I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what the designers were thinking when they were modifying Laser rifles, and I think I've come up with a few points
1. Laser Rifles are probably the most effective VATS weapons, with amazing range and accuracy compared to almost any gun in the game, meaning that if you have a load of AP, and/or the fast shot perk, you can really unload damage quickly. This makes
them exceptional for disarming opponents or targetting held grenades.

2. The patch altering DT has made Laser rifles a viable weapon now, no longer every shot seeming to do measely dmg except to animals and unarmored humans.

3. Lasers in general were supposed to be somewhat reliant on crits to even out light dmg. Unfortunately most regular guns in the game have a better crit modifier. I think all Lasers should probably be given an extra 0.5x crit to bring them more in line.

4. Strangely, Laser Rifles have NO movement penalty associated with them, despite being a two handed weapon, you can move as fast as if you were holding a pistol. It's a big plus if you are trying to keep distance. The low spread of the weapon
helps you keep shots on target which is really helpful.

5. Laser Rifle zoom even without a scope is better than most projectile rifles. Combined with its accuracy on par with a sniper rifle, makes it an amazing long range weapon. Since sneak attacks ignore DT.

6. The low health of the weapons tend to make repairs occur often and is expensive and annoying, considering they barely match up to mid range weapons most of the time. The advantages the weapons bring don't outweigh the disadvantages.

7. Pew Pew, the Unique Laser Pistol is the equivilant of the Ranger Sequoia of the Laser Family. While comparitavely, the AER14 doesn't really match up to the Brush Gun after factoring in perks for both guns, as well as the massive health loss the AER14 will experience from using Max Charge Ammo just to keep pace with Stock 45-70 govt. rounds.

So IMO, Laser weapons, especially the AER14 probably need a bit of a buff. I understand that they are meant to be weak early on, and strong later on, but with the crit modifier on the weapon being too low, it doesn't allow the Laser weapons to really shine at late game since there aren't enough perks to bring the Laser weapons to a comfortable level with guns.

Thye only thing I use laser rifles for is after I get meltdown I like to snipe from afar into a crowd of buggers... BLAMO! It also at least does take over from the laser pistol even if its a tad weak at least its fairly fast.

Except for being inferior to the cowboy repeater in nearly every way whats not to love about the laser rifle? Hell the cowboy repeater is more powerful then the unique laser rifle. They completely dropped the ball on energy weapons they are simply the inferior choice. Harder to acquire, harder to maintain, less damaging, consumes more ammo and are all around more expensive. Its like one for the price of two.

And if anything energy weapons should require very little maintenance due to a lack of moving parts.

Hooooonkkkk...SIKE. guns are still better in everyway.

And theres no need for me to even post reasons why, because anyone who knows how to play this game already figured out the energy weapons are weak.

Its really sad too.

Fo3 energy weapons were beast.

Pick up a riot shot gun and a light machine gun/

The best gun in the game is an energy weapon. Gauss, Multiplas and/or Plasma Caster can kill as fast as any guns combo. The problem is at lower levels where Sawyer admitted he forgot to rebalance energy weapons when he buffed comparable guns like aforementioned Cowboy Repeater.

I see what they tried to do with lasers. I also see the part they failed at. Lasers hit the wall of poor design decisions and bugs related to the entire DT implementation, crash and burn. AER14 on top of that hits the wall of uniques not bearing upgrades. The only laser that actually seems to work late-game is RCW, especially after Laser Commander and with Fast Shot. Real meat grinder, unlike Gatling which they broke again.

Now they don't give a damn to fix/rebalance energy because Microsoft hired them for an exclusive DLC, so instead of rebalancing the game for the entire community, they are doing mercenary work insulting a good 2/3 of it. Way to go guys.

Hoooooonnnnnkkkk. Energy Weapons are great. They make neat little piles of ash instead of a bloody mess. Boone's a sniper and I use the 3 modded Laser Rifle....never a problem to repair or find ammo. The Gauss is great as is the Tri-Beam Laser Rifle. I use them all. My back-up is the Heavy Incinerator which I use kind of like a grenade launcher but with balls of fire dropping down. If you arc it right, you can zero in on the target and weaken it from really far away.

:flamethrower:

If they did not use the same Cell shot as my Gauss I would love them... As it stands... nope

HOOOONK! I kill things (Fiends) that have them and fix them up and sell for a lot and buy more bullets. They just aren't my cup of tea.

the RCW is as accurate, fires cheaper ammo and is full auto, hence my laser weapon of choice

I don't have a car...

Yup. Great for the killer butterflies...

I hate energy weapons.
I don't have a proper reason, and i have nothing against anyone else using them, i just don't enjoy using them myself.
I think it all sort of comes down to my personal view of what an apocalypse might be like, and in my mind, id rather use guns.

I loved energy weapons in Fo3. They were so beastly. But with how things are now your options are limited to the Gauss rifle, Plasma Caster, Laser RCW, and multiplas. Anything else is worthless. Even more annoying is that only the Gauss rifle has a unique variant while the other three is limited to regular versions. PewPew the unique laser pistol IS powerful but it consumes godly fail amounts of ammo per shot.