Splash damage isn't almost full impact damage

As I'm sure many of you have noticed that quite a few people aren't too happy with the Flaylock, but I don't think there are really sure as to why. Here is what we know, the Flaylock is a burst damage weapon with AoE abilities, low clip size, reasonable reload speed, low spare ammo, bullet travel time and bullet falloff, now on paper that sounds like a pretty well balanced weapon.

But if you look pass the gun and look at the finer details of the game we can see the real balance issue, the skill tree. The slandered FL has a base damage of 218 and a splash of 195, with a radius of 1m and a reload of 2.5, now it's proto version has Dam of 239.8 and a splash of 214.5, a radius of 2m with the same reload speed as before, in my opinion, this is one of the only proto guns that is actually worth paying for. So, now that's out of the way, the problem comes from the skill that affects the FL's damage, FL proficiency.
Now their is our culprit, at level 5 it gives the FL a 15% buff to damage, which looks like 250.7 base and 224.25 splash for the slandered, while the proto looks like 275.7 and a splash of 246.6, now if we add two Complex mods and the 20% bonus from armor damage, and well it just becomes a nightmare. But the worst part of all this is, that the FL doesn't have any real drawbacks for using it, only inconveniences, I'm not sure how, but I do know FL needs weakness other than range, which is the common problem for most weapons, putting the FL "ahead of the game".

So, lets brainstorm on ideas on how to balance the FL, maybe it needs a CPU/PG requirement, maybe it needs a slower rate of fire, or maybe it needs more bullet travel time, let's figure something out?

I'm sorry, I explained it wrong, the proficiency isn't the problem, it's how damage stacking works with the FL so well that's the problem, proficiency is only a part of it, the FL's damage is just too good for the amount of damage without damage buffs from mods/skills. Changing OP into splash damage sound like a pretty cool idea, but I'm not too on the reduced radius though, and by that, I mean how much of an impact it would have on the effectiveness of the FL it would have, the last thing I would like to see is, it not being effective in it area of expertise.

You should really at least look at the stats before making random statements that are wrong

Says who? If you're willing to deal with the trade offs, why shouldn't you be allowed to only spec into sidearms? You get lesser range, smaller clip size, smaller total ammo, bullet travel time, arcs, etc...every sidearm has disadvantages.

In EVE nothing's stopping me from fitting cruise sized guns on my BS if I want to, it adds flexibility and variety to the game. In fact, one of my favorite setup is a BS with cruiser blasters (dual repper/injector domi of doom). There too I accept certain disadvantages in return for doing that.

Right...so if you're right, OHKs are impossible with the flaylock

Actually R'adeh, its direct damage or spalsh damage, not both. That's twice you've been wrong...

Maybe its you who should check your info

Again, if he's right, ppl couldn't complain about OHK given the max damage output is a mere 240 per shot.

That's exactly the thing...they mostly complain about a PROTO weapon's damage output against mostly non-proto suits. They also don't compare the stats against other proto sidearms.

I was an SMG knifer before the respec, both proto, both godly against pretty much everything non proto. They're both still good against proto suits and don't really feel underpowered. After the respec, I did the same for the flaylock and scrambler pistol. Once you get the hang of aiming and realise the SP is more effective at range, you realise that the proto SP is just as deadly as the proto flaylock.

You just see more people speccing into proto flaylocks because it's a new gun and it's getting a lot of hype. If they nerf it like they did to the MD, ppl will switch to the SP or SMG....both of which will then be called OP at proto level. And the cycle continues i

To those saying "oh, but what about those running dual flaylocks"...well...have you tried dual proto SMGs? The amount of shots you have (and at close range you don't even need to aim well) is amazing. Same goes for dual SPs, the damage output is outright scary. But in all those cases you sacrifice range or suffer from other drawbacks, sometimes multiple drawbacks.