I've never been quiet on my dislike of the Tac AR, but it fills a niche that many people love - the marksman. It's no sniper rifle, but it's able to take out reds at a great distance. The problem with the Tac AR is that it is still freaking amazing at CQC, and any failings that it might have are easily covered by making another fit with the same tier of the AR as it is governed by the exact same skill.

There is no trade off to skilling up the AR. You'll have a guaranteed great weapon at all ranges for the price of one skill. No other weapon is able to do that, and makes choices in what you want to do that much more limited.

This problem is then compounded by the Gallente Assault suit, which lets you fit high tier weapons without sacrificing any tank or damage output. This suit also is an armor tanker which is strong against lasers, the only weapon that can compete with the Tac AR for dealing damage at that range.

This puts all those small little advantages in the hands of the Tac AR, coming together to form the new OP (I hate that term too. please keep reading) weapon.

There does need to be a weapon to fill that role, It just shouldn't be in that skill tree.

My recommended course of action would be just to take the Tac AR out of the game. No nerfs to the point of being unplayable, just freaking nuke it and replace it with a new sniper rifle variant with a 25 round magazine and a decent rate of fire while extending the range slightly on the Gallente AR, ideally it's optimal should end where the LR starts. (possibly meaning bringing the LR's optimal in a little bit. but that's another thread)

This would accomplish a few things, namely it would give sniper rifle users the role of the designated marksman again. I can count on one hand how many times I've been shot by a sniper, let alone killed this build. Throw them a bone FFS. Less weapon diversity is the last thing this game needs.

secondly, it would balance out the roles of the various suits a little better. a low capacity weapon would put the Caldari assault in the running for owning the mid-long range game again with the suit specialty (reload bonus, for the uninformed), while letting the laser keep up with that role as it would be able to burn through Caldari shields (though the new variant would outrange the LR by a 10-20 meters), letting the designated marksman decide whether or not to close in and have a weapon that is still formidable in cqc though it doesn't fill that role as well as the AR or HMG.

As far as skill bonuses go, the new variant would still get helped by the sniper rifle op bonus of reduced sway as the rail rifle would have have to get settled in for a moment to balance having a longer range.

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tac ar is a rapid fire sniper rifle right now.

i lasers range needs to be increased alittle bit and base starting damage needs to be increased enough so it can actually kill a player instead of being harmless as it is now.

your idea of a 25 round sniper rifle is the scariest idea i have ever heard.

anys im sick of them theres enough of them in cod and they all run around "quickscoping"

less rounds and low rof of the sr makes better and more accurate snipers...

i dont want this game turning into call of duty.....

what this game needs for some balance is a damage reduction for the tac ar and a slower rof and a major nerf on the effectiveness of damage mods....

In short fix the damage mods before touching up the rest of it's stats then assess where to go from there.

0.02 ISK
Cross

I'd say damage mods should not be just a straight up damage increase, but instead be weapon type specific with different attributes.

i.e. a hybrid weapon mod increases ROF, and therefore boosting DPS, whereas energy weapons would have a heat sink to reduce heat build up, increasing DPS without guaranteeing the weapon can just burn through people faster, or a modded mass driver has a wider AOE.

Weapon mods currently seem rather uninspired.

an idea is making multiple damage mods cause a conflict like some other modules(afterburners do this if i remember correctly)
and maybe add a damage bonus to damage mods based on the level of the skill like say 1% extra damage added onto a damage mod per level so say the complex would then be 15% overall

Seems pretty balanced to me.

It is. I specced my alt into ARs so I could play around with it before making a post about the balance of the weapon. The only real issue I have with the weapon is that it makes the AR a 2-for-1 skill giving a player both a good medium range weapon and a good short range weapon for the price of one skill. All CCP needs to do is seperate the TacAR from the AR skill tree.

Ideally the AR variants would be separated into two different skill trees, the gallente Plasma carbine and the caldari gauss rifle.

Imagine if the scrambler rifle was just lumped into the LR skill tree. would that seem balanced?

Make the Tac AR a scout only weapon.

There cannot, should not, be an "only available with a certain class" weapon or module. There should be weapons that are better suited to some classes and not others but none should make a fit invalid. That makes every fit possible even if it is not plausible. Like a Heavy with nova knives and a cloak system. Allow it.

A suit with a Heavy weapon... that is a different discussion altogether, but all this discussion of limiting the classes to certain weapons or vice versa (speaking to ironwolf's proposals) is bungling the idea of versatility of Dust 514. If I can lift it I should be able to use it. If i have a suit I should be able to equip it. So, No logi only weapons, Scout only weapon, or modules or equipment. If you want to you should be able to use it - even if it seems ridiculous.

Shotgun heavy with sprint mods and knives - like a boss. Armor tanking logi with an smg - like a boss. Pounding face with a assault TAR - awesome. Play whatever you want. And yes there should be some sort of strength check for any soldier to carry a heavy weapon - as odd as it may be and with as many penalties that they might take it should be an option.