[b]Introduction[/b] Auto rifles are in a bad place right now and have been for a while. They are ineffective in both PvE & PvP when compared to other primary weapons. I think this is an important thing to distinguish. Auto rifles can be used effectively but are not as effective as the other primaries in the same scenarios. They do not do enough damage and have poor range without heavy investment. I am going to state objective facts here. Auto rifles need to be effective in mid range engagements and deal more damage in close range engagements. Because they aren't smgs. Primary weapons should not only be effective in one range zone. Auto rifles are outclassed by every other weapon type. They just don’t do enough damage to justify using them. This is a serious issue because the entire weapon class isn’t even on the same level as the other primary types. That’s an entire weapon class that is borderline useless. Auto rifles are the only weapons that are bad even when playing on the few well-designed maps. Each primary type has clear advantages. Scout rifles do good damage at long range. Pulse rifles are reliable and versatile. Hand cannons allow you to be very mobile. Auto rifles currently have no advantages over other primaries. They are supposed to be really good at close ranges but are outclassed by shotguns, fusion rifles, and the last word in their intended range. Yes, they are easier to use in close range than other primaries. But they don't do enough damage to be better in that range. [b]What's bad about autos[/b] Each auto rifle archetype falls short of doing enough damage in their optimum range. You’re probably asking why I’m complaining about the damage of auto rifles. Let me explain myself. There are a number of things working against auto rifles in any given engagement. Let me start with a PvP issue, sight lines: is the target going to remain in my sight line long enough for me to get the kill? Why don’t you just get closer so sight line isn’t an issue you might be asking now. Well, that is because if I get too close I will either be killed by a special weapon, get hit by a primary/melee combo due to the high damage other primaries do with fewer bullets, or I can also be hit by a grenade easily in that range. If auto rifles did more damage those situations would happen less often. Now a PvE issue. This is a simple one. Auto rifles do not do enough damage to justify being so close to enemies nor are they effective enough at longer ranges to avoid getting in close. Then there is time to kill. This also falls into the category of not doing enough damage so I’ll keep this short. You have to get headshots to outgun other primaries in PvP. This is difficult due to the number of bullets that must hit in order to kill the target. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of flinch caused by the other primary types. Even if you are able to control the recoil you are still going to have a hard time keeping your reticule on the target. And with the low TTK to bullet/trigger pull ratio of other primary weapons vs the high amount of bullets it takes to kill an enemy player with auto rifles you’re just at a huge disadvantage no matter what situation you are in. [b]How to fix them[/b] So what do you do about this Bungie? Simple, increase the base damage of auto rifles so that they kill faster at close range regardless of whether or not you are hitting head shots. Then increase the base range of auto rifles and adjust the damage falloff curve. Let’s say with a range scale of 1-10, currently; scout rifles work well between 5 & 10, pulse rifles between 3 & 7, hand cannons between 1 & 6, and auto rifles between 1 & 7 (with heavy range investment). We want to keep this ratio. So with that in mind, I’m going to add another scale, 1-10 but this time it is damage. Autos have a ratio of 3d - 1r & 1d - 7r where (d) is damage & (r) is range. Change this to 5d - 1r & 3d -7r. Considering pulse rifles have 5d - 3r & 5d - 7r. Essentially, auto rifles do at their optimum range what damage they should be doing at their maximum range. Auto rifles current damage should be pushed out to the end of their range stat. Then they should do more damage in their optimum range. This should bring them more in line with other primaries and actually make them effective in their intended range. Consider this more of an outline to base the actual numbers on. I’m going to leave the science to the actual weapon balance designers.