DUST Search - [Brainstorm] Sniping ideas.

Aeon Amadi wrote:

Sniper rifles need a complete overhaul. The disparity between the Standard and Prototype -pales in comparison- to the disparity between the prototype and the officer variants. Sure, the Roden is a Prototype, but given it's rarity it might as well be an officer rifle.

I'm not against making all sniper rifles have a low magazine count to further reward accuracy but a lot of things have to change. Primarily the previously mentioned damage disparity - there is absolutely no reason why a Thale's sniper should have 110+ damage over the Prototype. That is just stupid and it contributes nothing to meaningful gameplay, it is power creep. Further more, if we want Snipers to be closer to the action we have to reward them for doing so. Sniping is a -very- low WP role with not a lot of options apart from what is essentially playing Dust 514: The Point and Click Adventure.

It is -extremely- difficult to land consistent headshots with hitbox lag, general hit detection issues, and poor zoom mechanics. I'd argue that all headshots on sniper rifles should be one-hit kill. You could even nerf the damage a bit after doing that to kill off the red-line "snipers" and reward the actual "snipers".

Then you need to look at ranges as a whole. With racial rifles (Assault, Combat, Scrambler, and Rail) we see a pattern: Higher damage = less range. So why is it that the Thales has the highest range (450m) and the highest damage while the Tactical has the lowest range and the lowest damage? This pattern betrays the core gameplay element that Dust 514 has established. Sniper Rifles with lower ranges that are closer to the action need higher damage to warrant leaving the safety of the redline.

So, TL;DR:

1) Close the damage disparity to allow power levels beneath Officer to be viable.
2) Increase headshot damage even further to reward the painstaking accuracy requirements.
3) Re-evaluate damage/range patterns on all sniper rifles to give lower range rifles more damage to encourage and reward leaving the redline.


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Skyline Lonewolf Ancient Exiles. 263	Posted - 2015.08.31 04:14:00 - [1] - Quote Aeon Amadi wrote: Sniper rifles need a complete overhaul. The disparity between the Standard and Prototype -pales in comparison- to the disparity between the prototype and the officer variants. Sure, the Roden is a Prototype, but given it's rarity it might as well be an officer rifle. I'm not against making all sniper rifles have a low magazine count to further reward accuracy but a lot of things have to change. Primarily the previously mentioned damage disparity - there is absolutely no reason why a Thale's sniper should have 110+ damage over the Prototype. That is just stupid and it contributes nothing to meaningful gameplay, it is power creep. Further more, if we want Snipers to be closer to the action we have to reward them for doing so. Sniping is a -very- low WP role with not a lot of options apart from what is essentially playing Dust 514: The Point and Click Adventure. It is -extremely- difficult to land consistent headshots with hitbox lag, general hit detection issues, and poor zoom mechanics. I'd argue that all headshots on sniper rifles should be one-hit kill. You could even nerf the damage a bit after doing that to kill off the red-line "snipers" and reward the actual "snipers". Then you need to look at ranges as a whole. With racial rifles (Assault, Combat, Scrambler, and Rail) we see a pattern: Higher damage = less range. So why is it that the Thales has the highest range (450m) and the highest damage while the Tactical has the lowest range and the lowest damage? This pattern betrays the core gameplay element that Dust 514 has established. Sniper Rifles with lower ranges that are closer to the action need higher damage to warrant leaving the safety of the redline. So, TL;DR: 1) Close the damage disparity to allow power levels beneath Officer to be viable. 2) Increase headshot damage even further to reward the painstaking accuracy requirements. 3) Re-evaluate damage/range patterns on all sniper rifles to give lower range rifles more damage to encourage and reward leaving the redline. 1) While I do agree here I don't particularly agree with nerfing Thales damage. There are those against increasing damage, but as I have mentioned in the past, in almost every FPS, a headshot means OHK/termination. That right should remain with the Charged SR and higher in general imo, but that doesn't mean that you can't increase damage of SR's all around to allow either 2 or 3 body shot kills. For example, 2 body shots with the Charged is enough to kill a stacked HP suit, 3-4 body shots with the Tactical, 3 with the Standard variant. A mix of head shot damage and body shots can do the same with lower tier variants to keep the Charged as an Executioner-style SR. Obviously, some people don't stack HP but instead favor damps, mobillity, and hp regen modules, but that makes them that much harder to track/detect as is the case now - a benefit to those who make versatile suits. 2) Why SR damage being to kill with body shots as well is important is because it is -extremely- difficult to land consistent head shots on competent players who constantly stay on the move, whether they are hit or not. This is true at the PC/competitive and pub level as matchmaking has been improved, so it's not just a blueberry farm for either side.This would further encourage use of cover, running with logistics, and using hives to survive, while allowing a sniper to truly provide useful suppression damage instead of just tickling targets till they can get to cover. Not only that, as we mentioned before: shield glitching, hit detection issues, outdoor sockets moved and covered from sniper fire (i.e. new railpipe map with the huge spire), indoor maps made for assaults, sharkfins no longer viable as snipe spots, MCC's moved closer, limited SR range, rendering, strafing, etc. makes it tough. 3) Thing about this is in real life and in games, bullet damage is increased with increasing velocity. The SR is not an assault weapon and shouldn't be compared as such, but an increase of SR damage across the board would be beneficial because they would all be more effective at their intended purposes. I personally favor reverting the ranges of SR's so that they can have longer distances again (which I doubt will happen), with one MAJOR tradeoff of course. It just doesn't make sense to me as a sniper that you can see targets render down your scope but all you can do is watch them run by. We're supposed to excel at long range where CQC classes are supposed to excel up close. What I think needs to happen for this to even be considered is that the redline needs to be revamped on each map to be moved back farther to not encompass where snipers are known to snipe, while keeping safe zones in the red where team mates usually call in vehicles and spawn separate. That way where we are accustomed to sniping is part of the playing field, we have full range of the field, but are completely vulnerable to enemies who want to go sniper hunting with CQC weapons. This may be difficult to implement on some maps (L-pipe map) as the spawn area is right next to the red line and supply depots, but looking over respawn locations doesn't hurt. I only bring this up cause "redline" is the default argument for assault players against range buffs. Another option is to add more sockets or structures we can dropship or get to within the map that we can snipe from that are far enough away from the objective to keep assault players guessing our location, but close enough to provide suppression fire, kills, and support for our team. They can be high or low, but higher ones give us more lines of sights to cover the field/objectives. Some maps already do it well, depending on game mode. I see you coming from a mile away.