[spoiler]If you want to skip my argument and just want to see my suggested changes to hard light, scroll to the bottom section[/spoiler] I do think it could use some “fixing” so to speak. I don’t think it’s AS overpowered as people claim it to be, because all auto rifles are really good, especially 600 rpm autos. The other day I watched someone drop over 20 kills with a Ros Lysis II, a rare tier 600 rpm auto rifle with dynamic sway reduction. I was only able to beat him once in a gunfight. What does that have to do with hard light? Well, Ros Lysis II having dynamic sway reduction is crazy stable. Dynamic sway reduction almost entirely eliminates bloom, making it very easy to hit consecutive shots. Hard Light is the same. It’s very easy to hit consecutive shots with, and like Ros Lysis II, you’re guaranteed that experience since both are static rolls. Well what about all the other 600 rpm auto rifles (and more so, ALL auto rifles)? Why is hard light the weapon of the masses? Most 600 rpm auto rifles CAN be really good if you get the perfect roll, but often times that’s going to take some grinding, so why waste your time when you have a Hard Light that you know is reliable? You’re probably not going to because grinding sucks. In my experience using Hard Light, it’s great in close to close-medium range engagements, but outside of that it becomes more challenging to use. Even though there’s no damage fall off, it’s pretty hard to land shots, and when you are landing them they’re few and far between, allowing a pulse or hand canon to easily win. Even in the optimal range, I still found myself really trying to win engagements. Granted, I’m not the best at PVP, so maybe someone more skilled with the weapon would do better, but they’re already winning with what they use (and definitely beat me). What I’m trying to get at is that the gun doesn’t automatically win it’s wielder’s gun fights, skill is still required. However, I am fully aware of being on the other side of a Hard Light is not fun at all, and feel that slight tweaking would bring it more in line with other autos rather than nerfing it back into the vault, because the gun is a ton of fun in PVE and would hate to see it suck in PVE again. The changes I personally think would balance it enough are: - Make the aim assist fall off faster, making longer range engagements more difficult, and short range engagements require more skill for aiming (and possibly outright reduce the aim assist) - Reduce the damage increase of ricochet rounds against guardians, but keep them double damage against non-guardian combatants (similar to how Tommy’s Matchbook does double damage in PVE, but sees a smaller damage increase in PVP). - Change alloy magazine to a different magazine perk or different perk in general, preventing people from dumping the entire magazine down a hall way or down range, and gaining a faster than normal reload to instantly resume dumping rounds. Not sure what would be a good replacement, would be open to suggestions here. - Reduce the flinch it gives to guardian combatants (possibly eliminate it completely). Countering hard light in an engagement is hard when your gun is thrown far off target. I want Hard Light to remain good, but i know it needs to be brought a bit back in line with the rest of the weapon pool in PVP. I think a blanket nerf would be far too much, but a tweak or [i]slight[/i] nerf would be good for the overall experience in PVP. Please feel free to make discussion on this or voice your opinion on this.