If i remember correctly in f3/vegas if you used a pistol/basic shotgun etc then eventually the weapon was useless. At the begining of the game it took multiple hits to down low level creatures.

Do you think they will fix combat/weapons so that in theory your pistol would be more effective early on and even be modified to take on tougher creatures later in game

I hope so. I love an equipment progression system that lets me work to make lower-tier weapons viable in the lategame. I always hate feeling relegated to only a few choices for endgame "ultima" weapons and whatnot.

Weapons got better damage from perks and skill points you invested, plus you can better repair and find better ammunition for it.

Alot of times I like the look of low tier weapons and armor. One of the few things I wouldn't mind from Skyrim.

I would be for something like this, how do you see it being instituted?

I don't want it to be like Skyrim's system, but I would like to be able to upgrade weapons to be more effective or acquire perks to make them deadlier.

I think it would work to add more perks that effect types of weapons or apparel and make them more useful for specific scenarios. Like, a perk that adds bonus Charisma or Luck to Pre-War clothing or vault jumpsuits, or a perk the increase the power of pistols. Then just adding more oomph to weaker stuff; weaker weapons might do more sneak/critical hit damage, or just have a higher crit chance. And stronger equipment would have more drawbacks: Power Armor should be impossible to Sneak in, and heavy enough to make you think twice about wearing it everywhere. Stealth armor should be much weaker, or inflict penalties in combat; like maybe if you take damage while the stealth field is still active, you'll get extra shock damage from the suit itself. Strong weapons already have decent drawbacks, like having rare ammo or slow attack times, but you get the idea.

Things like weapon (and armor!) mods would help a ton, too, and tie in with a crafting/repair skill. It would definitely have to be more complex than Skyrim's tempering system.

And maybe a mastery system where the more you use a specific weapon, the more proficient you are with it; you should have to spend some time with a Minigun to get used to how it works, but a 10mm pistol is a lot easier to just grab and go with. This might be redundant with a more general skills system to govern all kinds of Small/Big/Energy Weapons, but I think it could be cool.

There shouldn't be a completely level playing field, though; you should still feel rewarded for finding awesome loot or earning it in a quest. But there should still be some kind of strategic advantage to using weaker stuff, like the Armored Vault Jumpsuit (practically the Fallout equivalent of Link's green tunic) or your trusty pistol.

I like this for the most part, it seems like it would be easy to include. I'm really not sure how the "mastery system" would work though. Maybe a counter in the back ground and you get different extra perks as you rack up kills, kind of like the challenges in NV?