The role of the Assault suit should be DPS.

They should have a bonus to support that. Ether a Damage mod bonus as Canari Elphus suggested or just a strait up damage buff. Maybe just a strait class bonus of +3% damage (3% flat for any assault suit, not 3% per level). This would be balanced because they are easier to hit than Scouts, and have less health than Heavies. I suggest adding this on top of the bonuses they already have.

3% flat for any assault suit, not 3% per level

3% is a laughable difference that wouldn't come anywhere close to encouraging me to switch out of my assault scout.

Quick question to the group...

How do you square the role of the assault and the role of the Commando?

Many posts in the thread indicate that some better overall stats and a DPS related bonus of some type are the way to go. Not disagreeing with you, my question is how you balance with the Commando suit and it's role and perks?

I like the Commando where its at. The fact that it might share some bonuses with the assault does not diminish either's role as their other attributes does that for them. The Commando is the swiss army knife of the battlefield while the assault is a much more focused role. As a front line fighter it needs to have some tank, some speed and good dps. The Commando's role is to provide some variability to the squad should situations change. It is the stopgap to a possible weakness.

Switch Commando and Assault Bonuses or mix them with both roles getting both...

Good discussion to all.

I think that having the Assault suit bonues suite mix DPS / Defensive related perks is the way to go. That one point I would offer that diverges from Pokey's concept is that I would prefer to adjust base values of the suit rather than targeting perks to specific modules. I undestand the logic, it's simiilar to how the approach with weapons based bonuses are addressed.

Additionally, I think we might want to look at going away from "tech tags" and more to "racial tags".
Example - CalAssault would get bonuses applied to rail rifle / MagSec AND the swarm launcher.

Yes the tag system is completely borked right now and should be redone. It's very difficult to come up with bonuses that work well and encompass all of the race's weapons/gear. Then we can get pirate faction gear that uses two skills for bonuses

As for the bonuses to the suit itself instead of the modules, i would actually agree. The reason I proposed the bonus to modules is because CCP has stated that they wanted to move away from flat suit bonuses and apply them to modules instead in order to shift emphasis on fitting, rather the suit itself. Whether or not we should stick with this design direction is obviously up for debate.

I fear that many of the choices that CCP makes are reactionary measures based on the community and dont really sit down to think about the true roles of each suit class and trying to give them a definitive role on the battlefield. I think some of the changes are in the right direction but either not effective enough or too restrictive.

First thing to look at is what is each role supposed to accomplish.

Heavy - point defense. They are tanks who are supposed to take a lot of damage and discourage unorganized frontal assaults. Thus, their bonuses of resistances are probably the best thought out in the game. I think that the HMG is a little bit too good of a killer at times but not horribly so. Its in a good spot right now.

Scouts - flankers. They are glass cannons who are made to help flank the enemy and harass them behind front lines. Their bonuses are fine in terms of profile and precision. The only issue comes with their ability to brick tank and still retain their speed. I think that they should possibly have more of a de-buffer if they choose to brick where plates might have a greater effect on their speed and shields have more of an effect on their profile.

Logis - support. I like the role bonus of reduction to equipment costs. The racial bonuses are way too restrictive however and give little reason to carrying a diverse equipment loadout. It tends to make equipment almost useless if not part of your bonus. I think that all logis should have some sort of base effectiveness for equipment but that certain races get a little more than others. IE - if you are a Min Logi, you get a 100% bonus to Min equipment, a 75% bonus to Gal (allies), and a 50% bonus to Cal and Amarr. This helps so that you have a reason to be one logi versus another but your equipment isnt completely gimped.

Assaults - frontline. An assaults job is pure fighting. They honestly have the worst thought out bonus of all. They are meant to have a decent amount of tank and deal very good damage. They are the grunts of the game. I think that the origional proposal of having an efficacy to damage mods gives them a focused role and reason to choose them over a scout or logi. If they had a 10% bonus for each level, that means that it would give a 50% bonus to complex damage mods, or a 7.5% bonus overall. This makes them more effective as killers without being game-breakingly so. They need something because they are bad with equipment and have issues being too stealthy.