The sniper

Some time ago there was an argue about if the sniper is OP. Most people had the opinion that it isn't really OP, but it was just anyoning to play against and took the fun out of the game. Then people said how would you nerf it without ruining it? I think i got maybe the answer.

Why not make the sniper standard head multiplier lower, but make each passive increase the multiplier, here are some numbers for example:

Passive 1: 550 headshot damage.
Enough damage to kill an assassin or sniper with any armor endorsements.
Enough damage to kill an assault or support with bronze or silver armor ensorsements.
Not enough damage to kill an assault or support with gold armor endorsements.
Not enough damage to kill an gunner or tank without any armor endorsements.

Passive 2: 700 headshot damage.
Enough damage to kill an assassin, sniper, assault or support with any armor endorsement.
Enough damage to kill a gunner or tank without any armor endorsements or tanks passive upgrades.
Not enough damage to kill a gunner or tank with any armor endorsements or tanks passive upgrades.

Passive 3: 1030 headshot damage (as it is now).
Enough damage to kill an assassin, sniper, assault, support or gunner with any armor endorsements.
Not enough to kill an tank with passive 3 and silver armor, an tank with passive 2 and golden armor or an tank with passive 3 and golden armor.

This way the sniper is the sniper hindered in the beginning while not as much in the endgame. Furthermore the sniper is also hindered in his bot-killing abilities, as he is already excellent at one thing, killing pro's, there really isn't any reason why he should also be good at something else.

I know this isn't the final answer to the sniper, but i feel this is at least one with step in the right direction.

Reduce flak size and strength, nerf grapple strength a little, remove skill draining from his traps, nerf his Uzi so he can't kill half the cast in one clip. I feel like at the moment he's pretty good at ALL ranges.

Long-Range: Rifle head-shots.
Medium-Range: Uzi/Flak
Short-Range: Grapple (usually out of the arena).

He's a sniper. He doesn't need to be good at anything other than long range. Outgunning gunners (bad ones usually though) with an Uzi is just silly.

Yeah killing a gold armor Gunner quite easily with just SMG and Flak seems a bit ridiculous. You get close to a Sniper In TF2 no worries, you get close to a Sniper in MNC Grapple, Traps, SMG Spam. ugh.

In other words make sniper useless so he can get raped by everything and anything.

Got it.

It seems like everything is one extreme or the other. I cannot understand why they make an attack that you can't even defend against. I mean, an assassin's back stab you can at least hear it coming and it gives you a heads up to take some kind of defensive action. Even a ground zero air attack from a support (which is usually a guaranteed kill if not blocked) can be blocked by overhead obstacles. I cannot know that a headshot is coming from all the way across the arena. There is nothing I can do but die. This ruined the game for me.

One thing I've always found screwy is that a SMG, which normally fires pistol rounds, would be more lethal at range than a rifle that usually fires rounds designed to retain lethality at much longer ranges

Not sure how much I agree with that because when I played Sniper those few times I felt that the SMG was the least accurate of any weapon I had played before (actually I might be directly agreeing with your comment without knowing because English has not been my main language for 10 years and I am not sure of the exact meaning of your comment).

Still it was as accurate as I needed to kill whatever I wanted, so it is certainly debatable.

The SMG for me just sprayed everywhere and had a short clip. I think that is balanced as far as that goes, but a gun that kills at long range in one hit is simply inexcusable.

Any game that tells players they have died and the player is left wondering why and how is a flawed game.

Look. When I get hit by an Ejector, I look and realize, Hey, I should have been watching if anyone was at the trigger.
I know where the triggers are on any map so it is realistic to ask me to pay attention to that.

But if I am hopping along, killing bots, and then I die for **** knows why-
Oh a sniper killed me.
Okay. Even if I know where that sniper was, he can move. When I think about where he could be to kill me I realize that every spot is a place where he can kill me.
Okay so I have to be cautious about every single place in the entire map?


Are you saying that because they have a single sniper I have to change my entire gameplay to adjust to this and totally play out of my element?
It is not fun.
I would rather just watch the next episode of 24, season 6.

Sniper is killing this game. My friends have all left because of Sniper and I hardly play anymore if they are not playing.

I am above level 370 and as an Assassin I am not bothered by Snipers of any level.
In addition, I run public servers that are costing me money out of my pockets.

After all of this you would expect me to be pretty devoted, but I am not joking when I say Snipers are ruining my game and putting me off. My friends have stopped playing because of Snipers and if they dont play, I dont play.


Period.
L. Spiro

One idea I had was to make it so that headshots deal maybe double damage from a bodyshot, but the Sniper gets the $50, and the player who got headshot is instantly drained of skills. Increase ammo of the rifle by 1.

However, this will remove Sniper from his classic role of kill whoring, I doubt there are many who main Sniper who would be willing to take such a change.

I think the charge I mentioned so long ago is fine.


Sniper uses rifle, next shot is based in how long he charged his rifle after that.
Spamming snipers = little damage.
Patient snipers = effective, and fast kills, but at least they earned those kills by overcoming the risks of missing spamfire.

2 seconds = full charge, testers can adjust this to make it balanced. Simple concept that is so easy to balance.


L. Spiro

Yeah. I've mentioned this before. I'd like it if the sniper had a meter and the more time he has looking down the scope, the more effective he is. Also, why does he even have traps? The sniper does fine and small-medium range (traps/flaks/SMG) and he excels at long range? Absolutely ridiculous. If I stop playing this game, sniper's going to be why.

How about kind of redesign the sniper? Right now he is OHK based, why not make him, say, stun based?

Sniper rifle RoF is halved at gold RoF (which should have happened anyway, make it bolt action dammit). Sniper rifle body shots do 250 damage and apply a stun (perhaps .6 multiplier). Headshots have a 2x multiplier (500 damage) and apply a heavier stun, (say, .4 multiplier) and blinds/deafens the player on the receiving end. Sins, snipers, and unarmored assaults still die in one hit, but tanks, supports, and gunners are just really hurt. Sniper still has a very defined purpose, it's just changed.

The stun would also be annoying as hell.

Due to the fast paced nature of the game and tight maps, the sniper with the TF2-style sniper change would probably be a good bit underpowered unless it can deal a heavy amount of bodyshot damage.

An idea that could use the charge up thing: Damage and additional passive effects thereafter is dependent on the level of charge. RoF itself will remain unchanged.

Passive 1: the rifle can deal a pretty heavy blow at full charge, headshot damage can only occur at full charge, and can kill a light class in one headshot.

Passive 2: The first headshot bonus is applied at half charge, a second one will be applied at full charge which will kill med classes in one shot. In addition, at full charge, the shot will pierce through multiple targets. Full chargeup time is extended in addition to normal bodyshot damage being buffed accordingly.

Passive 3: The second headshot bonus is applied at 3/4th charge. A third one will be applied which will deal 1000-1100 damage with a fully charged headshot. In addition, a killing shot on anything but a slimbot with maxed charge will emit a large explosion that deals moderate damage to targets in the radius. Only one explosion is allowed per shot. The meter will be extended again to reach these bonuses and damage buffed accordingly.

How's this? Any good?

Bolt action rifle

Something like ^this, because in my opinion, it is too late for a complete "reinvention" of the sniper. Stuff like a charge system or a whole new role for the class will surely take a long time for balancing and are just too complicated, while a bolt action rifle (pretty much just a drastic reductin of the clip size and rate of fire) or a comperable nerf (very slow firerate or longer reload times) would not add new mechanisms or gameplay elements and probably not brake too much more. Although it could still make the sniper copletely useless, and that shouldnt happen either. :|

not for huntsman snipers...

and i agree with bolt-action

The man has so little health that if you sneeze at him, he dies either from the force or the inevitable cold afterward.

Sniper is OP. There is no getting around that. If you deny it, you're just kidding yourself. If any of you guys have played with FAP lately, we've got Draketh and Tiblolan now. It is thoroughly rage-inducing / not fun to play against them. I'm friends with them and I honestly don't want to play with them unless they are on my team and I mostly play assault (who has the best shot at dealing with sniper).

I should post some gameplay with Tib and Drak on the same team. The usual outcome: all rage quit / scream hacks.

I'd like to see said game plays.

Crouch works wonders