Weapons: Charactaristical Definition

[Palerion]

Main Idea:

As the game stands, I think that each weapon type needs to be more defined, or set apart from the others, by its characteristics (I realize I misspelt characteristical in the title). It seems as though there is not enough differentiation between all the automatic weapons, therefore their roles are not as firmly established as they should be.

So...

Look at Battlefield 3. BF3 developers have managed to differentiate carbines, assault rifles, and light machine guns so that each class has a weapon fitting its position in the squad, giving that class the advantage in the situations it should be engaging at. It all comes together like clockwork.

It would be extremely helpful for Planetside 2 to do try giving each weapon a more distinct advantage in its role, too.

The Proposition:

Currently, Light Machine Guns serve their purpose well and fit the Heavy Assault class like a glove. Big and hard hitting. Now, the more compact weapons, namely Assault Rifles and Carbines, are kind of murky in terms of their roles. Upon searching around a little bit, I stumbled upon a Planetside 2 Wiki that outlined carbines and assault rifles to have differences that are not currently in the game. Now, I would link the wiki, but for some reason every time I try to the link redirects to a planetside universe wiki.

This is what the wiki said about Carbines:

"Carbines fire rapidly and can quickly take out enemies at close or medium range. Some can be modified with underbarrel attachments like grenade launchers or shotguns to adapt to the situation."

And this is what the wiki said about Assault Rifles:

"Assault Rifles are used exclusively by Combat Medics, and are highly versatile. They are most effective at medium and medium-long ranges."

Now, from these two articles, it can be inferred that carbines are supposed to be the quicker short-medium range killers, with inherintly higher rates of fire and more DPS at closer ranges, and assault rifles are supposed to be the quicker medium-long range killers, with more accuracy at longer ranges, thus more quick and precise distant kills. It fits the playstyle of Light Assault to have a quick short to medium ranged killer, and fits engineers by giving them a potent weapon to defend themselves from enemies at dangerous ranges. The assault rifle gives the combat medic more viability at killing distant enemies from farther back, where he should be if he is healing people and doing his job.

I think it would be wise to put this system into effect. Right now a carbine is just an assault rifle with more recoil, less accuracy, less damage at range, and better hipfire. Almost a direct downgrade. So, it would make sense to me for carbines to have a higher fire rate than assault rifles, at the cost of its already much lower accuracy at any sort of range. It suits the playstyles of light assaults and engineers, just as the assault rifle fits the playstyle of the combat medic.

Furthermore, by making sure each weapon has a point where it stands out, it is harder to call one weapon overpowered compared to another because that weapon is geared to be the most powerful in a certain situation.