its a big difference between VS and NC/TR. And BRs are clearly means for 150 m + and on moving targets
If they're meant for 150m+, then why do they have an ADS COF of .1 - a value reserved for short and medium range weapons? Why would they 3.4x, 2x, even 1x reflex sights available to them? And why would the Devs increase their damage degradation in the last patch so that their damage falls off faster than before and they now reach their minimum damage at 65m instead of 85m? With the 6x scope sway BRs have become significantly less effective at 150m+. If that's the Dev's intended range for these weapons they sure have a bass ackwards way of refining them for that role because the recent changes have made them less effective at that range, not more.
i think the devs just care so little about BRs they didnt even think of how the 6x change would effect them. they are garbage weapons, in particular the TR/NC ones
This is a category of weapons that has been so far under utilized. There is a great opportunity to add more weapons that require a bit more skill than your average shotgun or pistol 1SK nonsense.
A damage increase wouldn't even begin to fix these weapons. They have mediocre velocity, severe bullet drop (if you're not VS, obviously), and an unforgivably fat cone of fire. Everyone has an alternative that performs better at long range, and won't leave you crippled at closer ranges: T5 AMC, Razor GD23, or Pulsar C.
The issue with Scout and Battle Rifles is that the weapon balance folks don't really appear to have confidence in what they want the weapon to actually excel at, given other options available to the classes they're available for. They have the accuracy and range stats of a high-RPM carbine (500m/s velocity, 65m damage range, 0.10 (!) crouching ADS accuracy) with less than half the rate of fire and only slightly more damage per shot. For reference, all 167-damage carbines, rifles, and LMGs have 0.03 crouching ADS accuracy, while 200-damage weapons have a 0 (e.g. perfect) accuracy value on the first shot. I mean, I understand where the devs want to take the BR; it's clearly intended to be a sci-fi FN FAL, but the difference is that the FAL is represented in most games with true semi-auto capacity and more accuracy than seen with BRs in Planetside. I wouldn't mind seeing the CoF on BRs tightened to at least 0.03 or even 0, and the rate of fire boosted a teeny bit (~350-400 rpm).
The BR is arguably one of the least useful weapons in the game. I just bought if to give my engy some range as I feel that the carbines, while good, just don't fit the role of my engy, being more of a cqc style weapon. Anyway, the battle rifle is supposed to be a long-range weapon. Just a few minutes ago I was in the perfect scenario for it's use. I was on esamir, deep in enemy territory with what was probably an NC platoon dusting off. I was uphill with the br with a 3.4x scope, good enough for 50-100m engagements and with my targets in a sort of bowl more or less bunched up and not moving much trying to get into their vehicles. I was feeling confident that I could pick a few off before one of the reavers overhead lolpodded me or something. Not the case. I take a few potshots with some well lined up targets where i know all of their positions and they're not moving too much. This is literally the perfect scenario and if i had any other medium-range gun like the TMG .50, NSC-11 or any sniper I could have gotten at LEAST 3 kills before they reached my position. Remember i'm about 100m away. Not a SINGLE kill. I did however got plenty of hitmarks on a few guys which means that actually hitting people is not the problem, it's that the gun CANNOT kill at the ranges it's meant to. I'm not asking for a sniper, i'm asking for a DMR. The gun needs much higher damage and a better dropoff. I wouldn't mind a faster bullet either but at the moment, even under perfect combat conditions it's vastly underpowered for, especially 1000 certs. I do like the fact that it's a weapon that you have to manage meaning there's a large skill gap, but at the moment it's unusable. Plz buff SOE, every faction, hell, every person who bought the gun is saying this. Even the Sabr-13 is better and that ain't saying much.
Pistols in RL have more power (at their effective range) than a Light Machine Gun. Think about it this way, the M249 SAW fires a 5.56mm round, .223 caliber. A M1911 fires a .45 caliber round. The heavier machine gun 240B fires a 7.62 round, equivelent to a .308, so even it fires a lower caliber round (though this one has much much more powder behind it, so it actually hits harder, even out to extreme ranges). Now.. the Kobalt.. yeah that does alot less damage than it should, but it also fires faster then it should.
Well, the Eidolon just passed from 1000cp to 250cp (I guess it's the same for other Battle Ridles). So I guess they won't make it more powerful now :-/ It hurts a little bit to know I bought it for 1000cp a few days ago ^^" (a partial refund would have been nice SOE ;-) *dreaming*) This weapon isn't so bad, I had (and will still have) quite a bit of fun with it, it just lacks a bit of power and precision (a new 8x optic would be great now that the 6x has the sway). Now, I think it's well worth the 250cp for the Engineer if you understand that it's more a support weapon. I think you're not supposed to go on the first line with it, but to stay a bit behind to repair your armored friends, etc. So when you have nothing to do, you can get a few assists/kills by "sniping" the ennemies. It has also a good disruptive power on the Infiltrator Snipers, when they think they won't be attacked by their targets with carbines/LMG/..., you can get a few hits and force them to retreat (or kill them if they don't, which happens more often than you would think), buying a few - sometimes precious - seconds for you friends. And don't forget the power it has on the mind of your ennemies forced to look at that "kill cam" of an Engineer with a Battle Rifle. How many ragequits do you think you can rack up ? ;-) For the Heavy Assault, it seems to favor "cowardice" : staying behind, near an ammo pack, shooting armored vehicules with your rocket launcher and foolish ennemies with the Battle Rifle. These were my 2cp and I, being a "noob", don't pretend that it's true for everybody (specially the "stay behind" part). ;-)
Battle Rifles need two changes 1. Pick one: Increased damage, or faster bullet velocity. 2. Lower COF bloom.
Agreed. Although since they did lower the cp, I think that they might release a new battle rifle soon.
That's an excellent anecdote that beautifully illustrates a scenario that occurs far too often with BRs: You find an enemy out in the open at long range and drill shot after shot into him only to have him reach cover just before you can land enough shots that would get you a kill. Or, your "held breath" timer runs out before you can land enough hits, forcing you to either fight against the now-exaggerated "out of breath" scope sway to get the killing shot or let the target run off to safety. Or, you come across an opponent at medium range. You open fire as fast as you can, landing every shot, only to die because their bullet hose automatic outdamages you by 200-300 pts/second. It's incredibly frustrating. Its damage is simply too low for a semiauto-only weapon that's only given medium-range capabilities. And it wouldn't take much of an increase to help fix it either. 280 base damage would give it a 4-shot kill against Nano 5 point blank, and extend the 4-shot kill against other armour types out to 25m or so. And 220 minimum damage would give it a 5-shot kill against Nano 4 while still requiring 3 headshots to kill an infil. That IMO would be a good start, especially since everybody and their mother is wearing Nano these days. Its ADS CoF should be 0 as well, just like the 200-damage bullet hoses and sniper rifles. That's one RNG that BRs can't afford to have against them since even 1 missed shot is a large jump in TTK.
The funny thing about BRs versus shotguns+slugs is that for stationary targets, I think the slower bullet velocity is an advantage. By the time the target gets hit by that first slug, the other 3 slugs are already on their way, giving the target less time to react. For BRs, they're getting hit pretty much instantly while you're still squeezing off shots, meaning they're more likely to move before the rest of the shots land. The higher bullet velocity makes it easier to hit moving targets and the very fast recoil recovery lets you shoot a bit faster, but with the low damage you have to hit them so many times its extremely difficult to get a kill. If they were to up the base damage and improving drop-off as suggested here, that would go a long way to making BRs useful. Either that or give it even better recoil recovery so that you can just fire like a maniac at long range targets.
No they do not do enough damage. I think in close range (8m) they should be a one shot headshot, but at long range be a 2 shot headshot and 3 shot body shot. 550 inside 8m; 450 at 60m and beyond. My wishes for their damage. If soe doesnt want to buff it that much then it should be 450 at 8m and 350 at 60m and beyond. What you guys think?
