532 réponses à ce sujet

[t1n0]

I liked the Harrier when I first got it, but the ammo problem get old. If they bump up the cpacity, that would be the ultimate weapon.
HST, Ive tried some of most people fav snipers, but scopes throw me off too much, and if I miss (which I do)...2-3 second for another shot? way too long for me. Same thing with Claymore: Great gun if you connect, but if you don't?
So, ultimately, the gun I use the most for all types of conflicts? Geth Plasma Shotgun.
Second place: Carnifex/Palladin
Third: Hurricane.

[zeal.assassin]

You guys should at least sticky this at least until you all are finish with this census.

[Jonathan Shepard]

Derek Hollan wrote...

My questions this time around are:

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"

"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"
(e.g. - From low: "Give this weapon to the rookie so he doesn't hurt him/herself or anyone else for that matter" to High: "This weapon makes things go away just by its mere presence on the battlefield", and everything in between)

"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?" I am not asking which you think is the "best", only which one do you simply like to play with most of all.

Cheers!

1. When starting out with little knowledge of the game, I felt this way, but as I've risen up to be able to handle gold in the past month, there are only a few weapons I regularly use. Now, yes, some weapons that suck with most classes will really shine on a specific build, but even then, those guns are rather few. There are plenty of low-level weapons, so to speak, but since we can't hurt ourselves or our team-mates, that doesn't seem necessary. Especially in the case of the SMGs, which are very weak overall, especially with ULM still not working. There are three main power levels of weapons: Useless, Good for Now, and REALLY POWERFUL.

It doesn't feel like enough, because many players just use the powerful weapons. Now, the roles different weapons play does make them a little bit more diversified in function... (however, their function, while great in theory, doesn't end up being useful because even with that "niche" flavor of a gun, it's usually not as powerful. The GPS is a counter-example, but the Eagle is a perfect example. Because the Eagle is a AR/Pistol hybrid, it's coolness is high... but its damage is so low it's uselss.

2. Most roles and niches are filled as far as I can think of. The Mattock and Saber are opposite ends of the sniper/assault rifle combination; the Indra is the super-rifle that's all of fast, automatic, and powerful. The Raptor is like a Sniper Mattock, with a little more ammo. The Harrier is auto-Mattock, which is very cool, if ammo-hungry. You've got the Avenger, Vindicator, Revenant, and GPR all taking up standard but varying levels of normal assault rifle guns, and then the Falcon and Striker for support-rifles. Most of the sniper rifles are also well-differentiated into different "roles." I want to make a distinction here between "roles" and "power" levels, which I discussed earlier with the Eagle versus GPS example.

Weapons like the Graal are wonderful-- moderately powerful, not too heavy, fun to play with... but only if you're the host and don't have to worry about lag. Same thing goes for the Kishock, but even then, its damage output has been capped, and it is now considered a rather poor weapon. I could go on like this for every weapon, but this post is already becoming humungous. Let's move on...

3. My favorite Weapon(s) so far are the Talon, Valiant, Indra, Graal, Geth Plasma Shotgun, Reegar, Krysae, Disciple, and Hurricane. You'll notice that most of these are both powerful AND very flavorful-- differentiated from other guns in very substantial and unique ways, that really cause them to stand out.

In order of a top 5 list though? (My experience with some of the UR guns comes from the campaign, of course, but I've still gotten a really good feel for most of these.)

1. Talon
2. Geth Plasma Shotgun
3. Reegar Combine
4. Krysae
5. Indra

[EDIT]: TL;DR?! Okay, well...

1. Yes, but there isn't enough of a graident. It's too distinct between the weak and powerful weapons.
2. Yes. Niches are filled out in many areas, though I'm sure BioWare is working on some cool new toys for us to play with. They have been VERY good about creating unique weapons.
3. Check the top 5 list, up a couple lines.

Modifié par Jonathan Shepard, 26 juin 2012 - 04:04 .

[CHAw]

Talhydras wrote...

The strangely low weight notwithstanding, the Avenger's DPS renders it useless on higher difficulties for combat classes, which is a shame considering it is the iconic Mass Effect weapon.

Strictly speaking, that's not quite accurate. Although the Elkoss Combine Avenger is one of the few weapons that has appeared in all three core Mass Effect games (the others being the Ariake Technologies Katana and the Geth Pulse Rifle), the original iconic Mass Effect weapon was the Hahne-Kedar M-7 Lancer. Unfortunately, Hahne-Kedar's small arms division seems to have been wiped from galactic memory.

But if this Earth DLC rumor is true, maybe we can get some good old Lancers retrofitted to accept thermal clips and retake their rightful place as the go-to weapon for every Alliance marine. Yes? Maybe? Please?

Modifié par CHAw, 26 juin 2012 - 04:05 .

[Stance Punk]

There's a good amount of weapons.

The ARs in general are pretty bad. They should be decent at everything but on gold, they suck. More ARs need to be gold viable.

My favorite weapon would be the N7 Hurricane ATM. Powerful close range. Don't bother long range. But it completely blows away all of the automatic weapons in the game

[Talhydras]

CHAw wrote...

Talhydras wrote...

The strangely low weight notwithstanding, the Avenger's DPS renders it useless on higher difficulties for combat classes, which is a shame considering it is the iconic Mass Effect weapon.

Strictly speaking, that's not quite accurate. Although the Elkoss Combine Avenger is one of the few weapons that has appeared in all three core Mass Effect games (the others being the Ariake Technologies Katana and the Geth Pulse Rifle), the original iconic Mass Effect weapon was the Hahne-Kedar M-7 Lancer. Unfortunately, Hahne-Kedar's small arms division seems to have been wiped from galactic memory.

But if this Earth DLC rumor is true, maybe we can get some good old Lancers retrofitted to accept thermal clips and retake their rightful place as the go-to weapon for every Alliance marine. Yes? Maybe? Please?

I'm sold. Put the scope back on, maybe give it some integral weak zoom and disable the scope mod, and now we're REALLY talking!  

Edit: Oh yeah, and DPS >900 plz - I'd like to be able to kick some butt when I'm out of cover on Gold

Modifié par Talhydras, 26 juin 2012 - 04:17 .

[Lenderien]

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"
In overall i'd have to say yes but there is always room for new interesting weapons.
"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"
As for niche i'd have to go yes again, tho seeing something that adds bit of a different approach to things instead of straightfoward put bullets into enemy till he/she/it dies.
"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?"
1.Scoprion-one of the few weapons which allows quite a different playstyle to be used,rather than just blast at the damned things.
2. Wraith-decent versatile shotgun from short to mid range.

[JumboWheat01]

Derek Hollan wrote...

My questions this time around are:

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"

"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"

"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?"

Cheers!

1) There are plenty of weapons to choose from, if you have the RNG for it.  The problem is that you may not be getting the weapons that you want or use for a certain play style (ie. getting a lot of Snipers though you're really a CQC man, or getting nothing but heavy weapons and you play "Caster" classes.)

2)There's a lot of weapon overlapping in my oppinion, with a lot of weapons filling the same function, even within the same class of weapons.  And unfortunately, with every enemy type having an Armored target or two, the need for high-damage per bullet weapons out-weights the need for just about anything else.

3)I have a prefference for mid-ranged weapons, either full-auto for supressive fire or burst fire for decent sustained damage down-range.  Assault Rifles tend to full-fill this criteria for me the most, though with my RNG luck, I mostly use the Mattock.  I would love to use my Vindicator more.

Cheers.

[ValorOfArms777]

My fav... I like all the guns but the poor incisor and only cause it's just not up to par cause of it's horrid recoil making it's accuracy pitiful a stabilization gear help it out though...

I think we need a new SMG of N7 and rares to fill it up more but again just me I like our armory but it's time for some new gear and modifications for weapons and to introduce the weapons you did as promotional AT Raider/Argus/Valkrye to basicly grant us their use now the games been out for a long time could you also make a DLC pack to include your "MP only weapons" to SP that would be snazzy too along with the Pre order stuff too it's about time now and the hype of getting Pre order guns early is gone and past time for some love hmm?

also your missing Ammo Gear/Adrenalin Gear/Stability Gear/Thermal Spare increase gear along with more mods to grant us more modifications to our guns

[Yubz]

There are a lot of weapons to choose from, but sadly most of them either feel too similar to each other or are simply too weak.
On Gold I feel like I only have a extremely limited choice of weapons because most of the weapons aren't strong enough.

[ctr2yellowbird]

First of all, a preface. I believe others' and my own answers to these questions are heavily limited by which weapons we have actually used in earnest and our proficiency with them--to get a feel for them, their archetype, and the more subtle differences between all the weapons in that archetype (i.e., insight). I would definitely pay attention to those who are always trying out new builds to keep Gold interesting as they should have a wealth of experience here. I myself have still only used a fraction of what the game has to offer.

Derek Hollan wrote...

My questions this time around are:

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"

Yeah... I guess. I'm not sure if "range" in this instance refers to something like viability, diversity, or diversity within weapon archetypes. So on the whole, "I guess." Some weapons are redundant or seemingly inferior to others, so there's an argument to be had where those weapons don't really add much to the range of weapons in the armory. But... eleven sniper rifles? How is that not a good range of weapons? I've used sniper rifles the most, and I think they offer a perfect example of good diversity with a hint of balance(!): all the sniper rifles have distinct traits that serve to differentiate themselves into niches. If I were to just answer this question based on the number of weapons available for each archetype, then yes there's a good range of options except for SMGs.

"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"
(e.g. - From low: "Give this weapon to the rookie so he doesn't hurt him/herself or anyone else for that matter" to High: "This weapon makes things go away just by its mere presence on the battlefield", and everything in between)

Niches? Eh... No. Not possible. This is practically limited only by creativity because ME3 is set in a future where, IMO, "the sky's the limit," so I see potential for near infinite niches, a potential that I feel is largely untapped. Forgetting that for a moment, I would compare ME3 to a game like BF3. I believe DICE has done a better job at filling niches in BF3, which just simply means that more can be done here in ME3. I think a more pointed question is: "Have we filled enough weapon niches in ME3?" To which I would respond, with respect to the enemies available and depth of gameplay required to win in MP, yes. Although, more can always be done.

Levels (i.e., tiered weapons)? I have a hard time grappling with this question when some weapons are clearly more effective than their alternatives within the same archetype and rarity. Likewise, most ultra rare seems to perform on par with the rares of their archetype. How clear-cut is this distinction of weapon level = weapon effectiveness supposed to be? Right now, I feel the rarity vs effectiveness lines are blurred. If those lines were clarified in favor of rarity=effectiveness, then I would consider more strongly dropping this game. I do not feel this idea of an RPG tiered weapon system works well in an FPS unless it's a single-player only game. Although, the thought just occured to me that perhaps this game could be sustained on a principle of power creeping where weapon levels are expanded to cope with new, higher difficulty levels. As it sits right now, I don't see a huge difference between ME3's rare and ultra rare weapon's effectiveness or effectiveness gained by leveling individual weapon (I through X), which is why my friends can still play with me occasionally and not be totally outclassed by my weapons alone.

The MP experiment seems to be suffering some understandable identity crises, namely with which directions MP should be taken. Traditional or unhinged FPS (I'm looking at the Reegar, specifically)? RPG or FPS? Weapon balance or tiers?

"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?" I am not asking which you think is the "best", only which one do you simply like to play with most of all.

Cheers!

Hard for me to choose favorites in ME3. Usually it's a weapon + class combo that synergize well into a style of gameplay that I find appealing. Right now, I'm enjoying the Reegar on my Krogan Sentinel because it's a very complimentary weapon for my playstyle on that class. It basically filled that niche (!) I had where no other weapon made a great companion for him to take on all challengers. But the Reegar also makes the gameplay a bit boring for me on Silver. Irony?

No, I can't answer this subjectively. I've had successes with the Valiant, Black Widow, Mattock, Geth Plasma Rifle, and now the Reegar because my classes or their playstyles have augmented those weapons. I will return to using these weapons on their partnered classes again. OK, I'd pick the Valiant if mine weighed less.

Modifié par ctr2yellowbird, 26 juin 2012 - 04:53 .

[icarusredeemed]

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"
This question can be interpreted a few ways, this is my interpretation, taken from the perspective of a player who almost exclusively plays on Gold.

In my opinion not really, because most of the weapons are mediocre to awful. There is a reason why many people tend to use the same "general" weapons (Carnifex, Talon, Claymore/GPS/Graal, Black Widow to name a few) because they are the most effiecient weapons to use in Gold. Why would I use a weapon that will take forever to kill a basic enemy when I can one or two shot him?

"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"
(e.g.
- From low: "Give this weapon to the rookie so he doesn't hurt
him/herself or anyone else for that matter" to High: "This weapon makes
things go away just by its mere presence on the battlefield", and
everything in between)

I suppose there are some weapons that fill a niche. For example, the Falcon is a good crowd controlling weapon (although to reach its full potential you do need ammo powers, which is unfortunate. I do not feel a weapon must have to resort to using a consumable to go from a decent weapon into something that is very good).

"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?" I am not asking which you think is the "best", only which one do you simply like to play with most of all.

Saber: It is high damaging assault rifle (which there are few of unforunately, and it feels more like a sniper than an assault rifle).

Valiant: I like the quick shot and accuracy of this sniper rifle, just wish it did more damage.

Falcon: Even though I've pretty much stopped using it due to the fact that you need ammo consumables to make it as useful as a top tier gun. I enjoy playing support classes and this rifle is almost perfect for that kind of role.

[S2kotiQ]

• Yes
• I would like to see some non-lethal weapons. For example: a pistol that delivers the the same effect as the "throw" power, but only works at short range even on shielded targets and delivers no damage at all. Or a shotgun that merely stuns a target for 2-3 seconds.
• For sniping, the Mantis, due to low weight and easy obtainability. Also the Valiant, which is harder to obtain.
  For casters, the Carnifex or Phalanx, nice damage for headshots.
  For pure weapon classes, the M-99 for midrange and Reegar carbine for short range.

[3XT3RM1N4TUS]

Derek Hollan wrote...

My questions this time around are:

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"

"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"
(e.g. - From low: "Give this weapon to the rookie so he doesn't hurt him/herself or anyone else for that matter" to High: "This weapon makes things go away just by its mere presence on the battlefield", and everything in between)

"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?" I am not asking which you think is the "best", only which one do you simply like to play with most of all.

Cheers!

1) There are tons of weapons and 80% of them suck and nearly unusable.
2) Yes.
3) My favourite weapons are: Graal, Kishock, GPS, Reegar, N7 Eagle (just kidding)

[Punisher cork]

Derek Hollan wrote...

My questions this time around are:

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"

"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"
(e.g. - From low: "Give this weapon to the rookie so he doesn't hurt him/herself or anyone else for that matter" to High: "This weapon makes things go away just by its mere presence on the battlefield", and everything in between)

"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?" I am not asking which you think is the "best", only which one do you simply like to play with most of all.

Cheers!

No.

There are a lot of weapons that need to fill a gap. Vindicator was excellent in ME2. But its been downgraded so bad, Its fire rate is too slow, its not accurate enough. it should be a precise 3 round burst medium range only weapon. There isn't a single weapon attachment that makes the weapon good. Its just a waste. The geth pulse rifle is alright, but the reload is too slow, its an assault rifle, not a large machine gun, it should have a normal reload rate. 
the Viper sniper rifle got a nice little damage boost, but the recoil is far too much. Its just really heavy for a medium sniper rifle. 

[waltervolpatto]

Yes, but I tend to try some and stick to the familiar

Yes

Harrier + GSMG for non caster, avenger X or carniflex + GSMG for casters

[ajburges]

Derek Hollan wrote...

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"

 

Yes and no. Theres a lot (more than 40). However, unless you need a really niche weapon, few stray from the following choices which makes loadouts a bit standardized.

SR: (Black) Widow, Javilin, Valiant, Kyrase (AOE niche and plain broken) , Indra (AR as a SR)
AR: Avenger (Weight niche), Falcon (AOE niche), Striker (Full Auto Falcon), Harrier, Saber (SR as a AR), Mattok
SMG: Hurricane, Geth SMG (Lightweight niche)
SG: Claymore, GPS, Graal, Reegar
Pistol: Phalanx -> Carnifax -> Paladin, Talon, Scorpion (AOE niche) 

19 Weapons are mostly ignored. Thats almost half!

Derek Hollan wrote... 



"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"
(e.g. - From low: "Give this weapon to the rookie so he doesn't hurt him/herself or anyone else for that matter" to High: "This weapon makes things go away just by its mere presence on the battlefield", and everything in between)

 

There's always more niches to fill! (some more important than others)

I still want a good SR for bypassing shield gate as a marksman (the valiant may work if I ever get one)

Harrier may be the first good damage (true) assault rifle (don't have yet)

Revnant is kinda poor for a Squad Assault Weapon (but can the AI handle a true SAW)

Wheres my explosive shotgun?

Blackstorm would be an awsome missile replacement (though probably hard on resources)

On gun level range, I feel balance is more important than range

No FF or harmful AI effects from weapons means there is no weapon that rookies hurt the team with. Idealy this would be the role of commons. And other than the Mantis all are fairly good for a noob (Valiant is a better SR for a noob)

The weapons should be balanced. "This weapon makes things go away just by its mere presence on the battlefield" takes away from the fun when used by a [derogetory BSN term for unliked person here]. That person ruins combos and set ups and generaly makes the game unfun.

Derek Hollan wrote...  

"With the above questions in mind, which is your favourite weapon overall?" I am not asking which you think is the "best", only which one do you simply like to play with most of all.

On silver and lower: The Widow easily. One shot, one kill. Nice and simple.

For (counter) griefing: the Kyrase

For gold: Claymore. sneak, sneak, sneak[smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/ninja.png[/smilie]... BANG:devil:. The Falcon comes in second with Disruptor ammo and CS spam.

Modifié par ajburges, 26 juin 2012 - 05:41 .

[Killateral DMG]

Yes
Yes
Claymore

[Trick 1224]

Yes
Yes
My Favorites: Paladin, Valiant, Geth Plasma Shotgun, Widow.

[xxrufus7xx]

yes
yes although more explosives would be nice something like the scorpion only in shotgun form would be awesome
striker hands down

Modifié par xxrufus7xx, 26 juin 2012 - 05:45 .

[MrWookie47]

Some of my opinion is based on perception from reading the forums, as I haven't unlocked and played with everything in multiplayer, but fwiw:

"Do you feel there is a good range of weaponry to choose from?"

I feel the common, rare, and ultra-rare weapons look to be in pretty good shape. The commons, Shuriken excepted, are at least decently viable on gold when maxed out. That's pretty good. Casual gamers enjoy the challenge without having to invest a ton of hours unlocking the best guns and then upgrading them. These guns are good enough that maxing them out immediately with rapid purchase of recruit packs is a good option.

Rares are a pretty good bunch, with a few exceptions. The arc pistol doesn't seem to be all that great without playing the PC version and using a clicking macro. The Kishock (my first level X :/ ) is near-useless now that the headshot "glitch" was "fixed," The Geth Pulse Rifle is strongly limited by the prevalence of armor. And finally, it's arguable that the Widow is obsolete given the presence of the Krysae and the removal of the headshot bonus on bosses. Other than those, though, pretty much all rare weapons have their niche. The hornet and GPSMG aren't world beaters, but they're pretty solid sidearms, esp. the GPSMG with ULM when using a main weapon with limited ammo, such as a Krysae, Reegar, Harrier, or the like, when needing to pull out a sidearm is likely on later waves if you find yourself in the heat of battle and too far from an ammo box. The Disciple doesn't seem to be great, but it's at least an interesting stagger option for caster classes. I should give the Striker another look now that I've leveled it up some, but the rest I regularly use or at least consider using on certain classes.

As for the ultra-rares, recent buffs seem to have made all of them into highly sought-after weapons. I don't have many of them, but maybe I'll take my wraith II for a spin. Most of my perception here is based on what people use and talk about on the forums.

The problems are the uncommon weapons and the N7 promotional weapons. Most of the useless weapons are uncommon. The locust, viper, incisor, and raptor are all pretty terrible, hardly being better than a comparable common or related uncommon, and while I like the Mattock and the Phalanx, it hardly seems worth my while to max out some really crappy weapons in order to cap those off when I could instead be spending my credits on spectre or premium spectre packs to get the rares. The phaeston and vindicator don't seem that much better than the avenger while being significantly outclassed by the revenant, and the scimitar and eviscerator don't seem that much better than the katana while being significantly outclassed by the GPS, claymore, and Graal.

As for the promo weapons. the eagle seems like it's strictly worse than the hurricane, as opposed to filling a different niche, and the crusader seems like it's strictly worse than most sniper rifles again without filling a different niche. I don't have much experience with the eagle, and I don't have a crusader, but that seems to be the consensus on the forums, and I can look at the stats.


"Do you feel there is a weapon that fills every niche and level?"

Eh, perhaps. Do you really want every niche filled? Like, there isn't really a great one-shot weapon for casters, and there isn't a great spray-and-pray weapon for infiltrators, but that seems to be by design.

[WizeMan305]

There still needs work with some of the weapon balancing. As stated there are weapons that range from beginner usage which work great in bronze, and silver in most cases, and then those that are better suited for gold.

As for my personal favorites, I definitely enjoy the Valiant, Black Widow, Hurricane, Graal, Falcon, Carnifax, Talon and Harrier. Those are probably my most used now.

Starting out the Eviscerator was amazing, so was the viper (considering the recent buff I may go back to it on some classes), Mantis, Mattock, Vindicator, Phalanx, Tempest.

Overall favorite depends on the class really, I like the Graal for those that need to pack a punch that don't have one of their own. Carnifax for my casters since it is so light but can dish out damage with well placed headshots, Valiant when I am sniping, The Harrier is amazing I just wish there was an easier way to get it to lvl X thats for sure.

[Aburai]

The Harrier. It does mad DPS, can be fired in bursts for extreme accuracy, but is balanced by the lack of ammo in a clip and reserve rounds

[Lucius Aelius]

1. Not really, balance in this game is so off that too few weapons are useful enough for Gold and therefore all you ever see is the same two or three weapons over and over.

2. The problem with the Krysae (if I surmise correctly that it really was meant to be a noobcannon, and it was actually meant to be a good addition as such), is that it is WAY too powerful, preposterously so. If you want noobs to be playing on Gold without holding the rest of us back, at least give them a noobcannon weak enough that it still encourages them to move on to better weapons (the problem being now that there aren't any). Cut the damage of the Krysae in half (at least) and fix it so you can't double shot with TC, and maybe the Krysae would be an okay addition. Reducing damage by 60-70 percent might also be called for (as well as reducing the weight as dramatically, of course).

Apart from that, I do indeed feel that there is a proper diversity in types of weapons to fit various niches.

3. For me, it was always the Revenant. Not because it's good in this game (because I'm sorry to say it really isn't) but because of ME2, and the Revenant being unfriggenvelieveably awesome. The fact that it isn't in this game as well is painful for me to think about, all the moreso with the Harrier being added (which is basically what the Revenant should have been but with a fraction of the capacity). Double (or preferably even triple) the extra mags of the Harrier, add a 15-25% damage bonus, and in so doing make room for the Revenant to be made closer to what it should have been in the first place (which honestly none of that seems practical, the Harrier being added pretty much precludes any possibility that the Revenant can ever be fixed, because to make the Harrier better enough than the Revenant to be worth the UR status would always leave either the Revenant too terrible (like now) or the Harrier too good (which apart from the capacity it's perfect as is, sort of the problem right there, even adding capacity just makes it like the Revenant from ME2, which leaves no room for the actual Revenant.... This game just isn't big enough for the both of them. Please Bioware, if nothing else just up the capacity and make the Harrier into the real Revenant in all but name, and give whatever boost you can to other assault rifles to make them not all suck so much.

All that aside:
-the Harrier is my new go-to AR (and I use it on about half my characters),
-the Black widow has always been my only SR (I lucked out, first UR I ever got),
-the only pistol I used to bother with was the Carnifex, but the Scorpion V and Paladin VII are edging in,
-SMG's I never touched until the GPSMG, and then the Hurricane for a little while, honestly I prefer the GPSMG (though my Hurricane is only I), and to be even more honest I don't really like either so much and don't use them anymore,
-I didn't used to bother with Shotguns, but after dabbling with the Disciple for a while I've since upgraded to my Wraith VI and find myself satisfied.

[Shrubbery]

1. I do think that there are a good range of weapons to choose from. The M300-Claymore would be my answer to questions 2 and 3.