Should Headshot Bonuses be Reduced?

Yeah, but that would mean only Sniper Rifles, Battle Rifles, all but two Pistols (both of them TR), half the Scout Rifles, some of the Shotguns, the three Burst Carbines, the three Burst Assault Rifles, and the SABR-13.

We can put aside the Burst Carbines and ARs because they suffer for reasons other than the headshot multiplier, the Battle Rifles are decent but are considered lackluster by comparison to other weapons, and the Shotguns never ahd problems with headshot competition unless they were slugs. It feels like Infiltrators are the only class really making out like a bandit with this change and it's still hard to say if they're gaining anything from it.

I can't believe this thread exist.

You'd ultimately be trading precise aim skills for teamwork and positioning knowledge if headshots were nerfed or removed. Is this a good or bad thing? Probably for the better, considering it's a team game, and the pings can get pretty high in large battles. But then the aim wouldn't really be as important, which is something people tend to value in shooters.

<raises eyebrow>

How is nerfing headshots improving teamwork.

Yeah, The game was alot more fun when it wasnt headshotside2.

Only weapons I feel should have a massive headshot bonus is the Sniper Rifles. Other weapons get maybe a 10% increase to weapon damage buying you maybe 1 or 2 rounds less to kill a person...slight edge but nothing IWIN about it. But meh...

Sometimes headshots are the only thing that can save you from a HA at close range. Why nerf it? I've played fps that kill with a single non pistol bullet to the head and no one finds it annoying. It only increases its competiveness and the rewards of critical aiming.

I agree, no FPS should reward skill.

No wait.
No.

Headshots are the only reason I play infantry. Granted, I don't play Infantry at all now that They Break Games is their song.

But seriously, this game will become awful if it become a MMOFPSRPG where people stand there shooting each other for seconds on end try to kill each other.

Headshots are the only reason I play infantry. Granted, I don't play Infantry at all now that They Break Games is their song.

But seriously, this game will become awful if it become a MMOFPSRPG where people stand there shooting each other for seconds on end try to kill each other.

Nah then the heavies will get nerfed till they feel fair. Then we will just play laser tag. Then duck duck goose.

This. So. Much.
Learn to play and don't blame the ones that have learned to aim.

The head hitbox seems unusually large in this game. I'd suggest making it smaller rather than removing the bonus damage.

Of course the high-aim players are against this; it is a strong bias for this topic. And I'll admit right off the bat that I have a bias here as a low-aim player.

I think reducing the headshot multiplier to 1.5x would benefit the game. Yes it benefits people who should 'l2p' or help out the no-aim-s***ers. THAT'S THE POINT. Yes, you want to reward skill, but you should never have a situation where the more skilled always beats the less skilled. The less skilled will simply become discouraged and move on to something else. There is no reason to stick around and learn to play when you are going on 20-death streaks all the time. So yes, I'll support narrowing the skill gap by reducing the headshot multiplier.

Because it's a nerf to aim skill, which means one person with amazing aim can't dominate as easily. Focused fire would then become far more effective.

There are multiple problems with the suggestion:

• First of all, it will favor pray and spray weapons, while making any weapon that are hard to use but reward good aiming obsolete. SMGs will dominate along with anything that focuses on hipfire and fast fire rate. Everything else will become sub par.
• It will unbalance whole factions, considering how some of them are favoring more spray and pray gameplay than others.
• There will be no incentive to improve. I have this issue with CoD, BF:Hardline and to a lesser extend BF4. There is not incentive to improve your aim, since headshots make no noticeable difference.

Overall I think that it will cheapen the game. Acquiring aiming skills does take time and it a change that will move headshots out of the picture will help new players, but it will also remove a layer of progression that is associated with retention. Aiming your weapon, controlling the recoil so you get consistent headshots does not come overnight. Removing that and you remove the whole point of improving, since all that will be required is to fire at somebody's body mass to kill him.

Focused fire IS aim. Hitting a head is a bonus to it. It's a matter of precision and managing recoil.

To my mindset THIS should happen ALWAYS if in a straight 1vs1 shooting. More skilled player SHOULD kill less skilled player in a perfectly balanced fight. And this is also how one learns. By making mistakes / dying. However there is a lot of variables that can totally change the outcome: flanking, reload timing, peeking timing etc. Such way having a perfect aim is NOT an absolute.

Don't even bring cheaters into this thread. Deciding gameplay changes based on cheating makes zero sense.

I think the opposite would happen. Lot of people would just run into a room / around a corner without fearing of getting HSed and they will abuse their better survivability.

As I posted on reddit a while back, a proposal on "how" to nerf headshots (if it is necessary):

Anyway: an issue with "1.5x multiplier":
Suppose I run into a fresh enemy, and I hit him with 4 bodyshots of 167 dmg.
Now, it doesn't matter if shot 5 is a headshot or not.

On the other hand, at range vs moving targets, headshots tend to be more random. -> reduced headshot multiplier, unless HVA selected.

As a heavy: if headshot bonus damage is in fact removed, awesome!
Gogogo gadget resist shield .
Not a fan of Higby's original thoughtline of headshot multiplier scaling by muzzle velocity (screws over all the carbines & smg's, even for short range. As a bonus, also screws over stuff like the Rebel pistol etc)

I'm generally against the headshot-nerf idea, to an extent.
I could understand nerfing the HSM of certain weapons, but never below 1.5, and even going to 1.5 would be heavy-handed. This game shouldn't turn into one where the winner is determined by whoever got the jump (no matter how slight) or who has the better gun for the situation.

I remember when the AWP awarded a kill from one shot in the foot.

Nerfing headshot bonuses would mean infantry would be harder to kill in general by other infantry. This nerf would also decrease the effectiveness of ambushing a target since it gives the target more time to turn around and counter fire because the target would not die as fast as before.

The New Conglomerate would be hit the hardest by this nerf since most NC players rely on getting headshots to capitalize on the alpha damage. Increasing the survivability of infantry through this nerf would also mean that NC players will have to deal with the recoil longer.