The only way to balance specialized classes is to nerf them down to the same level as the default marine or ork.

A plasma cannon will ALWAYS be stronger than a bolter. Its why its limited in the real 40k game. Its balanced by the number of cannons that can be in the army at any given time, not by lowering its power or effects.

The same goes with everything else. Which is why I said nerfing any of the current metas (melee, melta, PC, etc) isnt the solution. It will just trivialize everything, watering them all down to the point of the game being less fun.

Core design mechanics are the disease here, all the current balance issues are just the symptom of that.

You say no to class limits, but thats a vague reaction. Why exactly? Ive done a good deal explaining how my suggestions arent as limiting as the reactionary "doom doom doom" crowd immediately assumes.

Let me ask you this. If a plasma cannon took 4-5 powered up direct hit shots to kill a target, and had a smaller AOE effect, would you still use it?

A thread were someone wants classlimits pops up everytime something is OP, so at this point I don't feel like repeating my points over and over in general.

But in the big post on page 2 you have explained more what you mean, which differs from the usual class limits. You basically want to make them Veteranclasses. I am not sure why you didn't just said so?

So my usual points don't apply to this, because it's very different so I will give you now my opinon on that proposal.

But first let my answer the direct question you asked: I would still use the Plasmacannon if it was balanced. Thats why I want it to be balanced, and not OP and not UP.



So, more Veteran classes/classes with Cooldowns:

1. So what would you make one of those specialist classes? Every Eldar class is a Specialist. If the Bolter were OP, I wouldn't want it to be a specialist class. Is the criterium how often the loadout shows up in the lore? Is it how annoying that weapon is to play against?

What do you want to remain as base classes, and wouldn't it be boring to play only Boltertacs and Chainsword Assaults most of the game? Is the Apothecary a Specialclass?

Again, what would you do with the Eldar?

2. Do we actually want a situation like Battlefront? Does it feel good to get killed by OP Plasma just because the enemy doesn't have as much of it?

3. Wouldn't it take tactical options away? I like the Idea of shooting someone behind cover not to kill them, but to force them to change position/strategy. I don't like the Idea of Spawncamping your enemy with a weapon of mass destruction. With a balanced Plasmacannon you could do the former, but never the later. With a Veteran who can use a Plasmacannon, you would only do the latter, but not so often.

1. Ive got 50+ hours in game, but havent unlocked any veteran classes yet. So I dont know how they work.

2. If the "limits" to veteran classes are similar to my suggestions/system, the one thing that would make my ideas noticeably different is that you dont have to unlock normal classes like you do veteran classes. They would be available at the very start to everyone playing.

Oh yeah, I haven't unlocked them either
They are the standart classes with a higher loadout limit, you can choose one, and spawn 2(skirmish)-3(fortress) times per map.

For your suggestion I would assume you could have lets say 5 of those, and you have the same spawn limit shared accros all of them. Plasmacannons would be so expensive that you could only take them in those loadouts.

I do agree with a few of the things you've said, but on the note of tanks in particular it was recently stated that tank weapon customization would be a thing. If that is truly the case then I think tank weaponry as it stands is fine. It's all geared towards anti-infantry at the moment. Once anti-vehicle weapons become equippable to tanks I think tank vs. tank combat will pick up a bit more.

On a personal note, I'd like to se some higher damage vs vehicles from the lascannon. Too many shots with a massive target painted on me by the laser. A laser that (as far as I can tell) no other race's long range anti-vehicle weapon seems to have. Not the Kannon, Zzap, or Reaper Launcher.