Ok ill start this off by saying the loudest AS nerf whiners lately have been enforcers because this skill almost always takes away 40% of their hp(that is when their invincibility complex makes them forget to snag RRFE). It scores hits that go on the records(i.e. Cyboot's 5049 on caol, my 4880 on Hearse). As far as im concerned with the EQB being able to do this damage is two regular hits there's no room for whining from them. Also since they can take it with 12-13k buffed hp, the fastest runspeed, innate ability of breaking roots, layers, etc...This is not to say enforcers are unkillable, but for a profession such as them aimed shot is a skill that needs to remain and reserved for them especially - i must admit, being a fixer who uses a ql 140 supernova i've never felt more compelled to use an AS on them at a certain point in a fight since bursting is the only alternative and regular damage from a MCS or even a manex for that matter is peanuts to their hp...not surprising, regular damage is just there for the combat animation with reflect in the ballpark.
That being said. Let's move on to the guns people use in pvp with AS.
*Caterwaul/X3 - Being that these are pretty much agent reserved weapons and any other profession using this weapon won't do such great damage, you can't whine when you hear about an agent doing 3k-4k AS's on you. They depend on this skill and are amongst the few profs who can rely on other hits besides aimed shot from their gun, not needing to switch or wait for recharge, etc..
*Techtronica Neural Disruptor - Purely a gun reserved for soldiers, who are supposed to and should specialize in damage dealing... Already this gun is rarely seen in pvp and, without gimping themselves a vast majority of the 11 professions trying to use one of these won't be able to equip a quality sufficient in damage enough and as you know stats damage is of some account in the result of a successful aimed shot. It's got fling too, but nevertheless that skill is crap now. 3/3 clip is good because soldiers already go through enough hell being stuck in the swap times due to reload bugs and such, that need fixing but FC for some reason doesn't understand the function of the 'R' key.
*Supernova MK VI - traders, soldiers, fixers tons of people would do good using this as an aimed shot choice, but only damagewise. This thing can be more of a danger to you than the person you just hit for 2-5k with. with a 1/1 clip, there will always be a regular shot fired or some screwup that is yet to be found that makes you wait anywhere from 6-12 seconds before being able to swap back. not all profs can self equip their guns, either. there's a exit combat tactic for this for a successful swap the way it should be, but can be just as buggy. It isn't a good idea to do either with these days of bugged suppression and people pressing 'q' when they know they can't win any further.
*Ithaca Ki-8 - being that this gun's only possible way of doing damage you can rely on is through aimed shot since the nerf of critical chance, being hit by the initial attack isnt going to help much if you've got fixer HoTs or some type of direct healing...it takes ages to crit with this gun as with the river6, which is coming up. Most of the time popular shotgun users like traders and NTs will just die anyway after being targetted by a soldier or an enforcer.
*River Series 6 - used to be one of the best guns in the game, and is now just an arena pillow fighting weapon. The AS on it isn't as reliable as a lot of other guns either.
*MA Bows - the fact that MAs can deal a very good amount of damage through reet-tech's and the former xbows is only a good thing since after last patch they really aren't a damage dealer anymore...atleast in my book anyway.
As you can see, AS is a skill that's best used by the professions that abseloutley need it, others who use it such as myself have drawbacks and risks at hand. It's damage is powerful but don't think for a second that the fact tons of professions use that skill means they have nothing to worry about.
It can also be mentioned that going fully defensive has a chance - even against 1kish aimed shot skill - of reducing the attack's damage drastically. Also, for the wiseguys out there who like to say that firing an aimed shot at point blank range is unrealistic, id like to see them whine about tons of other things that are unrealistic. I bet the same people who complain about realism would quit if AO returned back to the good old days of 100% damage. If you chain-linked AS to concealment skill in pvp that would be an even worse solution because of how bugged that skill is with zoning, perception checks, and the lack of a message telling you whether or not you sneaked successfully or are hiding from the target you are facing.
....
