-Rifles fire faster, but do less damage per bullet.
-weapon spawns are permanent, they do not change inbetween rounds (e.g boomshot in slab then digger next round)
-Pete stated he would like to release more statistics for the weapons such as kills (like he did for gears of war 3). He named after the release of DLCS, and the first few weeks of release of the game as time frames he might do it.
Weapons not mentioned or discussed:
Heavy weapons - Mortar, Mulcher and Oneshot
Pickup Power weapons - Hammer of Dawn
Lancer-
No headshot multiplier
Retro lancer-
Harder to feather
Requires more 'skill'
Two-piece has been removed, pokes do less damage
Is now following on its intended purpose (close quarter combat), no longer being considered a viable good long range weapon.
Hammerburst-
Fully semi-automatic, modded controllers don't work (currently) on them
Digger-
Moves faster underground
Boomshot-
Less of a "fuzzy boomshot", a better AoE effect.
Scorcher-
Very similar damage output to gears of war 3.
Goes through boomshield
Boltok-
More powerful weapon
Single-headshot(?)
Gorgon-
Similar as before, not much information on it.
Boomshield-
Can be used with any weapon
Markza-
Body shot -> headshot won't kill somebody
Has recoil, low rate of fire
Frags-
Reduced radius and damage, they estimated around 50%.
Stronger than the nerfed special event frag grenades (stay frosty) in gears of war 3
Ink-
No cringe
Smoke-
Only grenade that cringes you
Insta-detonate on impact
Cannot tac-com through the smoke anymore
Incendiary-
have been made a viable power weapon pickup
Longshot-
Glitches are mended
2 layers of zoom
Bullets penetrate multiple enemies
Body shot does more damage
Gnasher-
Ammo issues are apparently mitigated with ammo pickups/ammo boxes
Sawed-off-
Multiple kills possible still
Faster fire rate than the gnasher
Damage/range is the same
Fills a different role now
breechshot-
decent body shot damages
medium ranged
definitely outclasses the markza
booshka-
considered to be on par with the boomshot
3 in the magazine, 2 in the clip
boomshot-
3shots still
melee-
still a 2 hit kill
melee penalty for missing is 'high'
you can still react to melees
failed retro-charge still requires 2 melee hits
beacon-
damage boost is only in overrun
damage boost does not stack if two grenades land beside somebody
classic hammerburst-
3 burst kill
woot! lets see what there is today
Retro is more difficult to "feather" across the map (Gnashes ) Retro-poke is lower in damage, and the two-piece seems to be fixed (or harder to do)
Firing cap is same (HB and Snub)
Digger is faster underground
Boomshot is the same basically (no active damage)
Scorcher is about the same (goes through boomshield O_O)
Torque is between normal damage and active damage
Boltok is more powerful, single headshot, double body, but is meant for campaign, it is not in MP maps yet.
Boomshield, head is now exposed more than in Gears 3. (frags stick to boomshield)
Markza, needs two headshots, (1 body, 1 headshot does not kill), recoil and RoF make it hard to double tap someone.
Frags, far less damage than Gears 3 (less than half)
Ink, no more cringe.
Smoke, instant pop (no more bouncing), still cringes. Can't use tac-com through it. (Beacon grenade sees through it)
Flame nades, pick up only. Means it has to be a power weapon. Ammo boxes won't refill it
Longshot, Gears 2 style scope. two layers of zoom, way more body damage. Penetrates targets
Gnasher, a hair slower, not noticable. Ammo is unnoticable since you auto pick up, and there are ammo boxes
SoS, two shots per reload. (Code name: Gnasher Jr), fires faster than Gnasher, spread is same, range is same as Gnasher
Breechshot, meant for medium range, single headshot, body damage low.
Booshka, Should be scared to see someone who has it, bouncing trick shots, meant for boomshot class.(Flak loves to say it )
Being meleed is not as penalized as in Gears 3, but missing is penalized more
Markza is balanced as a starting weapon, Breechshot does more damage to body, single headshot. Longshot two levels of zoom, and you are 4-pointed when shot in body.
Booshka, 3 shots per clip, 2 magazines (6 shots)
Beacon grenade in Versus: No damage boost (In overrun, they do not stack)
No more double spawns (1st round Longshot, 2nd round Torque)
Markza and Booshka came from Overrun testing.
Classic HB: balanced to be a starting weapons, in the middle. Three bursts to kill (don't know if it takes all bullets to hit to kill in three)
Weapons skins are back
EPIC loves the Gnasher
KotG will change next week