Something to bear in mind, Fdev, is that the traditional AX weapons just aren't very cool.
A big part of why the original Salvation weapons are fun is because they're really cool. Even the gatling gauss, despite being mediocre, is still cool in how it operates, and the shards and plasmas are cool glowy blue plasma.
By contrast, the ax weapons are quite boring, basically the most standard weapons to exist, and therefore just aren't that fun to use. If you're going to keep going for them, I'd invite you to make the modifications for them cooler.
For example, maybe a missile rack that shoots a bunch of missiles at once with some spread and the missiles swerve around a bit. Alternatively, a multicannon that has a windup so you need to hold the trigger for a bit before it reaches its max fire rate, but then shoots really really fast.
By making these weapons more cool, they could be more fun, and fun is a big part of having them be enjoyable to use, not just raw stats.
A big part of why the original Salvation weapons are fun is because they're really cool. Even the gatling gauss, despite being mediocre, is still cool in how it operates, and the shards and plasmas are cool glowy blue plasma.
By contrast, the ax weapons are quite boring, basically the most standard weapons to exist, and therefore just aren't that fun to use. If you're going to keep going for them, I'd invite you to make the modifications for them cooler.
For example, maybe a missile rack that shoots a bunch of missiles at once with some spread and the missiles swerve around a bit. Alternatively, a multicannon that has a windup so you need to hold the trigger for a bit before it reaches its max fire rate, but then shoots really really fast.
By making these weapons more cool, they could be more fun, and fun is a big part of having them be enjoyable to use, not just raw stats.