I am not a sniper.

So I'd like to hear from real snipers about some of the ideas I want to toss around.

I loaded my State Apex Calmando today and forgot to switch the sniper for a rail rifle. I was a bit intrigued so I decided to just run with it. I didn't sit back and camp though, I was running around with the assaults trying to quickly snipe people at around 100M or less.

It was pretty fun, and I probably broke even in KD.

Based on my day of assault-sniping, a few changes came to mind about how sniper game play could be improved, and I'd like to see what actual snipers think.


1.) Buff the rifles. The basic sniper rifle felt under powered. I eventually switched to the ADV tactical version, and although it was better, still didn't feel like it packed enough punch.

2.) (The trade off) Make certain aspects of sniping more skill based and team oriented, such as:

- Remove radar while looking down scope. Communication and awareness are then more important, making snipers require more skill and teamwork with their more powerful rifles.

- When shot at while looking down scope, un-zoom the sniper. Meaning players would be able to force you into cover easier. Timing your shot would be more important.






All in all, I think this would make sniping a more dynamic, team oriented experience. But hey, what do I know? I hate snipers.

1.) Buff the rifles. The basic sniper rifle felt under powered. I eventually switched to the ADV tactical version, and although it was better, still didn't feel like it packed enough punch.

2.) (The trade off) Make certain aspects of sniping more skill based and team oriented, such as:

- Remove radar while looking down scope. Communication and awareness are then more important, making snipers require more skill and teamwork with their more powerful rifles.

- When shot at while looking down scope, un-zoom the sniper. Meaning players would be able to force you into cover easier. Timing your shot would be more important.

Remove or reduce initial sniper sway, Remove the sniper sway(what good does crouching do for aim? I could believe if we were to go prone and have a bipod supporting the sniper, but crouching? Ehh)
Remove current scopes, or atleast have personalized scopes. Hate the little dot that gets lost on backgrounds...

the damage is fine on all sniper rifles. the reason is the headshot damage is 250-350% on which sniper rifle you use. so a base sr can do over 600 damage with a headshot that is with no skills or damage mods. still tnk they need a buff I can one shot kill any suit with a single headshot using my charge sniper rifle.

wat if snipers rifles lit ppl up like an active scanner when looking through the scope?
at least the redline snipers would be somewhat usefull

I don't think it would be quite fair to force snipers to leave scope if they take damage. It would be too easy to plink at a sniper constantly from far away to throw them off and keep them from doing anything at all. In a situation where a sniper is taking actual damage they'll probably unscope to at least figure out where the threat is coming from, anyway, so forcing them out of it doesn't seem quite right. I think taking damage making the sniper rifle sway a little, however, would be both more sensible and fair, should something like this ever be implemented at all.

I can't really say much for the damage of the sniper rifles. I've only ever used the standard basic variant and I seemed to do well enough. But, then again, I also had Krin's damage mods stacked, so that probably helped out a great deal.

I'm not a sniper, though. More an on again off again kind of thing. So my opinion doesn't really amount to a whole lot here.

Buff scope, damage, range, and reduce sway. The sniper is practically useless now. The bolt(bullet) needs to keep it's momentum, but it basically disappears out of range, which is bull crap. The sniper is basically a closer range weapon now, it saddens me.

They pull that stuff off, then I can see myself returning to my sniper scout ways.

Sounds horrendous TBH.

You're definitely CPM material.

You can technically but doesn't mean you will hit.
It needs a serious reworking. AA is non existent, scope sucks,sway sucks, most of the time your shot is luck and timing, not a single skill that guarantees you at least a hit.

Buff scope, damage, range, and reduce sway. The sniper is practically useless now. The bolt(bullet) needs to keep it's momentum, but it basically disappears out of range, which is bull crap. The sniper is basically a closer range weapon now, it saddens me.

They pull that stuff off, then I can see myself returning to my sniper scout ways.

Buff scope, damage, range, and reduce sway. The sniper is practically useless now.

Nah ur just bad

the damage is fine on all sniper rifles. the reason is the headshot damage is 250-350% on which sniper rifle you use. so a base sr can do over 600 damage with a headshot that is with no skills or damage mods. still tnk they need a buff I can one shot kill any suit with a single headshot using my charge sniper rifle.

Uhhhh..... No....

450m max without ever having to factor for bullet drop is plenty...Stop using the militia/basic versions, slap on a couple of damage mods, maybe select a suit with an innate damage bonus, and choose your sniping perches carefully...

I use proto and damage mods, dumbass.

And don't tell me to choose my perches, i was a sniper before you got your first epeen wave. I refuse to use commando. Idc what bonus it gives. Scouts will always be the best snipers, you probably are too young to know the day of the sniper scout. What did Gem use? Scout. What did Zan use? Scout. Atiim? Scout. What did they teach me to use? Scout. I know every perch in this game, I have to factor in angles, and distance. Because, you know, the snipers range is pathetic now. Don't come in here, telling me what to do. I don't see you being trained by the best snipers.

Oh, i forgot, obligatory gg kid.

My mistake...For such a badass self-styled original MLG gamer you're doing way too much bitching and moaning for my tastes... So if I can make snipers work without complaint, what in ****'s name is your malfunction?



BTW -- Please don't pretend that you know me, bro....Because I assure you that you do not. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and mark it down to you being a 13-year-old, or just a straight-up ignorant man-child. Now **** off.

I could go for better crosshairs, but removing sway is just inviting 100,000 CoD kiddie 420 QwikScopers to infest the servers...(Well, at least the playerbase would temporarily grow, so no waiting to join a match)

wat if snipers rifles lit ppl up like an active scanner when looking through the scope?
at least the redline snipers would be somewhat usefull

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.

Give them a line of sight on more than one objective in the game from outside the redline that's still well outside the effective of other light weapons and they'll come out of the redline more.

But without a focus for their potential, there's -literally- no reason for them to come out.