Trying to decide which LMG I want to buy. I trialed the Flare and liked it better than the orion, felt like it had less recoil and was easier to get kills with from range. The 75 clip size is really nice especially with the lower rate of fire but higher damage, you can get a lot of kills before finishing a clip. That said, I'm not sure exactly how many less shots the flare takes to kill than other LMGs, and I'm not sure if its worth it. It felt good, but I could have been getting lucky. Haven't tried the Pulsar LSW, anyone have any thoughts on it? Is it better at range? What is the clip size? Also, the flare has soft point/high velocity ammo and the pulsar doesn't. Not sure if that makes a big enough difference to justify getting the flare over the pulsar. I want a versatile gun that can get kills at range and is still good at medium and close. The flare felt decent at range but the pulsar is described as being versatile which appeals to me if it is truely accurate. Is the pulsar actually better at range? Higher accuracy/less recoil? Thanks.
Pulsar LSW sucks, it does less dps than the Orion and it has no good attachments anymore. Don't buy it.
Don't listen to this guy. The Pulsar is probably the best LMG I've used, including the other races. It's so balanced and adaptable that it's never really going to be the wrong choice in a variety of situations. Sure it's lacking in upgrade utility. But that is just another blessing in disguise. You don't have to spend hundreds and hundreds of certs to make it viable. Just reflex and foregrip and you're rocking. Not to mention its the most aesthetically pleasing variant model.
I don't know what "adaptable" means. It does less damage than the Orion, at all ranges, in all situations, no matter what. What more do you need to know?
Because damage isn't the only factor, the Orion does like 5% more DPS and with TTKs this fast its essentially meaningless.
You haven't explained what factors the Pulsar LSW has in its favor. It loses overall dps due to lower rof, and doesn't gain anything except a bigger clip. It doesn't have a good scope for long range. It doesn't have the compensator... it's basically just the Orion with a bigger clip and lower ROF. If you're going to run with reflex and foregrip as you say, the Orion's just better.
During beta I would have said Pulsar LSW all the way but now since release I've had to revise my position. If you like the Flare go for it but I'd recommend atleast doing a Trial of the SVA-88. Pretty much identical to the Pulsar LSW except you can get the Compensator, Foregrip, scopes, and high velocity ammo with it.
I'll probably trial it tomorrow. Also thinking about trialing the battle rifle. I heard it was awful but gonna try it anyway.
I trialed the SV-88 an hour ago. Really hated it. It seemed like it fired marginally faster than the orion but it had way more recoil. I can easily get headshots with my orion but it was much more difficult with the sv-88 due to its recoil. I dunno if compensator/foregrip would fix that, but it doesnt seem worth it.
I love the SV-88. Though I haven't tried any of the other HA weapons recently so I wont compare it to the others. But with controlled fire, the SV-88 is very easy to handle and great for medium range with a 3.4x scope and a forward grip.
It really depends on your play style really, do you prefer precision or stopping power? The accuracy on the Pulsar LSW is phenomenal, very precise, probably the best weapon for dropping fools at mid-range The Flare is a 6 shot kill rather than a 7 shot kill, thus is more like an NC weapon, very powerful but slow.
I've decided to buy the Pulsar LSW. The SV-88 had too much recoil to make it worth it. The flare doesn't seem worth it, 1 less shot to kill but a slower rate of fire is probably a downgrade in the end. The LSW basically feels exactly like the orion but with a larger clip. Don't really need soft point ammo, apparently it isn't even that good and it makes guns less effective at longer ranges and at point blank range. I really wish I could trial the SV-88 with a compensator and forward grip though. If the recoil with those attachments was the same as the recoil of the orion/pulsar LSW then it would be worth getting.
I got pretty used to the LSW during beta so it might just be personal preference, but the LSW seems to be more accurate, has a more manageable recoil but slightly lower damage compared to the Orion plus it's the cheapest of the LMGs if I remember correctly. The SVA-88 seemed to be a CQC weapon vs. the LSW being longer ranged. Haven't gotten my hands on the other ones though
The SVA-88 is a good all-round weapon. The Orion is great up close, but it's small clip can really hurt. The Flare is a great weapon for longer ranges and prolonged combat at medium range if you get the extended magazine. The Pulsar is similar to the SVA-88 but with less attachment options, however it's slightly easier to use as the recoil is slightly lower. It's all personal preference. I personally find the SVA-88 is a solid all-rounder. But I've used the Flare and Orion a decent amount and they both have their strengths. Trial them all. Use them in combat. Pick the one you like the best. It's as simple as that. Also, you also have a higher movement speed with iron sights. The SVA-88 and Orion have the fastest of any VS LMGs.
It should be in the Shop under Heavy Asault. Make sure you have the"locked" weapons checkbox checked. If for some reason you still can't see it you can go into the Heavy Assault cert tree and unlock/buy it from there too. Well said, esp about trialing the weapons for yourself since they each have their own unique feel and are tailored for slightly different playstyles/situations. That said, The SVA-88 is my LMG of chouce for most situations (when I'm not using the Eidolon that is), because it has: The 2nd highest RoF and thus Damage output (2nd only to the Orion) 2nd highest muzzle velocity (2nd only to the Ursa) Lowest first shot recoil Fastest recoil recovery speed Fastest footspeed during ADS (.75x of the default, tied with the Orion. All other LMGs in the game for all 3 empires have a .5x multiplier so they cut your footspeed in half) As of 12/12 it now has the smallest ADS CoF, apparently switching stats w/ the now-worse LSW (and tied with the Polaris, Flare, and Orion) smallest hipfire CoF One of the largest attachment selections available (it's only missing the Level2 laser sight that the Polaris gets) Its only real downsides compared to the other LMGs are its high sustained vertical recoil (the worst, tied w/ the Flare) but you can get a compensator to reduce it (which does help significantly) and learn to manually counteract the rest via your mouse with practice. It also has slow reloads (4th place, the Flare and Polaris are worse). However, for anyone interested in how the VS LMGs compare, I'd do myself a favor and look at the weapon stats xls on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...LMG&sortcolid=-1&sortasc=true&rowsperpage=250. That will give you all the stats for all weapons and you can compare them yourself.
some thoughts from another thread http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/pulsar-lsw-i-want-a-new-gun.74335/ Don't get the Eidolon for HA. For long range you're better with the Ursa which is designed to own open fields. The SVA-88 is where it's at IMO.
