Snipers

[wargasm]

general thoughts, iverpowered? underpowered? annoying? anything u gotta say bout them

[JLeeAZN]

annoying and fun at the same time

deadly

[MrVulcan]

I feel that snipers are the most balanced aspect of this game. They can be very very deadly if used by someone who knwos what they are doing (hiding in cliffs, in trees, sneaking around, a good aim, etc) and yet they are anything but the end all of weapons it is in some other 'unnamed' games out there. (we dont was sniper-side)

Nothing about the sniper needs to be changed IMO.

[wargasm]

yeah i know sniping is a very skillfull class and very deadly it can b annoying just walking along looking 4 a med then falling down dead, but its the snipers that brag afterwards u gotta h8 those

[HawkEye]

snipers are well balanced but can be annoying. sometimes i am walking into a base then next thing u know i get killed outta nowhere im like wtf and i look at who killed me and it wasa sniper.


sniping is kinda hard when i first try it. i had a sniping char and i found it hard to snipe peeps that were moving.

[BlakkyZ8]

Originally posted by HawkEye



sniping is kinda hard when i first try it. i had a sniping char and i found it hard to snipe peeps that were moving.

What you have to do is find your moving target and take an estimated guess as to where he is going. Then move your crosshairs a little ways ahead of him, let the reticule become as small as possible and the when he walks along right into your tight reticule... BLAM! Another way to get easy kills is put your reticule on a tower or base door... especially when there is fighting. As soon as someone who has been injured in a previous encounter walks into your sights hes down. Did I mention you should consider advanced targetting as a prime implant when sniping? It can really earn you some extra kills.:D

[Warborn]

Sniping is very well balanced I think. It's lot's of fun. Just wish the Bolt Driver was still 100% accurate at extreme ranges. It's enough have to adjust to the bullet's travel-time without having to worry about the shot going slightly awry.

And what Blakky says is good advice, but he left out the part where you need to judge the travel time of the bullet. At long range, it takes a fraction of a second for the bullet to hit its target. Doesn't sound like much, but if you're trying to tag an Agile running lateral to you, you will have to lead him by a fair margine. Short range sniping against stationary targets is easy, but it's those long-shots on moving targets where you really get the kills.

[Smaug]

Sniping in this game is the most fun I've ever had. BD is godly, but only to a dedicated sniper. This isn't a game called sniper-side as was said. Moving kills are the most fun ever. You see a person running along a base wall. Aim about an inch on the screen infront of him and fire, repeat and he's down. Noobs kinda take the fun out of it though. You fire once at them, they crouch, maybe look around a little. As you fire the second shot you mutter "damn noobs" and hes dead. :P. However I'd have to say that killing infils is my favorite. The only one hit kill in the game. Like a previous poster said the aim gets screwy at high ranges. You can have the reticule perfectly aimed at a guys head and it will miss him, going barely over the top left side. so you adjust, putting the reticule down and to the right and you hit him. Still that needs to be addressed. Also I'd like to see more sniping weapons. I posted an idea about one in "planetside official wishlist" so check it out if you're interested.

EDIT
One more thing. IMO adv targeting is not the prime inplant. It's range magnification. Sure you only get 4 more times power than normal, but thats not the whole reason to get it. The first time you activate zoom it goes to 4x not crappy 2x. The only way you would need 2x in a sniping position is if you were maybe surveying a close base or something.... but still 4x is much more effective for that. Then it goes to 8x, the BDs maximum normal zoom. This is good for medium ranges because if the person starts running you might loose him at 12x. Then there is 12x it doesn't look like much of a difference but it helps at long distances. Adv targeting is ok, but it doesn't work all the time. It seems to me that you have to wait awhile for the targets health to show up. It would be useful if you were maybe trying to be sneaky and not take too many shots, looking for one hit kills. IMO adv targeting is best used with the phoenix or reaver because it increases the range with which you can identify spitfires and tells you how many people are in a vehicle. I am past br12 now but still I dont use adv targeting because I am a part time infil, still If i wasn't I wouldn't use it. It just doesnt do enough to warrant an implant slot. I just use dlight because I'm sick of pesky infils sneaking up on me and knifing me. As soon as I hear that knife buzzing I turn off zoom, run to my right, turn on dlight and shoot that bitch in the head. One hit kill baby.

[Warborn]

I don't think the Advanced Targetting implant is worth it, simply because I don't really like scanning around for the most wounded, and I doubt I'm alone on that. I just take a shot at whoever is the most hittable target, and if they drop in one shot, cool. If they don't, well, easy kill for any friendlies in the area.

Range Magnification is also not so good, I think. It's not bad, but the 12x zoom doesn't help as much as I'd like. If anything it just reminds me of how large the snipers smallest reticule size is when firing at extreme targets. If you like it, great, but I think there are better implants available.

[Sputty]

I have Adv. Targeting(my 2nd implant after DL) and I'm not even a sniper. I find it useful for scouting. Also makes Striker a little easier to retain locks.

[Warborn]

Originally posted by Sputty
I have Adv. Targeting(my 2nd implant after DL) and I'm not even a sniper. I find it useful for scouting. Also makes Striker a little easier to retain locks.

I'm not saying Adv. Targetting is a poor implant in general. It's only a (in my view, for reasons stated above) poor implant for people who plan to use it to help them snipe people. As far as I'm concerned, if I have a shot, I take it. Whether the target dies in that shot or the next one becomes an issue after I reload.

[Sputty]

I used it with sniping and it was hard to move the crosshairs in 12 X. It was jittery

[MrVulcan]

the only time i like the zoom implant is when I am the Falcon max (NC-AV) and you get an instant sniper max
(try it ;) )

[Robot]

Originally posted by MrVulcan
the only time i like the zoom implant is when I am the Falcon max (NC-AV) and you get an instant sniper max
(try it ;) )

yeah, but at that range, your shots fly everywhere and they usually are destroyed before they reach the target

[MrVulcan]

then just remember the range of your rockets :p
you would be suprised how many kills I got with that combo.. tanks, turrits, inf, reavers, galaxies, etc ... too fun :p

[MilitantB0B]

Originally posted by Warborn
I don't think the Advanced Targetting implant is worth it, simply because I don't really like scanning around for the most wounded, and I doubt I'm alone on that. I just take a shot at whoever is the most hittable target, and if they drop in one shot, cool. If they don't, well, easy kill for any friendlies in the area.

Range Magnification is also not so good, I think. It's not bad, but the 12x zoom doesn't help as much as I'd like. If anything it just reminds me of how large the snipers smallest reticule size is when firing at extreme targets. If you like it, great, but I think there are better implants available. What implants would you use? I was just wondering because I have a sniper character and those are the implants I always use. What implants would you suggest and how do you use them?

[Warborn]

Originally posted by MilitantB0B
What implants would you use? I was just wondering because I have a sniper character and those are the implants I always use. What implants would you suggest and how do you use them?

I use Darklight for everything. Its application is really straight-forward, so I won't bother with it.

My other implant is Surge, which I use for travelling around, running away from stealthers that come upon me while I'm sniping (easier than putting your gun away and trying to shoot them). I've also used Surge in sniper duels to drop out of sight, surge to some other place fairly far away (and at a different angle), pop up, and get the enemy sniper from a different direction. The enemy expects you to pop back up in the same place, and even if they think you're moving, if you Surge, you move far faster than they expect. It generally nets me a win in a sniper vs sniper fight.

[Smaug]

Like I said. It's not necessarily the 12x zoom I like about range mag, its the total skip of 2x magnification. Plus its nice having the extra help if you aren't sure of your aim.

[SumYungGui]

wanna know what pisses me off about sniping? I'll give you a little step-by-step demonstration that you can follow yourself.

1)get a bolt driver
2)crouch and zoom in as much as you can
3)wiggle your cursor around as if you were aiming up a shot and take careful note how large the CoF becomes
4) now move your ENTIRE body from side to side, again taking note how large the CoF becomes

it's laughable how small the CoF stays when you move your entire body, where as merely adjusting your aim just a hair to the side means your CoF becomes larger than your target.

[MilitantB0B]

Originally posted by SumYungGui
wanna know what pisses me off about sniping? I'll give you a little step-by-step demonstration that you can follow yourself.

1)get a bolt driver
2)crouch and zoom in as much as you can
3)wiggle your cursor around as if you were aiming up a shot and take careful note how large the CoF becomes
4) now move your ENTIRE body from side to side, again taking note how large the CoF becomes

it's laughable how small the CoF stays when you move your entire body, where as merely adjusting your aim just a hair to the side means your CoF becomes larger than your target. I noticed the same thing. I would be in favor of toning down the COF expansion when moving it, if it weren't for the fact that as soon as something turns up in the patch notes about anything getting stronger, half the people drop what they are doing to do that hing (ugh, sniper side) and the other half complain about how overpowered it is. The sniper rifle is the most balanced thing in the game, and I don't sponsor monkeying with anything, unless it monkeys with you first.

[Warborn]

Originally posted by Smaug
Like I said. It's not necessarily the 12x zoom I like about range mag, its the total skip of 2x magnification. Plus its nice having the extra help if you aren't sure of your aim.

Oh, right. I use my mouse wheel to cycle my zoom, so I barely notice the difference because I zoom so quickly.

[MilitantB0B]

Originally posted by Warborn
Oh, right. I use my mouse wheel to cycle my zoom, so I barely notice the difference because I zoom so quickly.
/em rushes to his keymap setting to impliment this idea

[SumYungGui]

I'd gleefully slaughter small, furry, woodland creatures if someone promised me a 'zoom out' key I could put on the other side of my mouse wheel. irksome to have to go through all of the zooms to get to the one I want

[Warborn]

Originally posted by SumYungGui
I'd gleefully slaughter small, furry, woodland creatures if someone promised me a 'zoom out' key I could put on the other side of my mouse wheel. irksome to have to go through all of the zooms to get to the one I want

Yeah, that'd be nice. It's not a big deal once you get used to it though. Just gotta flick the mouse wheel a bit to cycle back to regular. But, as I said, it'd be nice if we did have a zoom out anyway.

[Smaug]

I use my mousewheel too but still. It makes a difference for me. Others have their opinions too and I respect them :P. Oh and sumyunggi just use escape key.

EDIT
Also did anyone else notice something odd with their zoom system a few days ago? Instead of just abruptly changing to a different magnification, it was likea progressive zoom. You do it once and it turns on 2x(BD as example) then you do it again and it says 3x and is zoomed in and then 4x and stops, but the transformation is rather quick, still you see it changing instead of an abrupt change from 2x to 4x and then from 4x to 8x it takes a little longer and scrolls 4-5-6-7-8. It was really weird and freaked me out. Eventually I really liked it, it was awesome... and then it stopped working.... Maybe secret dev testing? I dunno but it was freaking me out. Also when you hit z(or used mousewheel like me and warborn :P) to close it out it would scroll all the way down from 8x to 1x then shut off, this took awhile too. It was alot slower than the old system so maybe the devs put it in, tested it, then didn't like it so they took it out? Please tell me I'm not going insane.

[IRONxRONIN]

I am a sniper. I also play as a NC. I use the sniper for the long range warfare then move in with the devil gun for the kill. Its takes bit to get used to, but once you get it down the the sniper rifle is a deadly wepon.

[Warborn]

Originally posted by IRONxRONIN
Its takes bit to get used to but once ou get it donw the the sniper rifle is a deadly wepon.

Best weapon in PlanetSide.

[Primal]

Sniping is the only reason why I still play planetside.

It's not overpowering since one shot will not kill most enemies, but if you're good enough you can rack up the frags fairly consistently.

Another reason why I favor sniping is that since my video card is very crummy, jumping into the fray lags me the hell out and always gets me killed (I get under 5 fps when there is too many people on screen), but on top of a hill away from the action my computer can manage and I can still get exp.

.

[Smaug]

Heh Primal I am in almost the exact same position. I have a GeForce2 MX.... Nuff said. When I get into large field fights I'll lag and then get popped by a punisher or something, but when I'm sniping I rarely lag and the reticule is very responsive.