Weapon Progression and the weapon leveling system

Ok heres a part of the game that is legit unique, and the cause for a fair amount of controversy because of it.  I thought i would do my best to sort of explain how gear progresses in the game.

First of all, its nothing like a mmorpg where you run the level 30 dungeon, get your blue sword drop which is significantly better than your previous weapon, and then use that weapon untill the next dungeon or lucky drop.  This game works nothing like that.  If you love this type of system the game is going to piss you off.

Every weapon has the same base stats.  While there are what seems to be 50+ different types of weapons offering a huge amount of variety even in the same types of weapons...that assult rifle with the uber high rate of fire and low damage with decent recoil...is going to do the same base damage at EGO1 as EGO 500.  Weapons do not progress in base damage like a sword would in a mmorpg.

**So how is there gear progression?  Is there gear Progression?  "Ive heard weapon upgrades dont matter and that bothers me"

Well the items do progress, just not in base stats.  Youll get synergies on higher end weapons, meaning theres a tie in to an ego perk if you have it equipped.  Off the top of my head theres a gun with good melee bonuses and a syngergy with melee from behind perk.  Basically with that weapon if you jack someone from behind with the gun (melee) they pretty much go splat.  Great for cloakers who untilize close range weapons where reloading might mean death.  Theres many different types that synergize with varios EGO skills.  Correct me if im wrong on this i havent gotten a syngergy weapon yet going off in game advice.

Also there as bonus stats.  Some guns will offer recoil improvements, burst fire improvements reload time, clip size, melee damage, theres actually quite a bit of areas a weapon can be improved via passive stats.  Better weapons have more of these with higher values.

And then theres mod slots, its your way to add your own combination of passive stats, which will stack if the gun already has them.  You can wait 10min and pay a small fee to open up another random mod slot on just about any gun.

Ok so thats the item progression, however it doesnt stop there.

Each gun youll notice has an XP bar on it  new weapon might have [0/845783] XP.  As that weapon fills on XP so does your passive weapon skill.  Once filled the weapon will not contribute to your passive progression.  This pisses people off.  However, since theres a wide variety of weapon types within each passive category  this kind of gives you the option to play around with various types.

The passive skills unlock passive boosts to that sub category of guns and any that you use within.  My LMG is lv 6  this far ive increased:  Reload time -5%, crit mult +5%,  recoil +2%, Fall off damage +4%.  Next level will add +2% to my crit.  Any LMG i equip will have these bonuses applied.

So this is just summary that ive tried to keep somwhat short.  Mind you that the game progression between EGO 1 and EGO 500 seems like a lot but its not, 5000 EGO levels is max and the gear drops at the same level your EGO is.  Higher EGO gear will have more XP to fill and last you longer towards progression.

There will be times you dread removing that purple gun and equipping what seems to be a crappy green or white version simply because the XP is full on the purple gun. It wont make a huge deal, but i would keep that purple wepaon with a full xp bar just in case, untill you find a better at least. There will be times when you realize that you dont have a back up and either have to try something new or try a variation on that sub category of guns that you think isnt a good choice.

You will see people complain that theres zero point to upgrade weapons, those people are gimping themselves via the stat system. Ive hear that "i dont feel any strong than i was at level 1" though i go back to nooby areas and mobs that use to take a full clip to kill i can drop 4 of them in one clip, so somethings improving even if my base damages on the guns dont.

I actually like the system, it keeps me hunting for various types of weapons and somewhat stock piling them, though i really only need to keep one or two as back up.  I find a lot of odd varioations that i occasionally will try out on a few events.  Theres a ton of variety with weapons its a bit overwhelming.  Its surprisingly complex given the sheer amount of choices with guns you have.