News: News on Nanoweave Armour and Sniper Rifles

[OCNSethy]

Discuss... go!

Dont mind the nanoweave plans but Im thinking 150m for a sniper is a little too short.

Edit:

Nanoweave Armor
For those not aware, how Nanoweave functions now:

• When at max rank Nanoweave gives a flat 25% increase to the player’s total health pool.
• This health increase causes Nanoweave to protect against the majority of damage sources. This includes damage types that have their own dedicated counters, like explosions.

How Nanoweave will function soon:

• Nanoweave will no longer increase the player’s health pool. Instead, it will apply a percentage damage resistance against infantry small arms and rapid-fire vehicle secondary weapons only.
• Damage sources not included in the above, like explosions, will no longer be modified by Nanoweave Armor.
• Nanoweave will no longer resist headshots. Against any weapon.
• Against the applicable weapon types, max rank Nanoweave will remain the same strength as it is now (excluding head shots).

We will be giving a cert refund when this change goes live. You can choose to repurchase Nanoweave Armor or spend their points elsewhere.


Bolt-Action Rifles
In a typical FPS game, the strength of a one-shot headshot is usually offset by either or both of the below:

• Small scale levels with limited sniper lanes.
• Some type of visual mechanic that calls out the sniper’s location.

PlanetSide 2 isn’t a typical FPS game and neither of the above is a valid limiter given the size of our world and the scale of our battles. The massive size of our continents means snipers can be a threat from all directions, and a visual callout on each individual sniper isn’t possible considering the amount of players we render at one time.

On the other side, giving snipers a 360° one-shot kill with unlimited range against all other players is not something we want to introduce into the game. Dying to a sniper that you never had a chance to see is a poor gameplay experience for everyone on the receiving end.

So with the above in mind:

• We are capping all one-shot headshots on a full health target at 150 meters.
• Nanoweave will no longer apply to headshots, so the range limit will apply to all targets no matter what that player has equipped. This will give bolt-actions a more consistent feel when fighting within their effective range.
• The 150 meter range is a starting point. It may be adjusted during tuning, and we’ll be monitoring the range once it is live to see if it needs to be adjusted to be shorter or longer.

Explosions Post-Nanoweave Change

• We’ve had to increase the max damage of some explosions in our game so that they would still be effective against Nanoweave-equipped players. For example, underbarrel grenade explosions are stronger than we would like.
• Changing Nanoweave over to being a projectile resistance removes the need for the increased explosive damage. We will be doing a pass of all explosive damage and reducing some so that they work better in the game.

[HereticusXZ]

So I hope I'm reading this wrong... concerning Snipers, we can't head shot instant kill past 150m? The entire point of being a Sniper is making a extreme range kill 300m+. Now that damage tops off at 150m I have to get 2-3 shots depending on how significant this new Nanoweave change is

If I want to do close-range guerrilla Sniping I'll pickup a TSAR-42 or faction equivalent for NC and VS. Maybe even the AMR-66 Battle Rifle, or more reasonably a Heavies LMG like the TMG-50 or the Rhino.

Fvck close range BS, this isn't Arenaside it's Planetside! Snipers not dumb enough to stand in the battle line there off flanking and finding a decent Snipers-Nest... Your telling me you can't see the damage indicator or faction specific colored tracer and Q up the Sniper with a Doritos and respond accordingly?

/rage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5xhLSn-5Mo

[Chewy]

Originally Posted by HereticusXZ

So I hope I'm reading this wrong... concerning Snipers, we can't head shot instant kill past 150m? The entire point of being a Sniper is making a extreme range kill 300m+. Now that damage tops off at 150m I have to get 2-3 shots depending on how significant this new Nanoweave change is

If I want to do close-range guerrilla Sniping I'll pickup a TSAR-42 or faction equivalent for NC and VS. Maybe even the AMR-66 Battle Rifle, or more reasonably a Heavies LMG like the TMG-50 or the Rhino.

Fvck close range BS, this isn't Arenaside it's Planetside! Snipers not dumb enough to stand in the battle line there off flanking and finding a decent Snipers-Nest...

/rage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5xhLSn-5Mo

And now you have a taste of what NC MAXes have been saying since launch. One step back makes the enemy safe.

Granted 150m is fucking huge to the 10-15m range limit shotguns have but the point is still the same.

[Badass Preacher]

I said it on the PS2 forums and I'll say it here...

150m is a really short distance in this game:


The range on the first shots on that video are around 190-195m. Which would mean that none of those standard shots could be made after the update. Let alone AV turret engys sitting at 300-600m, who will now have absolutely nothing to worry about...
Skyguarding sniper was one of my favorite play styles in zergs and I often go sniping when I just want to cool off after an action filled alert or outfit ops... At the end of the day, I don't think it's a good idea to cut down different play styles and force people to do the same things they do in a million other first person shooters.

[Jaybonaut]

Oh man I hope they increase the range on bolt actions - that is really short.

[HereticusXZ]

150m is unacceptable, Me and my own would sooner quit the game then to accept that BS. Hope your reading devs, Sniping is about extreme range kills, not close combat. The famous creed of Snipers "1 shot 1 kill" sound familiar?

If you're not going to let a Sniper Snipe then what's the point of even having Sniper Rifles in the game?

[Mordelicius]

Four main concerns:

Low TTK infantry fights will be lower? - Shotguns are already beasts on CQC. Without any protection, they will one shot kill everything. This needs to be addressed. Shotgun damage need to be monitored along with the adjustments.

NC is a low accuracy faction - Our guns have massive recoil and cone of fire. In addition, our rof is normally on the low ranges. This is another buff to the Vanu guns who has no downside as it is. TR gets a buff too since the rof, the higher the chance for headshots. The reason why I've asking the Oracle of Death (Maradine) about headshot data is I want to know if a faction gets more headshots than others.

Vanu guns are highly accurate, with low recoil and no drop. Can be hipfired or ads and they even get movement bonus. Now, logically, higher accuracy is higher headshot rate, no?

Nanoweave Cert refund giving players over the 10k Cap - will the certs over 10k just DISAPPEAR? Make sure refunds give players an overflow buffer over 10k for the planned refunds.

Explosion Spamming - Explosion spam need to be nerfed if they are going to go ahead with this. Or else, air and ground vehicles will dominate once more just like in launch. Even with Nanoweave, explosion spam is a problem. Splash damages need to be nerfed. Splash damages are far more stackable and repeatable. Prowler HE alone, how do you mitigate their explosion spam?

Overall, the mechanic is a bit too sweeping, in that it will affect too much of gameplay balances. They really have to test this rigorously in PTS before releasing.

[Chewy]

Originally Posted by HereticusXZ

150m is unacceptable, Me and my own would sooner quit the game then to accept that BS. Hope your reading devs, Sniping is about extreme range kills, not close combat. The famous creed "1 shot 1 kill" sound familiar?

If there was wind in the game and you needing to do more than holding a breath (bi-pods, sand filled sock, ect), Id agree with you. But that isn't the case and there needs to be something of a cap. 150m is to short, but 200m might not be seeing how the infantry render range is 300m if you're not in a fight.

In a fight your render range might be closer to 100-200m depending on just how big it is. I remember times where the render range was under 60m from so much shit going on. Some sniper sitting at max render range has a clear advantage from his not being effected from a fight tanking render range while every single one of his targets is. There likely is a chance that a 200m, or even 150m, sniper will not render for anyone.

[BlaxicanX]

I could get behind a 200m cap for headshots. Anything less than that is too low, imo. Sniping as a tactic already isn't that effective of a tactic anyway.

[HereticusXZ]

Infantry stop rendering at 350m unless there on a Engineers Turret in which they render at the same range as vehicles 800m+

200-250m is tolerable but still frustrating. What I'd prefer to see?
If players have a problem with Snipers then don't force the Sniper to abandon what Sniping is by putting him in what practically feels like CQC to a Sniper.

Instead give Infantry more tools to counter Snipers. Infantry have body-armor options for various stuff like Flak for Explosians to counter vehicles, Nanoweave for general purpose anti-infantry roles.

Well sense there removing armor value to the Heads hit-box how about "Reinforced Helmets" for counter-sniping? give it a 7-10% armor value resistance to head shots to deal with Snipers? make it a cert line like everything else.

Got a problem with Snipers thinning the flow at a Sunderer? Give Sunderers a defensive slot to put a shield yawning or Stealth Field over where Infantry spawn, or even give Engineers deployable shields/barricades to protect infantry/block Snipers LOS.

Don't nerf a Snipers killing-range that's just lazy problem solving. SOE has the technology, adding these tools to counter-snipers isn't mega game mechanics changes, flex some muscle and add this stuff in for greater diversity in the battles!

You need to supplement the many different play styles, tactics and strategies players come up with and use, not nerf and destroy!

[OCNSethy]

Have to agree with Hereticus. I like playing sniper and infil in general. 200-250m would be acceptable but at 150m the class is hobbled. Seems like a lazy nerf in an attempt to fix a larger issue. Wait... I seem to remember that this is the preferred approach to fixing things :/

[ChipMHazard]

I'm looking forward to seeing the new nanoweave in action, as well as the changes to explosives... Especially grenade launchers.
It's good to see that SOE is actually trying to think ahead this time around, knowing full well what could happen with snipers after this change (I've never been a fan of having so many OHK weapons in the game). I'm not sure that having a range limit is the right approach to limiting snipers.
One thing I'm surprised that they don't appear to have realised yet is that there are quite a few FPS's that balance snipers by limiting their numbers in a match. I do hope that SOE will one day realise that they also have to balance weapons with sheer scale in mind, which often seems to be what the nerfs end up being about.
Then again that might be what they are trying to balance it around, as in they don't want death squads taking everyone out.

[camycamera]

not really keen on snipers. it should be a OHK in the head regardless of range, a bodyshot shouldn't be. why can't we just have it like that?

[DredVS]

If they don't remove the random side-to-side cone of fire with this change then people are going to be turbomad when RNG gifts them a headshot.

This is going to make the issue more apparent.

[synkrotron]

Hmmm... I've recently purchased an EM4 Longshot with a 10x scope with a view to trying my hand at sniping. Would a 10x scope now not be worth it at that range? Bit of a noob question I suppose, but I've not been checking out the distances I've been sniping at (and wouldn't know how). Other games give you a headshot distance but PS2 does not appear to.