As is, the SMG falls short. It does pitiful damage, hits jack and the recoil is silly.
Furthermore, the low damage output means that while with either rifle or shotgun you can kill the enemy instantly without retaliation fire, smg has a tendency to leave you below 50 health after a single kill, if you don't shoot people in the back.

I'd suggest either increasing damage, accuracy or reducing the recoil.
Personally I'd prefer increasing headshot damage.

And finally, I'd like to see the terrain destruction capability to be shifted more over to the shotgun.

Headshot damage to 50 would be neat.

+1
Literally and metaphorically.

I try to use the SMG but it always ends like this:

Goes into game.
Picks either shotty or rifle.
Decides to try the SMG.
Gets one kill with 10HP left.
Doesn't get anymore kills with SMG.
Says "screw this".
Stops using SMG
Picks either Rifle or shotty.
Owns the enemy team without using the SMG.

The SMG has just been left behind, it needs a SERIOUS buff.
I agree with OP.

The SMG is only really effective if you have like 5 machinegun with 5 people shooting full automatic smg at a fort (but you also have to have counter snipers) that is really the only way it is effective

I don't get why people are complaining about the smg. This update has made the smg my favorite gun. I do die more than if i use the rifle but the smg is a fun gun, it also makes it a challenge to see how many kills you can get. Yes the distance isn't as far as the rifle but it makes you get more intouch with the enemy. Personally i wouldn't like the smg changed anymore because it is now a great weapon if you know how to use it.

As it is, SMG is a good for a discouraging, suppressive spray of fire, but it is a weapon and I do believe it should be used as one. It isnt easy at all to kill with the weapon against what we have now. Today the SMG gets picked off at mid to far ranges and gets its face blown off by shotguns at close range.

what the smg needs is a fire rate increase of 25%, and more ammo. Full headshot kill per weapon:
Rifle - 70
SMG - 50
Shotty - 54
The smg suffers from the recoil and the fact you can miss more so you can only get 20 or so TOPS. SMG should have another 60 or so bullets. Damage is fine though, it just needs a fire rate increase. This would help with "suppress a doorway with the SMG" or "use the smg and destroy their walls so our snipers can go to work"

Don't start with greifer potential.....

The SMG is the only gun that can't one-shot opponents. The rifle can do it if the user has a good angle, and shotgun can do it close up with a body shot.

In light of that, the recoil is still too hard to control. High recoil guns are generally bad for skilled players; if they're on-target with the first shot, they stand a good chance of making the kill immediately with rifle or shotgun, while a recoil-heavy gun with a large cone - even if it has high damage - is just a numbers game if it doesn't have a learnable recoil pattern, something which the SMG lacks.

So I say keep the damage low - either by default or by adding range effects lowering damage to limit SMG sniping(similar to how shotty sniping is limited by the spread) - and make it more accurate or at least more predictable. When I try to full-auto the SMG, which is its main benefit, I tend to end up firing way over enemies heads, because the recoil never levels out like in other games. Even though I had a chance to hit within the firing cone, the opportunity gets spoiled by the need to move the mouse downwards at a constant rate as I'm also moving it horizontally - a physically difficult motion to perform.

Edit: when I say full-auto is the main benefit I'm thinking DPS. If I burst it I might as well use the rifle.

smg should have next to no recoil in my opinion
large spread
fast fire rate
but low recoil
leave the damage the same cause it would be too easy
but i hate having a EXTREME recoil gun that is like the famas from AvA -_-

I'd say just give the SMG the rate of fire in the test video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4NlzLE7ztM&feature=related

It seems much faster too me.
I think this would be perfect balance if damage and recoil were kept the same.
Honestly though, It works fine for me.

lol no. The SMG is godly when used in the hands of a good player - the last thing the SMG needs is a damage or ROF increase. Y'all need to stop sticking your face in a rifle barrel and learn how to use cover while firing in bursts.

If anything needs a buff its the shotty. The shotty is basically the SMG without the rate of fire and with a range of melee. Buff it please.

NO
THE SHOTGUN IS SOOOO OVERPOWERED!

LOOK AT THIS PICTURE!
HE ONLY SHOT ME ONCE AND I DIED!
FOR REAL! IT TOTALLY HAPPENED!
http://i52.tinypic.com/2s8l1xy.jpg

(this is sarcastic BTW, but someone did say this seriously)

SMG is pretty much only good at wood pecking, other than that shotty and rifle beats it in any other occasion.

The smg needs more ammo and a damage increase.

@Beef the SMG was good at close range battles with rifleman, but now the shotgun took over that role and the SMG is pretty useless since you get sniped at long range, and shotty'd at close range.

Nah, SMG still has a purpose. Shotgun takes way too long in between shots. If you don't kill them in one shot or there's 2 enemies, you're boned. With an SMG, there's a much greater chance that you can pop both of them in the faces and live.

the shotgun actually shoots just slow enough for their teammate to see my gun pop around the corner.

http://ace-spades.com/forums/topic.php?id=4922#post-73315