Hell, I find this intriguing just from the standpoint of seeing the effects. You should keep in mind, however, that the ARs in this game are far more restrictive than in some others. Hell, there's one for each role, and they don't even have select-fire options.

True about the select-fire option, and that feeds off the specialization feel that is one of the cores of EVE... but I can't help but feel that trigger discipline makes much of that an afterthought. It doesn't matter how restrictive the ARs are or are not, they are the healthy majority of the guns being used, and as you said, the effect of temporarily removing them would be amazing to watch. With the players not auto-gravitating toward the golden standard of FPSing, we could see what other trends develop, what is in imbalance among specialized weapons, and(best part here) because it would temporary, we would have a minimum of rage.

Well, the other issue is that we have very few weapons to choose from right now. Once the weapon selection starts expanding down the road, the variety of weapons used will increase. You also have to take into account that ARs are the easiest weapons to pick up at the start, and are currently the only mid-range militia weapons available.

I like the sound of this.
it would be a great way to test out the aspects of the other weapons.

I haven't had chance to truly test the Shotty/SMG because i usually get dropped by 3 assault guys at once.

Just for the purposes of being able to test the other weapon types it would be nice to see a no-AR build.

I imagine the majority of shifts will be to the Shotgun and Sniper Rifle...

basically choosing either CQC or Ranged, depending on how you usually use an AR.

But i like this suggestion.
Great to get other game aspects tested.

+1 internet for OP.

I also wonder if Signature Radius right now actually even means anything, because people still have absolutely no issues hitting me clear across the map with a Forge / Sniper; despite having not only the Skill for 25% reduction (L5) but also a Signature reduction module on. This should make me an absolute kitten to hit at long-range.

No one said the problem was with prototype ARs. The problem is with the wide role that the AR occupies compared to other weapons, it is almost good at everything.

That's what an AR does. Its a jack of all trades. I really don't see the point of this thread other then qq. OP admits to being an AR hater and wants them removed from the beta for testing purposes... Right.

This isn't TF2. We have dropship god mode which is good at pretty much anything so I really don't see why people are hating on ARs. Adapt or die.

Honestly what is the point of this thread? To ask ccp to remove ARs from the beta for testing?

Cmon people. This is just sad.

I don't seek the ARs removal, I seek balance with all the other tools of the trade. As you stated, people gravitate toward the AR. If you had continued to read, you would have noticed that I stated that removing the AR would force people out of their comfort zone to make them choose the specialized weapons and get a feel for them. Also, because a dropship can do anything, which it can't by the way, doesn't mean you take something else and say it's fine because it isn't as bad. In fact, if people ditched the AR for a build they would come across the weapons which kill dropships, which is the point of this thread. Because the majority uses ARs, we can't test what a balanced team of specialists can do. We only test what ARs can do versus the special weapons.

You may have remembered me saying this, maybe not, but thank you for being the one to prove 'Now that everyone who wouldn't read the whole OP thinks it's a rage thread and already commented, let's move on.' wasn't wasted typing.

Furthermore, does anyone else find the fact that he whines about 'godmode' dropships, but hates the idea that people will be forced into roles that can fight dropships? It is immensely entertaining.

I wasn't whining about dropships. I was pointing out that there are other aspects to the perfect imbalance and bringing up TF2 does not apply.

I spec AV btw so I don't understand where you are going with this.

LOL take out the AR to balance the game. How are you going to balance a game without all the weapons. This is a qq thread whether people want to admit it or not.

How is it ok that a weapon can be a jack of all trades? Don't just ignore the balance issue by just dismissing it as what AR's are conventionally suppose to be; just because something is a convention does not make it good for games, nor balanced.

We are beta testers, we are suppose to test the game and give feedback about things like balance. You are suggesting that we ignore a balance issue and just "adapt or die"?
Would you have wanted the overpowered swarm launchers from many builds ago that could kill multiple infantry units with just 1 press of R1 to have remain untouched, and just expected people to "adapt or die"? Same for the unreachable tower camping dropships that were impossible to lock on with swarms? How about the precision strike spam fueled by boosting, should be people have just "adapted" to them instead of voicing their complaints?
Our job is not to just accept problems, our job is to report the problems so that the game will improve and become actually enjoyable.

I noticed that a lot of ppl say that AR is the only midrange weapon and that's why it's popular. To be fair it's also the most powerful short range weapon outparsing shottys and HMG in how it performs up close. This latter part is what makes AR so unbalanced.

I wasn't whining about dropships. I was pointing out that there are other aspects to the perfect imbalance and bringing up TF2 does not apply.

I spec AV btw so I don't understand where you are going with this.

LOL take out the AR to balance the game. How are you going to balance a game without all the weapons. This is a qq thread whether people want to admit it or not.

Sorry if I am being to blunt but taking the AR for testing purposes is not going to happen. We need the AR to help balance the other weapons.

HMG's may have weaker bullets but more that make up for this with Insanely high DPS and total potential damage per Mag. we do a lot more dammage a lot faster.

True, but its a limit to how close you can go. If anyone who isn't another heavy gets too close to an HMG user, then they can circle him like a maypole... nothing raises the blood pressure more than being totally helpless like that.

good luck that that. you will need it.

with just the standard heavy and a good armor mod i have a shield armor total that is a little over 900 HP (thats more than the default lav). so if you are orbiting me, just remember to make every bullet count . worse comes to worse, i pull out my side arm

That's the thing. I am a Heavy as well, and have had a Scout melee me to death in this fashion. With 135 being standard melee damage, it took quite a while. Felt like trying to kill a Rifter in a Tornado without webs... There is a sweet spot where the HMG is amazing, but most of the time people are too far away and in AR's prime range, or too close and in maypole range. I just wish heavy had the same turn speed as everyone else, or maybe a high slot module that increases turn speed and weapon damage, kinda like a Gyro-stabilizer in EVE.

The signature radius has nothing to do with the chance of getting hit by an enemy. A lower signature radius only makes you harder to detect by active and passive scanners on the minimap, and possibly reduces the time you keep being marked. And since active scanners don't seem to work against infantry atm, reduced signature would only be good to escape passive detection, which has a scan radius of like 15m for most suits except the scout.

I've seen many people whining about the Assault Rifle of late, and not just for one thing or for known broken coding(which is now fixed btw).

It's too accurate!
It's fine the way it is!
It's too weak!
It's too short ranged!
It's too long ranged!
It's kick is screwed!
The sight is unnatural!
I can't paint it pretty colors!

When it comes to ARs, let me make my position absolutely clear. I despise them. I detest them. I loath them. And not just here, but in all shooters. Too much good in everything, not enough bad in something. Too much Jack, not enough ass. Non-specialization sucks, but it's always the strongest way to go in most shooters, and that sickens me.

Now that everyone who wouldn't read the whole OP thinks it's a rage thread and already commented, let's move on.

I will now make a comparison to another team based shooting game. That game is TF2. TF2 has many of the roles we have here in DUST, but one major difference: no Assault Rifle, or even a comparable gun to an Assault Rifle. Each class is cripplingly overspecialized and has it's own weaknesses and strengths which the other classes make up for if used in a squad. And it has also survived for many years, and is touted as an amazingly balanced game.

Now, I'm not saying we should remove ARs entirely, but it would be a nice way to test the balance of everything else if we removed the ARs from the game for a build. We could get things down like the damage build rate for the LRs, the best ranges for the shorter weapons(shotty, SMG), the best way to deal with sniping(how good the scope should be, how much it should kick), if we took the one thing that we know is working fine out of the equation for a few short weeks.

I look forward to the thoughtful comments in the depths of the flame.

HMG's may have weaker bullets but more that make up for this with Insanely high DPS and total potential damage per Mag. we do a lot more dammage a lot faster.