It's an interesting observation, but the argument that the AR is actually MORE effective in the laser's optimal range includes more variables than pure damage.

Assault rifles might have the POTENTIAL to do a little bit more damage at laser distances than lasers do at AR distances, but there are critical differences. One mentioned was the damage buildup effect, which is really significant. The other, more readily recognizable variable, is the amount of recoil. Even though the AR might technically "do" a particular amount of damage at range, the farther out from optimal you go with an AR the less the base damage statistic actually reflects the output in a real life scenario. Recoil throws off your aim relative to a target's distance, so at laser ranges every player will suffer an additional number of missed bullets while using an AR, purely because of recoil.



This is pretty much the "problem" with lasers rifles right now. They fill their niche really nicely, which is great! But the lack of recoil and the absurdly long heat build up time (it goes up to more than 10 seconds, folks) allows laser a huge window of time in which they can miss, and miss, and miss while still managing to kill a target. No other gun has this luxury; you're going to have to curb your fire rate by burst firing in order to bring recoil down on any other weapon.

P.S.: Yes, except for HMG's. They're a bit of an oddity, but they also have a heat buildup mechanic to emulate recoil. It's also not that great at it.

Recoil definitely isn't something that lasers need, but the heat buildup time could stand some tweaking to actually more faithfully emulate the issues that every other gunner in the game faces.



This sharpshooter thing could definitely be rectified though, along with a fix to heat buildup time.

If war were arithmetic, the mathematicians would rule the world.

The reason the LR is so good is because it does huge damage at ranges the AR struggles to do damage at. It's also far easier to aim than an AR, both due to the zoom, and due to it having no kick/dispersion, which further moves the balance in its favour. The reality of the situation is that, when someone who knows how to use a LR gets to using one, he can kill an AR user in seconds without any serious threat to himself.

Green Living states it well... not OP from the conclusion it is not in heavy use.

If you want to be kind of dumb and oversimplify things, then sure, every weapon in the game is equal and CCP has achieved perfect balance except for the nova knife, el oh el.