Played literally a couple matches, but got enough kills and deaths to figure out it's "role".

Basically 1-10m you're main enemy is the shotgun. The HMG is effective in this range, and with concentrated fire, you'll get the kill. I faced Militia Assault all the way up to Proto Suits. Up close the proto assault poses a clear threat, but in most cases a good player would either run away, or kill you.

Shotgun? Allot trickier. Because of the optimal range on the HMG, which the numbers might say is 15m, it feels more like 10m, by the time the shotgun gets in HIS range, it might be too late to take him out. Especially if he's shield tanking.

MD's? Clear winner against HMG's. You can't get close enough, fast enough is basically the problem. The range on the HMG doesn't allow for keeping people's heads down.

Past 10m going into 15m is where things get hazy. At this range it takes ALLOT of bullets to take down Adv suits, even suits that have taken damage. Not because of damage, well tbh a little, but the BULLET SPREAD. Nerfing the range, but not buffing the horrible bullet spread makes it a tripple nerf imo. Dmg, range, and not touching the bullet spread.

15m-20m range, it's more like farting against thunder at this point. If you wanna feel like you're doing something or if someone is really weak, yeah. Spray in the direction and hope you get and assist or better yet a kill.

Now being a heavy myself, i try to be as objective as possible. I'm aware we got a buff in HP, and tbh, it's needed with the amount of bullets required to kill. We go down just as easy with team fire as we did before.. Nothing changed there. I'm also aware we got our prices reduced, but one can argue every class got their prices reduced.

Does the price drop make a difference? My Adv set up is 60k+ ISK. Adv suit + Adv HMG. + complex extenders. If you die more than 3 times, which is VERY LIKELY, your profit margin is slim to none. You can try running cheaper fits, but that means your killing efficiency and your chances of staying alive longer drops. It's looking like a high risk, low reward atm.

ONLY way to make your heavy set up profitable, is to have a Logi player tied around your neck.

Personally, I would like to see a buff in either range, dmg, or bullet spread. The effect of these things put together makes the HMG feels like a toy gun.

People always bring up the argument that HMG are suppose to be used as a supportive role. Well, how can we support with no range? How can we help with low dmg, and how can we keep people's head down with a bullet spread as bad as it is now?

As always, opinions, and arguments for / against are welcomed. Keep the trolling to a minimum please.