Big topic just about every forum I go regarding the SOS (sometimes referred to as the DBS for double-barreled shotgun) and it's balance/place in the Gears 3 beta arsenal.

So I thought I'd open up the topic here for discussion, see what our community says on the subject.

Personally I think the wide area of effect and up-close strength gives the neophyte an ultra-powerful weapon to battle the more-seasoned Gnasher users, but provides Gears veterans a 4-shot insta-kill weapon.  I've seen folks wall-bouncing with this and the BEST you can hope for is that you catch them approaching from far enough to lancer/hb/retro them away or that you trade kills, because it's unlikely the gnasher will beat the SOS straight-up in a wall bouncing fight.

Plus for KOTH and CTL modes, the SOS is the only weapon to carry as CQB is guarranteed in those gametypes.

So what say you, fellow beta players?

Now I havent played the beta so i am going over past Gears experiences.  Would opening up the levels to include larger areas help this?   It sounds like most maps are small and confined so a shotgun of any kind would be a natural selection.  And nothing dominates like a shotgun at close range.  To dumb down the weapon strength would kind of be an insult to the weapon type,  since being powerful up close and personal is what its good at.   I think they just need to open up the maps a little more and include more open areas to discourage the rampant use of the weapon.  Its one of the things I always disliked about CoD games was how dumbed down the shotguns were.

A) if you have Gold, you should try the beta; getting in next week should be pretty easy as MS is giving a bunch beta keys away to current beta users.  I can dig it, if you're not gold though.

B) Some maps are worse than others, regarding open/closed designs, but there are plenty of open spaces in Thrashball and Oldtown.  The problem is that in KOTH and CTL, you are basically required to all gravitate towards the same areas (either the "circle" in KOTH, or where the Leader is in CTL), so there are plenty of excuses to engage in CQB where the SOS is king.

Just last night I had two teammates defending the "hill" for our last ten point and they were rushed by 4 out of 5 of the opposing team.  It was going to be a massacre, but I was just rolling up on the battle right behind that group of 4, who were all clsutered together around the "hill" to cap it.  got in behind them, one shot killed three and downed the 4th.  I meatsheilded him and capped the hill for the win.  man I got to tell ya, I even felt cheap after that.  Like I needed to bathe or something.

I dont think the sawed-off is that OP,  I think every gun in the beta has it's pros and cons.  Now if the SOS had 8 bullets and the reload was faster then i would be complaining.   I'm loving the beta btw, lots of fun

I generally don't have a problem with the gun because I assume everyone has a sos and I act accordingly. The problem is, like you mentioned, objective based gameplay. When everyone is forced into tight areas the gun becomes stupidly overpowered. 

Honestly it is the only thing that has annoyed me in the beta, everything else is great. I think a fix to the problem would be to reduce the area of damage for the gun. In that I mean that while the gun doesn't have much range in terms of distance, the spread of the shotgun is ridiculous. I've had people looking almost perpindicular to me and still downing me with a single shot. Decrease the spread and tighten the reticule while keeping the range severely limited and maybe it will fix the problem.

@ Bolded : I would have done some pushups if I did that.

I agree that I approach corners with a lot more trepidation now, thinking that hiding behind each one is some douche with an SOS.  But genrally speaking now that isn't how I die by the SOS, it's when I'm engaging someone ELSE and the SOS gets me from a blind-side (or in the objective based modes).

I hear you with them slight nerfing the power, but what about just making it a pick-up weapon, like the boltok?  One for each spawn side, that way there are only ever two of them running around the map at once?

I have gold and I should end up getting one or 2 codes since I am pretty sure I meet the requirements for them.

As for the map designs, if people still gravitate towards those areas than it sounds like the maps should be redesigned.    There will always be areas that people flock to on a certain map, obviously,  but there can be things they do to discourage people from it.

As for your specific sneario, to have that kind of spread seems a little ridiculous, even if both barrels fire at the same time(do they?).  And in that they should look into a redesign. But given that you seemed to have the drop on them its not ridiculous to think the same wouldnt have happened if it would have required a couple more shots.  

HAHA, if there was more skill involved, hell yeah I'd celebrate.   I clutched a 1 vs 3 with the gnasher and retro couple nights back and I thought I was a god!  HAHA, but the SOS just seems a little cheap at times.  plus I'm sure my teammates had softend those 4 up some before they went down.

Well in the objective based games, the "hill" or the leader will always attract people, so I wouldn't necessarily attribute that to bad/poor map design.  Honestly, the only map I'm not a big fan of, is Trenches, and even it, isn't that bad.

The SOS does fire both barrels in one blow.  It's got zero power outside of a couple of feet or so, but within it's range, you are gibbed, and double-kills from a single shot are not that uncommon because it has such a wide area of effect (probably 3/4 of the screen from right to left?).  The drawbacks to the gun are the long re-load times and that you only have four shots.