Should Headshot Bonuses be Reduced?

And why is the answer "yes"?

The devs have made some muttering about reducing overall TTK and headshot bonuses are surely the biggest offender. There are lots of guns in the game that can kill you in under 1 second from 10-30 meters away or so.

I'm not opposed to sniper rifle one-shots (which have plenty of other limitations) or shotgun one-shots (which only works point blank) but the variety of SMGs, LMGs and Assault Rifles that can kill in < 1 second due to the headshot bonus makes the game feel tedious.

Perhaps if headshots were generally 1.2x rather than 2x.

more like 1.5x then - headshots should still be rewarded

edit: btw - i have a pretty bad hs-rate

I'd be in favor of almost eliminating headshot bonus for the majority of weapons. Why? Because I would enjoy combat more if it was less twitch based and in general lasted slightly longer during a single exchange of fire. Also with less HS spikes, taking cover might actually be a thing that happens instead of taking headshot dings once you've turned the corner.

Weapons like Battle Rifles, Scout Rifles, and Snipers should probably remain unchanged. As should "Burst" variant weapons, since they're already under utilized. I would hope ES pistols wouldn't be changed (until they get sights in which case they can be reduced too).

As far as Semi/Auto weapons and shotguns are concerned anything between 1.15 and 1.33 seems sufficient to me. These changes would also impact the MAX versions of the same weapons.

No. Learn to aim.

Most weapons kill you faster than you expect them to. Few weapons kill the other guy as fast as you want them to. That's how the game goes and it's mostly an expectation versus perception thing.

But that's really not going to change the flow of combat better in the way you desire, is it? The twitch aspect will be people being able to train their fire on you quickly, even if it's not on your head, and you will still be dead quickly anyway, maybe even before you react to their fire. Damage packets will arrive however the server decides, slow enough to facilitate kill trading, or so bundled that it seems like the other guy did too much damage too quickly. To achieve you goal better, what you need to focus on is either the networking aspect of Planetside, or giving character actions momentums and inertias.

Admittedly, it would be nice to not round a corner, hear a series of head shot dings and then see your death splash screen without having ever seen an enemy fire, but I just don't see this games latency/hit reg issues ever being sorted out.
Secondly, I just like higher TTK games. PS1 MCG was 1.3s to kill IIRC, and that was fine by me. Yes, the Jackhammer killed faster, but it required you to be much closer to the target.

I do not approve. Headshots require skill. This game is already skill-less enough. Let's not take one more skill based ability away for the sake of longer drawn out battles to make people feel like it is "fair."

You think killing a HA with full nanoweave, shield, and medkits is hard now? Consider how that will feel if you couldn't hit them in the head.

Nano at 4 or 5 should definitely go back to protecting you from OHK sniper shots at ranges greater than 100m. I really think the current multiplier and nanoweave benefit aim botters who just fire into the air to reduce their accuracy and remain hidden

I like the current way headshots work.
I know, when Im shooting my SAW at an enemy scoring 1 single headshot will guarantee the victory.
Same with a MSW or so. But the headshots really only affect heavy gameplay. You know, 1700hp take longer than 1000 to be shot down.

Remove the headshot multiplier on all full auto weapons.
Leave the headshot multiplier on all burst and semi-auto weapons.

2 problems solved with 1 stone.

You would no longer be dropped in < .5sec from 90m by a guy with an LMG shooting full auto headshots.
You would have a reason to actually use a burst or semi auto.

I generally don't like headshots for multiple reasons... they tend to reward luck just as much as skill, a small hitbox typically has hit detection issues, it mostly rewards only one type of skill, there is already a reward for good aim, and it doesn't make any real logical sense.

In regards to weapons that have multiple modes of fire, which might be the majority for all in know, would it be better to designate "full auto mode" as opposed to "full auto weapon" when deciding whether or not headshot multipliers count?

My exact thought upon reading this was, Nerf GD-7F but not Serpent? That doesn't make a lot of sense.

No, that would solve nothing... Then you just give people the best of both..
If it has a full auto mode, then there should be no headshot multiplier.

Headshots multiplier should be on burst ONLY / single shot ONLY weapons.

Both of those are full auto CQC carbines, so neither would have headshot multipliers, what is your confusion??

A burst weapon are the T1B or the SABR-13 and so on.. The ones that are locked to burst/semi auto ONLY.
You know, those weapons where you have to repeatedly press mouse 1 to keep it shooting...

It could do with a range limit on full auto weapons, so the further out you go the worse the HS multiplier becomes, eventually fading into nothing.

Why don't you ask introduce aim assist while you're at it? Or auto-aiming bullets. Wouldn't want combat to actually require an effort.
/sarcasm

Without the current headshot multiplier a lot of weapons would be left in a much worse state.
Take the corvus - low dps, makes up for it by being a near-recoilless headshot machine. It's fairly unique, but what happens to it if this change goes through? It wouldn't be really worth using. It's tough to buff it to compensate as that will probably just create a clone of an existing weapon.

Why don't you introduce aim assist while you're at it?
Or auto-aiming bullets. Wouldn't want combet to actually require an effort.
/sarcasm

You may find it interesting:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/...he_tr_faction_trait_apply_to_our_lmgs/co63vhs
Edit: Keep in mind, it isn't planned change, just a discussion.

Just learn to headshot, raise your accuracy and aim tendency. Kill people before they even have a chance to react, or just lose to the ones who do.

Just because you struggle to do it doesn't mean the ones who do it should be rewarded less for their skill. Get on their level.