Battlefield 3 Weapon & Attachment Adjustments Incoming

I'm working on a retweak of the accessories in the game currently, as I feel the player is limited in choice due to a few accessories being the clear winners in almost all categories. While this unfortunately means nerfing those that are over used, the goal here is to focus on improving the under performing and under used attachments. Additionally it is the intention for an unmodified weapon to offer the best balance of Recoil, Accuracy, and Stealth. [...] Again, I'm not promising this will go live, and I'm not promising there will be an update, I'm looking for feedback and a discussion.

Thanks, Alan "Demize99" Kertz

Foregrip
The Foregrip is for players who who are in close combat and highly mobile fighting situations. It reduces the horizontal recoil forces that make maintaining a consistant aim on target difficult, however it makes aimed shots more difficult.

• +34% reduction in horizontal recoil (adjust based on gun)
  
• -20% penalty to base accuracy when aimed

Rationale: The Foregrip is quite powerful on weapons with high amounts of horizontal recoil, and is generally the goto attachment for everyone using Assault Rifles and Carbines. Currently it has no downside, which makes it a pure bonus upgrade and is a no brainer. Adjusting the foregrip on a per gun basis will prevent the foregrip from over powering some guns, and also means it doesn't need to be globally nerfed into oblivion. For example, 50% of the FAMAS's recoil is 0.3deg, while 50% of the G3A3's recoil is only 0.1deg. A global 0.1deg might work better, generally it will need to be on a per gun basis. The 20% penalty to aimed fire is about equal to a single shot fired on a Carbine.

Bipod
The Bipod is for Players who wish to setup a position and hold it against the enemy, or make long range shots effectively. When deployed recoil and dispersion are substantially reduced and scope sway is eliminated (except under suppression).

• +Reduction in horizontal and vertical recoil (% depends on gun type)
  
• +Reduction in dispersion (% depends on gun type/ammo type)
  
• -Has to be setup to get the benefit

Rationale: The Bipod is underused, has a large penalty of needing to be stationary, yet today doesn't offer enough benefits on Carbines and Assault Rifles to be worth using. A buff of the bipod for these, and perhaps even LMG weapons is likely necessary.

Suppressor
The Suppressor is for players who are mostly focused on Stealth. It uses low velocity rounds, which means better stealth at the cost of reduced range. The Suppressor adds bulk to a weapon due to its size, making firing from the hip more difficult, though a high quality Suppressor provides a small aimed accuracy bonus and reduces the muzzle rise when firing.

• +Does not appear on minimap when firing.
  
• +Reduces sound and visual muzzle signature
  
• -Reduced range for both min and max, damage stays the same.
  
• -50% penalty to base accuracy from the hip
  
• +25% bonus to base accuracy when aimed
  
• +10% reduced vertical recoil

Rationale: Today the Suppressor's main penalty is the slower bullet speed, the current 34% penalty to hip fire is almost ignore-able at any range you would hip fire, and with the upcoming buff to aim speed (time to accurate when aiming) the downside needs to be larger. Additionally, the damage over range is only actually applied for LMGs and ARs, removing it and replacing it with a reduced to range makes this more consistent for all weapon types and focuses it more on close range (For reference, today an AR kills with 5 rounds at 40m and drops off to 7 shots, with a suppressor this would be 25m, but beyond 25m the damage would be a flat 6 shots.) Today the Suppressor also gives a 50% bonus to aimed accuracy, which is the same as the heavy barrel, but without the additional recoil. In fact the suppressor reduces vertical recoil by 10%, an amount which is essentially negligible, but is just one more reason to use the suppressor instead of other accessories. Reducing this bonus makes sense, and allows the suppressor to offset the foregrip penalty, while not being as good as the heavy barrel. This is of course over all a nerf but hopefully a minor one to what is essentially not an overpowered, just over used/general purpose, accessory.

Heavy Barrel
The Heavy Barrel is for players who are focused on Accurate Aimed fire. It uses high velocity rounds, which means the bullet drop is reduced and the max range of the weapon is increased at the cost of an increase in auto fire dispersion. The Heavy Barrel adds bulk to a weapon due to its weight, making firing from the hip more difficult, though it gives a substantial increase in aimed accuracy bonus.

• +Increased maximum range, damage stays the same.
  
• -25% increased dispersion per shot
  
• +50% bonus to base accuracy when aimed
  
• -25% penalty to base accuracy from the hip

Rationale: The Heavy Barrel gets used decently often today, though I think mostly because it's available quite a bit earlier than the Suppressor for Assault Rifles and Carbines. Frankly, the penalty today to recoil, as well as a penalty to deviation, makes the aimed accuracy increase useless, especially since the Suppressor has the accuracy bonus as well. So, let's pull the recoil penalty off this baby entirely, keep the auto fire accuracy penalty to keep it focused on small bursts of accurate aimed fire, and finally, push the maximum range of the rounds out a bit. This will give the Heavy Barrel better performance in medium range by extending the 5 shots to kill window of a 556 or 545 AR from 40 to 65m. Past 65m, the damage would be the same. This is a rather large buff.

Flash Suppressor
The Flash Suppressor is for players who want some additional Stealth, without the range and accuracy penalties of a Suppressor. It works as a recoil compensator, reducing recoil, though it adds a slight bit of bulk making firing from the hip more difficult.

• +Reduces visual muzzle signature
  
• +20% reduced vertical recoil
  
• -20% penalty to base accuracy from the hip

Rationale: The Flash Suppressor is underwhelming generally. While it hides the muzzle flash it doesn't hide you on the minimap. I considered allowing it to hide on the minimap, but then it begins to just be a Suppressor without the aim bonus and range penalties. I want it to be something different. By allowing the Flash Suppressor to work as a recoil Compensator, the FS becomes a middle ground between the Suppressor and Heavy Barrel. If you're otherwise happy with the range, damage, and accuracy of your weapon, then the FS should be a nice buff to manageable recoil, without a whole lot of penalty. This is also a large buff.

Target Pointer
The Target Pointer is for players who want to run and gun from the hip. The laser is visible, making the user more visibile to other combatants and thus less Stealthy.

• -Visible Laser
  
• +Laser can dazzle opponents
  
• +33% increase in base accuracy from the hip

Rationale: The Target Pointer works well for its role, and generally feels like it doesn't need to be changed.