So lot of nerf this, this is OP, etc, lets try to be a bit refreshing. HOW SHOULD WEAPONS BE BALANCED? the simplest way is to look at this as a broad perspect, weapon classes pulses, handcannons, scouts, auto rifles...lets start with primaries. how should these be balanced? This is my thought and i think many share it. PRIMARIES SHOULD BE BALANCED WITH TIME TO KILL AND RANGES IN MIND. This means a AR should have the fastest time to kill, but its effective time to kill should have the least range of said primary weapons. Currently they kill at .8 seconds if all shots hit the head. They operate around sidearm ranges, so realistically they should be compareable, i know sidearm is a special but its a supplemental special, meaning its meant to support your primary, not have its own OHK niche like shotguns, fusions, and snipers. so i think this would be fair. Suggestion: move AR time to kill in there optimal range to about .6 seconds if your hitting the head. it would still be probalby slightly weaker then sidearms as they need less bullets to get said kill, but they would be able to definitly go toe to toe with sidearms, while giving people who dont use ar's the option to use sidearms to compete against AR's in there intended range. would give a good skill based dynamic for those two weapons. and it also would make AR's more able to compete with the current TLW exotic handcannon, without removing TLW dominance in close range hip fire wich is as fast or faster, allowing it to compete as well and probably have a slight edge over both. Scouts: they are quite possibly nicely balanced right now, overall. they have the worst possible time to kill of the primaries (up to 1.6 seconds if its body shots) and a competing but not dominating .9-1 second time to kill on headshots. once again they are probably pretty balanced overall. most i could say is shore up there fastest time to kill to 1 second to give a clearer and more distinct difference between them and pulse/handcannons. but it may not be necessary. certainly make it cleaner tho. pulses and handcannons: this is tricky, they essentially operate within about hte same intended useage. medium range weapons. the differences is, handcannons require more accuracy, but are in turn more mobile, pulses have more leniency, but are less mobile. Thus idealy they should have about the same time to kill. of about .8 seconds, this would put them at a disadvantage in close ranges where you would have AR's, sidearms, and the last word, but would but them ahead of scouts in medium ranges where they are supposed to dominate. and the tradeoff between the two would be somewhat equal. This imo should be where primaries land. Now specials are much harder to balance in general, 3/4 of them are OHK weaponry when used in there intended ranges/uses. the most i could say is the need to adjust them so they are harder to use outside of those intended ranges. Shotguns: sorta had this addressed already, getting a series of nerfs across the board. whether they were the right nerfs or not im unsure. basically the idea of shotguns is close range powerhouse, but needs to be shorter then AR range so AR's have a area of distance to compete with. This is why range on shotguns have been repeatedly toned down, to give AR's room to work, and sidearms to a lesser extent. This is the main thing, they need that range limitation in pvp (tho i wish it was different in PVE) fusions: i think there charge times help designate there intended use as a counter move and corner hugging tool. i think there stability reduction was somewhat uncalled for honestly. snipers: i will get hate for this but they are slightly too strong, but not in the way most people complain. they are too rewarding for body shots in pvp, taking someone down too low, able to quick swap to another weapon and kill them before they can retaliate. one shot head shots are fine, and ABSOLUTLY deserved. they also let you be too mobile. It should be 3 shot body shot (second shot leaving you at a sliver of HP even on low armor targets) and one shot headshot. You should also be less mobile while the sniper rifle is out just as with shotguns. This will force players who use snipers to rely on there primary more both for moving around and for follow up shots if you miss the head. i generally dont like how aim assist fights bullet flinch so much as well, but im unsure if that would need changing if the other two were addressed. Sidearms: are probably about where they should be, just like scouts they seem largely balanced. i have no real comment on heavy weapons. If you read it this far thankyou, what are your thoughts?