I am now judging the worth of a sidearm, solely by how well they work with stalker cloak. Not sure if that is a good thing or not, lol.
Might as well be lol. I got real good with the SAS-R when I was using that so the blackhand feels nice now. Have not had this much fun since the Crossbow, lol.
Noticed that sidearms, in general, are quite capable weapons on their own right. In many ways, when I play HA it is not rare when it is preferble to draw my Rebel/Spiker/Repeater in favour of my LMG in certain situations. I hope DBG does not decide to nerf the Blackhand. However, since it works well with stalker I expect a nerf to happen. Wouldn't want a stalker infil be able to actually do something... Also, inb4 some random person decides to share this awesome story about how he hacked a turret and blow something up. Yeah, captivating stuff there. Now I see everything differently.
There is not much you could do to the blackhand to nerf or buff it without ruining it or making it op. About the only thing I could think of is giving it 1 more round per mag (with no increase to total ammo), or a SLIGHT increase to reload speed. Nerf wise, maybe a slightly harsher damage drop off, or slower fire speed. All in all the blackhand is in a very nice spot for what it is meant to be, I don't see a nerf/buff coming anytime soon.
Well, stalker infiltrator is the only class that that uses a sidearm on a consistent basis, so if you play stalker at all, that's pretty natural. I like the Blackhand at least as well on light assault, though. It feels great to carry a shotgun or SMG and still have a reliable option for killing infantry at 50m+. LAs can often get much better angles than a stalker infiltrator, too, and that is sometimes worth more than the cloak.
"Pocket scout rifle" is probably the most accurate description. Unlike the battle rifle, it does a 2-headshot kill. Unlike a semi-auto sniper, it has workable moving CoF and hipfire. If it weren't for the tiny magazine, the Blackhand would pretty much be a better Vandal.
Blackhand has such a complimentary role with my play-style, it's like packing a comissioner and a scout rifle at the same time.
Given their track record, SOE/DBG doesn't typically nerf weapons because they are popular/overused, or even overpowered really. They tend to nerf things that are stepping on other weapon's roles. When AV becomes better AI than AI (Enforcer) nerf. When AI becomes better AV than AV (Airhammer) nerf. When an LMG becomes a better SMG than SMGs (just about all of them around PU02) nerf. As long as the performance numbers for the BH doesn't step on the Commissioner (closest relative) at ranges less than say 15m or so, I doubt we'll see any substantial nerfs.
