well, there is no way in this kind of hyper-competitive and complex end-game could be balanced so that every combination has a place. The best of the best migrate to "best", sometimes actually on orders, not by choice. Tactical commanders simply don't aloow sub-optimal choices in their PC team, regardless of player preferences.

I am actually kind of happy to see that the situation is as flavorful as it is. I expected absolute black and white.

HMG dps and range will be toned down, burst hmg will keep current range, assault hmg will be a longer range autocannon with anti-vehicle capability.

I would be interested in seing the data about the most used weapons in general. I wouldn't be surprised to see the remote explosives to be just after the HMG. However no need to nerf them right...

Can you provide us with the specific time frame polled? If this data spans the last 6 months, for example, it may still reflect old trends.

So I have a serious question, and this is not intended to come off in a snide tone.

But in over six months, there have been no less than five serious, well thought threads on addressing HMG dominance in CQC. There has not been a single dev response, nor any indication that these threads have even been reviewed.

In fact there has never been a non-trolling dev response in any similar thread in two years that I have read.

Why?

Further, Sentinels/heavies have been proven more problematic than worthwhile in a balance perspective, so the answer has been "make them even MORE CQC. More of the same thing that has never worked should work now, right?"

Why are Heavies not being repurposed to dedicated AV and area denial?

Area denial is not room by room brawling. Area denial is what you post at the door/gate to keep people OUT of the rooms in the first place.

Sentinel suit's advantages and disatvantages are TEXTBOOK examples of open-ground, area suppression parameters. But they are being crammed into close quarters.

Why?

The only answer anyone has EVER provided is "heavies are cqc." This is a non-answer that holds as much validity as when I say "because :reasons:"

There is no vision for the heavy suit. They were originally billed as the go-to suits for AV and area denial. What we have is a CQC brawler that performs poorly in an AV capacity compared to lighter, more agile AV options (swarms).

So instead of doing more of the same thing, why do we not separate the role of the heavy, which should be a support platform that assists an assault squad, from the assault, which should be the go-to suit for attacking in CQC?

To address anti-shield concerns, after we add HAV progression, we will add anti-shield swarm launchers, and homing av-flux grenades, probably reduce lock on range on normal swarm launchers and add an anti-air version, most likely a single long range swarm missile to hopefully improve the rendering of incoming threats to dropships.

Simple, I want the Gallente Assault Rifle to have a place, and currently the HMG encroaches on the rifle range too much. The Busrt will be a longer range, and the Assault HMG will be an autocannon.

Other things we want to do, especially in PC, and this is mainly coming from Zatara, is to distribute the objectives more, and not let the meta be "If I have the city and the two points in that socket, we either win in a 3 point, or just need to get one more and hold the city with our sentinels"

And put more objectives in the relative open.