Commandos have a reason to use their class-specific "heavy" cannons: they do AOE splash damage (and trade off a little DPS and max damage). Granted, it's a *weak* reason because player testing seems to show that your weapon's max damage stat is more important than anything else because it affects the damage output of your skills too. But hey, at least it's a reason, however weak.

But what are the compelling reasons for Operatives and Engineers? Their weapons do nothing special (that any player has been able to discover), and quite often there are class-neutral weapons available at any given level that do more DPS, more max damage, and still have strong bonuses to INT and/or DEX.

IMO you should get rid of all the class-neutral weapons and force each class to use their specific class weapons, and you should make their class-specific weapons all do something useful for the class. As it stands now, it can be hard to tell who's who when squinting at the mayhem on the screen. What if you need to make sure you're standing close enough to an engineer to get a much-needed heal? They look just like an operative right now, because most engies eschew their class-specific weapon.