What are you talking about? I've been playing FPS since Doom95 and my RPG background dates back to pen-and-paper Shadowrun. There's a lot of disconnect between combining competitive FPS gameplay with an RPG character customizing system and there's a lot of butthurt and epeen on both ends. Both sides need to stop pointing fingers and deal with the fact that CCP isn't going to fully cater to either side's preference no matter how much opposing sides want it to.
There's never going to be a middle ground between both genre that both sides are going to fully agree, but we both need to embrace what the other side has to offer. How many FPS out there actually allow you to fully customize your character to your specific preferences in play style like Dust 514 allows you to? And how many MMORPG actually have a multiplayer experience this intense? Both genre have something to offer to reinforce the weaknesses of the other and I think CCP is doing a pretty good job of finding that middle ground. Having Dust 514 as a modern FPS with a placebo spread sheet doesn't accomplish anything and turning it into a MUD isn't going to either for the sake of having a large playerbase. We're all going to have to accept that we can't have our way and play nicely, shooting each other in the face 5-20 minutes at a time between spreadsheets.

You're still looking from the FPS point of view. Broaden your views a bit more man. Think less CoD and a bit more D&D. This isn't an FPS that happens to have a little character building or an RPG that has a bit of FPS combat. There's a lot of metagaming and counter play you don't see in any FPS, especially in CoD. The ratio here is about 50/50 and you have to accept that. The MMORPG crowd are going to have to accept that more SP =/= "I win" too. What a lot of people from both sides overlook is balancing for skill. FPS players with a good gun game can customize their character to play to those strengths by fitting to gank while doing more with less SP/ISK and the game is balanced enough for the MMORPG crowd can accomplish just as much with more SP/ISK. And that's without even bringing in the rock, paper, scissors balance cyclic metagame involving EM, shield, kinetics, armor, hybrid that goes on too.
A lot of QQing on here from the MMORPG gamers is the people stacking damage mods and playing like it's CoD, but that's working as intended. And a lot of FPS players QQ about weapon/suit class being OP, especially when its their effective counter or they use the same FPS run and gun tactics, but again, that's working as intended too. I blame a lot of this on CCP's lack of making extensive tutorials one of their higher priorities so everyone from both sides understand how these combined game mechanics work, and instead resort to trying to cater to whatever side holds down the shift key harder when they type on the forums to voice their discontent. If they don't do it, I guess I'll have to since everyone on both sides are busy engaging in this **** measuring contest on here. Not directed at you personally, just both playerbases as a whole.

I agree with you on the SP sinks, some of those skill prerequisites were a bit too steep. ~3.5 million just to get back into my logi suit was highway robbery for the time I invested into this game. Unless they're laying the groundwork I suspect they're laying out, the shouldn't stay silent about it. But they did say they were going to address the issue.

Also, I'm with you on how the game is designed at the core. You can tell that CCP is inexperienced with console, let alone FPS designing, but that's why we have beta. They've been in the game designing business for 10 years and they know their **** even if it sometimes doesn't seem like it. (refer to hacked AV grenades selling for ISK instead of AUR) The main culprit right now is the sheer lack of content. This game looks incomplete right now, but EVE online or any MMORPG in general start with bare bones in content and build on.

Dust 514 is designed for the long run and after about a year, it won't even look like the same damn game anymore. There will be so much to do that you won't even have time to look at your character sheet with stuff that'll make planetary conquest and factional warfare look like a Manus Peak ambush in comparison, just gotta be pationt. I'll bet you 1,000,000 AUR on that. There's a lot of issues since they're hell bent on releasing on that cute 5/14 date, but at least we got dedicated servers, right?

And FYI about the heavy. You probably would have killed him faster if you used an SMG since they have a damage bonus against armor. (Less CoD and a bit more D&D factoring in)

What makes you think your opinion is worth any more than someone who bought a PS3 for Dust? Your overinflated sense of self worth isn't any different than what I see often on the EVE forums.

Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure SMGs have a better headshot bonus than an AR and there are bonuses to back attacks already implemented. If you're ever need to know about it, ADS on different body parts on a teammate when you're waiting for an LAV to be dropped at the beginning of a match or something. Some of the suff they "forget" to tell us and focus on making the female scouts' contours look good under dynamic lighting.
Back to the heavy though, the key term is counter play. By design, heavies are supposed to be... well... heavy and were first intended to be meat shields capable of going toe-to-toe with vehicles, or leading a push into choke points and mow **** down with their HMG. In a way, they're almost the effective counter to assaults. But, just because they're your counter, that doesn't mean that they're an "I win button." What they do however, is create meaningful choices on how you want to handle the obstacle in your way other than trying to face them head on. Sneaking up on him was one of those choices, ducking behind cover and drawing his fire until a teammate can flank him is another since their turn radius while firing is as slow as molasses, or regrouping with the rest of your squad to focus your fire is another, or you could have put cover between you and him and engaged outside his optimal range since your AR out ranges his HMG by ~20m.
Because there's a game mechanic, in this case the heavy makes you have to change your strategy while the heavy is enjoying the boon of extra survivability at the cost of speed, it creates a more engaging experience than the typical run and gun that a lot of modern FPS players are used to. But unfortunately, a lot of players aren't used to this sort of thing and cry nerf, because there's no goddamned tutorial, and to retain their playerbase CCP has to swing the nerf bat. And coming from an EVE player of 5 years, when they swing the nerf bat, they aim low and you get stuck with a permanent limp. So when you come across something different and die to it the same time over and over again, ask yourself: "Is this my effective counter? What weaknesses does this game mechanic have that I can exploit?" and try different stuff out. A little less CoD and more D&D.

First off, was this before or after the blanket 10% damage all weapons got a few days ago. Shields and armor got a huge ass buff since uprising and everyone had trouble killing each other. Second, what was your fit? Racial suit, tier, fitting, shield mods, damage mods... AR proficiency level... etc... etc... there's a lot to factor in, even down to a few seconds of combat when statistics like these give either side a tactical advantage. If you had a few stacked damage mods, you could have probably dropped him. If he had a plate equipped, it could have delayed your effort too. Also, if you were at 25m, that's his optimal range and he had an advantage there too. SP and gear matter to a degree, but as far as SP goes, you have to specialize to get the benefits, good gear helps make you marginally better, but if you look at the stats on weapons for instance, the difference between a MLT AR and a GEK-38 is only a couple points. From what you've told me so far, he did have the advantage in this encounter because of the class game and the range game. SP is never a substitute for player skill because at the end of the day, you still have to aim.... just a little further away from a heavy's optimal range.

CPM, CCP, If you're reading this. This is why we need a tutorial. It's not my job to teach people how to play your game.

Yeah, at this point it could've just been server latency screwing up... again. Seems like all the bugs from previous builds are coming back to haunt us. Might have been a sentinel too.

As far as the D&D goes, you should always have a flail to catch them flatfooted and get a temporary THACO bonus. (depending what edition, mind you.)

You think changing weapons is bad, gotten picked up by any logis lately? I spend more time fighting the radial than I do fighting the enemy. I'm thinking it's input latency.