I invested in the Explosives skill and the Demolition Expert perk specifically because I got the pre-order Mercenary's grenade rifle. Then I happened to notice that a normal grenade rifle with really low condition did way more damage than my fully repaired Mercenary's grenade rifle. So I checked out the Wiki and wouldn't you know it, the Mercenary's grenade rifle isn't affected by either the Explosives skill or the Demolition Expert perk.

This is a huge oversight in my opinion. Please fix this Obsidian, I saw no mention of it in the upcoming patch notes and now I fear I have wasted some 70+ skill points and 3 perks as I don't use any other explosive devises.

-JJ

Are you on the PC?

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35274

That is hilarious. Obsidian may want to consider hiring some of these people from the modding community.

Thanks,
JJ

EDIT: Hmm, doesn't mention anything about the Explosives skill. Is there a fix for that somewhere?

Eh? What explosives skill? I thought you were mainly talking about the Nade launcher missing from the Demolition Expert list(damage boost +30) which is fixed in this mod.

I thought the only difference between the mercs grenade rifle and the regular rifle was half a pound? [aside from the glitch]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Mercenary%27s_grenade_rifle:


-JJ

I believe that means that the skill requirement in order to use it is 0, much like all of the other Pre-Order DLC Weapons.

Edit: Or rather, use it to the best of its abilities, meaning that it doesn't actually increase in performance from when you get it till the end of the game unless you take perks like Demolition Expert.

The preorder DLC isn't really meant to be "power equipment" in the sense that it's going to carry you through the whole game, but more like something that just gives you that extra bit of edge at the beginning until you start to come across better gear.