I've noticed that as well. I think a couple of the weapons are either over or under powered but the auto pistol is definetly over powered.
Actually its not. I use it quite a bit and if your not a good range from your target then its a lot harder to kill them. Ai just die when you pull the trigger but you need a 3x lock on for pilots and it takes some time so if you are out running around in the open or staying in one place your going to get shot but not if you use windows and corners to hide behind while running. I've been killed so many times because I try to lock onto a pilot just to have them wait for me behind a corner and I get about 2 shots off (without waiting for lock on because its essentially a hammond ) before the other pilot wither shoots me up or I get executed or kicked. Its not overpowered its just situational and takes a certain "finesse" to use properly.
I disagree. I definitely do not get killed by it any more than anything else. I like to use it quite a bit, its not my go to but I feel like you are so vulnerable waiting for the lock, esp on pilots that it totally balance's out. In fact I think balance is the things I am currently most impressed with in this game. I really hope a bunch of whiners who got killed by A and cant use B don't go QQing and get stupid nerfs ala BF3 *Edit: Also, its a primary weapon. If it were a secondary weapon type I might agree with you.
I rarely am killed by it and also find the auto lock to time consuming. A good secondary though for a pistol
I really wish the Respawn forum had poll thread function. But I've been led to believe some of them do read this forum. In the interests of keeping this poll objective, I'll keep it simple. I'd really like to know what the general consensus is.
I could maybe see a small tweak, but I honestly don't mind it. There's a lot of risk/reward for using it. In the time that someone has to kill me in a face to face battle by locking on, I'm going to unload my entire clip into them. If they kill me from behind with it, I don't really mind because I would have died from any other weapon normally.
The lockon mode is extremely bad at killing pilots. It just takes far too much time (and rightly so). In a head to head fight, you aren't going to reach a kill-lock unless your opponent is the worst shot in the world. In an ambush situation, most any other weapon will net you a kill in the time it takes to achieve a kill-lock. You are far better off using it as a dumb pistol when fighting an opposing player. Where it shines brightest is mopping up large quantities of NPCs as you bounce around the map at mach 10. Edit: As a dumb pistol, it feels a lot like the hammond. It has a good rate of fire, high damage per shot, low recoil, and is moderately accurate. But if you're outgunning AR/SMG/Shotgun players by dumbfiring a pistol, the "no skill noob weapon" argument goes out the window.
It's by far the best weapon for Attrition, Picks of all the AIs in a split second racking up tons of points.. And when it comes to pilots its perfectly viable to use without waiting for the lock on. I don't think it needs a change besides the fact you can lock on while cloaked.
sscarr summed it up nicely. The pistol is fine the way it is, it's just a weapon (like pretty much any other) that's more useful in certain situations.
A lot of the complaints about it are knee-jerk reactions to a lockon weapon. Actually give the weapon a try for a few hours. You'll quickly see that it excels at cleaning up the trash mobs and really isn't that much better than a dumb pistol against players.
Any gun will kill 3+ trash mobs per clip, even if you aren't burst firing. For that matter just toss a grenade and get 4-7 kills in the blast.
I have a problem with the pistol against players in that I don't wait for the lock to go red before I fire, but I'm simply impatient. It's quite difficult to use it inside a building where a pilot may find cover and break the lock, however on rooftops/streets/open fields/etc? It's great. As long as you can dodge and keep looking at your opponent, you're unlikely to lose to anything but a shotgun. It's not terribly unbalanced; the lock takes longer than I thought (or I should say than I witnessed people doing to me in killcams etc when the beta first started), but it is still quite good at taking down pilots. In the hands of someone skilled, it is a problem. The way to tell if something is even slightly overpowered is if a player less skilled than another (all other things held equal) can use that thing to fight on more even ground. I.E. Rapid Fire in Black Ops 1 closed skill gaps. Or... Akimbo FMG9s in MW3 closed skill gaps. Or the M16A3 in BF3 closed skill gaps. If I have any suggestions, it would be a slightly longer pilot lock-on insta-kill as well as a fire rate cap (which I do not believe it has right now).
I personally haven't used it, but this is due to the way I play the game. I feel like the SP would inhibit me from being able to run freely and get kills due to the lock-on mechanic.
If the smart pistol locks on once or twice, it shall still deal the requisite damage if you were to fire. I.E. you could do a double-lock and fire (person will drop to ~30% remaining HP) and you can free-fire them afterward and get them in a couple shots. You do not NEED to lock on all 3 times before you can fire to get the hits.
The thing is, the only argument for the weapon being overpowered in any aspect is the lockon mechanic. If you're dumbfiring it, then you are ignoring the "op" part of the weapon and you're more or less using a weapon equivalent to the hammond semi-auto. Moderately accurate, fairly hard hitting per bullet, and dependable if you have the skill to line up your shots quickly. Sure the smart pistol has a bit of an edge because you might find time to lock the first bullet and then manually fire the other two, but it should have an edge over the hammond because you are taking this pistol instead of a carbine, SMG, or shotgun (all options that are VERY VERY good). I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone would find the dumbfire characteristics of the smartpistol overpowered in a world where the carbines, smg's, and most of all the shotguns are just so brutally effective. I don't see how you could justify reducing its fire rate at all. Remember this is not a sidearm. It needs to compete with the other primary weapons.
I was aware of this. Still, for me at least, that 1 second that is spent for those 2 locks I could be spending already shooting at that person with another weapon. What I'm trying to say is that, if I'm waiting 1 second for two locks (minimum) with the MK5, any other weapon I could simply just fire immediately. Now, I know obviously I can free-fire the pistol, but lock-on is what the MK5 is about. Still, my opinion stands that I think the Smart Pistol is in a good place right now, as far as balance goes.
I didn't say reduce its fire rate, but have a fire rate cap. I once saw someone empty a clip at me dumb-firing in approximately one second. I don't know if he was using a rapid-fire mod with his mouse or a controller with a rapid-fire button or what, but he did it. There needs to be a fire rate cap for it; otherwise it can be abused in that way. Granted you'd still need to be accurate, but it needs to lack the ability to drop someone in a fraction of a second by dumb-firing, which is something only a shotgun could do otherwise, as shotguns lack long-range offensiveness.
I understand. As I had said I thought it a lot stronger the first day I had access to the beta, but it feels a little different now. I don't mind it really as is, which is why my only balance issues are what I listed already. I don't think it needs to be removed or heavily nerfed.
It's definitely an "acquired taste" kind of weapon. I know people that really like it, and others that don't. Most people I see use it though are fairly successful with it.