Warning long post!!!! (mainly for you pheonix as I imagine only you will bother to read it
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Well I'm sure I've posted my opinion 3 or 4 times on this thread and I've had a different opinion each time. I'd say I'm about 75% for the Gunslinger (Or dualist is a name I prefer) and 25% against.
The only issue I have with the Dualist is I'm unsure if my attempting to find a role for him in my head is the result of me wanting to add it for the sake of adding, or because I genuinely like the idea.
1 thing I do like is the idea of nerfing the Sharpshooter by reducing his versatility somewhat by stripping the pistol and handcannon bonuses off him. There would need to be alterations to the SS to allow him to carry 2 weapons however, and along with the inevitable SS nerf that is likely to happen in the near future this might send him the other way and make him a rather poor class. (That being said having him more a big hitter but poor crowd controller would probably be a good thing.) Making the Xbow 9 weight blocks, the M14 6 weight blocks and the LAR 5 weight blocks seems the best idea I've seen, but the Sharpie will either need to keep his pistol bonus, or get a new tier 1 weapon to replace the handcannon and pistol.
Anyway onto the point of my post. The Dualist for me needs to have a few unique abilities to make him stand out. Increased ZED time damage bonus is not a good idea for me, as the class more becomes about luck rather than skill. Having manually triggered Zed time I don't think is really in the spirit of the game either, I mean everything is little unbelievable in KF, but being able to slow down time at will is a little out there IMO, not to mention overpowered. See a FP, trigger ZED time and demolish it with headshot ease.
Looking at each perk, each one typically has 3 abilities for their weapons and 3 natural abilties (only exception is Sharpshoooter, but hell he has a massive +50% damage on headshot). My suggested rough Dualist abilities are as follows. IMO they support his run and gun style and give him some unique abilities to keep him interesting.
_____________________________________________________
|_LvL | _PD _|_AM_ |_ RL_ |_DW _|_HF_ |_SP_ |_RSt_|_RSi_|
| _0_ |_+5% | _ _ _ |+5%_|_ _ __|_ _ _ |_ _ _ |+10%| _ __ |
| _1_ |+10% |+10% |+10%|_+5% |+5%_|+5%_|+15%|+5%_|
| _2_ |+15% |+15% |+20%|_+5% |+5%_|+5%_|+20%|+10%|
| _3_ |+20% |+20% |+30%|_+5% |+10%|+10%|+25%|+20%|
| _4_ |+30% |+25% |+40%|+10% |+10%|+10%|+35%|+30%|
| _5_ |+40% |+30% |+50%|+10% |+10%|+15%|+50%|+40%|
| _6_ |+50% |+30% |+50%|+10% |+15%|+15%|+75%|+50%|
LvL = Level
PD = Pistol Damage
AM = Ammo
RL = Reload speed
DW = damage Dual Wielding
HF = damage Hip Fire
SP = Run Speed
RSt = Resistance to Stun (see below)
RSi = Resistance to Sirens scream
I chose ammo and reload as a run and gun class will be firing very rapidly and frequently, requiring a reasonable amount of ammunition and having access to it quite regularly.
Dual wielding for me is 1 of the classes unique calling cards, its not a massive boost since there are already more bullets available and of course there is Hip fire damage too.
I added hip fire since this is a inherant effect for all weapons, as well as also adding a boost to his non dual wieldable Revolver if it gets added, and of course his single pistols if he doesn't want to dual wield.
I calculated the damage for a full clip of dual wielded handcannons fired from the hip against a full clip of the Scar with bonuses. The Scar got 3000 damage the handcannons got 3187. Remember however the rate of fire on the handcannons is alot slower and will be harder to use with no ADS. Also the Dualist lacks a rapid fire back up weapon to carry on with against charging foes, but he does has the high damage output of the revolver, so he shouldn't outshine the Commando when it comes to crowd control but should outshine him when it comes to taking down bigger foes.
Resistance to stun effects compliments his run and gun attitude. These are things like screen shake from the sirens scream, motion blur from getting hit by clots or stalkers, the acid splat from the bloat. All of these will have drastically reduced effects on the Dualist allowing him to carry on mowing down the mob even when under a barrage of screen effects.(Kinda like the Medic or Berserker gets with Bloat acid, they get a small screen shake, but nothing more.)
Resistance to siren damage and his minor speed boost allows the Dualist to go on the run without too much concern if he stumbles into the path of a Siren, again encouraging his run and gun style. I left out recoil since I never found recoil an issue as a medic with 0 recoil reduction at all.
This is what I think the Dualist/Gunslinger should be, as well as a reasonably versatile perk he also plays well when on the run from foes too. He should be all about shooting rapidly and moving quick, which I'd say is what these perk bonuses do.
Congrats if you made it to the end
