weapons

[amplificated]

weapons?
YES, of course. u know, it's a weapons based racing game.
u don't want weapons? easy solution: don't play wipEout.
play f-zero instead or other fast racers without weapons.
have u ever heard anyone saying: i don't like weapons in an ego-shooter? of course not.

Since half of HD's modes have nothing to do with weapons I'd hardly call Wipeout a weapons-based racing game.
Telling someone that what they like about a game is apparently beside the point and that they should play a completely different game instead seems a bit silly, no? Hell, 50% of people polled here on a WipEout fan site seem to outright disagree with that stance as of right now.

And I'm not sure what an ego-shooter is, but I'm pretty sure that's about 15 miles off the mark if you're talking about WipEout.

Anyway...
It ultimately comes down to what's fair. Weapons as they're currently implemented simply aren't, and it's fundamentally flawed game design IMO. You can say aspects of them are fun, but you can't escape the fact they're unfair either.

IMO, something needs to change if racing is meant to be the primary focus of WipEout, and it has to go further than toning down the amount of randomness by dividing the items between new pads.
Unfairness has no place in a skill-based racing game.