Who should get access to assault rifles?

[Vydofnir]

Obviously this is the sort of question that will get answered in beta, but this has been on my mind for quite a while now, and I'm curious to see what all of you think based on what we've seen thus far.

From what I've seen, the list of classes that will be able to utilize the AR ranges from all non-MAX classes to the combat medic exclusively. Based on what you've been able to gather so far, which classes do you think should have access to the AR? What tradeoffs do you think certain classes should be forced to make for that option (e.g. an engineer giving up the turret)? Why?

Personally, I think that the Cycler, Pulsar, and Gauss Rifle are the most iconic weapons of their respective factions, and should be accessible to all classes (except of course the MAX), but I'm much more interested in what you all have to say about it.

[Dougnifico]

Medics. They should be a medium assault class that can heal people. Engys can have SMG's, PDW's, Shotguns, or maybe Carbines. LA should be Carbines and lower. HA should be LMG's, maybe DMR's/BR's, maybe AR's. Infiltrator should be Snipers, SMG's, and PDW's.

[SKYeXile]

yea i thought it was the light assault class that got the assault rifles as their exclusive weapon, that looks to be changed though. But really it all depends on the way classes are designed.

the medic getting what should in theory been the longest range may not make a whole lot sense, but the light assault having it either doesn't really either, they can move the fastest and close caps so they should favour closer range weapons like carbines or smgs.

The engineer, it depends on its relative armour to the medic, if it has more armour then it should have shorter ranged weapons.

the heavy assault has the most armour so it has close range weapons, but they can potentially kill more people per clip.

[Accuser]

Originally Posted by Dougnifico

Medics. They should be a medium assault class that can heal people. Engys can have SMG's, PDW's, Shotguns, or maybe Carbines. LA should be Carbines and lower. HA should be LMG's, maybe DMR's/BR's, maybe AR's. Infiltrator should be Snipers, SMG's, and PDW's.

That sounds about right. Medic definitely, HA probably, Engi possibly. Not LA or Infil.

[Vydofnir]

Originally Posted by Dougnifico

Medics. They should be a medium assault class that can heal people. Engys can have SMG's, PDW's, Shotguns, or maybe Carbines. LA should be Carbines and lower. HA should be LMG's, maybe DMR's/BR's, maybe AR's. Infiltrator should be Snipers, SMG's, and PDW's.

This goes along with what we've seen thus far from the E3 streams and such, but we know there will be a great deal of diversity within each class. For example, the developers have stated that infiltrators will have access to sniper rifles, but only if they opt for a limited cloak. Can you foresee any reasonable tradeoffs wherein a LA or an Engineer (or any other class for that matter) would be able to equip an AR?

[OutlawDr]

Ultimately who gets what will be based on class balance. There is little room for class entitlement except for the core class roles its all based around (that is medics heal, infiltrators cloak, ect..)

Also when the devs talk about "tradeoffs" its not across weapons or equipment...not from we've seen in the videos. In other words, taking an assault rifle is not going to prevent you from taking certain equipment like turrets. Not unless they share the same slot (such as primary weapon slot or "tool" slot). Tradeoffs are things like 'better accuracy but less damage'. They are tradeoffs of weapon stats.

So you can't do things like 'when the Engineer takes AR, they can't take turrets'. The customization system doesn't work that way...again based on what we've seen.

[Reefpirate]

Originally Posted by OutlawDr

Also when the devs talk about "tradeoffs" its not across weapons or equipment...not from we've seen in the videos. In other words, taking an assault rifle is not going to prevent you from taking certain equipment like turrets.

That's not entirely true. The infiltrator is limited in what cloaks it can wear with a sniper rifle equipped is one example I can think of. This demonstrates that you can limit other equipment slots based on what is equipped.

[OutlawDr]

Originally Posted by Reefpirate

That's not entirely true. The infiltrator is limited in what cloaks it can wear with a sniper rifle equipped is one example I can think of. This demonstrates that you can limit other equipment slots based on what is equipped.

That might be a special exception, or something the devs are no longer doing. Watching guys at E3 customize their characters, I saw no way of doing this. Not unless the sniper rifles says something like 'when equipped, you can't take X cloak'. That means you have to do the same to every equipment and weapon with special exceptions. AR would have specifically say 'you can't take turrets', stuff like that. This seems very messy and inelegant way of doing things. And a nightmare for the devs to keep track of. But again, Ive seen no evidence that these sorts of "tradeoffs" exist.

[Vydofnir]

Originally Posted by OutlawDr

That might be a special exception, or something the devs are no longer doing. Watching guys at E3 customize their characters, I saw no way of doing this. Not unless the sniper rifles says something like 'when equipped, you can't take X cloak'. That means you have to do the same to every equipment and weapon with special exceptions. AR would have specifically say 'you can't take turrets', stuff like that. This seems very messy and inelegant way of doing things. And a nightmare for the devs to keep track of. But again, Ive seen no evidence that these sorts of "tradeoffs" exist.

Matt Higby gives the infiltrator example at 55:10 of this video:
Granted this video is pre-E3, but only by a week, and I'm pretty sure they were in the same build. Also keep in mind that during the E3 demo each class seemed to be limited to a single weapon type.

I don't think this sort of tradeoff would be that big of an obstacle to the developers. All it would take is a message saying "cannot be used with X weapon" in the item's text box, and a few Boolean statements to check if a weapon was compatible with a given ability. From a UI perspective, it would be pretty easy to shade out weapons that are incompatible with the current load-out. Personally I hope they include these sorts of tradeoffs because I think it would add a whole lot of depth to each class.

[WorldOfForms]

A simple and easy to understand method may be that as an infiltrator, you have your equipment slot, which can either have a sniper rifle, or a prolonged cloaking device. Unless you equip that "cloak extender", you can only cloak for a short time.

Makes it totally obvious to the user how it works.

[Neurotoxin]

All but MAX.

[Accuser]

Originally Posted by Vydofnir

Personally I hope they include these sorts of tradeoffs because I think it would add a whole lot of depth to each class.

Indeed. Higby specifically said that LA has access to "carbines, SMGs and shotguns", but some on this forum (not me, mind you) are desperate for LA to have a longer range weapon. Perhaps that could be balanced with a weaker jumpjet, or one with a much longer recharge time than the standard LA has.

[Joe Soldier]

Medics and Assault classes. These guys are the most that step into the line of fire either giving medical attention to friendlies or rushing the front lines. These classes need a reliable standard issue rifle to get their job done right. The engineer could probably use light carbines to defend themselves while providing combat support.

[Ratstomper]

LA and HA. If you ain't assault, you don't get an assault rifle.

Engys and medics should get submachine guns or shotguns.

[Electrofreak]

I have a problem with LA using powerful ranged weapons. I suspect it'll just turn them into ranged campers, in elevated positions where Infils with sniper rifles may not even be able to hit them. They're supposed to be in a role of short range shock trooper, not super-mobile sniper.