i think their should be a variant of the that could be a sidearm but making all ARs a sidearm is a little extreme.

I love it, hell I suggested something similar, but I think it'll recive a lot of hate

The Black Eagle Scout Suit has that as standard. It comes at a high cost though as you lose the low power slots. Besides the Shotgun and AR combination the suit itself is nothing to shout about. The weapons are effectively standard and Only The BE AR can be in the Side Arm Slot, replacement menu only lets you choose existing Side Arms.

It is Pretty but so what? Like a Hat in Team Fortress 2 I suppose.

The existing solution is to Skill up in SMGs. Higher level variants can take down many Mercs in close quarters. If you respecify an Assault Rifle to fit that Side Arm Slot you will essentially have an SMG anyway.

I really don't see CCP/Shanghai changing their view on it nor would I want them to.

This is pretty much what I suggested, but the thread got buried

ARs are useless against vehicles. ARs normally get eaten alive against HMGs or SMGs or Shottys in CQC. ARs get raped by good LRs and snipers if they can't get close enough.

This suggestion sounds good on paper but wouldn't pass battlefield inspection, I think. You'd give a HMG guy the ability to swap to a mid-range weapon? So what if you keep the CPU/PG the same...He loses 30-something shields and can **** nearly everyone in mid and close combat. How about a Sniper? So he snipes until ANYONE gets close enough to hit him with anything but another Sniper and then flops out his Duvolle and kicks their half dead ass.

You say it would let everyone focus on their niche but it sounds like all it does is make every niche that isn't mid range obsolete mid range combatants. Good for everyone except guys who currently use ARs. ARs are SUPPOSED to be the most common.

So you are saying allow the GEK and Duvolle to be fitted as secondary. That just doesn't make sense. If you want to use an AR then use an AR. If you want to be a sniper then stay away from heavy combat. If you want to be CQC then stay in tight quarters. that seems pretty simple. You can't have the best of both worlds. Players are supposed to decide on a role they want to fill, not be able to fill multiple roles as one class. Pick your class based on your preferred play style and perfect it. I don't see a problem with how the weapons are set up currently. Players that are good at their role are effective. There have been plenty of times where I've been trying to get away from a shotgun scout and wasn't able to. When you do what you're supposed to with your weapon of choice it's effective. If you're running around in the open with a shotgun you deserve to be killed quickly, and the same goes for snipers that aren't hiding somewhere distant. If you don't choose to use a weapon that is effective at mid range, then don't get into that range. The secondary is a last ditch effort weapon, not a weapon to fill your class is weak. Every class is supposed to have its weakness.

This is, honestly, a brilliant idea. Some of the racial variants could be modeled after carbines (shortened full ARs that fire the same ammunition as full ARs). These carbines could be fitted in the sidearm slot. They would be less effective in CQC than Subs and shottys, but still have have decent versatility. The carbine would essentially be a slightly less effective full Assault rifle (slightly less range and damage but still has the same old renowned versatility as it's AR older brother).

Full assault rifles should still need to be fitted to a LIGHT slot, but there should also be the option for the alternative described above. It's perfect considering more racial weapons are coming.

This is also a good way to balance the battlefield as well. People will be able to better defend themselves against infantry when they equip swarm launchers to fend off the tank spam in an ambush match. Don't get me wrong, they won't be as effective at killing infantry than a guy with a real assault rifle, but at least swarm launcher noobs won't be a (completely) free kill anymore.

Another good point about this idea is that this mechanic will be familiar to those who play Battlefield 3 and Halo. In battlefield, the engineer class typically has RPGs and javelins while equiping whatever they want as a primary. And in Halo, you have even more freedom.

Dust 514 is supposed to be a sandbox game, this idea fits perfectly with that concept, allowing players to create unique fits and are functional and fun to play.

I seriously hope a DEV sees this.

Yes, a sniper needs distance ONLY if he needs to snipe, which should be all the time, because he is a sniper, that is the role he has chosen. The CQC doesn't need to hide, he only needs to stay in close quarters, which funny enough is what the "CQ" part of "CQC" means. The CQC player should be inside of a building, or in an area that offers lots of cover to use in closing distance. If you are on a very open map, then select a different class as CQC is not needed.

The advantage comes from the sniper being able to snipe from a distance, and if you get close he can pull out a very powerful AR that can take most suits down very quickly. This takes away the advantage the assault player should have and the weakness that the scout is supposed to have. The difference is in what weapon he can switch to the power of the weapons, obviously. Are you suggesting that an SMG has the same stopping power as the AR? And if you are, why push for ARs to be secondary weapons? There is a HUGE difference between a Duvolle and an SMG, I know you know that. A last ditch effort weapon shouldn't be just as powerful, if not more powerful, than any other weapon on the battlefield.

No I don't believe that, it just looks different when you aim, that's all. Whether its a white dot on iron sights, or the center of crosshairs, all you need to do is have it centered on your target.

I completely agree with the idea Protocake JR brought up and stated something similar previously in this thread. That is a great idea and I wouldn't be surprised to see it implemented in the game soon. I would love to have a carbine on my AV class. Less range, less damage, just as the sidearm is supposed to be. +1

Still disagree Jathniel.

All this suggestion does is make a sniper long + mid range and a Shotty/HMG guy mid + close range. It won't encourage people to branch out and use the specialization they "want to use" but can't because ARs are too powerful. It'll just add to the kill counts of CQC guys and Snipers. It takes fractions of seconds to switch weapons. Arguing that a HMG guy will be more helpless if he has to roll out his HMG after using his AR makes me laugh. I never seem to have trouble rolling out my scrambler when I use my Assault suit.

You can't use a SINGLE suit that almost nobody CHOOSES to use as the rubric for why this idea would absolutely work, no questions asked. You aren't asking for a Scout variation that can use an AR and another primary, either. You're asking for Assault and Heavy suits to be able to do it. You don't see how that is different and has massive potential to gum up every gear in the machinery of this game?

If you nerf full auto ARs and buff breach, burst and tactical ARs...then MAYBE. If you nuke the range on ARs (because they are blasters...or whatever excuse you want) you absolutely MUST shorten the range on HMGs, too. If HMGs can out range an AR...they obsolete them. In fact, ditto with SMGs too. Faster RoF and bigger clip but equal range and close damage? Obsolete AR. An Eq slot doesn't make up for doing candyass damage, either...

Still, lets just make every weapon able to to be put in a sidearm slot. Better yet, so people can specialize in two specialties, lets just add another weapons slot. That way everyone can use their specialty, an AR and a sidearm. Or two specialties (until someone complains that those two-specialty guys can't use an AR, too). Gimme a break. This whole idea smacks of "I wanna blow **** up with my Forge Gun but use an AR too."

I'm sticking with my original suggestion. Slowly tick down the range and damage of full auto ARs until they are more balanced.

In an attempt to "balance" ARs you forget a goddamn huge point, too. Not every suit has a sidearm slot. If you make every class but Logistics able to use what would amount to two "primary" strength weapons, you basically make every class except Logistics that much more powerful. Hey, maybe they could take off that pesky triage timer...then I can get 2500 WP with my Logi again...

We cold even take it further and just keep adding weapon slots. That way everyone would be able to carry every weapon for every situation and no one would have to ever be out of their element!

I was starting to consider this idea to be viable for a while, but you brought up some very obvious points that I hadn't considered. I think some tweaks or additions to the selection of sidearms could satisfy the requests of the players who support this.