I can't count the number of times I've been instantly blapped by an HMG.

But see, that's a good thing, because every time that's happened, it's been by an HMG user that used enclosed environments and cover to his advantage, catching me off guard and hosing me down before I could fight back.

You don't have to play point-defense with a Heavy suit, but if you don't want to do that, you're going to need to make sure you're the one dictating the terms of the engagement.

Also, have you considered the fact that you might be very good with Assault Rifles? Just because you're a Heavy, you shouldn't feel like you have to use an HMG if you're better with a different weapon. That's the beauty of this game, after all.

The Minmatar heavy suit will probably be more agile and faster than the Amarr one.

And maybe even get a bonus to HMG or something.

The fact that the HMG need 3/4 of its mag to kill 1 caldari shield tanked suit means it's fine?

any half decent caldari + AR player can dmg a heavy enough to almost 1v1 a good heavy. Not hard to do when they can strafe faster than a heavy can track, and they can't miss a heavy cuz of the huge hitbox.

Sorry, but the HMG is a joke compared to the AR. In CQC it's suppose to dominate, instead of just barely killing.

Again, I'm not even talking about pub games. I'm talking about going up against good players. By the time I'm done killing a caldari suit I need to reload. That's fine? lol

Hey Lance, is the HMG the problem or is it the fact that the Heavy can't keep up with a back pedaling shield tanked strafer?

With better maneuverability, the Caldari can dance around your spray, strafe off without you being able to keep up, and move back, away from your optimal range. These you acknowledge. Now, where in your post do you give reason for your claim that the HMG is a joke. From what you posted, the problems stem from the suit itself: the one thing I have said that needs to be worked on.

If aiming and hit detection weren't so borked, the HMG would probably be fine.

Speaking from RL experience with both AR's and mini-guns. Which is what the HMG is. It's not really a "Heavy" machine gun at all.

If you were to throw any intention of maintaining game balance the HMG mini-gun would absolutely shred everything in it's path. Most fire 7.62 NATO and just one bullet is enough to kill a man. Being shot from a mini-gun you literally have bullets that are mere inches apart from one another. It doesn't need AP ammo because it literally will pound it's way through just about anything through sheer volume of fire.

So imagine AR bullet damage spewing from the HMG. Because that's how it works in reality.

DUST 514 is clearly not reality and CCP obviously didn't spend any time at a firing range to understand how modern, non-futuristic weapons work.

A real heavy machine gun is something more like a .50 cal M2 Browning "Ma Deuce". ROF of around 500 RPM and very very hard hitting. Most M2's are mounted on vehicles and are attached to 500 to 1000 round boxes of belt ammo. Recoil and shot spread is moderate, but range is not a problem.

I know what CCP wanted to do. They wanted to put the "Predator" machine gun in DUST. Because it's "cool". It's statistics are pretty much the same. 2000-6000 RPM, etc. They only difference is that the HMG in DUST 514 is more like a fully automatic .22 rimfire minigun. Yes it will kill you but it's going to tickle you to death and your bullets are actually made of marshmallow lead because after about 100 meters or so they just vanish.

At 100 meters you can cut a target in half with a minigun with only 50 rounds. That's one round for every half inch or so.

The HMG we have now should be relegated to a "light" weapon. A new weapon put in place of the current HMG that has lower RPM, higher damage, greater range, similar accuracy, and half the magazine size of the current HMG. Something more akin to a M242 Bushmaster chaingun.