I played as an Infiltrator but did not take the Widow when I had the chance; I liked the Viper too much and I wanted to try the assault rifles.  The Viper has been serving me well even on my second playthrough on insanity, but did I miss out by not taking the Widow?

Yes.
 
/thread

"I played as an Infiltrator but did not take the Widow when I had the chance; I liked the Viper too much and I wanted to try the assault rifles.  The Viper has been serving me well even on my second playthrough on insanity, but did I miss out by not taking the Widow? "

It depends who you're fighting.
 
The Viper is weak but it has allot of ammo.
 
The Widow is VERY powerful, you just have to pick up ammo more frequently but that thing will turn a man's head inside out, or shoot a bullet through a Praetorian's head and out its ass.

I still need to playthrough as a few different classes I want to try. I did mine as an Adept and my girlfriend went Engineer so I know what that is like too. Looking forward to Infiltrator and Vanguard when I get a chance next. I love sniping, and it looks so fun in ME2 but I have yet to even do any!

Let me preface this post by saying the Widow is the most powerful weapon in the game, the Cain notwithstanding. Per shot, it does more damage than any other weapon. 
 
Now that that's out of the way, if you're playing Infiltrator, then you should be aware of the bonus damage you do while cloaked, and you ought to be aware of/wearing the visor that boosts headshot damage by an extra percentage. And, on top of that, you ought to be using a special ammo type through the game--I used Warp Ammo for its flexibility, but Armor Piercing is good as well. 
 
You can almost double the Widow's base damage with armor boosts, ammo types, and researched upgrades. 
 
Now--we clarified that the Widow is the most powerful weapon in the game before talking about boosts. What happens after all the boosts are applied? 
 
That is a rhetorical question.

Well I definitely regret not taking it, but I would miss the Viper at least a little bit: that thing has become my bread and butter.

Yes, the Widow is far and way the best sniper rifle.  Get the sniper rifle upgrades and it is pretty much unstoppable.

Damn this thread. I have other things I want to finish more right now than another ME playthrough, but you guys are making me want to make an Infiltrator like, ASAP now. :(

" @pause422: I played infiltrator first time playing the game and my god it was fun just having slowmo every time I scoped in, headshotting in slow motion watching people's heads explode...oh god its so awesome, I think Im gonna go on my infiltrator save right now...  lol seriously I would but my profile got some bug on it that reset everything. "

Didn't take the Widow. I figured upgrading the Infiltrator ability to its fullest and maxing weapon damage, plus the sniper rifle upgrades from Mordin's lab thing, plus your ammor ability is enough to kill most enemies anyway, so i'd rather take the Viper and slow-mo 2-3 headshots, which should almost do the deed. When out of slow-mo, the quick fire is fast enough that you can pump 6-7 shots into the enemy until they're dead. Took assault rifle training instead (but wish I took shotgun...)

Slomo when scoping is from the passive skill for infiltrators.
 
I don't think cloak improves the slomo time.

Oh awesome. I probably will go infiltrator first next playthrough for sure. Making it sound so fun.

" @Garrus  I heard about the slomo on infiltrator but wasn't sure exactly how it works entirely, is it the cloak improvement? or the Class master when scoping or something? "

" @pause422 said:

" @Garrus  I heard about the slomo on infiltrator but wasn't sure exactly how it works entirely, is it the cloak improvement? or the Class master when scoping or something? "

You get bullet time when you look down the scope.  The Widow (Space Barrett) is awesomest.  Personally, I think the Viper is even worse than the Mantis if you're playing as an Infiltrator. "

Well a single rank in Operative as an Infiltrator will get you 1.5 seconds of Slow Mo in a scoped weapon.
 
Generally this is what ranks in Operative do. I believe that you do need a rank in this to get slow mo, if you don't then it's worth upgrading this for it because anything under 1.5 seconds is pathetically small and can't really be considered slowmo I reckon.
 
 Rank 1 in Operative

• Health: +5.00%
• Weapon Damage: +3.00%
• Power Recharge: -3.00%
• Sniper Time Slowdown: 30.00%
• Sniper Time Slowdown Duration: 1.50 seconds
• Paragon/Renegade: +20.00%

I always go with the most powerful snipers in games when I snipe, I don't care about ones that are semi auto or any of that crap, I want to take a single powerful ass shot at someones head, and have it feel damn good.

" I always go with the most powerful snipers in games when I snipe, I don't care about ones that are semi auto or any of that crap, I want to take a single powerful ass shot at someones head, and have it feel damn good. "

" Didn't take the Widow. I figured upgrading the Infiltrator ability to its fullest and maxing weapon damage, plus the sniper rifle upgrades from Mordin's lab thing, plus your ammor ability is enough to kill most enemies anyway, so i'd rather take the Viper and slow-mo 2-3 headshots, which should almost do the deed. When out of slow-mo, the quick fire is fast enough that you can pump 6-7 shots into the enemy until they're dead. Took assault rifle training instead (but wish I took shotgun...) "

I stuck with the Mantis until the Collector Ship, then took the sweet, sweet Widow.
 
I couldn't do shit with the Viper, so I never used it after the Thane mission.

I would even go as far as to say the Widow is the best gun in the game. 
 
A Widow and Assassination cloak make a deadly, deadly combination. 
 
@nethanel said:

" @dropbearGSH: The DLC shotgun sucks.  "

" I would even go as far as to say the Widow is the best gun in the game. 
 
A Widow and Assassination cloak make a deadly, deadly combination. 
 
@nethanel said:

" @dropbearGSH: The DLC shotgun sucks.  "

No way, I'm using the Eviscerator as a Vanguard now and it's the best one there is. Just charge them, and pump with it and they will fall easily. Plus it has a more concentrated area of fire. The only downside is it only has 3 shots to a clip, but it's not that big of a problem because it's already really powerful. "

I wish I picked the widow, that gun looks ownage. Honestly the assault rifle i've picked up isn't all that powerful at all or accurate. I am using the soilder class, however I wish I picked up the widow instead, I thought an assault rifle was more important, yet I only picked up trash. I heard you can use the widow with both infiltrator and soilder.

"

I wish I picked the widow, that gun looks ownage. Honestly the assault rifle i've picked up isn't all that powerful at all or accurate. I am using the soilder class, however I wish I picked up the widow instead, I thought an assault rifle was more important, yet I only picked up trash. I heard you can use the widow with both infiltrator and soilder.

"

I'm doing my third playthrough as an infiltrator, don't know how you can deal with the Viper's pea-shooteryness, but then my strategy is normally to cloak and shoot people in the head, using my squad's tech and biotic to whittle down shields and armour powers, so I rarely need more than one shot.

60 shot by far not the one that requires reloading after every hit though it may be more powerful.

" @DystopiaX said:

" Didn't take the Widow. I figured upgrading the Infiltrator ability to its fullest and maxing weapon damage, plus the sniper rifle upgrades from Mordin's lab thing, plus your ammor ability is enough to kill most enemies anyway, so i'd rather take the Viper and slow-mo 2-3 headshots, which should almost do the deed. When out of slow-mo, the quick fire is fast enough that you can pump 6-7 shots into the enemy until they're dead. Took assault rifle training instead (but wish I took shotgun...) "

my feelings exactly, especially since they put out the free DLC shotgun. "

Widowmaker rips through Scion armor ultra quick.

The Widow also gets 2 ammo per ammo pickup as opposed to the Mantis's one ammo per pickup, and maxes out at 13 instead of 10.  It's just all around better.

" @Garrus said:

" @pause422: I played infiltrator first time playing the game and my god it was fun just having slowmo every time I scoped in, headshotting in slow motion watching people's heads explode...oh god its so awesome, I think Im gonna go on my infiltrator save right now...  lol seriously I would but my profile got some bug on it that reset everything. "

What slow motion? Isn't that only a soldier thing? "

"

I wish I picked the widow, that gun looks ownage. Honestly the assault rifle i've picked up isn't all that powerful at all or accurate. I am using the soilder class, however I wish I picked up the widow instead, I thought an assault rifle was more important, yet I only picked up trash. I heard you can use the widow with both infiltrator and soilder.

"

" @raidingkvatch: I am sort of ignoring cloak, only using it as a last resort escape tool.  I basically pop out of cover , fire incinerate at the most powerful enemy (if appropriate) and then shoot an entire Viper magazine at its head, and then mop the rest up.  Also, Cryo ammo makes the Viper great for crowd control. "

i'm using soldier and i assume you get this on the collectors ship?  
Probably need it for my insanity playthrough

" i'm using soldier and i assume you get this on the collectors ship?   Probably need it for my insanity playthrough "

if your an infiltrator or use the sniper rifles a lot pick it up when you get the chance. otherwise youll miss out. if you a soldier get the assault rifle. i cant remember what else there was to pick up tho

Bummer.  I accidentally chose the Assault Rifle & didn't realize that it was a permanent choice.  Well maybe on the 3rd play through for my Infiltrator, I'll choose the Widow proper.

I fucking hated the Viper. Next playthrough I start, I'm goin' with the Widow.

" Bummer.  I accidentally chose the Assault Rifle & didn't realize that it was a permanent choice.  Well maybe on the 3rd play through for my Infiltrator, I'll choose the Widow proper. "

" @UnsolvedParadox: I was told that whatever choice you made on the first playthrough you are stuck with for any subsequent playthroughs, but I have not reached the collector ship on my second playthrough so I cannot confirm this. "