So I just wanted to chime in with my view on the perceived issue of combining Sniper rifle and Handgun proficiency in one class. Please note that this is just my take on it and is not meant to invalidate anyone else’s opinion on the matter.
As was stated earlier, snipers are obviously focused on using the Sniper Rifle as their main weapon, but it’s main downside is that it costs 3 AP to fire. That means snipers tend to move around less, and combined with their range advantage over most enemies it means they usually stay further back from the front line. As such, I’ve always felt the pistol was there as an off-hand weapon, for them to use if they ever did end up in a situation where they got caught in a (more or less) close quarter situation. For example, whenever you move and thereby are unable to fire your main weapon, the 1AP of the pistol gives you something to defend yourself with. Lore-wise I feel like it fits perfectly to the class.
What also makes sense to me, lore-wise, is that pistols are not the prime focus of a solo class. A dude with a giant minigun should not have a comparable DPS potential to the guy next to him with a peashooter. But that does not mean pistols are without use, or even that the sniper’s kit does not allow for ‘handgun play’.
One situation that often happens to me is that a Chiron decides to launch 3 worms around my Sniper. And man am I glad for that 1AP-per-shot-pistol then. Exactly the situation when you want an off-hand weapon on a sniper. But if you truly want to go for handgun play, I feel the Sniper’s kit comes into fruition when multiclassing. As Potkeny said before:
In theory, having 0 AP overwatch and shooting as many times as your Wil allows with quickshot both sounds great for pistols, but due to the range of sniper rifles, you are less often in a position to truly utilize them (unless playing in a more mid-range way).
And that is exactly when not main-ing as a sniper comes into play. For example, the Sniper-Heavy combo can work great. You can jetpack yourself into a forward position, and take a pistol shot (or more, for 3WP/shot), plus overwatch. By default a Heavy will not have the ability to perform like that after a jetpack, and it’s the Sniper’s kit that enables it. On top of that, Quick Aim does the same to Heavy Weapons as it does to Sniper Rifles, and allows for very powerful plays, especially when combined with Boom Blast and Mounted Weapons (Though I will concede that part has nothing to do with handguns).
Or take the Assault-Sniper, where you can Dash into place, and if you have enough WP, you can just go completely bananas and get off a lot of shots. Combined with Rapid Clearance, I once emptied a full clip of an Iron Fury (the NJ pistol, 60 damage, 12 shots) in a single turn. That’s plenty of handgun play for me, without needing an entire rework of the classes. (For the record, theorycrafting is awesome, please don’t take this as a discouragement for noStas’ ideas!).
Veering slightly off-topic here, but if anything, my personal gripe is with Berserkers. Lore-wise I feel like someone going berserk on the battlefield with a giant bludgeon would rather grab a shotgun to add to the rampage than switch to a flimsy pistol. And skill-wise I’ve always been rather disappointed with the Berserker, as none of the skills seem to particularly be geared towards melee or CQC combat, and more towards getting shot (which, as a general rule of thumb, I try to avoid). I always use Assault-Heavies, for Dash+Brawler, with the Vengeance Torso once available. Any Assault of Heavy with the CQC perk is an instant hire for me, and they completely outperform any Berserker when it comes to melee combat.
overall, sounds neat