Improving the Antigua-line charge attacks seems like a good idea. They are difficult to use, and these guns are far from overpowered.

Would making them deal half normal damage really solve the issue of Blasters just being better? In the end these guns would still fill largely the same role, which means it's all about which gun has better dps. You could buff the antigua dps but then they'll just take the blaster's place. I don't think they would co-exist. Versatility is nice to have but is pointless when every damage type is covered anyway. You don't need versatility when you have a specialized weapon for each of the 3 damage types that deal more damage because monster defense is lower against them. Introducing specialized blasters was basically a mistake that shouldn't have happened. Valiance was used a lot because it is a good gun (easy to use) that was versatile, now it's obsolete because Arcana or Riftlocker are good guns (easy to use) and deal more damage to every enemy you want to use them on.

Another potential benefit from making antiguas deal half normal damage is that it would make gun damage bonus more effective for them. At least... depending on how you look at it. If you want them to be a sidearm for non-gunners, this would make it worse because the normal damage wants the damage bonus. But overall I don't think it's bad to do because you could keep antiguas at their current level for non-gunners, while making it stronger for gunners. Or well... that would be true in 2013 when non gunners used wolver armor and didn't have +6 gun damage bonus from Black Kat.

What I'm trying to say is, every balancing problem somehow in the first place leads back to Black Kat (read: MSI) and secondly the desire to make a specialized version of all the weapons for all damage types (of which the examples clearly show it's a flawed idea, e.g. specialized blasters and normal damage brandish). So I think those should really be addressed if the game wants to be more balanced. But in the meantime I don't think it's bad to suggest other changes for weapons, so I like this post.

I think it could be a good idea to make the antigua charge slightly more useful to bring it closer to it's regular attacks. In the end it will always be a competition between charge and normal attacks for every weapon, but some weapons are better balanced by having them closer together in strength (brandishes), which in turn makes UVs easier to get on those weapons (although even with brandishes it is clear that CTR is the main UV, which is fine). Antiguas could have ASI as their main UV with CTR still being good albeit slightly less desirable than ASI (as opposed to the current situation where ASI is the only good UV)

Well, the charge attack should support the very basic feature of these guns: Mobility.

Even in comparison to Blasters, Antiguas do still give more opportunities to stop shooting and rise your shield. You also have more chances to hit an enemy when you miss it. A Blaster gives you 3 chances to hit an enemy. The Antigua-type guns give you 6 chances, which provide a far more friendly handling.

The tradeoff is damage obviously. You hit a lot, have many chances to connect and make up for missed shots, but you will deal significantly less damage per shot than other guns. This is fine and should be like this.

Now... the charge shot on the other hand locks you not only in place, but also in direction. Not only are you rooted down while unleashing your bullets, but if you failed to aim correctly before shooting beforehand, you place yourself in significant danger.

The main reason why new people would pick this gun over other guns exspecially in early game is the way it allows you to make mistakes. The charge does punish mistakes, which is contra-productive.

Therefore what should be changed is the rooting and the directional locking of the gun while using the charge attack.
Allow people to still dodge while shooting and to still adjust the direction while unleashing those 6 shots.

Because rooting makes sense for weapons like Autoguns that deal a ton of damage and are risk-reward guns by design. Antiguas are far away from the damage of autoguns and therefore must not recive the same punishments as Autoguns.

With this suggested change in effect, Autoguns remain their position as risk-reward guns with high damage output that leave you vulnerable.
Blasters are a middleway with their safety of 3-shot-clips and a medium damage.
And Antiguas will be the lowest damage, but safest option out of these 3, that do not shine with their massive damage, but the ability to keep the user safest by granting the best mobility and the largest 6-bullet-clip size.