Lets look at this problem by comparing proto suits of the same race. Look at these two fits for the gallente assault and the gallente scout. Both assume that the user has maxed out their skill trees.

Maxed Assault gk.0
Assault gk.0
Complex Shield Extender
Complex Shield Extender
Enhanced Shield Extender
Complex Armor Plates
Complex Armor Plates
Complex Armor Plates
Complex Armor Plates
Federation Duvolle Specialist Assault Rifle

base movement speed of 4.07 m/s
total HP: 1188

Maxed Scout gk.0
Scout gk.0
Complex Shield Extender
Complex Shield Extender
Complex Armor Plates
Complex Armor Plates
Complex Armor Plates
Complex Armor Plates
Federation Duvolle Specialist Assault Rifle
Kaalakiota Magsec SMG
Flux Grenade
Cloak Field
Compact Nanohive

base movement speed of 4.44 m/s
total HP: 989

Now, clearly the assault has almost a 200 hp edge but it is slower than the scout, can't hold a side arm, can't hold a grenade, are easier to spot on radar, and can't turn invisible at will. At this point there is no point in running an assault when a scout will clearly make the more effective and versatile killing suit.

Assaults need to have something that makes them preferable to scouts. Currently CCP is trying to provide that incentive through the assault bonuses but those bonuses are too limited in their scope to have much of an impact on game play. A simple way to buff the assault would be to increase either the base HP or the damage but that would make the suit compete with the heavy frames for max HP which is not the point of the suit and might invalidate another class.

Nerfing the scouts ability to stack plates would be another way to make assaults have more of a place on the battle field, doing so by reducing base hp would lead to more people brick tanking (as shown above) which is not desireable. Reducing the CPU and PG of the scout would also necessitate buffing the scout bonus to using cloaks (or they would become unusable).

Honestly I don't know what changes could be made to deal with the lack of a place for assaults on the battle field. I think that changing the assault bonuses would be a start but the changes would need to be pretty radical to make an actual difference. What do you all think. Come on DUST community, there are plenty of smart people out there. How can we make a place for assaults on the battlefiled that isn't simply one of being meat for the meat grinder.