Because it's a gunner update. It's cleaner to round out the gun lines and balance them at the same time, even if it's a bit late.

You sure like to rhyme..

Will an update for gunners make the game funner?
An excellent suggestion, to explore this question.
My personal opinion, I do believe, is an update for gunners is ill-conceived.
Gunners are viable, already were, so the need for this update is just to make sure?
Rather than guns, which do plenty of stuff, the real need is for bombs, which don't do enough.
Were SK to put out an update for bombs, I would cling to Three Rings like babes to their moms.

How does balancing weapons add more content to late game players than adding more content?

Just because a weapon is worse than another weapon doesn't mean said weapon is unusable. Nothing stops you from making a Leviathan or a Sudaraska, instead of a Combuster or Acheron. Egad! It's not optimal! Then shove your sorry bum into another suit if Chaos and autonomously charge spam your weapons. While you're at it, oil your wrist joints, recharge your batteries, and recalibrate your sensors because clearly you are just another robot playing for the sake of winning rather than having fun.

oh bitsbee, you changed avatar.
and btw, reginald, you never seen a video from shard squad. bombs are viable, they are just a bit tricky to use well.

I'm going to bring up Danger Missions and Lockdown again...

Danger Missions were SPECTACULAR. They were very well made and people loved them! One problem though: Development Time. Each Danger Mission took about a full month to make. Most players got bored of them after 2 to 3 runs. The only reason they are more interesting then the usual level now is because their availability is limited. Yes we want new levels, but they are so inefficient in terms of development time vs playing time.

Lets look at that mess known as Lockdown. There are people who've played lockdown for hundreds of hours. However... why don't you hear complaints about the Lockdown level variety? There are less lockdown levels than clockwork levels, yet people don't mind at all. While new levels are nice, it's not the level itself that makes people keep playing. It's the experience. Each Lockdown experience is made by the players involved, rather than the level. That's why you hear complaints about equipment being imbalanced and cries for larger weapon diversity in games (Or they're raging at certain individuals in Lockdown, if not groups of individuals).

New weaponry creates new playstyles and new methods of playing the same content. Weapon balance only really matters in PvP, IMO. Even the weapons people scoff at are still perfectly usable and are quite enjoyable to use. Take a Winmillion out for a spin, or swing around a Sudaraska. It's a different experience than charge spamming your Brandishes in full Chaos.

There are dozens of methods of extending playtime. Balance, while nice, only affects people devoted to optimization and PvPers.

Just please tell me that Blackhawk is going to get fixed with the update (meaning correct range).

I think the addition of new guns is very good for PvP, because the addition of so much effective variety will render the two previous cookie-cutter EFFECTIVE AGAINST EVERYTHING sets less effective.

"I don't think you should write off PvE balance as "less important" so quickly. A lot of people, like me, love using complex strategies instead of straightforward ones."

Do your complex strategies work? Are they fun to use? Then, even with the poor balance, there is still fun to be had. One of my most memorable runs was a RJP run with all 4 of us using only Catalyzers.

This thread is about fun, or am I mistaken? The only time a balanced situation is more fun than an imbalanced situation is PvP, and even then you can debate "Perfect Imbalance" (Which SK hasn't pulled off yet). As long as every weapon works, there's no reason to throw it away because it's not as good as another. If you MUST perfectly optimize yourself to have fun, then don't complain about lack of options when you yourself are shutting down the majority of them.

"Game's too easy"
This argument really bugs me.

First of all, easy doesn't mean it's no longer fun. It's not like fun and easy are mutually exclusive. There are areas of the game that still pose a challenge and nothing stops you from visiting them, if you MUST take on a challenge.

Second of all, please PLEASE don't lament how "easy" the game is when you're able to run FSC with full Chaos, half blind, while eating a sandwich. That is an example of player skill. Easy for you doesn't mean the game is easy. Easy for you doesn't mean the game needs to be changed to fit your needs.

"the hardest difficulties too easy for me. I dont play often but when i do, I can take any weapon and easily make it through"

I thought I directly addressed this point in my last post. Easy for you does not mean it's too easy and needs to be changed. Veterans seem to forget how hard Tier 3 actually is. One swipe with improper armor is 1/3 of your health, with enemies being fast and aggressive.

"Why have more weapons if you'll only use some?"

And what stops you from using them all? Seriously, what is stopping you? Apparently you like a challenge as well, thus using some lesser weapons would be more fun. Unless I'm misinterpreting what you're saying because limericks, while fancy, do obscure your words.

"Its not rocket science, its really quite simple, more variety will appear if the weapons are all equal"

How does balancing weapons make more weapons appear than ADDING WEAPONS. The Sudaraska still exists! I have a Triglav sitting in my inventory. I can make it appear on command. I'll even take it through a Shadow Lair. It would be a challenge... OH WAIT!

"Try takin a poison bomb to firestom cit
If you arnt solo, youll likely be kicked"

And rightly so! Everything in Firestorm Citadel is highly resistant to poison. It'd be like bringing Gran Faust there.

I could link my Shard Bomb only Vana fight, but Theirillusion beat Vana in half that time using Dark Retribution and Acheron so not sure what it'd prove.

Let me have my new guns

Here is a good time for comparing some things,
involving a Cave and a Story with King,
so the kind of balance that we might achieve
would not cause us all to deep inwardly seethe.

You see, the main guy could get one of three guns,
Depending on choices made during his quest.
A quick trade with miss Brace would net the Machine Gun,
while the Snake could be got in the big roaches' nest.

Now, spoiler alert, but if you kept the Star
of Polaris that you pilfered at the start,
you could later return to the Hermit Gunsmith
who would make you a Spur to blast that Doctor with.

The Machine Gun could let you soar into the sky
while the Snake went through walls to where monsters did hide.
When it came to the stages they both were quite 1337,
but at boss fights Spur's charge laser couldn't be beat.

Each of these weapons was better or worse
at handling dangers the Doctor dispersed.
But viable all three of these weapons were;
All three could take down that nasty Doctor.

This balance is just what Cradle might well need.
Some weapons be good where the others are weak.
Stuff like Levi can keep you quite well prepped,
but even then you should need to watch your step.

And nonviable gear, like the Deconstructor,
which has no benefits to even the score-
this gear needs a reason to use it instead
of constant Brandish Spam 'til everything's dead.

Think up every aspect of each piece of gear-
armor, shields, and weapons, and Battle Sprites dear-
and make some monster weak to each item's quirks,
while covering bases on all of the works.

As for blatantly overpowered gear like that
Acheron, which is all you need to make Slimes splat-
They need a nerf that quite soon should be had,
but don't overdo it and make them just bad.

Give everything a purpose, a first step that is.
Then experimentation will be quite fun, fo'shizz.
People trying the Spur would not be disappoint,
And that would be one of the game's selling points.

I like how the OP is making a pretty good set of rap posts, and the forum dderps are answering it like it is normal :p Reginald ftw

Also, The gunner update wont make the game funner.

Why? Cause its OOO. <- reason for everything

There will be some huge balancing. It is GUNNER update after all

oh nvm it is OOO.

I agree with Fezz.

Graveyard this thread, Eurydice...

Yeah, I'd welcome a balancing sweep anytime, but if that's all they worked on we wouldn't see another update for quite some time. Now, what better way to make us forget the wait than to hand us more updates? It'll keep us pre-occupied for a bit while they work on fixing things behind the scenes. Makes sense, no? So chill out and embrace it, rather than requesting they drop everything they're doing to rebalance some items. I would honestly much rather see more content than for them to neglect updating entirely for the sake of balancing. Game ain't broke yet.