SOE Rethink Sniper range nerf... and a few other things

[OCNSethy]

SOE announcement from their forum...

https://twitter.com/mhigby/status/411229759595495424


Currently on test server
A general balance pass has been done of all infantry weapons. The majority of weapons have been tweaked in small ways. The larger balance trends are listed below.

• Our data has shown LMGs performing too well at hip fire. In some cases they’re even outperforming assault rifles. We've done a global reduction to hip fire accuracy across all LMGs to make them more LMG-like.
• Assault rifle hip fire weapons have had their hip fire bonus reduced. They still have higher hip accuracy than the standard assault rifles.
• All laser sight attachments have had a small reduction to their hip fire accuracy modifier.
• 0.75x move speed weapons have been adjusted so that they have clearer tradeoffs for the move speed bonus. This generally means longer reloads and more recoil drift (to match them being the closer range variants).
• Carbines have had their minimum damage range brought in by 5 meters.
Coming later today:

• The hip accuracy penalty on LMG compensators is being reduced to match the new lower base accuracy of LMGs, though hip accuracy with a compensator equipped will still be lower than it is currently on live.
• We’re increasing the 1-shot kill range of bolt-action headshots (compared to the 150 meter limit currently on test). The maximum damage of bolt-actions had a slight drop to make the damage curve work, but reload speeds are getting faster to compensate. A general balance pass of all sniper rifles is happening so that their roles are better defined.
Edit: Actual sniper 1-shot headshot ranges below

• NC NC14 Bolt Driver & LA80 , TR M77-B & SR-7, VS XM98 & V10
o 250 meter limit
• NC SAS-R, TR TSAR-42, VS Ghost
o 200 meter limit
• NC EM4 Longshot, TR RAMS .50M, VS Parallax
o 300 meter limit

[Selerox]

I have a worrying feeling that those changes are going to hit the SVA-88 pretty badly :(

[ChipMHazard]

I wonder how this will effect by beloved TAR. Have to wonder just how much longer the reload can be on it before becoming too much.
Having seen their metric data on what weapons are being used the most I can certainly see why they would want CQC weapons to be more defined and not so well rounded.
Naturally this also comes down to level design for the most part favoring close-medium ranges.

[Wahooo]

• We’re increasing the 1-shot kill range of bolt-action headshots (compared to the 150 meter limit currently on test). The maximum damage of bolt-actions had a slight drop to make the damage curve work, but reload speeds are getting faster to compensate. A general balance pass of all sniper rifles is happening so that their roles are better defined.
Edit: Actual sniper 1-shot headshot ranges below

• NC NC14 Bolt Driver & LA80 , TR M77-B & SR-7, VS XM98 & V10
o 250 meter limit
• NC SAS-R, TR TSAR-42, VS Ghost
o 200 meter limit
• NC EM4 Longshot, TR RAMS .50M, VS Parallax
o 300 meter limit


Good, now if they would just take it one logical step further and completely eliminate this whole mess.
One of my big complaints with the initial proposed nerf was the elimination of the usefulness of the now 300m limit rifles. Ok... but... the other weapons were already balanced for longer range headshots by 1 set having lower velocity so more travel time and bullet drop, and the other group having a maximum 4x scope with no mil dots. So... why the need to put these limits on the head shot damage? It is looking at the wrong things to make these rifles distinct if what they want is to increase the use of some of the others.

Sad that there is a cap at all. Beyond 300m head shots is as much a 'wonder if I an hit that guy' as much as anything. Not really battle effecting. Though 250 is a good number and jives with the way the terrain around the bases was build, it makes a ton more sense than 150... still I just don't understand the desire to put a distance limit on it at all.

[OCNSethy]

~snip~... still I just don't understand the desire to put a distance limit on it at all.

Would the distance infantry render have much to do with this?

[Ghoest9]

All these changes look good to me.

The game is WAY too hipfire friendly as is.

And the head shot ranges look reasonable.(Im not sure why we need limits but I can live with 300)

[ZephyrBurst]

The range increase on rifles looks good.

[HereticusXZ]

This looks better, progress SOE!

[BlaxicanX]

Let's be honest... was anyone really expecting the 150m limit to stick?

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they offered the 150m limit while intending to make it longer all along...

[OCNSethy]

Let's be honest... was anyone really expecting the 150m limit to stick?

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they offered the 150m limit while intending to make it longer all along...

Nothing SOE does surprises me anymore. They throw lil grenades like this sniper range nerf and wonder why people go troppo. If it's not broken Higby dont mess with our heads.

[camycamera]

ah, i love the sniper changes.

[HereticusXZ]

Range-Finder weapon attachment! This needs to be a thing!

[DirtyBird]

Although its yet another nerf to the LA80 (gotta sell those EM4's!) if they have to make changes I can live with the compromise.

[Wahooo]

Sad part now with the damage fall off, past the posted head shot ranges it takes 3 body shots to kill. That is in VR on PTS so I would assume with any level of nanoweave we will need to limit your shots to sure to kill headshots or just not bother.
Which makes the 250m rifles pretty bad choice all together, the semi-autos have only a bit more bullet drop up to 250m and beyond will be quicker to land all those multiple shots... or I guess go HA with a battle rifle.
Pretty much means where the 300m BASR were a touch better than the others, but if you liked the slightly quicker reload I guess it was an ok trade-off. But now if you are hovering around 250m they are just a bad choice.

[ChipMHazard]

I thought this was an interesting read on the matter of 0.75 weapon changes.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/1ssa4u/075_ms_ads_weapons_and_lmg_changes/

[Timealude]

Range-Finder weapon attachment! This needs to be a thing!
^
this, please make it so~

[Shamrock]

I thought this was an interesting read on the matter of 0.75 weapon changes.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/1ssa4u/075_ms_ads_weapons_and_lmg_changes/

This was the best rational discussion I've seen on the changes from a mix of all 3 factions players. Like the OP in the reddit thread SOLAR15 id rather see the 0.75 ADS modifier removed from the SVA than the introduction of random recoil that punishes those that prefer to play mid range and ADS. SoE always seems to knee-jerk when it makes "adjustments" and goes for the nuclear option.

[War Barney]

I like the sound of the LMG hip-fire changes, all the NC LMGs have absolutely awful hip-fire accuracy anyway so we've all been forced to ADS with them anyway so as long as they didn't screw up and change it so NC LMGs can never hit anything hip-firing but VS (and to a lesser extent TR) LMGs are still capable at it making NC LMGs even worse than they already are.