There are actually quite a few low tier EW pistols and riffles. Check out Silver Rush, they have a lot on display and no I don't remember the names. Some look like the weapons from the Fallout 3 Mothership Zeta DLC, some look like normal EW. I do know the plasma defender is a monster pistol...compared to other EW pistols at least. I don't think peoples gripes are about the quantity of EW, it's about the quality of said EW. And it's throughly lacking when compared to guns.

Everything was nerfed because unlike Fallout 3 you could take a Laser Weapon or half ass decent weapon and beat down high level enemies that have lots of armor with ease.

Laser weapons fire fast and are more accurate than most, that is their main strength. You won't be able to smack down a Deathclaw with ease with a Gatling Laser anymore because each individual shot doesn't even come close to breaking the Damage Threshold.

Laser weapons are bested used against lightly/medium armored opponents.

i dont expect a perse fix update out of pride /if anything they will prob just release more powerful weapons with dlc it would be a smarter choice overall

Actually that's a pretty awful design decision.
Why?
Fallout 3.
The Pitt.
Metal Blaster.
Just go straight there and get that weapon and you don't need any other weapon for your EW character.
You're set for the rest of the game.
Giving us a high-leveled weapon in a DLC would mean that people would go straight to that DLC in order to get the weapon and be set for a large portion of the game.
It's not very balanced to give people a high-leveled weapon right at the start.

No comments on my post? XD

Its as if Obsidian is saying, "Why use silly energy weapons when you can use GUNS! COWBOY GUNS! Its right there in the name! AND LOOK! Dynamite, we got it! And don't you worry, that cowboy repeater you found 20 minutes into the game that's half way repaired puts 75% of the energy weapons to shame (seriously, there aren't very many E.W's compared to guns). When it starts to show its age, just use AP ammo and BAM, like new!"

I made a post earlier that could pretty much sum up the whole deal: Using a plasma rifle with a skill of 85 worked just as well as using a hunting rifle with a guns skill of 19. Yea, plasma weapon sneak crits pretty much wrecked most enemies, but so did the hunting rifle. AND I didn't need crits to kill with the hunting rifle either. At 19 in the guns skill.

By balance you mean they made the superior technological weapons inferior to standard firearms in almost every way.
A laser rifle should be a better weapon then the cowboy repeater but its not, the old style lever action rifle is more damaging, cheaper to maintain and criticals almost as often. The cowboy repeater is better then the UNIQUE laser rifle.

That isn't balance sounds more like they didn't pay attention to what they were doing. If all energy weapons ignored 10 points of DT then there could be some balance.

I'm finding them a little nerfed alltough maybe no more than FO3 really, most foes a laser rifle will still take down, and there are a few close locations where plasma rifles can be found early.
Mid to late game though they become weaker due to the lack of better options being rare or difficult to find / buy.
However I must say a maxed charge multiplas can tear through deathclaws normal and boss very quickly, and the rcw makes all other hunter killer foes like the cazador easy kills.

Lasers being bad against anything shiny is a Fallout staple. Plasma and Pulse really, really need to be better than they are though. On that note, where the hell is my pulse pistol and pulse rifle anyway? I don't want some pissant EMP pistol, I want my death-taser.

One of these patches really needs to buff Plasma weapons, and nerf the crap out of the Sniper Rifle/Gobi Campaign Scout rifle while they're at it. A sniper rifle should not be my go to weapon in all situations. Sure, the ammo is nearly as much at fault as the weapons themselves, but if a weapon is going to easily hit 100% critical chance, it probably shouldn't be doing 60base/60 critical damage.

if ppl wanna spoil the game by going to abuse the dlc weapon so be it .Let their own stupidity ruin them/I have yet to see a update in a single player game that *fixes weapons* if anything. bethesda isnt a company known for customer priority lol.If im wrong explain to me the release of a unpolished game X D

Valve tries to balance Left 4 Dead games.
Sure it takes a [censored]-long time for them to actually patch something but at least the do it.

And WoW is constantly patched to balance stuff.

Team Fortress too.

Of course those are all multiplayer games but still, they get balanced.
The game being singleplayer does not excuse it from being unbalanced.

when melee is more powerful than energy you have a BIG problem. my current character has level 50 in melee and im clearing through enemies like police through a massage parlor. i had intended it as a back up for weak enemies but im finding that even at level 50 knock knock is just owning everything. i havent even tried a super-sledge yet. this game sufffers from the same mentality that hampered fallen earth. they try and make melee on the same field with ranged weapons and it ends up being competely ridiculous looking. when i can do more damage with an axe than with a plasma gun something is just wrong. melee should be significancly weaker with exceptions like chainsaws or laser swords (if they have them in fallout universe). their advantage is that they dont require ammo to carry around. fallen earth had super-samauir-ninja-pirate melee guys that didnt have to create or carry ammo around meanwhile rifle and pistol users not only had to spend time gathering resources and crafting ammo and carry it around but also had to deal with equal if not less damage than melee users. at least with fallout NV i can adjust stuff with the GECK.

anything melee or unarmed short of a lightsaber is going to lose against a gun or energy weapon. guns have more kinetic energy than melee weapons by far, its not even close. industrial laser and plasma cutters today can cut through thick steel in seconds so imagine what fallouts lasers can do. if someone wants to play with swords and axes then they should be playing oblivion.

I think Plasma looks better with my Remnants Power Armour.... :hubbahubba:

Well, I'm a little out of my depth here because plasma wasn't even understood (or taught) when I was in school but they cover such a broad range of matter/energy that they defy simple description. Suffice to say that currently lasers are used to start plasma-fusion reactions, producing far more energy than input by the laser.

For the purposes of the game it is completely understandable to assume a plasma weapon far more powerful by orders of magnatude than a laser.

All that aside, when comparing weapons in-game it is becoming obvious that VATS is far more nerfed than the weapons themselves. As for a powerful weapon (outside of VATS) i have found nothing to compare with the Gauss Rifle. It beats the Tesla-Beaton and uses less energy shot for shot. Coupled with the meltdown perk I have found nothing that can stand against it—just don't let your target get too close .

WoW HAS to be balanced. Blizzard has a fanatical following, and I do mean fanatical. People go ape [censored] over any problem. If I wasn't a WoW player myself, I'd be scared of WoW players.

Silver Rush. How would people who just bought the game and decide to go EW know about Silver Rush; but that still isn't the problem; the problem is those Recharger weapon is as powerful as Laser weapon.....and you can't get your hands on it until you hit Freeside.

And from the experience of 3 characters, I know you can get a Laser Pistol from Mitchell's house, maybe bought in Goodspring vendor, another one in Goodspring Coyote den, then another on in Primm; you can also get Laser Rifle/RCW (or even Plasma Rifle)from Fiends, or found a Laser Rifle in decent condition in Nipton.

With pistol, you only have about 5 clip and one bulk box until you reach Novac; the folks grinding Fiends would have to stock up before they go south again.

Even in late game, you would be consistently FTing to Hidden Valley just for few more cell to make Max/Overcharge with.

Would you please edit your spoilers. This is the General Forum.

They weren't that bad of spoilers.
More like general information.

True. But you never know what will strike the Moderators the wrong way. They can get quite protective, especially when the game hasn't been out very long.

If it had been egregious I wouldn't even have said anything—just reported it.

I think it's good to remind folks every once in a while to encourage thinking before writing :spotted owl:

True.

I still say that they just need to update the DT mechanic to be inline with the way it was in the originals. Different DT for different damage types per armors.

That makes a lot more sense than the current system, that does a lot more sense than the Fallout 3 system However i think such fundamental change would be too massive to include in a patch even if the engine makes it possible.

Anyway, the PC players can rejoice in the knowledge that the modding community is already working on a comprehensive Energy Weapon overhaul. This is why i love Bethesda's games (yes i know it's Obsidian).