It was so much nicer in 2014. The worst thing you had to worry about was Amarr Assaults (they thought they were OP but they really ******* weren't... people were just realizing how good the gun is)

Why'd they have to ruin it with:

• Making rail rifles as strong as HMGs at short range and allowing them to melt through shields
• Allowing mass drivers to 3-shot kill any suit
• Militia ******* locus grenades are as effective as Cores and Cores are better than remote explosives
• Combining the above with ******* JUMP MODS.

Do you people realize how broken these things are?! It doesn't even matter that Caldari assault is the best one now. That's only because you can make them jump and/or pump damage into their over powered rail rifles, and out-DPS what's SUPPOSED to be their hard-counter, Amarr and Gal assaults

If Nova is anything like this... I swear...

You know the game is broken when your ******* Sentinel is a dead weight on the battlefield 90% of the time.

Have you considered that you may just be bad?

It was so much nicer in 2014. The worst thing you had to worry about was Amarr Assaults (they thought they were OP but they really ******* weren't... people were just realizing how good the gun is)

Why'd they have to ruin it with:

• Making rail rifles as strong as HMGs at short range and allowing them to melt through shields
• Allowing mass drivers to 3-shot kill any suit
• Militia ******* locus grenades are as effective as Cores and Cores are better than remote explosives
• Combining the above with ******* JUMP MODS.

Do you people realize how broken these things are?! It doesn't even matter that Caldari assault is the best one now. That's only because you can make them jump and/or pump damage into their over powered rail rifles, and out-DPS what's SUPPOSED to be their hard-counter, Amarr and Gal assaults

If Nova is anything like this... I swear...

You know the game is broken when your ******* Sentinel is a dead weight on the battlefield 90% of the time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OH WAIT YOURE SERIOUS? LEMME LAUGH HARDER

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Caldari the best???

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OK, so what are you laughing about, the post or the idea behind it? Do you think that the game is actually balanced? Or are you one of those who believe you just exploit the hell out of any opportunity to win?

Get good, times are indeed rough but we must adapt and spend as much ISK as possible.

Never back down!

Have you considered that you may just be bad?

Whenever I see too many cal-assault I whip out a Shotgun. They drop like flies.

He's talking about the Cal assault being the best.
Also, he needs to chill on the spam.

Yep, we do. I hate shotguns. I take them out with extreme prejudice.

OK, so what are you laughing about, the post or the idea behind it? Do you think that the game is actually balanced? Or are you one of those who believe you just exploit the hell out of any opportunity to win?

And with that you've summed up most of my problems with this game. There IS no balance. It's like CCP did a whole heap of their often extremely ill-considered buffs and "tweaks", then before anyone had a chance to find out how bad they were, pulled the plug on any further development because they were closing down the game.

And that's probably exactly what happened. I sometimes find myself just standing there watching a bunch of idiots jumping around the battlefield in heavy suits that have no right to be even moving fast, let along jumping, firing anything from shotguns, thru plasma cannons to mass drivers, completely uncounterable to most people, the height of cowardice.

To my mind it's just as well that it's shutting down. Something this broken should never have existed in the first place and would have been irrevocably broken if allowed to continue. It's just stupid.

Do you people realize how broken these things are?! It doesn't even matter that Caldari assault is the best one now.

Apparently you forgot how blatantly OP assault rifles used to be before the rest of the racial ARs were released.

They were, unfortunately, one of those things that were immune to being balanced because the vast majority of the playerbase used them.

Have you considered that you may just be bad?

He's completely serious. Anything that kills his Sentinel is OP and should be removed and if you don't agree its the ends of times. Dude, calm your shlt. All of it. Someone killed you, game is unbalanced, boo freakin hoo. In about eleven days there will be no DUST514. The very definition of DUST514 unbalanced and criminally selfish (the players mostly) so with all respect for my corpmate htfu or gtfo.

And with that you've summed up most of my problems with this game. There IS no balance. It's like CCP did a whole heap of their often extremely ill-considered buffs and "tweaks", then before anyone had a chance to find out how bad they were, pulled the plug on any further development because they were closing down the game.

And that's probably exactly what happened. I sometimes find myself just standing there watching a bunch of idiots jumping around the battlefield in heavy suits that have no right to be even moving fast, let along jumping, firing anything from shotguns, thru plasma cannons to mass drivers, completely uncounterable to most people, the height of cowardice.

To my mind it's just as well that it's shutting down. Something this broken should never have existed in the first place and would have been irrevocably broken if allowed to continue. It's just stupid.

For the record I actually disagree with OP on the issue of RRs. To me ScRs and LRs are the most OP weapon on the battlefield, which is why I've had to put armour on my beloved Caldari suits. But the distinction is irrelevant. There is so much imbalance in this game as to make it almost unplayable for anyone who doesn't exploit the imbalances.

I thought you were smarter than this Arkena.

So I tested something. On a basic Caldari assault I'm not even skilled into, with an advanced rail rifle i have zero proficiency in, I out-DPS a full proto Gal assault. AT SHORT RANGE.

How is that not broken?

At least you're capable of being reasonable about your disagreement, instead of these juvenile butthurt outcries from everyone else.

Just so you guys know, the DPS for rail rifles and assault rifles are as follows (proficiency 5 for both):

Rail rifle vs armour: 457 hp/s
Assault rifle vs shield: 521 hp/s
Assault rifle dps vs shield with Gal assault lvl 5: 599 hp/s

I'm showing dps vs armour and shield as both have a 10% damage bonus.

The data is all available on protofits, if you don't want to get it straight from the game. Although it doesn't have the Gallente assault bonus.

So, as you can see the assault rifle has considerably higher dps than the rail rifle. To make up for this the rail rifle has much greater range and accuracy. Although the rail rifle's hipfire accuracy is very poor.

Rail rifles and assault rifles are two of the most balanced weapons in the game. In fact so are Caldari and Gallente assaults, except for the fact that assaults in general are a bit OP compared to other classes.

edit: it is arguable that the Gallente assault bonus is a bit too powerful, but it's not a major issue. If anything it implies assault rifles are kind of weak without it.

Rail rifle vs armour: 457 hp/s
Assault rifle vs shield: 521 hp/s
Assault rifle dps vs shield with Gal assault lvl 5: 599 hp/s

Oh your poor, poor shields have a weakness! How awful! It's bad enough you're nearly immune to everything else in the metagame! Poor you.

All the suffering you must have endured as your PC districts were taken from your corp by LASER RIFLE USERS.

I myself have never thought of any of the weapons in the game is "unbalanced". They are what they are. To me, the AR is better than the RR because of the demonstrable superiority for close range encounters - higher ROF, higher DPS, shorter range, yes, but better for close range. The RR on the other hand is much better at range.

The problem arises when someone like me, as a dedicated Caldari, has to deal with close range encounters in a Caldari shield suit, with a RR. Almost every other race's weapons seem to cut through Caldari suits due to the shields and minimal armour. AR is certainly one of them, hybrid like the RR though they may be, their ROF and DPS just eats shields while my ARR has a very difficult time against heavily armoured suits, Gallente being one of them.

Caldari suits and weapons are designed for range. But to do most of what this game demands for any mode other than Ambush, like hacking objectives or installations, you must be able to deal with close range encounters. That's when the superiority of every other suit and weapon seems to show itself.

The imbalance isn't in the weapons and suits, it's in any attempt to play racially. When you're up against people who just use whatever weapon they want on any suit they want, and you aren't doing that yourself, you're likely going to see the game as unbalanced.

This is some high quality salt. Will fetch a high market price

Is this comment aimed at me? I'm not complaining about imbalance, just trying to help by making you aware of the facts. Both you and Alena stated that the rail rifle has higher dps than the assault rifle, which is incorrect as I have shown.

Also I clearly stated that I thought assault rilfes vs rail rifles and Caldari assaults vs Gallente assaults were balanced.

Also, I use all races of assault suit and have no alegence to either shield or armour tanking.

I also use shield and armour scouts, and shield and armour sentinels. The only thing I don't have is a shield commando.

I understand the problem you have, sticking to only Caldari gear makes close quater combat difficult. Much like using only Gallente gear would make long range combat difficult. I will however make the following comments:

I know the game's nearly gone, but I think it's good to clear this up for a future EVE fps. I'd prefer to have racial distinction and flavour than they all be the same, just with different graphics. It's good that Caldari are better at long range and Gallente are better at short range.

1) The game is not designed for characters to use only one race of suits. By imposing this restriction on yourself it is natural that you would be at a disadvantage in some situations. Though you are perfectly entitled to play this way.

2) Most battles involve the use of long and short range combat. There are plently of situations where range is extremely useful. In fact, back when the rail rifle was OP many people argued on the forums that range was by far the most important attribute (which I disagree with btw).

3) There are plenty of Caldari options for close combat. Assault rail rifles are very effective at short range as well as medium range, so are Magsecs. Nova knives are excellent CQC weapons and can be used well on a Caldari scout with it's dampening bonus and powerful passive scans. The Caldari logi can work well when operating in built up areas by using equipment to support thier team. Nano hives are great for grenades which are usefull for close combat. Rep hives are great. Nanite injectors are great.

4) Mixing weapons and suits from different races gives little benefit and isn't worth worrying about. Sure I like to use a scrambler pistol with my Caldari suit for anti-shield capabiliy. But I could easilly use a bolt pistol and benefit from the sweet reload bonus. Also, there is no need to fit armour on a Caldari suit regardless of engagement range.