I use amarr heavy..... FYI I should have the reduction I'm amarrian .....

There is so much counterintuitive, strange, and bad design decisions with the laser rifle:

It does low damage up close, but does higher damage the further away you shoot... but it starts doing low damage again once you exceed a certain range. That is just silly, lasers do not work that way at all. It is made even worse by the fact that the game doesn't explain that at all.

Giving a mid-long range laser weapon an ironsight was not a good idea. Even worse, giving it a sight that blocks the user from seeing the beam, no one in CCP testing this weapon before Uprising thought it was a bad idea? A close-range shotgun has a better sight than the laser rifle.

The weapon does damage the longer it fires, that is also silly, but at least the game actually explains it to you when you spawn with the weapon (unlike the range thing). This incentivises players to miss on purpose at first until the laser builds up enough damage, this is because initially hitting your target is only good for scaring them away. This does not reward skill.

How the laser should be:

Damage should not be dependent on range. I propose lowering the base damage to 15, but make it just as good at close range as mid range. Damage should then drop at the 80 meter ranges.

Get rid of the ironsight, give it a sight like the scrambler rifle.

EDIT: A scope would be even better.

Make damage build on the target, not on the laser. Damage buildup should not be based on how long the laser has fired, but how long it hit the target. The longer you hit the target, the more damage should increase. The heat buildup on the target should decrease slowly when the laser stops hitting it, but should not automatically reset. It will reward precise aiming skill, and also makes sense because the laser should be heating up the enemy's from continuous fire.

EDIT: the damage buildup needs to happen faster also.

pew pew, pew pew, pew

You know... for some reason, this thread made me consider the viability of having lasers be able to totally ignore shields, and directly impact armour.

Lets say we weakened damage even further, but implemented the damage scaling based on how long you had a laser on a target. Would that merit being able to ignore shields?

That sounds pretty freakin cool, though I would make it a variant, or an entirely different weapon type.

You know... for some reason, this thread made me consider the viability of having lasers be able to totally ignore shields, and directly impact armour.

Lets say we weakened damage even further, but implemented the damage scaling based on how long you had a laser on a target. Would that merit being able to ignore shields?

I think adding a dropsuit heat build up would be a terriable idea also I think ignoring shields would make no sense we want the weapon fixed not overpowerd and nerfed again or have it be more garbage, a couple things would balance it again
1.a REAL scope or have it back where it just zoomed In(anything is better than it is now)
2. Iron sight sensitivity changes with the sensitivity you set
3.Heat build up reduction skill or to make some people happy.... Only have the skill on amarr suits including assualt amarr sentinel and cammandos

I agree with 1, 2, and the first part of 3 but I think it would be unfair to give the amarr dropsuit even more of an advantage when using this gun you don't see this in any other suit. For example the minmatar assault suit gives a bonus to sidearm clip size but that affects ALL sidearms including the amarr scrambler pistol and the others. Maybe we should make it an individual skill so that everyone can get that skill and switch out the suit bonus for the amarr to something more suitable like less recoil for all light weapons since i know the scrambler rifle has a bunch when under continuos fire. What do you guys think? Or what suit bonus would be more suitable for the amarr?

That's a very good point I really don't have a problem with heat build up though I can go through about 70-75 rounds on my proto laser it's just a question of aiming the thing.

"You make it sound so awful that they need to bend physics a bit"

Let me tell you about how outer space in eve is more fluid than void. It's a common joke that we're actually playing internet space submarines.

I like the fact that the laser rifle works in a way that isn't intuitive. It's one of the few truly original weapons that makes me feel like I'm playing in a sci-fi universe rather than a modern military shooter with costumes.

I equate sci-fi with the existence of things that don't work exactly like things I can experience in real life, today. There is also very little hardness to the New Eden sci-fi. Physics least of all. Gameplay trumps science in this universe, which is why we have fluid mechanics for space and the concept of "up". When I play a game I look for things that add fun to the experience. Encountering a gun on the battlefield that makes me need to close the distance quickly if I want to live, or stick in cover and find a different approach, is fun. The more damage at range mechanic dramatically alters the strategy of the game. If we took your approach and made the laser have a damage profile that is identical to an assault rifle, then we might as well just reskin it as an assault rifle. The important thing isn't whether the gun displays bullets or light when it fires, but how the gun behaves and shapes your choices in a fight. Different is better than more of the same.

Kage - I'm with ya for 1 point, against ya for another, and completely undecided on the third.

Scope - yes.

Range / Damage Mechanic change I disagree with partly. I like the inverted range - keeps it better at Long range operation without being too powerful. But I agree that the drop off in damage at range is wierd. Shouldn't it just have a maximum range? The end of that max range is the end of the optimum as well? Make the range fully inverted.

Heat buildup? Meh. I don't know. As it stands its better for catching groups of guys in the open.

I would actually be fine with inverted range if it actually was what that is, but it isn't. It gets better at long range, but it starts to suck again, there's only like a 20 meter optimal. I would actually like it if the damage kept increasing with range, and at a certain point did not increase or decrease instead of sucking again.