I dont care how good your helmet is, a direct headshot from a .50 sniper rifle, if not kill you should give you a concussive effect. Slowing your movement and action response time. This would allow the BASR sniper better chance to finish the job, but isnt the OHK that so many cry about.
This to me makes the most sense as a solution to the nanoweave balancing act. It needs to be brought in line with the other options so there are genuine side grades and choices to be made. All told though, we've been thrown a tiny piece of information about what the future might hold so trying to predict the outcome is pointless currently. It's nice to know it's being looked at, but without knowing the design intent (i.e. should bolt actions score OHKs? If so, how and at what range?) we'll just have to sit tight and see what happens. The cynic in me thinks a new, more powerful rifle will be released but such power creep hasn't been the trend with the update iterations so I hope this thought is wildly wrong.
While there might not be a "power creep" per se, the introduction of new weapons and abilities has very often shown the typical "release overpowered, nerf into the ground later" approach. If you want to be cynical, add "wait for enough people to buy the stuff with smedbucks" as step 1.5. And then there are things like the 2nd generation pump action shotguns... the Bruiser has exactly the same stats than the Claw, except for one stat where it's a tiny bit better. I do hope that SOE will focus on balancing the existing weapons and improve lackluster weapons like the scout rifles and battle rifles while putting and emphasis on the niche role they perform. As far as sniper rifles go, I wonder which role a new rilfe would want to fill. We have BASR variants, as well as different semi auto rifles for mid-long range. What tradeoff-variant (sidegrade) would you guys want that isn't already in the game? So that leaves "special purpose" rifles. Maybe something like "less damage but slows the target". Not sure that would actually benefit the game though... can you guys think of an effect that would make you want to trade pure damage for it? Well, we'll see...
Well in my opinion, if it really is "balance" they are looking for, there's no other option that doesn't involve messing with the other suit slots. And I'm not just saying this because I'm an Infiltrator player. It's objective logic. Right before the other suitslots got buffed, I brought forward a quote from Higby himself, in which he stated something along the lines of : "we don't people to use only one parcicular cert because it's so good that it's the obvious choice" I took these words and argued that Nanoweave is so good compared to the other suitslots (and still is now) that this is exactly what is happening at the moment. Then shortly after they buffed the shield, ammo and grenade certs. Which helped for a short time, people experimented, but soon went back to Nanoweave nontheless because it is still better and working in multiple situations. ------------------- It is my hope that the new Infiltrator weapons will be something totally diffrent. The NC version doesn't even seem to have a scope. For all we know it might be a railgun that can penetrate armor and damage vehicles, and can't be used on infantery at longer ranges. The TR version could be something that resembles an burst mode assaultrifle, and the VS could be a highly accurate beamgun that needs to be charged, but can OHK targets even at extreme ranges when fully charged. This would be awesome, and helps making Infiltrators diffrent on each faction. Nowadays, there's not much diffrence apart from looks and sounds. In essence, the weapons are all the same. (more or less if you don't take the VS in account) This is all guessing ofcourse. But I hope they'll add something new and distinct for each faction (much like they did with the HA anti-vehicle weapons), opposed to more carbon copies of stuff we already have, and making them a tad more powerful so people will buy. Bring us something unique, new and distinctive!
Do you even play infiltrator? There are heavies that can snipe you at that range, and with battle rifles it isn't even funny. In a one on one situation it isn't a problem, but in a big battle, if you don't take the guy out others will be on you even if you have a suppressor. EDIT: I can relate to you, I once thought this, but after being duped out of a headshot after the peak of excitement and all I hear is plink so many times that it's ridiculous. You will know eventually, but I was once just like you, telling people to "Deal with it," but after learning that NW3, 61 certs, gives impunity from headshots past 50-75 meters (low class to high class BASR), I changed my mind.
Do you even know what the 70m discussion was about..? m44v simply stated you DIE at that range after your HS doesnt kill a target, and in my experience more often than not (very often) that is quite frankly not the case.... and with 14,346 v10 kills and 11,518 of them are HS, by using that sniper almost exclusively 50-70m shots that same second when you scope are nothing special. Ofcourse you don't get that shot 100% of the time, and you DO die, **** happens. but that range is more than enough to retake the shot, even if the guy is shooting back at you (why the hell are you standing still after a shot from BA..?) And where ever did I state that people should just DEAL WITH IT? I am not even disagreeing with nano problem, in fact I support the voice to do something about it. I absolutely fkin hate it when i hear that noise on a render range moving target...a HS should be a kill no matter what, it takes skill to learn to use this class fully, and only to be shown a middle finger by a new player that just certed nano is not nice. No, I play a fkin ninja.
You implied the, "Deal with it ," cliche by saying I, "Need to try harder," as if I were bad at it and it was all my fault. Ironically, you cannot know who has NW, and the issue that I was addressing is that NW3 players survive headshots from all BASR when outside 50-75 meters, and that's only 61 certs. It completely derails long range sniping as a profitable option as you hear a *plunk* probably 5/10 times as more and more people are becoming more fascinated with the game, playing it longer, and getting more upgrades. So, yeah, I'm glad you see it the same way, it isn't nice to get that from a new player with sometimes no skills at all. Anyway, glad we cleared up that misunderstanding, though now onto the rest. Spineless gamers have a lot to do with nerfs, not with the actual OP items, and they are hypocritical and cherish their easy button, therefore giving back pretty much 100% OHK headshots like it pretty much was in beta is not going to happen. I'm sorry I took you for a lousy infiltrator, clearly you aren't. Friends?
The BASR is balanced around one shot kills to the head. It's slow rechamber speed, slow full and partial clip reload speed, it's carrying capacity are ALL based around this. NW5 as it is breaks this balancing. Heck I'd be willing to bet most single shot vehicle weapons reload about as fast. You can't compare it's performance to any other weapon. You can't say "well X weapon takes X number of shots to kill me." It's not valid because those weapons are not slow, low capacity, slow reload weapons. Similarly, you can't say "just shoot them again." It's not a viable option for 99% of the targets out there. 1% of people will stand still after NW5 saves them. (Made these numbers up but you get the idea, it's insanely rare) Rechambering a RAMS .50 for instance takes 2 seconds. Most everyone can run and find cover in 2 seconds. There are almost no places in the game where there is not SOME kind of cover within 2 seconds. You can switch to a medpack and back to your weapon in that time while finding cover. Assuming you don't have any line up time you're looking at about 2.5 seconds between first and second impact, if the target is still available. Throw in time to re-find and line up the shot again... Now I'm sorry if you find it "unfair" and "out of balance" to get one shot to the head killed. You have to make the assumption at all times that a sniper is looking for you, just as I have to think there's snipers out there looking for me. Vehicles looking for me (with and without radar). That there could be any number of classes within striking distance of me - I classify striking distance as short-medium range where a 12x scope is hard to aim with but other rifles (and some shotgun set ups) do well. I know a lot of people snipe and I know many claim that it's easy. I think I'm a good to average sniper, I know there's many out there that are so good they'd laugh at me even saying that. What I do have is a fair amount of time doing it. Some times I get in to a battle where I can settle in and go on a spree. It's very, very rare. Most of the time I try to assess the flow of battle and where the resistance is for my side. Then I figure out where a good vantage point is and go towards it. Sometimes this is a clear path, sometimes it's through enemies, sometimes I make it, sometimes I get killed. Once there I look at what's causing the resistance. Maxes? Engies with turrets? Vehicles? Base defences? All? I then have to prioritize targets into a soft list (since the make up of the fight can change fast and may have by the time I got to the spot). If I've done everything right, or mostly right, I can then start popping off shots. After a few shots I have to move because people are on to me. There is a significant amount of time invested in being a good, helpful sniper. It's a high risk, low reward job (in terms of certs). It has one specific role - to kill select targets at a distance. They are given a rifle (BASR) who's job is to kill with a shot to the head, is balanced around that fact. And you want to take it away with NW5. Make you a deal. Let me cert in to something that makes people un-rezable? No? Why not, takes away a medic's job. Or how about bullets that perma-damage a max so they can't be repaired for that amount. Not fair to the engineer? Cert the EMP grenade so that shields don't come back at all, or remove LA's jetpack ability. Alternatively rebalace the BASR around two shot kills. I'm not interested in any of those abilities. I just want the one I'm supposed to have. And so do your team mates that are trying to do their job to help you.
I don't know why you're arguing against that, is not hard to figure out that failing to OHK is more likely to get you killed at 70m than at 200m. Mustarde did say in some occasions that he doesn't use a BAR at close range anymore for that reason.
can't your teammates finish them off? I landed on a tower today, sniped anyone who went up to the vehicle terminal. 2/10 of them had nanoweave. The other 8 simply respawned and went up to the terminal, I shot them again. No nanoweave.
I'm not arguing that you will die more likely at at 70m than 200m....of course. I do noy disagree with that. Yet you said you simply get killed at that range after a failed HS, i'm simply arguing that at that range it is not difficult to to "not" die. So just because Mustarde doesn't use BAR at that range means it's impossible to follow up a shot and not die? I'm not Mistarde
You are your own special flower Darkelf, and don't you forget it! I think the more common I find nanoweave, the safer it is for me to snipe from longer ranges or just use an SMG or TAR (yeah, I've stopped running infil in some fights entirely, just because of how frikkin good the medic is). I can still run around with a TSAR or SR-7 within 50m of swarms of enemies and get a nice killstreak going from time to time, but the thing that nanoweave really kills is suppressed sniping. NW5 brings my SR-7 kill range down to 35m or something insane. I can kill someone with a commissioner faster than getting off two SR-7 shots at that range. I have always styled my sniping around sneaking into that perfect spot and killing large groups of enemies with impunity until my ammo runs dry. I was using the suppressor unapologetically for months, when very few other players considered it viable. Between players getting smarter and NW blocking kills, I just found that my streaks were shorter and shorter, and I was working way too hard to get too few kills. Nowadays, if I want to snipe at "close" ranges, I really need to go unsuppressed in order to extend as much nanoweave range insurance as possible. And unsuppressed close range sniping is a very different beast from suppressed close range sniping. At that point, my target selection isn't all that much different at 100-150m, yet I am far safer from further out. So I tend to snipe in the 150m ranges now, or use my smg. I'd say 1/2 of my NW'd shots I successfully land a follow up and kill the target. But at that point it's more about player error than my own abilities. If you recall the "nanoweave essay" video I made several months ago, most of the targets who nanoweaved me I was able to kill. It's not that I can't do it, it's just that I have very limited control over the outcome after that player has been shot in the head. They either are good, pop a medkit and find cover, stand still for an easy kill, or start strafe dancing while returning fire in which I can often get another hit in. The really nasty players are HA's who pop their shield and actually start landing hits on you at 70m forcing you to take cover before you can get another shot in. I run into players like that all the time... In an ideal world, bolt actions OHK to the head at any range. Because, it definitely gets harder to actually land a headshot beyond 150m. In the world of compromise, I'd settle for 100-150m of guaranteed killing - INCLUDING SUPPRESSORS - or even better, a cert line for a nanoweave helmet. If players really want to have a passive counter to snipers, they can ditch their NW suit that protects against other small arms, AP mines and HE splash and fit a suit slot that only provides sniper immunity. At this point, I'm just glad SOE has implied there is an imbalance in the status quo and I will look forward to reading what they discuss in the next balance post.
A lot of this = perfect. Great to see when someone can so effectively rebuttal NW, though mind you, it isn't NW5, it is NW3, because past 100 meters (M77-B like models - Rams. 50 models) you cannot headshot at all.
I hope they change nanoweave to be a resist to small arms only, and reduce damage by a maximum of 33 damage per bullet. Why 33 damage per bullet max? That way it doesn't royally screw over the already less popular 200 damage and slower fire-rate weapons. Thats the whole unfairness is lopsided TTK increase. For 125, 143, and 167, its a two bullet increase. For 200, 250, and 334, its a one bullet increase. For 400 and 550, its a zero bullet increase.
If they can get at them, sure. Not always possible. I feel it's my job to soften up the defences so the other troops can get in. I do my job so they can do their job. My sacrifice to the overall battle is low kill rates, theirs is push, push, push until the walls break. All teamwork.
