Why does the BJ Performs that well

Since the BJ is the most used LMG in game in Q4 and performs outstanding what is making this weapon that op?

Is the Heatmechanic
The unlimeted ammo
The 0.75 Multi
Its in Game Stats (more or less the Orion)

BJ is a Orion without any attachments with the heat mechanic instead of ammo; so going down your list that's already two out of four ruled out or the Orion would be better 24/7.

Ok, lets look at the HEAT mechanic and unlimited ammo. Unlimited ammo is of limited use since as a heavy you're going to be running over enemy packs and while nice when farming lemmlings your side is likely to have someone drop a ammo pack you can use as well in most scenarios.

So we're down to the HEAT mechanic. What does the HEAT mechanic offer that Orion does not have? The fact you don't risk getting locked into a reload cycle. Combined that fact with it being a CQC based LMG and you have the main benefit of BJ over Orion; you can farm lemmlings for a long while without risking getting locked into a reload cycle if careful which lets people who're skilled rack up great kill streaks as people throw themselves into the fireline over and over again without having to stop and reload (if they are spaced out enough).

So it's an Orion but better because you never have to reload, the Orion already being the best LMG in the game for all around lethality, ease-of use and versatility.

Of course it is. People have been screaming for it to be nerfed, and .75 to be cut out from every VS lmg and weapon that should have it removed.

When those LMG changes eventually (re)hit the live server the 0.75 will be gone, unless the devs changed their minds.

And people will still die to Orion and cry about it being OP (even though with the suggested changes it will simply be worse than the MSW-R in every stat).

Thats false.

With the tank survivability buff and resource revamp in mind, PS2 devs are notorious for changing their minds, even halfway through a multi-phase update.

I wouldn't put any faith into "promises" from these people until I see it on live servers.

Actually the suggested changes were going to give the Orion/BG assault rifle levels of accuracy. One of the VIB guys did the math and an 8 round burst from the new Orion would have been just as accurate as a 4 round burst from the current Orion. That's pretty insane.

It would've been fun on a bun.

The heat mechanic leaves you with flexablility being able to kill a guy run to another doorway and be reloading in between without having a full reload cycle and the ability to fire if anyone pops up at any time gives this oddly large advantage. Would i like the Betelgeuse nerfed well no not really ide like it much better if the TR and NC had weapons that were on its level but that whole problem is that the Betelgeuse is based on the correct platform to be used alot where the TR and NC directive lmgs are based on a more long range platform making them more niche. If the TR had an MSW-R directive weapon with its only upgrade being a 150 round magazine it would preform as well if not better than a Betelgeuse. In the end as much as i hate dieng to the damn thing ide rather there be unique mechanics that oddly make a weapon OP than the game to lose all faction flavor and be a boring point and shoot.

It is 100% the heat mechanic that causes this weapon to do as well as it does.

It doesn't hurt that it is a high DPS weapon (for LMG's) but the Orion is balanced against other CQC LMG's. If you gave the heat mechanic to the anchor or MSWR you would see similar outlier performances compared to other LMG's. (Because most fighting occurs in that 40ish M range the CQC LMG's excel at)

Infinite ammo usually only comes into play if you are consistently a 6-7+ K/D player (with around 25% accuracy) and no access to engineers from your allies or opponents.

When the weapon first released I think I was number 1 or 2 on the leaderboard with a ~13 KD (I think its around 5 or 6 now as some people have managed 15-17 K/Ds with it). And I can tell you It wasn't that it is a better weapon for killing, it is the lack of downtime between your 1 v 1's or 2 v 1's that means never having to figure in repositioning to reload. If have enough control of your surroundings to be (mostly) pointing in the right direction of your opponents and consistently outshoot them, this weapon will let your performance spike because it removes the only limiting factor that other weapons saddle you with (damage per mag before reloading).

With that being said and taking into consideration the stats showing how far it out performs the other CQC LMG's ..

Would you say the heat mechanic rather than any 0.75 issue needs to be looked at ? Or should the NC / TR Directive LMG's be changed and buffed if needed, to be made as competitive and unique in those CQC ranges ?

Wonderful, I'll praise them for years to come if they do it.

Maybe during the relaunch...

It's a mix of factors.
Great accuracy, lmg damage, no reload downtime, 0.75 ads, added with the heavy shield.
A lot of pros and basically no downside.

beetlejuice was not the first thing i thought of when reading the title....

If something did need to be changed about the weapon, it is without a doubt (in my mind) the heat mechanic.

Though, first I'd establish what is acceptable for a directive weapon performance wise. If you take a quick look at AR's on the Oracle of Death, when you compare the directive's to their counterparts in KPU, KPH, etc you see a very similar looking graph to the LMG's. When you compare it to the best in class weapons (say Darkstar to TAR / Terminis) they are closer but the directive still tends to pull ahead (but not by as much).

In the case of the Betelgeuse, it has the distinct advantage (over all other directive weapons) of being based on an already best in class weapon. So even without the heat / ammo modifiers, you have to expect a larger gap than most other directive weapons.

The second thing I would consider is that what kind of players are more likely to unlock directive weapons and do the mechanics of the weapon cater to a certain playstyle? My answer to both would be "Farmers" the weapon is tailor made for people looking to farm kills, which is going to further bump the performance up. I know personally, I seldom took the BG for serious point holds because hard pushes (with limited number of defenders) meant I was quickly overheating. (And I pretty much stuck with my trusty SVA)

TLR Could it be toned down some? Sure, but the amount it needs toned down is probably no where near what people would actually want because of the inflated numbers it tends to produce.

*edit* As for other factions directive weapons, if you added a similar mechanic I expect you'd see almost identical results (to best in class weapons like say the Anchor, MSWR, TAR, etc). But in their current incarnation, the rest offer nothing really different or special so that gap will never be quite as wide.

ill admit i am a victim of this misleading title as well , Lol ._.

Apparently I'm not as damaged by the internet as I thought

I expected the thread to be about the BlackJack....

This is likely the thing, if you added some sort of infinate ammo mechanic to the Anchor or MSW-R as Directive LMGs I suspect as well that you'd have something like the Betel (along with a vast amount of complaining! ).