User blog:DremYolLok/My Thoughts on Weapon Balance in AW: Assault Rifles

Everyone seems to be making a blog with this topic, so I thought "Fuck it, why not?". First thing's first, the weapon balance in Advanced Warfare isn't the best. I'll admit that. But a lot of people seem to be labeling guns as just downright useless or bad, when they really aren't. Of course, there are a few weapons that can fit this description but some of the ones that are more "popular" to pick on really can't be described this way. So, let's get on with it.

Assault Rifles
Let's not bullshit ourselves here. This is the dominant class in the game. They're the 'Jack of all Trades, and Master of them too' guns. They can handle almost any type of engagement, from point-blank close range to being the bane of Snipers at long range. So let's go through them:

Bal-27
Yeah yeah yeah, I know. "OP gun, blah blah blah". If I had a dollar for everytime I heard that one. Anyway, the Bal-27, to put it straight, is a fairly average assault rifle. Recoil is slightly moderate, and it has a short three hit kill range (which pretty much kills it for me). The good part about this gun, is that it has a high rate of fire (albeit, after the first 4 shots). This suits it a bit more for automatic fire, rather than burst firing. Hold the trigger until the guy's dead. This gun is pretty much suited for close quarters, and you should keep that in mind when using it.

Best variant: Obsidian Steed

AK-12
Remember the ACR from MW2? Well, it's back. Sorta. Basically, this thing is the low damage laser beam. We all know the guns. The ACR, M4A1, M27, SC-2010, etc. If you're looking for something that isn't lacking too much in damage and has VERY low recoil, then this is probably the gun you want. This gun's best role is probably stealth, rocking a silencer. Even when silencer, the four hit kill range is 30m, which is pretty good. If you've just started playing or have just prestiged, then I'd recommend this gun to getting started on leveling up.

Best variant: R.I.P.

ARX-160
I see this gun get a lot of flak, and I don't understand why. It's an extremely good gun, especially if you get the Steel Bite or Hole Puncher. A high fire rate, with no recoil whatsoever and the longest four hit kill range in the game, this thing is a long range dominator and should be treated as such.

Best variant: Steel Bite or Hole Puncher

HBRa3
So, a gun that sucks and doesn't suck at the same time. And now you'll know why. For those of you who haven't kept up to date with the most recent weapon balancing, this weapon pretty much recieved the most unneeded nerf ever. It had its 3 hit kill range, which was already short to begin with, shot down from either 12.5 or 15 meters to a mere 5 meters. This is the same range that the Tac-19 gets a two pellet kill at, which is piss poor even by shotgun standards. The upside is that it has, by default, the second longest 4 hit kill range of all Assault Rifles (not counting the MK14, which has a 4 shot kill maximum at long range). To make this even better, all variants that add damage (including the Average Joe marksman variant) turn it into a 4 hit kill maximum. This gun pretty much rocks medium and long range engagments.

Best variant: Average Joe or Insanity

IMR
One of the more interesting guns in the game. It prints its own ammunition via 3D printing, which basically negates the need for Scavenger. It is pretty accurate, although it suffers from a tiny bit of Gun Kick and has relatively short range when compared to the rest of the Assault Rifles. It does, however, have a high rate of fire which adds a bit more to its close range ability.

Best variant: Boar Strike

MK14
Oh boy, this is where we hit a dead end in a line of good weapons. I've never seen what use the MK14 could have. So here I'm not gonna put anything about this gun. It's honeslty not worth using compared to everything else. I am going to leave my recommendations to Sledgehammer on how to fix this gun. There are two ways. Either buff the damage so it's a 2 to 3 hit kill and keep the recoil and sway, or lower the recoil and get rid of the sway but keep the damage how it is now. Either one will turn this gun into something useable.

Well, that's it for now. I'll probably scrap up the SMG segment of this blog series sometime soon. For now, see ya.