I've been kicking this around in my head for a while now and I can't come to any other conclusion except that having proto guns deal extra damage base isn't the way to go here. Proto weapons should obviously be better in some fashion but it doesn't need to be raw damage that they shine in. Here is my general flow of thought on the subject.

SELECTING A PROTO GUN SHOULD BE A MORE TACTICAL CHOICE

Currently what level of gun you use is only a minor tactical decision. This is because with damage being such a big part of the game there is no situation where 'hit it harder' is not a good option. There is some choice involved with the fitting being so high that you need to make a choice there, but even then the game's focus on damage presses the player into fitting the best gun they can where ever possible. I'd go so far as to say that if ISK were not limiting players then only dedicated logi running PRO equipment would regularly run STD and ADV guns.

Some guns having a damage bonus makes sense and those shouldn't change. The forge gun and the sniper rifle both come to mind here. That said there are some guns that could get different bonuses that still make using them justifiable, but don't offer such blanket utility in all situations.

As an example during this heavy event lets look at the two heavy weapons we have right now the FG and the HGM. The FG is a good example of a gun that should keep its current bonus. It works well with the damage bonus because simply put the damage bonus doesn't help it against infantry much, and it isn't big enough to drastically change its use as an AV weapon against anything but tanks. LAVs and DSs have so little health that the 10% extra damage isn't going to change the number of shots you need to kill them drastically with their current incarnations. This might change in the future but for now it stands. Tanks are their own issue deserving a different thread. The HMG however Suffers from the issue of getting both too much and too little from its damage bonus. The HMG might work better with, for example, a bonus to clip size rather then damage providing staying power and tactical options that the normal HMG doesn't have. For example an HMG with a 10 or 20 percent deeper magazine can provide much longer and useful covering fire or suppression fire then the current HMG. If you want to go another way saying that damage is the point of the weapon and should still be focused on you could give it a slightly tighter spread and further optimal at higher levels. That would let it project damage further without actually increasing its raw damage output. Obviously any changes would need some serious thought but this is the direction I go in when I think about the problems with the damage bonus.

PART OF THE PROBLEM IS DAMAGE MODS, SLOT LAYOUT AND PROFICIENCY

I don't want to broach a fix for this right now because these are complex issues and tough too much of the game to have a quick fix. That said there is a problem with overstocking damage mods and their synergy with both levels in proficiency and with the higher base damage from the PRO guns. This isn't so big a problem right now with heavy weapons, but with the new racial heavies there will be suits with more high slots to cram damage mods into. A PRO HMG with full prof and 3 complex damage mods deals 28.778051 damage a round. For comparison the base HMG deals 18 damage. Again this whole mess is its own problem and I don't think it has a clean easy solution, but it does need mentioning and I do think changing the damage bonus on some guns will mitigate the issue some.



If we want the game to get better we all need to pitch in on feedback and ideas so what are your guy's thoughts on the subject? I'm sure theres stuff I'm missing and I'm curious about other people's opinions on the idea as a whole, or maybe in regards to their specific favored gun.