Meaningful weapon attachment point costs
I wanted to preface that these are all my opinions on current attachments available (or missing) on weapons in the game. There are many attachments that can be (and likely will be) added to the game (ex. Stocks, subsonic ammunition etc.) but I will not be covering those here.
I also wanted to point out a few things:
- Primary weapons (except sniper rifles) actually have 75 points of customization (25 points used for bare weapon)
- Sniper rifles have 70 points of customization
- Secondaries have 35 points of customization (25 points used for bare weapon)
- There is a true cost for some attachments since the basic attachment in this slot costs points (ex the true cost of Long Range Ammo is 5 points as it is only 5 more points than FMJ which is equipped by default)
When taking this all into consideration I do not believe any attachment should have a true cost greater than 40 points (primary weapons) (and 30 points on secondary weapons). For example the low profile stubby grip at 45 points uses up 60% of the available attachment points for most primary weapons. I also think it is poor design for an attachment to use all available points. For example, the 20 round magazine with a true cost of 35 points for the vz. 61 uses up 100% of the available attachment points for this weapon. So let’s go ahead and start with the vz.61
vz.61
This sidearm sits in a unique spot as the only full auto option in the game. Dice has done a great job at balancing it to perform like a sidearm. However there is one attachment which is a head scratcher. As mentioned above the 20 round magazine uses up 100% of your available points with its true cost of 35 points. If dice reduces the true cost to 30 points it would allow for you to equip one of 3 attachments: a sight, a mag catch or tac light aimed. None of these significantly alter the handling of the weapon nor push it into oppressive (OP) territory. There may even be a case to drop the true cost to 25 points which would allow you to equip low level lasers or the compact handstop.
ES 5.7
Same points as the vz. 61. The 30 round mag should not have a true cost of 35 points locking you out of all attachments. At most the true cost should be 20 or ideally 15 points allowing you more variability in weapon builds with the big mag. The weapon is arguably one of the worst in the game, 10 more rounds isn’t worth the current point penalty.
GGH-22
There are a few changes that would make sense with this weapon and makes even more sense when you compare it to the P18. By default the GGH-22 has 15 round mag (17 round on the P18). The 21 round on the P18 has a true cost of 10 points. The 20 and 22 round options on the GGH-22 have a true cost of 15 and 25 respectively. This is unacceptable for a weapon which is worse than the P18 in almost all stats. I would love to see both magazines drop down to a true cost of 10 points. Instead could make the handling of the 20 round slightly better than the 22 round for balance.
The next two attachments would give the GGH-22 an edge over the P18 and offer unique gameplay mechanics. I would love to see the addition of a full auto attachment to this weapon much like the M16A3 receiver. It would be a great alternative to the vz. 61 as it would offer 15 rounds by default (maybe with higher recoil or lower rate of fire). To balance the true cost would have to be high, 25-30 points.
Another attachment which makes sense on this weapon is synthetic rounds. The GGH-22 has a damage profile which would reduce Bullets to Kill (BTK) by 1 between 9.5-35m if you place a headshot. This would make it a 4 BTK with 1 headshot to between 9.5-21.5 m and 5 BTK with 1 headshot between 21.5 m. Much like the vz. 61 the true cost would have to be 25 points for balance.
M45A1 (M1911)
Please dice reduce the true cost of the 11 round magazine from 20 to 15. Let me run a suppressor with my big mag. If I can run a suppressor with a big mag on most other weapons, why am I being punished here?
M87A1 and M1014
These 2 shotguns do not have access to a flash hider (likely due to realism). So to avoid the red triangle you are forced to shell over 30 points for a suppressor. So what I propose is the same thing DICE has already done for grips on the sniper rifles. An attachment that works differently for the class. Maybe a 10 point suppressor that only removes self spotting similar to a flash hider without other suppressor benefits. Or just allow them both to equip 20 point suppressors.
Mini Scout
The Mini Scout is arguably one of the best Sniper Rifles in the game. It is also the only one with access to magazines larger than 10 rounds. It also has the highest ROF (rate of fire) in its class. Understandably DICE has decided to inflate the big mag point costs. 15 round, 15 fast, 20 round and 20 fast have a true cost of 25, 30, 50 and 55 respectively. While the increased cost is justified I think the 20 round mags are massively inflated. It is possible they are balanced for REDSEC, however the extra point cost for 5 more rounds is interesting. As it stands, equipping either locks you out of thermal sights, high point suppressors and blue lasers. It would make more sense to reduce the 20 and 20 fast down to a true cost of 35 and 40 points respectively.
LMR27
The LMR is a funny weapon. At 10 rounds its borderline unusable. The real fun starts at 15 rounds. The weapon has the potential to get up to 20 rounds, and this is where the headscratching begins. The true cost of 15, 15 fast, 20 and 20 fast is 15, 20, 40 and 45. This becomes even more confusing when considering the GRT-CPS is 20 rounds by default and has access to a 30 round magazine which has a true cost of 35 points. Yes the LMR is slightly more spammable but the point cost for the 20 round mags is ridiculous. I would hope DICE reduces the true cost of the 20 round and 20 round fast to 35 and 40 (at the most).
SL9
The P90 has 50 rounds by default. The KV9 and SCW big mags (25 and 27 round mag) have a true cost of 40 points. The SL9 has access to the biggest in class magazine and its set at a true cost of 50 points. For a fake gun it's interesting the direction the devs decided to take this one. Instead of making it a unique and fun attachment to play around with it gets hard nerfed behind an inflated point cost. One may wonder if they were future proofing for burst training (the new attachment which speeds up ROF as well) but you can equip both anyway. Just like the big mags for SCW and KV9, the SL9 big mag should not have a true cost more than 40 points.
USG-90 (P90)
The P90 having no grip or mag options would have been perfect to diversify in other attachment slots. Sadly this is not the case. It would be cool if you could equip the extended barrel, the short barrel, the flash compensator and synthetic ammo (unique damage profile between 9.5-35m meaning it would have the same benefits as the AK205). The P90 should be considered for more, not less attachments.
One neat idea would be to build the compact handstop into the weapon itself. The P90 is the only SMG that does not have access to it. Its unique damage profile and large magazine would pair well if this was built into the weapon itself.
QBZ-192
A victim of obscurity, it is entirely possible the devs chose to intentionally keep the attachment pool for this weapon low due it’s real life limited options (that we know of). But this is a video game. And choosing to withhold attachments really limits the potential setups possible with this weapon. Even newer attachments like the flash compensator or a burst option like the GRT-BC would have been cool. Its RPM is the same as the M16A4 so it could have been its equivalent in the Carbine category. I would also like to see more muzzle and barrel attachments.
M417A2
I am once again asking for synthetic rounds on the M417. It has a unique damage profile that could benefit immensely from this ammunition type by reducing BTK by 1 between 9.5 to 35m. It would also have another unique feature to differentiate it from the NVO (aside from handling and recoil/spread). The M417 only has a maximum ammo capacity of 25, so larger magazine options would be cool.
L110, DRS, RPKM, M123K, M250, M121A2, RPK-74M
The issue with all 7 of these LMGs is the ridiculous cost of their largest magazines. It makes even less sense when you consider that they don’t scale similar to big magazines of other weapons in the same class. The largest magazine on all 7 weapons gives a 188-200% increase in default magazine size and has a true cost of 45 or 50 points depending on the weapon. This is all fine and well until you compare this to the largest magazine available on the KTS and M240L. The KTS 100 rnd mag gives a 166% increase to default and only costs 40 points. Whereas the M240L 100 rnd belt gives a 200% increase and has a true cost of only 20 points! As I’ve mentioned before, the biggest magazine should not have a true cost of more than 40 points, even on LMGs. Many of them also have debuffs to draw speed or ADS movement speed or reload time. The 200 round belts even decrease accuracy while moving…yikes. It’s not even like suppression is that oppressive either. Let us have some build diversity DICE.
TH-RDS 1x
A true 30 points for a thermal sight is ridiculous. 10 more points than a regular thermal sight with the only advantage to toggle thermal off. Is it an advantage? Yes. Is it worth an extra 10 points? No. Maybe an extra 5 points at best. Reduce the true cost to 25.
Match Trigger and Burst Training
Aside from burst training on the GRT-BC and SL9, these attachments offer negligible benefits for the weapons that can equip them. I can’t see any benefit to them being more than 5 points in their current state. 15 points for negligible benefit is…questionable.
Tac Light Hip
The better part of these lights is the blind effect, the worst is the light being on as you run around. I get that the tac light hip also offers a hipfire reset benefit just like the regular flashlight. I get that ADS is another way to turn off the light when you don’t want it on. But it’s just as easy to turn off the light when you want to be stealthy. I would love to see this be worth 10 or even 5 points.
Low Profile Stubby and Classical Vertical
Are these grips that good? Maybe I’m that out of touch. I understand the 10 point difference for ADS speed. I don’t understand the 10 point difference for marginal recoil improvement from the Stippled Stubby and 646H vertical. I would change it to a 30 point Classic Vertical and 40 point Low Profile Stubby. Or maybe fine tuning of all the grip costs?
5 and 15 point attachments
I know I said I would keep this to available attachments but it would be cool if we got more low cost 5 or 15 point attachments for all weapons. Sometimes 5 points is all you have left and the available options don’t really work for your builds.
Free Iron Sights
0 point irons would make you consider running them more often. That’s essentially a whole other attachment in place of a sight. (The Sniper Rifle irons could stay at 10 points for the obvious no glare benefit).
Let me know what you think or if there is something I missed.
TLDR: There are attachments in this game that deserve a revisit and rebalance (similar to the headshot ammo changes) in regards to point cost. These are my opinions.