Easier way to impliment Weapon upgrade changes for programmers

[Barot8]

When weapons upgrades was first mentioned players thought "I'd get a bigger magazine" or "faster rate of fire" or "better scope", "less recoil/better handling". I think most players envisioned gun addons presented in a new menu (still a great idea). In reality we got somewhat better weapon damage. While playing the other day it occurred to me that it's easier to add weapons to the game then to add addtional menus and features. So what I thought (going to use the AK for an example) what about putting variations of the same gun as available for purchase? Imagine you want an AK with a bigger magazine. In the selection of guns you see "AK-47B" and in the description it has a larger magazine. "AK-47C" would have better handling/less recoil. Etc. Now I know purists will say "it's not accurate to actual gun types" but this is a game where we're fighting monsters and some gun types do have variations. It would be a fair amount of work but would double the amount of weapons released in the normal updates. What do people think?

 

[Demon Swords]

I do agree that it would be nice to have upgrades besides damage, but having separate weapon variants for this would just clutter the shop. An easier way would be to allow the player to click on the stat bar or ammo symbol to choose what upgrade they want. This way there is no need to make new menus and would be the most visually appealing way for the player.
One likely reason that developers stuck to just damage is likely because it is easier to balance weapons that way. Changing which perks you use already effects some of the variables that weapon upgrades could change, so stacking that upgrade with a perk that also upgrades the same thing may make some weapons too strong.