Ranged Weapon Re-balance?

[Sithspecter]

I've had this idea in the back of my head for a while now. I've always thought that the ranged weapon feats in KotOR and TSL were a little bit ridiculous. For instance, if you choose to purchase a Sith Sniper Rifle on Taris, you can use that gun to also do rapid fire, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The same applies for heavy repeaters, .etc. I really don't see many weapons that have achieved that level of versatility. Also, at upper levels of the game, ranged weapons seem to be less and less useful, especially against lightsaber wielding opponents.

So, my idea was to do a re-balance of all the ranged weapons. Instead of being able to select the feats to use, the focus would be on the proficiency feats. No characters would be able to select the rapid shot, sniper shot, or power shot feats. Instead, these feats would be granted with each gun. So, when you decide to purchase a repeating blaster, you are granted the rapid shot or improved rapid shot feat. Same applies for all guns. Also could make sense to have feats added with upgrades.

Just some thought. I haven't actually started any of this, but I might in the future.

[TamerBill]

Interestingly enough I actually made such a mod, pretty much exactly as you describe it, for personal use back in '08. It's also one of the features of the Weapon Remix Redux mentioned in my thread here, albeit as part of a total rewrite of every weapon. The concept definitely works, although it means ranged characters tend to run out of meaningful feat choices at the high levels unless you pair it with a feat-adding mod.