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.

What exactly do you mean by the Falloff mechanic removing the EWAR role from scouts? In what sense?

Also, what I find interesting is, how several scouts have stated that the Gal Logi scans make them obsolete in PC, when both this chart, and the experiences of most who currently play PC, begs to differ. 4 out of the 10 top killers being scouts. And surpirisingly, REs are not the highest scout placement, even.

Sentinels, scouts and vehicles, yep, that's PC. Maybe, however, we would see some variety in the weapons used by sentinels, if they had options other than HMG? Not saying the HMG doesn't need balancing, it clearly does.

Also, poor Amarr Commando :(

To reply to rattati and the others who brought up valid points about heavies, K/S, reps, and logis.

I agree that heavy CQC dominance needs to be adressed. I dont think nerfing the HMG is the way to go about it. Its been modified in several hotfixes, and this hasn't stopped it from being a dominant CQC killer.

After all, CQC is their role, even if you nerf the HMG to 20m range, it will still devastate anybody who gets close. CQC in PC being the way it is, those fights are not happening at 40-50m out, they are happening in and around letters at 20m or less, where the most vicious fights take place. In CQC between the shotgun scouts, remotes, and the heavys, theres very little room for the assaults to fit in.

The minmatar assault is one of the few that can stick and move with the scouts which IMO explains its rise, and the Viziam Scrambler can charge single shot most scouts, can also explain why its use is disproportionatley higher in PC compared to the Pubs.

Another poster here brought up the point, that if its not the HMG, it will be bricked sentinels with the same logis on their butts, using the hardest hitting light weapons.

I ask any members of the hardcore PC community whether you see more heavy spam on the wide open maps or in the closed in city socket maps. Only two PCs that i have been in were in open maps, thats where dropships/scouts were dominant.

Compared to normal skirm, heavies sit on points there as well, but most of the fighting occurs in between points trying to cut off marauding bands of scouts and assaults.

Domination is point defense heavy heaven.

Ambush on open maps heavies get eaten alive. In CQC maps, they eat everybody else alive.

Let's be clear about one thing even though my posts might on the surface smell of "dont nerf my (insert stupid thing here).

I am all for fixing sentinels. I am all for making HMGs not be instapop deathvomit.

I am not, however, a fan of balancing methods which have, time and time again, proven either inineffectual or utterly neutering.

The whole "reduce HMG range/damage" have been done over and over again. And every single time within three patch cycles, someone gets it in their head that reverting those changes will provide a balanced fix.

This pendulum has been swung far too many times for me to have any faith in it's ability to solve the core issues with the gun. It's time to rethink how the gun works entirely.

The HMG K/S is also too high, which is why we are acting on it, if it wasn't, we wouldn't.

Its funny they are going to nerf the weapon and not the to armor sentinels.

I bet they will nerf all the assaults to fix the min assault problem as well, lol
The same as they nerfed all the scouts to fix the shotgun gal scout.

Even though I like the idea I use a tac-ar on a G-I scout so I already gimp myself enough. I don't need to be gimped even more and pushed to use the shotgun. Even though many THINK gal scout is shotguns they do have the hunter fitting that uses a AR and the blackeagle uses both shotgun and ar.

Please don't. I know your suggestion is intended well but this will have serious consequences in the AV side. The kind that mean more vehicle rebalancing than we already have to do.