Josef Koba, on 02 January 2014 - 02:42 PM, said:
Personally I like the different flavors of the weapons as they stand. I'm not saying it's perfect, but having ballistics do some damage over time in a similar way to lasers doesn't make sense to me. Sure, it isn't fun getting hit with two AC/20s, but my highest damage outputs generally come from my four large laser Stalker, which I chain fire. I can essentially do a constant, unyielding stream of damage (depending on the map), and with 23 DHS, I cool pretty fast. People getting shot with lasers tend to underestimate the damage they're taking, but it is also unsettling to be taking damage without a break. People run from the two AC/20s; people tend to dramatically underestimate the damage they're taking from my four large lasers.
Again, there are some issues. But I am not sure this is one of them. In any case, it's good that the fan base is so passionate.
I don't understand the "why" to your last sentence. I'm not being snarky; I'm genuinely curious why this should be the case.
For practical reasons: Makes it easier to balance the game. You gain more variables to adjust which leads to the ability to do more intelligent balancing instead of throwing arbitrary systems, such as ghost heat, around.
IMO, this will also lead to better game play because you limit the ability to do pin point damage to two weapons(the PPC and Gauss) which have been given a real tradeoff for the ability to do so(heat for PPC's, exploding weapon and weight limitations for the Gauss).
For lore reason: With only a few exceptions(one or two brands and LBX cannons), Autocannons were more along the lines of giant burst fire guns.