Shotguns are wielded by all LA, HA, Medic and engie. But still, no. HA shouldn't have it. A medium assault class could have it though.
Because they didn't make SMGs until now. If they were faster I bet LAs(and only LAs) would get them. Shotguns can be used by all classes, sure, but they're also extremely situational and you couldn't give them as a primary to any class without gimping it severly.
You didn't make any comment about the carbines, available to two classes right from launch. And, IMHO, you are wrong about both of these. It takes far, far, far more certs to put into a class then a weapon takes to fully upgrade it. (Heck, picking up either max flak armor or max nano-weave armor ALONE - just that top tier, nevermind what it took to get there - costs as many certs as the most expensive in-game weapon) From a "SOE makes money" perspective, it's a much clearer path that users take to stick with only a single class, ultimately buy (money) one or two guns for it, maybe a few helmets, and then just...stop there. For SOE to make more money, they need to get gamers into OTHER classes with OTHER things to buy (more weapons, more composite armors, etc). They sure aren't going to do that by putting their foot down and insisting "look, all that time you put into that one class? You can't take it anywhere else - 100% of it is stuck there, all weapons, all suit upgrades, etc. So you are just stuck with that class. Sure you don't want to spend some money on more sidegrades than you've already bought??" That's crazy! Of course it won't work long-term, you need to get games into other classes. And the best way to do that is to let more of the classes share weapons. And given SOE's latest update on the SMG - that ALL classes get access to it - I think they've come to the same conclusion based on the study of their data on what gamers are actually doing.
I support this 100%. Engineer should get the AR too. Carbines and LMGs should stand on their own merit and not be compromises from the excellent AR weapon range. Although I do think if HA gets ARs, LMGs should get buffed and become heavy weapons in the rocket slot. Make them good at what they do, same way rockets are good at what they do. Let HA specialize.
I don't think it'd be fair to compare LMGs to carbines through just DPS. Sure, the 800rpm/143dmg carbines have a higher DPS than most LMGs, but you have to reload after just two seconds. While that's happening, the LMG is *still* dishing out a consistent amount of damage and could sometimes continue doing so for over ten seconds. As soon as that magazine is up, you are doing 0 DPS, while your opponent still has well over 75% of his magazine left to unload on you. There are a lot of other variables to consider, but for brevity's sake, I'll just say, "apples to oranges, man"
If AR would be allowed for HA, LMG weapon class would become useless. Because AR simply perform better in the majority of situations.
At this point, I play engineer almost only because of carbines. My best weapon is a carbine. If I had access to carbines as a heavy, then I would hands down play a heavy. I would love to play as a heavy with my carbine. Besides MAX crashes, heavies are supposed to be the front line assault for infantry. I suck with all the LMGs I've tried in CQC. I'm ok with a shotgun, but like others have said, the shotgun is limited in application. Heavies should be weapons specialists. I would give heavies access to all weapons except bolt-action sniper rifles (give those to LA though, maybe). Heavies should be able to use any gun the frontal assault requires, and sometimes that'll be LMGs and sometimes that'll be ARs and carbines and shotguns. I would use a carbine all day long with my heavy, though. I love carbines. And heavies. But I have to pick one or the other, so I roll engy most days these days.
I assume you realize that heavies have access to the SMGs, now, right? And at least one of the SMGs for each faction performs remarkably like some of their carbines? So you've basically already got that... Fewer noob medics reviving you to 25% health - without even bothering to make sure the area is clear, so you don't die immediately again on coming back? YES, PLEASE! Where do I sign up for that?
Haven't tried the SMGs yet, but I suppose I should. Been working my way through the medic guns lately, trying more of them out. I'll trial an SMG this weekend sometime and see how it works.
So, SMGs are nowhere nearly as good as carbines. No thanks! I'll wait for the day that my heavy is a weapon specialist and can use a carbine or AR.
The AR are the 'basic' guns. Carbines exchange a larger damage drop-off for a tighter hipfire cone. LMGs exchange greater hipfire cone and larger recoil for a larger magazine. In general, there are some differences between individual weapons beyond these. ARs have the best 'combat' stats in general, for aiming down sights for killing one guy, but won't have the sustained capacity of even the 50 round LMGs and won't be as good in a pinch for panic hipfire (a bit). For any given class, I would take the AR over a Carbine, but the large magazine LMG is useful.
Give HA's/engineers battle rifles with a full automatic mode and with some tweaking to the stats to balance the change. That way ppl get their assault rifles and more ppl will use battle rifles.
I used to be in the same camp, but since I have come to the conclusion that the weapons as they are are fine. I wouldn't mind the AR on HA, I would still prefer the LMG in all likelihood, and i don't think it would break the game, but I feel like the devs have more pressing issues to attend to.
