I am a little concerned about the proposed changes to the proficiency skill in 1.8. The skill will no longer buff damage across a weapon's damage spectrum, instead, it will now buff either damage to shields or armor, based on the weapon's profile. IMO, this is going to make for some necessary playstyle mechanics that will effectively make two out the the four battle rifles very undesirable to use.

(Reasoning)

When it comes to "assaulting the enemy", so to speak, most player will have at their disposal a light weapon and a sidearm. A ranged weapon like the RR, with a damage profile bonused to armor and deficient when performing against shields, will be an extremely ineffective weapon for the way combat will play out on the field. Example:

Merc caries two weapons: light and sidearm

Merc #1

Light: rail rifle
Sidearm: scrambler pistol

Merc is ineffective at range due to the rail rifle's damage profile, bonused against shields, because the shields of all enemies must be dealt with first.

Merc's sidearm has a damage profile that is bonused to shields but, in most cases, cannot close the distance to engage the enemy with this weapon.

Merc #2

Light: scrambler rifle
Sidearm: mag sec SMG

Merc is extremely effective at range due to the scrambler rifle's damage profile, bonused to shields, because the shields of all enemies must be dealt with first.

Merc's sidearm has a damage profile that is bonused to armor, and can VERY easily/effectively close the distance on his enemy and make the kill with his/her sidearm after his/her enemy's shields have been taken out with the light weapon at range.

So, what you end up having here is one set of weapons combinations (rail/projectile light, laser/blaster sidearm) that will be extremely impotent, and another (laser/blaster light, rail/projectile sidearm) being extremely potent.

If these changes go through in this manner you will very quickly see nobody at all ever using rail rifle and very few people using combat rifles, for the very simple fact that they cannot get kills with them. On the other hand you will have people like myself who will take advantage of these facts and run nothing but scrambler rifles and mag sec SMGs.

The potential for these changes to slip through the system unaddressed causes me a great deal of concern, so I hope that CCP is reading this or has already considered it and is taking steps to address this very serious issue.

Thak you for reading.

-OP Snip-

It's not about being able to kill with a rifle. It's about some weapons will be far more suited to be an all purpose type weapon while others will come up extremely short in this regard. No one will use the latter set of weapons because it is not efficient.

You are not understanding properly what I am trying to get across here.

With my ScR and MS SMG, I will not have to rely on and potentially be let down by anyone. Anyone who wants to be self sufficient will be doing the same.