Stalker (and other Empire specific auto-scoutrifles) role horribly undefined or rendered obsolete.

So. I have both the Stalker and the Cyclone, and i just noticed... the Stalker has no clearly defined role, as the role it's supposed to be for (http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/Stalker) is filled MUCH better by the higher damage Cyclone, which sports more upgrades, ammo and accuracy. On the long range of things, the Stalker's horribly inaccurate full-auto fire is not going to put a dent in a pack of butter. i can actually imagine this being the case for the other empire specific weapons as well, the SMG has effectively rendered the scout rifle obsolete in close-medium range combat.

So here's a solution, or at least an idea: Turn the stalker into a long-range burstfire weapon. Think 3-shot burst. Increase the damage to improve longrange killing power, LOWER mag size to 18/15 to keep the weapon balanced; damage increase should be slightly higher in relation to the magazine size to compensate for the weapon's current lack of stopping power in ANY scenario, give it either one or both ammo types to grant it additional longrange killing power, or to turn it into a medium range elimination tool.

In terms of attachments, the gun only requires the ammo types. In terms of sights and other attachments it's actually a very decent weapon, except you're required to heavily cert into something to obtain any specific role at the moment, in which case you'll come back to the original problem.

Discussion and additional ideas are welcome!
-Bob

THat is a nice idea...

Also, SOE can go **** themselves and redund me my cash for this POS weapon.

Just kidding... but yeah, wasn't every impressed with they released it's direct upgrade in the form of the Cyclone SMG ;p

NC would only get a 2 shot burst, like with the rest of their guns.

3 shot burst is reserved for TR and VS ONLY.

And yet, there's a 2shot burst for two of TR's guns.

I wonder about this. The scout rifles is described a being for short - mid range engagements, whereas the SMG is completely CQC. I wonder if it is just ineffective because people are using it for CQC against more specialized weapons, instead of what it is described as, or there really is something wrong with it.

Well, the last time I used my scout rifle (HSR-1), there was a HUGE damage decrease at medium range, which made me use it for CQC only. But now it's clearly obsolete.

SOE knows it, SOE doesn't react. Complains about the scout rifles appear about every two weeks but we never get a response.

That's the problem though: The description and ingame range are completely different. It says it's a long range weapon, yet it can't do anything at that range. CQC and medium range-wise the SMG family outperforms the Stalker. It literally has no niche left. Why did they bother keeping it in the first place if they don't intend to actually make the gun useful?

Just boost the damage to 200 max 167 min, reduce ROF to keep the DPS fair. Basically I want a Gauss SAW with a 20 round mag.

The scout rifles were (pre-SMG), and still are, worse than a semi-auto SNIPER rifle with a 1X zoom on it. Having extensively tested the TR full and semi-auto scout rifles, I found the full auto was impossible to use outside of CQC. That bloom is so incredibly bad!! More often I'd get waaay out-sniped by an enemy heavy with the full-auto scout, with that awful bloom, then consider a heavy will have a clip 5 times larger, and they have more health -- it was a JOKE.

The semi auto scout was better at mid range, but also really shined in CQC. I had my most success when infiltrating into towers and hiding on the beams of the air pads sniping people on the mid level. The sad part was, using a semi-auto SNIPER rifle with a 1X still out-performed a scout rifle in CQC, and still gave you great mid-long rang capabilities with the shift-hold breath ability, it just depended on your capability to hit longer targets with a 1X or 2X zoom.

The SADDEST part is that the SMGs blew all scout and sniper rifle variants out of the water, for CQC; but ALSO excel in mid range engagements. As an engi last night I was amazed at how accurate my Armistice is at mid range with a compensator. Just devastating.

The biggest misconception is that scout rifles were only obsolete AFTER SMGs were introduced, but this is false. They were already made obsolete by the SNIPER rifle variants that were able to equip 1X, 2X, or just iron sights. However, that doesn't mean scout rifles don't deserve a huge buff. They have been way underwhelming for too long. Hands spawns the worst SC or certs one could waste.

Too late for me I guess. I bought the TR one on the half-price sale a few days back. Tried it and could not believe how pitiful the damage was. I quickly retired it after two kills.

Maybe the weapon balance pass they have planned in the coming months will do something to make it viable again. Blah...

Increasing velocity and magazine capacity would be great.

I don't think sweeping changes need to be made. Just those tweaks to make it better than SMGs at range, but worse than sniper rifles at long range. But also worse than SMGs in close quarters.

Basically, heavily specialized medium range rifles.

Something along the lines of the NS11A, but then without the accurate hipfire.
Heck, I think that even with accurate hipfire it would be great, since it would lack raw dps to compete with SMGs.

Well ofc TR can use 2 shot bursts also, in addition to 3 shot bursts.

What is the second 2 shot burst TR gun aside from the SABR-13?

TMG-50. There may be more, but those are the only ones I know of.

I used the full auto scout rifle on my infi class and freakin loved that thing, but i would use it in cqc, cloaked flank around uncloak pop an enemy cloak to reload repeat. It was tons of fun. Now that smg's are out i'm going to pick one of those up and give it a go, as i've heard it is better. Too bad, i loved the sound that the TR full auto scout rifle makes, it sounds so good.

I just got into VR training facility and tested the guns and....
Cyclone and blitz are COMPLETELY for CQC. You might say say stalker has high recoil. No it's doesn't. If you know how to compensate the recoil it's actually quite low. Unless you go full cqc with scout rifles try using sights which are <=2x. I feel like when i'm compensating for the recoil while having 3.4x scope it's LOT EASIER to control recoil than if i used 1x scope. Oh and the only bad thing is mag size. If heavy's shields are up you're F***** unless you can take out the pistol & you're also F***** if you miss just a couple of shots.. They should buff it to 25 rounds. That would be perfect. And if you add the grip it will be even better. Add laser sight if you feel like CQC
As for SMGs
Cyclone and blitz have similar recoil. I tried compensating and nothing worked. They are just completely innaccurate at 30+ meres. I tried higher x scopes, grip those things didn't help at all.

So SOE did a great job at balancing SMGs and they could 've done better with scout rifles.

P.S. tried VS counterparts they both had a TOO MUCH of horizontal recoil. Just try to ignore them unless you're really determined to get them.

Gauss Compact S is 3 round burst

Just saying