this is how every other weapon in the game is scaled, yes.

crappy core game mechanics that make it hard to get a good sampling of how well he sniper rifle is, versus what it can do, and why it is failing.

Because of the marginal utility and difficulty in making a sniper an asset to the team (if you're not in comms or a freaking murder god pulling consistent double digits per match around 20 kills? You aren't.) .
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2: Low FPS/Lag make it difficult to center the sniper crosshair consistently on a target, much less their head easily, often forcing an overshoot and constant micro-corrections
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3: Movement inertia is a particular thorn in my side for many reasons. The ability to shift direction with no/negligible loss of momentum makes "pain in the ass" seem like a rather understated description of the process of lining up a body shot, much less a headshot. And because sniper rifles are hitscan, you cannot lead the target and figure out where along his path you can release.
Once you know the timing of the shot flying, you can lead the target and release about when he's going to intersect with the projectile. With the sniper rifle you have that brief, not-moment as the reticle flashes red to pull a perfect shot.
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(standing still and getting ya head blown off in your Rattati Gk.0 suit by an opportunist with a thale isn't exactly something I have an abundance of sympathy for).

2: Range. The sniper rifles outrange every single weapon in the game, by no less than 50m in the case of the tactical sniper and ranging up to 150 for the standard sniper. This means a ranging shot from a sniper rifle can often ONLY be answered with another sniper rifle or a OB, or a lot of high-risk approach which is almost invariably done as a suicidal gesture in the redline with the loss of a suit/LAV/dropship a certainty rather than a risk.

3: Draw Distance. This is the big kahuna right here that everyone misses but contributes to the difficulty of countering snipers. There is no weapon that renders infantry past 175m (including the forge gun) that is not another sniper rifle. If the sniper is not rendered to the target this means also that the sniper shot contrails which have been used in the past to track snipers back to be countered, also do not render. Most light weapons do not render infantry past about 120-150m, period.
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So, does this make my stance clear on why technical issues in DUST 514 create problems with the sniper rifle that obscure the failure points and balance of the weapons to where balance is needlessly hard?

someone told me the symbs does the same damage if you snap fire it versus full charge. if that's the case it needs a look.



There is no reality in which the draw distance limit isn't an unfair advantage.

In truth the SR usually kills most suits on the field that are not heavies in one shot. You don't always need to aim for the full health guys either. Every loyalty Apex I have can be OHK by a proto sniper. So, I still don't see where the lack of balance is and most seem to agree.

Again all I see is another guy QQ on the forums because he wants to redline camp and OHK guys.

. Besides, right now I have no issue killing people with the SR, so I am not sure why you would have an issue. Anecdotally speaking it is a great weapon in balance. You can't use it every game because not every map is ideal for it, so you need to understand that concept.

Much like the MD or Swarms it is a particular solution to a particular problem...its not a general purpose K/D padding machine.

So the best suggestions I could give you are work on your aim if the SR feels weak to you, or even better get the hell out of the redline and help your team flip an objective. Because right now the SR needs neither damage nor range buffs to do its job in competent hands like any other weapon.

Preface, I haven't played this game in quite some time. Certain constants may have changed quite a bit. The following is how things were and to a large degree how I feel things should be. I recall what balanced looks and feels like. If that's your aim then please read on ahead.


Issues not addressed : Range, Sniping Locations, Reticle, Clip Size, and Fog / Weather effects.
Those all factor into having a useful enough weapon to spawn with.

TL;DR

Make base damage on sniper rifles meaningful. And for headshots double that meaningful damage. Not some all in on headshot monstrosity that makes even the worst player instantly good at counter sniping.