Anyone else think that Sniper needs a huge nerf?

I can see how this probably wasn't a problem on the 360 where people can't aim, but the sniper is REALLY overpowered in the PC version, quickscoping is fully possible so a good sniper can take down any class in one shot from any range, and because he has traps then even the assassin has no chance of taking him down.

Things I suggest for this (probably not all of them, just throwing some ideas out there)
- Bigger delay before you can shoot after scoping in
- Less traps with smaller radius and freeze effects that last for longer
- (Totally not stolen from TF2 but would be the most effective nerf) sniper rifle has to charge up power (by staying scoped in) before it does full damage.

Indeed.

Mouses are way quicker and more precise than analog sticks & quickscoping is a very common skill, cultivated and endorsed by hundreds upon hundreds of shooter games.

Think about this way: a player can develop (many already have it developed) a motor skill that lets them completely bypass the limitations of the class system and any balance decisions applied through it.

I find it odd that you take issue with the range and not the duration.
If anything, it's the duration of the immobilize effect that makes them so lethal.

Derp, I meant 'last for less amount of time'

Hooray for not proofreading :')

I think the simplest way to go about this would be removing OHKO headshots.

There are enough articles by veteran game devs on the subject out there to fill up a library.
Most consider the balance-breaking effect they have on the game not to be worth the possible satisfaction the player may gain.

I'll dig up some links if I remember where I found them.
Should've bookmarked that stuff.

edit: Yeah, here it is. Note that it's on Kotaku. Gawker accounts've been compromised recently, browse at your own risk.

Personally I don't have an issue with headshots being a one hit kill. If a sniper is good enough to reliably quick scope, then that player's skill should be rewarded with virtual combat sport money and kill:death ratio (and the groupies that come with it.)

An assassin is a hard counter to sniper, if quick scoping snipers dominating servers becomes a problem, then you should give the assassin better tools to deal with them (like say, an arrow on the HUD that points out enemy frost traps when you get close to their triggering range at Assassin level 3.) I haven't yet met a sniper that is quick scoping, or even one that has been more than a mild nuisance. Heck, I've only seen one sniper that was difficult to assassinate, and that was only on Spunky Cola Stadium.

my biggest problem with the sniper in both 360 and PC versions is that his rate of fire is waaayyy too high

I am 100% okay with allowing one-shot kills. My issue is the sniper's ability to have 1 shot kills and the best long range area denial ability in the game that procs off of allied and enemy bots alike.

Sniper Rifle? Sweet. Hit-scan rocket launcher? Not so much.

There is a certain breaking point after which player skill begins shitting on game mechanics.

That point will be reached, and likely sooner than you can assume.

Right, but so far I haven't seen a situation that an assassin wouldn't have his way with a sniper in, and that's with the difficult to see frost traps that exist. If sniper headshots become a huge problem, make the frost traps easier to see for assassins, and allow them to go to work. The problem is, if the headshots don't become a problem then the already easy to assassinate sniper becomes free points for any assassin.

I mean the suggestion of a couple decisecond delay required when scoping in before firing could do it too, as could an ammo clip reduction or a RoF decrease or a reload speed decrease. There's a lot of options available to the devs to nerf quick scoping or at least reduce it a little, but at the end of the day, somebody who can quickly aim a gun at somebody else's head and squeeze a round off will get more kills than somebody who can't.

^^This...sniper rifle with pinpoint accuracy? Fine, no issue...but at least make them have to aim precisely...explosive rounds make bot farming (assassins main role/strength) virtually impossible, likewise with the jackbot...all a sniper has to do is spam their own bots/jackbot with explosive sniper rounds and the bots become instant death to any assassins.

Explosive rounds end up being a mini rocket launcher with high ROF and pinpoint accuracy - toss in a powerful grapple and he gets unbalanced (supposed to be a distance warrior not a close range menace).

Havent got the beta working on my PC yet but I can see the sniper being even more annoying on PC due to the easy aiming...

This. Fo shiz my niz. Even if they didn't completely remove the explosive shots, but made the aoe do much less damage to pros (it could even still shred bots, **** it), he would be MUCH more balanced. Let his explosive shots have a smaller radius, do the same amount to bots, and significantly less damage to pros so that you do still need to go for headshots with the sniper.

I want to keep OHKO Headshots, and, I don't want TF2's charging mechanic (that's pretty annoying) - but I would agree that maybe limiting explosive rounds, or Trap's area of effect would be a good fix.

Sigh.

Oh no, someone killed me with Sniper 3. OVERPOWERED. It sayz so in the kill feed. SNIPER IS OP OMG.

It's a hitscan explosive but that doesn't mean that it doesn't takes skill to aim the bullet to hit a moving pro. I'm sick of people whining about this. Maybe you should take the Sniper seriously like you do with a Gunner and maybe, maybe you'll won't get killed by him.

Also, about Sniper traps, maybe if you see a Sniper camping then shouldn't you expect there to be traps? This really goes along the lines of people not taking Sniper's seriously enough, it allows people who use Snipers to get huge KDRs.

If you people want to kill my favorite character because you can't easily point out the characters pros and cons and find ways to deter them then fine, I'll play with a nerf character and kick your asses with him.

If sniper deserves a nerf, do not take away the quick scope like TF2 did!

I don't feel sniper is OP. Give it some more time. They are really squishy and easy to kill. I felt the balance was good playing as sniper and against snipers except as the tank because their long range weapon only had 4 shots but that's been fixed

Hey, I don't want an outright removal of explosive shot, I just hate that I can't walk near enemy bots at all if a sniper spams them (especially since he has flak 3 already).

I'd love explosive shot if it did the following:
-100% proc rate on enemy pros [current damage]
-Only procs on enemy bot KILLS [buff damage of Explosive shot on bot kills to compensate]
-does not proc on allied bots
-100% proc rate on turrets. [Current damage, Increase damage of explosion by 250% if explosive shot lands a turret killing blow]

Or something like that.

In the end, its closer to annoying than OP, but I don't know how this translates to PC.

Ya, it doesn't venture into the Overpowered zone. But aiming with a mouse is incredible compared to a joystick, so sniping must be much easier.

I say just make it so the explosive shot only damages bots, not players.

I love how people who are experiencing the game after balancing tweaks are dredging up old opinions that were buried away on the console threads.

The higher skill ceiling on PCs means that any significant imbalance will be a huge deal breaker.