Scouts don't need a focus around defense, as they're eWAR and stealth abilities prevent them from being in a situation where they would need to have a prolonged firefight.

This isn't Eve.

I'd rather see scouts lose their sidearm slots than their light slots. As much as I hate shotguns, they are a decidedly scout weapon.
Force the shotgunners to get close. No more versatile invisible shotguns.

Little Known Fact: Nova Knives can fit in the Light Weapon Slot.

dedicated scouts don't need light weapons.. shotgun scouts and snipers would still be able to what they do on a basic frame, maybe just up the cpu/pg on basic frames a bit. this way assaults are more viable? thoughts?

Come on guys I know it is a long thread, but posting with out reading it serves no purpose to the discussion.

As brought up earlier basic suits can be used for sniper/anti-vehicle/assault fits in a low profile high speed suit. While light suits have less cpu/pg they are able to be fit most likely at a smaller capacity than assault/commando suits. I think people then would take assault suit over playing the scout as a assault class because of not only the TTK but range and clip size as stated earlier the class would require more clever choices instead of running up and shotgunning someone. If you think scout = frontal assault you're wrong period.

OUR GOAL ISN'T TO MAKE SCOUTS UNABLE TO KILL, BUT THAT THEY DO IT AT A LESSER CAPACITY THAN ASSAULTS/COMMANDOS WITHOUT TACTICAL ADVANTAGE.

Something that the proposed cloak change will not achieve and hinder all but shotgun users. Nerfing side arms out of the the mix arguably the only play style that could use the advantage because of its TTK/range/clip deficiencies.

and plz stay on topic the only proposed change is sidearms only scout.

The guys I asked to make a side arm only video is busy with 1.9 stuff so if anyone could make one to show how effective it is that would be appreciated. I would do it myself if I had the utility.

If you want to balance scouts you have to reduce there Time To Kill so scouts can not drop someone before they can react. Increasing the time before the engagement is worthless what must be increased is the time between the first shot and death of target... impossible in a shared weapon pool(assault, commandos, and logi) including the sg and plc this is why side arms is the only way to balance them.

I understand the cloak is now primarily effective for shotgun users and hope that the cloak tacnet change and maybe the delay would be reverted if this change was chosen to implement.

I use ion pistol/nova knives with out a cloak on a mk scout there is a huge recovery difference between it and the shotgun while I can ohk if I miss someone which is easy on a moving target I have very little chance to recover where as the shot gun is effective at range nk also have a charge up time. I still need to read the rest of the comment and will reply back along with adressing the other comments

Nova knives also have a charge up time and are not often used in frontal assault so there is much more give and take compared with the shotgun. This change would also address strife scouts in the same fix without limiting the modules they can use as it would only effect range and effective dmg so they could keep the play styles, but in a balanced state.

You said you would have posted a video so I can assume you are a scout as well right? If so you and I both know ewar isn't the problem with scouts no matter the changes players are not going to see me coming and we will most likely get the jump on them it is what are class is. right? I am not saying ewar doesn't need fixed, but without parity we will always be hard to detect the ewar is not a problem with our class it is our class. So changes to ewar may change our fits, but it will not address the position of the scout.

There is very very little difference between replacing the light weapon slot with a side arm and forcing scouts to fit certain modules because of over the top penalties. Especially when sidearms would make such a small difference to the scout class. As far as scouts tanking we both know our hp doesn't matter we don't get shot if we are sneaky although it is nice to have a little padding. Even with speed tanked sg scouts and shield tanked strife scouts the hp is pretty minor. Shield tanks strife scouts rely on ttk/regain not hp and speed tankers rely on ttk/speed. With all of your experience I would assume you already knew this so get real bro.

This isn't taking away a slot because scouts are op this is replacing a slot in order to balance them. Since you and I both play with side arms we both know how strong it is and how it is a very small nerf unless you are a sg user because kn kills are much harder to get.