The Problem(s) with the PKM - and it's not the accuracy.

[PHPT]

Re: The Problem(s) with the PKM - and it's not the accuracy.

- Set a delay for attained accuracy when diving. The time untill the person is actually lying still on the ground. After all, the reason you've got the accuracy from the prone position is because you're stable and stationary.

This balance factor is already there, that's the inaccuracy ramping from movement I was mentioning. If you're running around, drop prone, and immediately start firing, your accuracy is barely any better than a shotgun. That's NOW, in 1.2. Furthermore, just because you HAVE to drop prone to fire the PKM doesn't mean you can't do it with any of the other guns. Too many people flaunt dropping prone as an amazing tactical maneuver, yet for some reason can't figure out how to do it with an AK or the G3. Duh.

- Limit how far a weapon can be aimed upward from a prone position. A person would have difficulty aim too far upward when lying down. A little thing called a spine makes sure of this.
Limiting how far upward a person can look/aim when prone would help prevent the problem of diving to the ground and spraying being a feasable and more often than not effective method of close-quarter combat.

Uh, you only need to aim about 45 degrees up, if that, for CQB.

[Alabaster Slim]

Re: The Problem(s) with the PKM - and it's not the accuracy.

I usually play medic, and I hardly ever drop prone. It's much quicker for me to drop to a knee then to go prone. Besides, if I come across some Support as I run around a corner and he goes prone, he's just opened his whole back to me. More often than not I end up killing me since he's given me that much more to aim at.

[imported_Diarrabies]

Re: The Problem(s) with the PKM - and it's not the accuracy.

... On the battlefield, the LMGs' role is to hold positions and choke off inroads by entrenching in a spot and letting loose with crippling firepower....So now that the PKM (and LMGs) can actually kill you, and the Support player can finally fulfill his role as miniature fortification, everyone is upset about just how deadly the PKM has become. I have two complementary responses to your concerns:

1) Get over it. Support has finally come into its own, so you need to learn to fear and respect the weapons. ... now you need to consider, tactically, ways to deal with the Support player. ...please start learning to work around it.

[B]Fix: Add recoil to reduce the player's ability to quickly chain super-accurate single shots together without adjustment.

Fix: We're looking to carve out a role for Support - entrenching in key positions and fending off attackers. In order to do that they need a very respectable gun (PKM!), but we want to balance that with something. In this case, players should experience a slight delay between going prone and firing their big, heavy, machineguns. Only a second or two - just enough to prevent "assault flopping" and force support players to exercise some foresight about where and when they want to set up.

Fix: Increase deviation while standing and crouching (or make recoil nearly unmanageable) so that effectively firing the PKM while standing becomes a rare exception.

I am so desperately in love with you right now. I've never heard words more sweetly dripping with truth that these.

And the bit on snipers is dead on too. If the support folks have to set up before firing, and is still able to kill the sniper, then that sniper deserves to die. I play sniper about 85% of the time now, and I've never been killed by a PKM when I'm actively sniping. Any sniper who is so poorly hidden that they get spotted by a PKM deserves to die. Any sniper who lets a PKM be set up in front of them and then gives the support guy enough time to shoot, deserves to die.

And for assault, see my post in the 'Plight of the Assault Kit' thread. Any assault player who charges in front of a well-placed PKM deserves to die.

Support is finally getting to where it should be in terms of firepower. People are just going to have to learn new tactics and strategy to defeat them. PKM's need some slight adjustment, but they are very close to what they should be.

It kills me when I see a spec ops player rush a PKM 3 times and get massacred each time, then the spec ops guy starts whining about balance. It's called a flanking manuever, people, and it's the oldest trick in the book. Stop complaining, start thinking.

[eDmunDo]

Re: The Problem(s) with the PKM - and it's not the accuracy.

The best solution imo is to add a little more recoil and massively increase the deviation while crouching and standing.

[govedob]

Re: The Problem(s) with the PKM - and it's not the accuracy.

I have almost 100 hours as support, and they are all with the PKM. I've been using since I unlocked it in October, long time before the new patch. Prior to the new patch, it wasn't very accurate, but I still liked it. The only complaint I have about it is if you try to use it for sniping people it's too loud and it can easily blow up your cover.

[vbl]

Re: The Problem(s) with the PKM - and it's not the accuracy.

Bumping this to remind everyone that the PKM's accuracy is not the Black Plague after all.