[Suggestion] Weapon Proficiency(Passive Cert-Line)

This is a simple suggestion which tackles a topic of interest among Planetside 2 players for a very long time, and in a unique way. As it stands, certain classes are heavily defined by the weapons they have access too, but some of these classes could do with more choices, these choices do not break the class, but rather help expand it. The classes in question are: Combat Medic, Engineer, and Heavy Assault. With this idea they will be given access to a passive cert which grants them with proficiency in a new weapon category which I'll detail now.

• Combat Medic: Will gain access to Carbine Proficiency cert located in their passive cert unlocks, by purchasing this passive unlock on your character, your Combat Medic will gain access to all available Carbine rifles(If unlocked of course). This passive unlock will cost 1,500 certs.

• Engineer: Will gain access to Assault Rifle and Light Machine Gun Proficiency cert located in their passive cert unlocks. This will be two-tiered, tier one being Assault Rifles and two being Light Machine Guns. This passive unlock will cost 1,500 and 2,000 certs respective to the tiers.

• Heavy Assault: Will gain access to Assault Rifle Proficiency cert located in their passive cert unlocks. This passive unlock will cost 1,500 certs. (Note, Heavy Assault will not gain access to Carbine rifles, this much I feel would give the class too much close quarters capability).

With this additional cert-line, it gives Combat Medic and Engineer access to each other's weapons, personally I feel this does not break game balance in the slightest, but rather improves it. Being support roles, they should be expected to perform under all conditions and ultimately capable of extreme weapon's versatility, however balance may be in question with giving Engineer's access to LMGs, I will note that if this feels like an issue it can be left out of the idea, however I feel the weapon category will be balanced on this particular class. LMGs are not all-powerful weapons and certainly not the best for most situations, we look at them as amazing because they are attached to the most used class in the game, the Heavy Assault. I feel the personal shield may be causing some undeserved hate for these weapons. Please note giving Engineers access to LMGs DOES NOT include Heavy Weapons(i.e. Jackhammer, Mini-Chaingun, Lasher) as these weapons should remain exclusive to the Heavy Assault.

Why is this necessary? I feel as though these changes will give the game more uniqueness in ordinary combat scenarios, as well as allowing these classes to perform in different situations, the weapons themselves do not break the balance of the classes, as well not every player will have access to them right off the bat, given that it is a cert-line you much purchase for each class, it becomes quite a large investment which could be used on many things over than weapon unlocks. At the very least, this should be allowed to give Combat Medic the Carbine and Engineer the Assault Rifle as support role classes should not be played for their weapon choices, but rather for the intention of participating in your designated role. The difference between Carbines and Assault Rifles is not a certain "One is better than the other", in fact I feel these two categories will be much more akin to preference, being that Carbines are better for close-medium range and Assault Rifles are best for medium-long, there is still a crossover though where Carbines can be used at long, and Assault Rifles can be used at close.

Thank you for reading, and let me know if you feel some concern over balance with the addition of Weapon Proficiency passive cert-lines for these classes.

Sounds good. I would also like to see being proficient in a weapon mean something. Example one of the reasons we like vehicle locks is because bad gunners scare us. Period. What if you can set your vehicle access to how good you are with said vehicle weapon.

Are you saying... locking someone out of their primary weapon if they are bad with it? I don't see how vehicle locks would apply to infantry weaponry in the slightest. The proficiency is invisible in this idea, all it does is give you access to new weapon categories.

No,
this would further increase the gear gap between old and new palyers.
This would take away class diversity.
This would increase the difficulty to balance the classes against each other.

The only way i could accept this change is via a utility or suit slot, to trade the access to bigger weapons for other traits.

Class diversity does not(Nor should not) include primary weapons, especially not when it is very common ones such as Carbines or Assault Rifles. As well, these weapons are not directly advantageous over each other and in essence are not increasing the gear gap between new and old players. A veteran Engineer using an Assault Rifle will not have an equipment advantage over a newbie Engineer using a Carbine, and the same can be said with Combat Medics using each weapon... the veteran will have the skill advantage of course, but the difference between these weapon categories is not so massive where one is a direct upgrade over the other in any situation.

[EDIT] I'd also like to add that the price of 1,500 for a proficiency upgrade is not dramatically more than a single weapon, and is completely reasonable for new players looking to buy new weapons, will buy this upgrade(Which immediately grants them access to the stock weapon of that category) which I feel is perfectly acceptable. And if it was a suit slot there will be more issues with coding.

But it already does.

I would much sooner give Light Assaults and Engineers their own exclusive categories of primaries rather them having share Carbines were it not going to be an issue asking the classes to sort out which one wants to keep the Carbines.

We're at a point where we could never change the primary category of weapons for classes, but it's not impossible to add more onto them. Carbines work great for Light Assault and Engineer, giving them to Combat Medic isn't that big of a stretch and as such giving Engineers Assault Rifles isn't as well. These are support classes after all, they should have more weapon diversity so that they can perform their roles in more situations... Carbines for Medics would mean they get in closer to the fight and on the frontline more often, Assault Rifles for Engineers gives a good reason to stay back and help support your team repairing vehicles and keeping people supplied. Both choices expand the support classes in ways they need, and both are preference depending on playstyle. If it's an issue, Assault Rifles don't have to be available to Heavy Assault and as said in the original post LMGs don't need to go to Engineer.

I had you at engineers getting access to assault rifles, since that actually makes sense in how those two classes play. But HAs with assault rifles? Those guys are scary enough with LMGs, don't need to give them assault rifles.

Not to mention, most classes already overlap rather heavily with the weapon stats that they have available to them. The class that actually stands alone with a completely unique arsenal is the infiltrator.

I do agree, I added the part with Heavy Assaults more as a test, this idea is focused on support classes however. Gotta remember though, Infiltrator isn't entirely unique due to SMGs.

As a Heavy main, I feel that assault rifles would be OP in the hands of a heavy. Could you imagine a 1500+ HP class with access to high dps and accurate weapons like the torq, tar, gr-22, etc?

No one with any sense would ever take a carbine over an AR.

Implying that Assault Rifles are a direct upgrade over Carbines? This would be entirely false, Carbines are better in close range scenarios while Assault Rifles fit better at medium range... having both in the arsenal of Combat Medic and Engineer does not mean everyone will use Assault Rifles, it's preference... just because it's what you would do doesn't mean everyone will.

Take a moment to read the post before yours, essentially don't worry about Heavy Assault getting Assault Rifles, this idea is focused on support role classes. That was more of a test to see if players agreed.

I am more interested in your signature links. They don't work, though.

So which carbine is batter at cqc than say the HV45? Carnage or GR22? TAR or TRV? All perform just as well as a carbine in cqc while also outperforming them everywhere else.

GD-7F for one, as well as the Jaguar or the Lynx... these are undoubtedly incredible in close quarters. You also must know this is speaking more in terms of stats, generally speaking carbines have better hip fire accuracy and I believe greater ADS speed, meaning they are of course better for close quarters.

I tried updating the links but it still thinks it's the old SOE URL... try finding them manually through my profile, you'll have a better time searching all my threads.

You changed what the text says but not what the hyperlink goes to.

It does work if you highlight the text and then copy it into the address bar.

Of course! I'll update those immediately, I completely forgot about that.

[EDIT] And updated, they now work accordingly, thank you.

I am perfectly fine with the support classes having access to other weapon categories.