Most notably because all rifles will have a reduction in damage to accomodate a longer TTK but the HMG will not. IMO, it's already in a pretty good place and it's only intended counters in the CQC environment are the AR and the SG, both of which are getting some pretty hefty nerfs come 1.8

Fairly worried that the HMG will completely replace other CQC options as the new heavies gain in popularity and the subsequent nerfs occur. I kinda feel as though rifles were singled out in the TTK area in this aspect, some were obviously over-powering but there were others that were already falling short here in 1.7 (breach, burst and tactical AR, for instance).

I can't be the only one with this concern.

AR is not a counter for the hmg that would be ********, HMG is supposed to counter medium suits at close range. shotgun on a fast suit is a great counter for a heavy. the idea that you are supposed to counter a heavy by going toe to toe is ********, I cant take a heavy suit and go toe to toe face to face with a veh now can i? ARs are supposed to be meant at countering other light weapons in its optimum range as well as having a much larger jack of all trades use. really they should keep the ar dmg where it is and up its effective ranges by about 25%

You're not.

I also think that the balance for heavies is in a fairly good place right now. Not perfect, but close.

There are two changes in 1.8 that will directly affect this balance.

Rifle nerfs, but no hmg nerf. This increases the hmg's relative power by ~(10% - 15%)
Heavy Resistances. 25% reduction to splash damage and additional 10-15% damage resistances vs specific weapon types. This will make heavies tankier.

Individually neither change seems to much, but I am worried that this will be a classic case of CCP nerfing and buffing simultaneously to produce a larger than intended result. Some of this might be mitigated by the potential assault role 10% rof bonus we saw on sisi, but that has not been confirmed yet afaik.

So im worried. I really do not what to see 1.8 do to heavies what 1.7 did to tanks.

Focus fire maybe? Take down 1 sentinel at a time, not just have a team of 16 shoot everywhere.

Damage mods are still getting nerfed. And proficiency.
You seriously can't do anything with just a HMG.

I want to say 99% of heavies use damage mods.

Shouldn't be that bad.

In CQC...
HMG > AR
AR > Other rifles
SG scout can own all in CQC with skill/cover/dampening/scanner nerf/flux
Other rifles > HMG when maintaining range/flanking

It generally will take more than one gun to take down a heavy holding a point, but it has nothing to do with teamwork. Once you know where the heavy is and start picking away at it others in the area will naturally join in until it goes down. That's the heavy's weakness. It can't pick its battles. If it tries to retreat to a better position it'll just get shot in the back. If it tries to flank a position it'll find a whole new situation when it gets there.

That's exactly where assaults shine. A squad of assaults will generally overpower a squad of heavies due to being able to pin them down, predict their behavior, and flank them.

We can't nerf the HMG just yet. Like assaults heavies received a bit of a nerf with the damage mod nerf. HMG damage mods also only do half what they used to. Rep tools also received a nerf so heavies will die easier. Also heavies are more susceptible to the soon to be buffed mass driver. So calling for a nerf on the HMG is premature at best.....

That being said heavy TTK, while going down, won't be going down as much as assault. So a small damage nerf to the HMG in the future MIGHT be reasonable.

But making such a change before we find out things are going to work will make balancing harder. Maybe hold off on the nerf comments a bit until we see how this round of changes affect balance?