I am glad they got rid of damage pulse. It was a stupid idea. I was wanting a mix between cannon and beam that shot a big glowing ball of death, but instead we got a fusion cutter. In the end it's only purpose was to make weapons do more damage and use up more power.
Ultimately what they will need, is a weapons 4.0 where they add a separate chamber tree to the stabilizer blocks that apply to weapons. This would nerf turrets but give shipboard weapons more variety.