs compare its DPS to the other sidearms. ItGÇÖs worth noting as well that the ion pistol and scrambler pistol are both semi-automatic, meaning that they will very rarely attain their full DPS value, especially in the case of the ion pistol where the restrictively low RoF means that taps will not always translate to shots.

• The RoF of the ion pistol is 375 RPM. At 50 damage a shot, with a maxed fire rate this translates to 312.5 DPS. It does, however, have a charge shot mechanic which allows you to charge up a shot for 1.45 seconds for 350 damage. This gives a DPS of 241.


• The RoF of the magsec SMG is 666 RPM. At 35 damage a shot, this translates to 388 DPS. However, there is a short 0.3 second fire delay which reduces the initial DPS to 273.


• The RoF of scrambler pistol is 400 RPM. At 80 damage a shot, this translates to 533 DPS. Notably, it also has a 450% damage bonus on headshots.


• The RoF of the submachine gun is 1000 RPM. At 23 damage a shot this translates to 383 DPS.


• The RoF of the bolt pistol is 150 RPM. At 135 damage a shot, this translates to 337.5 DPS. However, there is a short 0.25 second fire delay which reduces the initial DPS to 253.

From this damage assessment we can see that the ion pistol is the weakest sidearm in terms of damage output when not considering the charge time on the bolt pistol and magsec SMGs. With those, it slightly outperforms them.
A note on charge delay GÇô it is easily mitigated by pre-charging as the opponent comes around a corner, or constantly tapping the trigger as you move around ensuring you are charged up and ready to go at any time. This does not entirely discount the charge time GÇô it is a hindrance, but it is not a significant one.

The charge shot mechanic of the ion pistol is not notable for any practical application. Upon firing a charge shot, the weapon will immediately overheat GÇô rendering follow-up shots useless. The alpha damage is not high enough to kill many opponents, so using the charge shot means you will be helpless. Additionally, using the charge shot as a follow-up to normal shots does not work because the charge time is too long and you would be better served by using normal shots.

Now. Consider the sustained damage capability of each of these sidearms.

• The ion pistol has 12 shots in a clip before needing to reload. This gives 600 damage per clip. There is also possibly an overheat mechanic, though this is only known for the charge shot.


• The magsec SMG has 54 shots in a clip before needing to reload. This gives 1890 damage per clip.


• The SMG has 80 rounds per clip for 1760 damage per clip.


• The scrambler pistol has 11 rounds per clip for approximately 880 damage per clip.


• The bolt pistol has 6 rounds per clip for 810 damage per clip.

The ion pistol is thoroughly outperformed by the other weapons in sustained damage output. The other weapons in its class give up to triple the damage per clip.
This is more of a handicap than it appears as well GÇô many opponents have more than 600 EHP, meaning a reload is absolutely necessary for the ion pistol where it wouldnGÇÖt be for the other sidearms.

The pistols generally have lower damage per clip than the SMGs, but the ion pistol still has the lowest in class there as well.

I concur, if only because it would have a longer optimal range and higher damage output than the shotgun... Actually, it probably would make a lot of CQC Scouts happy considering how niche the shotgun is...

The description of the ion pistol refers to a single 'slug' or 'discharge'.
Also, if it fired multiple pellets it would quickly go from 'underpowered' to 'horrendously overpowered'.

A ruthlessly efficient close-quarters weapon, the ion pistol fires charged plasma munitions that rupture shields and scorch armor. Each discharge* is enveloped in an electrostatic sheath that reduces the field distortion and increases stability. The improved dispersion and stopping power is not without it's drawbacks though, as the higher density of each slug** generates excessive heat, enough to seize the weapon if the rate of fire is carefully controlled.

By overriding internal temperature controls, the weapon can be overcharged to produce a focused bulk discharge ***of sufficient lethality to neutralized most soft targets. Caution is advise however, as each overcharge shot will shut down internal systems until the excess heat can be flushed from the weapon's core.

What you are doing right now is pretty much looking at the current shotgun or NKs and saying they're complete garbage based on their expressed stats. Do they do only 42, and 200 damage? No, they much, much more. So yeah, until we actually try out the weapon there isn't anyway to say how it will actually perform.

Uhh, and why would they use it if stuff like the scrambler rifle outperforms it + more range?

The RoF of scrambler pistol is 400 RPM. At 80 damage a shot, this translates to 533 DPS. Notably, it also has a 450% damage bonus on headshots.

Just spitballing, if it had 5 pellets (as to not completely outperform the Shotgun on damage) you'd be dishing out 250 damage everytime you pulled the trigger with a range of 20 meters. Considering it has a 12 round magazine.

Now compare that to the shotgun which has 44 damage x 12 (last I checked) pellets for 528 damage with a range of 4m with an 8 round magazine.

Just personal preference but I'd much rather deal half damage at more than five times the range and I'm certain a lot of other players would agree with me. Trust me when I say that even though the scrambler rifle has longer range, you can't beat that sheer killing power and it would quickly become the flavor of the month.

What you are doing right now is pretty much looking at the current shotgun or NKs and saying they're complete garbage based on their expressed stats. Do they do only 42, and 200 damage? No, they much, much more. So yeah, until we actually try out the weapon there isn't anyway to say how it will actually perform.

Did it not have a base headshot damage of 400%, as well as being more effective against shields?

No more flavor of the month. Nerf its ROF or range