http://battlefield.wikia.com/wiki/Battlefield:_Bad_Company_2 . I knew it! (Well in the newer BF it could be different, but Planetside kept me from playing them)
To be fair there is no heavy in BF4. There are medics, with assault rifles and provide med kits and reviving and some AI explosive weapons, there's support that have LMGs and provide ammo, there are engineers who use carbines and provide repairs and have various rocket launchers, then recon who have the sniper rifles and various scouting tools. Oversimplifying a bit but that's the basics. Oh and to the OP no, HAs in no way need ARs or even carbines.
Uhm... HA has LMG... Which is better than AR (at least to my knowledge)... Give AR to LA, and Then let both support classes have carbines. Game would make sense then
Battlefield 2: Support has LMG, Medic and Assault have AR's, but the Assault's has an underbarrel grenade launcher whereas the medic has no UBGL but has the heal/revive tools. Battlefield 2142: Medic and Assault are the same class, and have access to assault rifles, defibs, medkit, Rifle-Rocket-Propelled-Grenades, and the underbarrel shotgun. LMG's belong to support (as do EMP grenades which stun tanks - support may also deploy small cover items used as bullet-resistant shields which may be helpful during drop pod assaults on Titan ships, AI sentry turret, etc. - "recon" has the cloaking device, claymore, RDX/C4, carbine, Sniper rifle etc). Bad Company 2: Medics have LMG's, assaults have assault rifles (and grenade launchers, and ammo packs which can be used to give themselves C4 to demolish buildings. UBGL May fire smoke too). BF3: Assault/medic are the same class again. Assault rifles used. BF4: Assault/medic are the same class again. Assault rifles used. Battlefield Hardline: "Operator" is essentially a medic with an assault rifle, though there's not really an "assault" class within the game and they do not get grenade launchers. LMG's and Rocket launchers are "Battle pickups" which no class spawns with and must be obtained either A) out of the armories contained in vehicles, or B) from cases littered around each map, both of which have respawn timers and thus are available in limited quantity - however, each team's "Hacker" (Commander) has an ability to reset the timer on individual map items, including rocket spawns.
Why is it every game goes and makes LMGs overall the worst weapons? BF3? LMGs have the spread of a veteran prostitutes legs and the ARs and even the pistols and Carbines are spot on, deal more damage, fire faster and everything.......Looks like PS2 is trying ot go that same general route. LMGs, esp the EM6 used to be a hellva lot more accurate then it is now, used to spread 10x less and bloom way slower.
An AR with far worse hipfire, worse recoil in most cases (especially vertical) that also shows up on the map from farther away. The AR also partly makes up for its only disadvantage by reloading far faster. Especially on TR where their regular weapons have almost as much ammo as some LMGs.
Of course an LMG has worse hip fire and recoil than an AR. An AR is used with marksmanship, and LMG is meant to be a mid-range, high volume fire weapon for suppressing fire, not a larger version of an SMG.
LA's are kept from having the better range primaries so they don't outclass the infiltrator at range. An LA that can fly to the top of a tree on Hossin is infinitely less likely to be spotted sniping with a battle rifle or AR like the Reaper DMR versus with even a 143 minimum damage carbine like the AC-X11 than an infil is cloaking and decloaking with a sniper rifle on a hill.
