User blog comment:Dragonfly18/Battlefield 3 multiplayer trailer/@comment-24476373-20111019191700/@comment-28584497-20111021213636

@3R

Plasma and laser weapons are scientifically impossible as rifles or other ranged types -- both would need to be like within ten inches of the enemy to get any effect, because the plasma (plasma being superheated gas) would cool down very rapidly, and the laser... well, it's light, for God's sake. Visible energy in waves that are extremely rythmic and close to one another. In order to be lethal, the 'laser' would have to be non-visible (ie, radiation energy) and even closer and more rythmic than any laser we currently possess. Even then, though, other sources of light in the area would disturb the ray.

MAYBE as melee weapons, but unless something changes, combat will mostly be fought over a distance.

Gauss and rail weaponry is a more logical choice -- but Gauss weapons as of late are still extremely weak. In order to garner the power needed to use the magnets in the rails or coil, the user would need to be wearing an array of, IIRC, six car batteries. Even then, a coilgun would be inaccurate, and the railgun would explode after a few uses. So until the issues with those two types of weapon are sorted out, the rate of survival will remain at around 80-90%.

One day, however, we may see Rail-rifle toting soldiers with gauss pistols as handguns and plasma knives as backup weapons.