HMG heavy is one of the only roles in Dust I haven't played. I asked because due to my lack of hands on experience it's an area I'm most likely to misunderstand/overlook something about.
As stated previously in this thread, Assault wouldn't be effected at all so there's one third of your list addressed.
Scouts running alpha weapons don't need damage mods to 1-2 shot most fits (even of a higher average meta), I suppose this may still be an issue for scouts if you're running scout AR, but if you have the Cal frame anyway why not apply a speed mod to let you play the same 'scout + AR' style post change, what about that would hinder your play style?
Which brings us back to the Heavy, FGs do their job pretty effectively already. A militia FG with a militia damage mod can take out every dropship I've encountered so far (if it's within range
) most HAVs (I've been in fewer than 10 Uprising battles with a HAV that didn't get eaten up by militia forge + militia damage mod, they
are out there but they're rare) and a direct FG shot
decimates infantry even when it's militia forge vs proto infantry. So the FG will be just fine (there are after all weapon specific skill upgrades that can be applied and higher meta forges which could be used).
LRs
well they need some love, they are currently on the 'endangered species list' based on frequency with which they are seen on the field at all, much less actually doing work. If the only way a LR can be effective is through stacked damage mods than that is simply confirmation that the weapon itself needs some attention.
Which leaves the HMG, I as mentioned I don't have direct experience running the HMG but the Heavies I run with and talk to have given me to understand that (perhaps aside from the burst variant) it does work more through volume of fire than damage per round. When combined with "doom mode" this matters because with a more durable tank an HMG at optimal can still chew players up even without a damage mod due to the decreased dispersion of 'doom mode'.
If armor became balanced with shields it would even theoretically allow a heavy focused on dps to free up some high slots for damage mods without losing eHP. I realize this is theory crafting based on market stats and CCP patch notes but as best I can tell it's a net neutral change for a dps focused HMG Heavy.
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